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PG’s Chris Kies hangs with bass icon John Taylor of Duran Duran before their headlining gig at the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville to chat about why he prefers stock Peavey basses, how he acquired his favorite bassist’s StingRay, and the way he carves his own signature sonic space in the band.
Ever since the reunion tour in 2005-2006, Taylor has relied heavily on this stock Peavey Cirrus bass. Taylor considers not only the instrument’s tone, but also the looks of it, and this one spoke to him specifically for use on their 2015 album Paper Gods. In the band’s heyday, he often was seen with an Aria Pro II SB1000 and he says these Cirrus basses are tonally the closest thing to those old Arias.
If the sky blue Cirrus ever needs a rest or breaks a string, Taylor will take a spin with this Peavey Cirrus that has a flame maple veneer. He compares playing these basses to driving a BMW because he feels that each one is rock solid, consistent, and you know what you’re getting each and every night.
This 5-string Peavey Cirrus gets brought out for “Sunrise” off 2004’s Astronaut. And while not being a gearhead, Taylor did mod this bass by sanding the body and neck after reading that the Beatles used to sand down their instruments to rid them of any heavy finishes or gloss because they believed it helped the instruments breathe and sound better. He claims he hasn’t heard a difference, but it feels different and is a bit lighter for his back.
This is a 5-string Sei Bass that Taylor recently acquired from the London-based company. He currently uses it as a backup, but did say that playing it is like driving a Bentley and the tonal spectrum and dynamic range of this bass may be too powerful for Duran Duran because he has to carve out a small pocket of tones to not step into keyboardist Nick Rhodes’ zone.
Taylor says he acquired this Music Man StingRay from his idol Bernard Edwards of Chic one morning at roughly 4 a.m. after a long night of partying. He hadn’t toured with this important instrument for quite some time, but since Duran Duran is currently on the road with Chic again, he felt it was only appropriate to honor Bernard and he uses it on “What Are the Chances” off of Paper Gods. All of his basses use DR Strings Hi Beams and he only changes strings when one breaks.
When he’s thumping around with a pick, Taylor goes with these .60 mm InTuneGP GrippX ones.
Within Taylor’s rack resides a Peavey MiniMEGA amp that he runs direct to the board, a Shure UR4D+ wireless unit, and the brain units for his TC Electronic G-System.
All of Taylor’s effects including delay, octave, and drives originate from this TC Electronic G-System that stays offstage and his triggered by his tech Bernie.
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Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He maintains the website and social media, occasionally writes an artist feature, regularly hosts Rig Rundowns, and shoots/edits video for NAMM show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.
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