Mark "Surf Rat" Rowe's 12-String Bass Rig

"I use two old Peavey 2x15 cabinets, loaded with JBL speakers. When I swapped out the speakers, the JBL's added about 30 pounds to each cabinet but to say they were worth it is a huge understatement. I took off the Peavey grills and replaced them with my own since there isn't much of anything left that was actually made by Peavey. Even the jacks on the back were replaced with 20-amp twist-lock connectors."

"I started using 15's when I was playing Rickenbacker basses. Rickenbackers inherently have a great deal of treble and the 15's really warm up their sound and give them the bottom end they need. The 15's also seem to accomplish the same thing with my 12-string bass, they have plenty of lows but still provide enough of the highs for my tastes. I have been toying with the idea of adding a couple of 12's but they really aren't a necessity."

"The settings shown here on the SansAmp will change dramatically depending upon the room. I route the signal as follows: From the wireless I run into the SansAmp. The Output jack, which is the processed signal, goes to the pre-amp for the left speaker, while the unprocessed signal from the Parallel Output jack goes to the right pre-amp then straight to the power amp. I have the tuner in the effects loop of the left pre-amp, it gives me a real-time indication of my intonation as I play. Then it's off to the power amp. I don't use any other signal processing. The differences in tone between the left and right speakers plus the EQ in the pre-amps are all I use to fatten up the sound."

"In addition to the Amp Out jack on these pre-amps there is also a Direct Out jack. I use a split signal from this jack to provide a signal to the db-Display units, then one unit daisy chains off the other. These are nothing more than dual 40-LED power meters. I adjust them so that while I play two meters are always running in the green, one is in the yellow area and the fourth is peaking in the red. Why bother with something that adds nothing to my sound? People will sit in fascination and watch these intently, trying to figure out what they are. It gives those who don't want to dance something to be pleasantly annoyed at. And it keeps them interested in what we're doing on stage."

"I do things a lot differently than most 12-string bassists. This is a very simple set-up designed to give me a very clean sound. I've tried tube pre-amps but I just don't like distortion. Since I play fretless it's very easy to muddy up the sound just by the way I play. I prefer to make the sound as big as possible while still keeping it crystal clear."