Equipment
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During Megadeth's early days, he first used B.C. Rich Basses primarily the Mockingbird series in black for the albums Peace Sells and Killing Is My Business. Ellefson secondarily used Jackson Concert 4 and 5-string basses in a black gloss finish and also a custom blue finish, the colour inspiration was his telephone answering machine. In 1993, looking for a deeper sound which would "sit" under the bass drums in the mix, Ellefson tried EMG pick ups and pre-amps in the Jackson basses- pleased with the results he tried basses from almost every manufacturer while in pre-production for the "Youthanasia" album in early 1994.
A clerk at The Bass Shop in Tempe loaned his Modulus Bass for trial, the longer scale, carbon-graphite neck and electronics offered all that was missing. That started an association with Modulus - which later faltered as Modulus changed hands.
He chose to play Modulus Quantum and Flea 5-strings and sometimes two Fender Precision Basses, a rosewood neck '78 with a DiMarzio split-coil humbucking pickup and a maple neck '77 These basses were used for a "grinding" sound . David switched to the American Deluxe Series P-Basses around 2000/01. His current bass arsenal includes a pair of maple-neck American Deluxe Precisions in 4 and 5-string versions, his '78 and '76 P-Basses, an Epiphone El Capitan 5-string acoustic bass, an Ovation 4-string, a Hamer Chaparral 12-string bass and an assortment of Peavey and Modulus 5-string basses. He has also recently been seen using a transparent red B.C. Rich Mockingbird and black and Silver Jackson Concert basses on the Rust In Peace Anniversary Tour. In addition to his bass gear, Ellefson's guitar rig included an Ibanez Destroyer, a pair of Peaveys as well as Alvarez and Briarwood acoustics.
Up to 1993 Ellefson used Gallien-Krueger 800RB amps and Hartke 4.5XL cabs, switching to Ampeg SVT 2 amps and SVT 8x10 cabs. In the studio, guitar amps were sometimes used for alternate tracks- notably a Peavey 5150 on Paranoid (1993).
Ellefson used Peavey amps/cabinets and Mackie power amps for amplification. His effects setup includes DigiTech Genesis 3 and BP-2000 pedals, Korg and Peterson tuners, BBE and Tech 21 Sansamp DIs, Digidesign Pro Tools MBox LE and Peavey Pro Comm U1002 Wireless systems. Ellefson uses D'Addario Nickel Electric guitar strings for his guitars, Prism and Pro Steel Medium Gauge bass strings (45-130) for his basses, Jim Dunlop Medium Tortex picks and Planet Waves cables. For effects, Ellefson uses the MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus .
After rejoining Megadeth in early 2010, Ellefson started using his old Jackson bass and Hartke amps again. He used an LH1000 with two HX810s on the Rust In Peace 20th Anniversary Tour. Recently David Ellefson's new Signature Series Powerwound Nickel Bass Strings from SIT strings were released. In early 2011, Jackson is set to release a Dave Ellefson signature model, both in 4-string and 5-string variants. As of summer 2011, David has added several new Jackson basses to his arsenal. One in a transparent red finish, which he is using in the studio to record the new Megadeth album, and another in a natural pre-painted finish which he will be using this summer on tour.
Read more about this topic: David Ellefson
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