12 string geek stuff...

I thought that maybe I'd expand on the new toy and how I plan to use it...
My new Waterstone 12 string bass is an incredible instrument. I feel like this is what I've been looking for in a bass/guitar hybrid. After years and years of playing bass and guitar...I can now rock them both together. I'll be playing both parts from now on...
This is a BIG guitar...it's not easy to play...but the work is going to be worth the effort.
I'm a pretty good sized guy, and I've been playing 30+ years now...and, initially, my hands hurt from just a few hours of play. But, after a few weeks of continual practice, I have gained quite a bit more strength...and all my other guitars seem like a breeze to play now.
For the non-players out there, it's just the simple fact that each note that is played is actually produced by pressing down 3 strings with a single finger. 1 fundamental, or bass string and 2 octave, or guitar strings. Not to mention that, since I'm also playing guitar parts, I almost never play just a single note...so, most of the time I'm fingering 6, 8, even all 12 strings at any given point in time.


The sound that it makes is glorious...3 notes simultaneously...how cool is that? (Very Cool)


Now the geek parts....
The Waterstone 12 string bass is a semi-hollow guitar with 2 humbucking EMG type pickups...configured like a Les Paul, 2 volume, 2 tone, 3 way toggle switch.

The bass is run through a multi-amp setup of both guitar and bass amps....
The bass gets plugged into a Morley ABY box that splits the signal to 2 different paths.

Path "A" is the guitar side....
It runs through a Lovepedal Les Lius overdrive...an original MIJ Ibanez CS9 compressor (not reissue)...a Boss DS-1 distortion...a Voodoo Labs overdrive...an early 70s Thomas Organ wah...MXR Phase 90...Dunlop volume pedal...and finally a Digitech Hardwire delay.
This all feeds my Kustom Defender 50 watt, all tube amp with a 1X12 open back solid pine cabinet.


Path "B" is the bass side (duh)...
The only thing in the bass path is a BBE Boosta Grande' clean boost pedal.
Bass amp is an SWR Working Man 10...75 watts, 1X10 ported cabinet.


That may sound like a lot of gear, but, the whole setup easily fits in the trunk of my car and can be carried into a bar in a couple trips.
I've hauled enough big gear in my life, and it seems like this tiny setup is plenty of sound for me.
Most of the 12 string bass players out there (and there aren't many) seem to have HUGE amp rigs...Mine, by comparison, is about as minimal as you could possibly get away with.


I'm really looking forward to taking this out for gigs...I assure you it won't be too long...