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Les Claypool from Primus is arguably one of the better bass players on the scene. He has used a variety of gear - let's take a look and see what bass gear he has used in the recording studio and live.  Les Claypool
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Let's first look at some of the gear Les has used in the recording studio. Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People: Les used his fretless Carl Thompson "rainbox" 6-string bass on 4 of the 5 tracks on this album. He used a Carl Thompson 4-string bass (checkout Carl Thompson Bass page for pics) that has a Kahler whammy-bar for the track "Pilcher's Squad". On 4 of the tracks he added delay using a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler:   Distortion was created using a Line 6 DM4 Distortion modeler:  Distortion was also created using vintage Electro_Harmonix and Korg pedals. All bass tracks were recorded direct to the console in his home studio. The Les Claypool Frog Brigade Presents Purple Onion [Prawn Song] : Les also used his Carl Thompson basses when recording 2002’s The Les Claypool Frog Brigade Presents Purple Onion [Prawn Song]. On the title track he played his Carl Thompson 4 through different effects—like distortion from a Sans Amp Bass DI:   envelope from a Korg Toneworks AX300B pedal, and a Boomerang Phrase Sampler —to get the revving motorcycle sounds. On “Barrington Hall” he used a fretless Thompson 4-string with flatwounds. On “David Makalaster” he used the white late-’70s Rickenbacker that Alex Lifeson of Rush gave to him, recorded direct. For a DI he used a little old British solid-state unit ha friend gave him. “David Makalaster II” features Claypool’s NS Design 5-string electric upright played with a bow and recorded direct with slapback delay. “Buzzards of Green Hill” features his fretted Thompson 4, recorded direct with some Korg Toneworks envelope, and “Long in the Tooth” features a short-scale electric upright Les got at a pawn shop for $200. Les also played the ‘Whamola,’ which is named for the instrument he plays on the tune. The Whamola is a weird washtub bass-type instrument with a single D string on a stick, a pickup, a peg on the bottom like an upright bass, and a big handle that you pull to change pitch. He plays it by beating on it with a drumstick. For the track, the Whamola was sent through the SansAmp distortion and the Korg envelope. Live When he tours, Claypool brings along his fretted and fretless Thompson 4’s, fretless Thompson 6, NS Design electric upright 5, the Whamola, and an old aluminum-neck Kramer 8-string, which he uses live on “Cosmic Highway.” He also brings his Korg Toneworks, SansAmp Bass DI, Boomerang sampler, and Ampeg rig—an SVT-3PRO head:   and two SVTPR-410H cabinets:  
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