<< Back to the Equipment page .

Pilots' Log: DeLeo on STP's CDs

From December 2001's Bass Player Magazine:

Robert DeLeo has an outstanding memory for studio experiences-name an STP song and he'll provide instrumental, technical, and anecdotal details. The evolution of his recording techniques parallels the band's rise from young upstarts to studio pros.

Core, 1992

"I was green. I knew what sound I wanted to get; I just didn't know how to achieve it. I ended up using a J-Bass version of the Model-T, a G&L L-2000, and an ampeg SVT 8x10 because they were reliable."

Purple, 1993

"I recorded most of Purple with my Schecter J-Bass and the live rig-three 2x12 and three 4x10 Eden cabinets, an old Alembic F-10 Eden cabinets, an old Alembic F-1X preamp, and a QSC MX 1500 power amp. I might have used the '66 P-Bass. I liked the tone I got live, but it just didn't translate in the studio the way I wanted. I also used this '60s hollowbody called a Limgar on 'Creep.' 'Pretty Penny' was my first attempt at an upright, and for 'Big Empty,' I played the Orlando. It records great. I use flatwounds."

Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop, 1996

For STP's most musically diverse album, Robert used a variety of basses, effects, and setups-though his Marshall/Bassman setup saw the most action. Brother Dean DeLeo played a funky, octaved bass line on the opener, "Press Play," using a Hagstrom 8-string with a pick. Robert picked up a '50s Danelectro Long Horn baritone guitar for "Pop's Love Suicide" and a Fender MusicMaster (played through an MXR Phase 90 pedal) for "And So I Know." Ever the Yes fan, Robert used a '76 Rickenbacker 4001 for "Art School Girl."

No. 4, 1999

"If you sat in a room with the amps and heard the tone on 'Down,' you'd go, Man, that sounds like shit-like the blob rolling into town! But in the context of the song, it takes on this life of its own. I used a SansAmp Bass Driver DI to grind it up a little. "On 'I Got You' I used the '66 P-Bass with my Marshall and Bassman. I always wanted to have the tone I liked from those early Andy Williams and Englebert Humperdinck records: the sound of flatwound strings on a P-bass with the tone all the way up."

Robert also used his Orlando on "Atlanta" and the '66 P-Bass for "Sour Girl." He cites the big, wide sound of "Pruno" as an example of his favorite Marshall/Bassman tone.

Shangri-La Dee Da, 2001

"'Days of the Week' is a poppy song, so I tried to get as much girth and hair on that track as possible. The bass is pretty fat. We actually recorded 'Hello, It's Late' as a shuffle during the Purple sessions; we built it with a click track and me playing a Fender Rhodes electric piano. I tracked the bass on the Orlando with flatwounds that have been on since '93, and I used a bit of SansAmp distortion.

For the beautiful solo on "Black Again," DeLeo played up near his Model-T's 12th fret and used the Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth. "I love that thing. I had a lot of Electro-Harmonix effects when I was a kid, but they all broke. I got one just before we started recording, and it played a good part on this album. I also used it on 'Transmissions from a Lonely Room.'"

[top]