It's in the Player

I had my buddy Mark Overman over last night to play with our Bassmans. He helped me to acquire an early Bassman reissue for our Bassman Diaries series. We spent a number of hours filming, changing tubes, etc. After he left I had to get my practice in for the night, so I turned the Bassman to a whisper-quiet volume and practiced (it was late).

Damned if I wasn't super-happy with the sound. I didn't sound that good at that volume through a Bassman ten years ago (that's the last time I owned one). I've always known that it's the player who makes an amp sound good, but I used to put more weight on the amp needing to do "this" and "that," because I WASN'T that player yet! As I stated, we made some changes to the amp and I of course had a great mic... we're not talking about sub-par equipment... but I had good equipment ten years ago and I wasn't able to make it sound as good as I did last night.

In the end, as I've heard from many guys who've been playing many more years than I... it's in the player. It's interesting how true statements become more true over time... or mean more to us personally over time.

As for your tip... keep playing... keep working on your technique... play through your amp(s) often... the end of each year look back and say to yourself, "I sound better, and I'll continue to sound better every day."

P.S., don't worry my other amps... you're not going anywhere soon... I still love you very much :-)