Ben Shepherd
bass guitarist
Ben Shepherd's Gear
At 40:14 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Mesa Boogie V-Twin.
This black 1970's Fender Jazz Bass, nicknamed 'Tree', was Ben's main bass right through Soundgarden's first period. He learned to play on this instrument and recorded most of Badmotorfinger and Superunknown on it. However, this piece of history was unfortunately stolen and its whereabouts are unknown.
This article states that Shepherd uses a "Fender '62 Reissue American P-bass."
At 42:20 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Mesa/Boogie M6 Carbine 600 Watt Bass Head.
You can see him holding it the first time on 0:32 into this video, and multiple other times thoroughout the video.
Ben Shepherd uses the Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer, as seen in a photo on the Mesa Boogie website.
Shepherd can be seen in this photo playing a Gibson EB Bass.
Onstage the sound is my Mesa Boogie V-Twin preamp pedal and a Dunlop Cry Baby Bass Wah.
at 34:00 ben's tech shows the bass strings he uses if they change it GHS heavy bass strings
Ben Shepherd is seen playing a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar during an NFL performance, as depicted in the provided image.
We ran Ampeg SVT and Mesa Boogie heads through a couple of cabinets, along with an Ampeg flip-top [B-15] all at the same time in the bass room.
From a Bass Player magazine interview in 2013, asking about the setup of recording King Animal.
According to Ben Shepherd's wiki page: "Vintage model used in the second version of the "Pretty Noose" video and in the studio during the Down On The Upside sessions." The bass can be seen throughout the video, look at 0:25, 1:02, 2:46, 3:48 for close ups.
At 41:55 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Boss RC-3 Loop Station.
In this photo, Ben Shepherd is playing a Fender Deluxe Active Precision Bass Special from the early '90s, upgraded with EMG pickups.
at 40:40 you will see the pedalboard and on it are 2 Radial Bigshot SW2 1 for lead and the other for bypass and ALT CH.
At 42:05 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Ampeg SVT-VR.
Shepherd can be seen in this image playing a Fender Cabronita Precision Bass.
Shepherd can be seen in this image playing a Mosrite Combo Bass.
This bass was used in 1996 during Soundgarden's tour as a backup. It is seen in this photo as well as this video at 10:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiq4ztlEPNQ
Ben Shepherd is seen using a Fender '50s 'Slab-Body' Precision Bass, identifiable by its mid-'50s pickguard and pickup design, as shown in the user-uploaded photo.
At 39:01 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Dunlop DC-Brick Multi-Power Supply.
In mid-90s performances, Ben Shepherd played a Fender Precision Bass Special "Cowpoke," as shown in a user-uploaded photo.
In the user-uploaded photo, Ben Shepherd is seen using the Markbass Compressore, positioned on the left side among his bass effects pedals.
here on ben's board you will see right above a boss noise supresser thats seen by the 3 knobs and by that 1 red dot above the knobs
In the Premier Guitar Rig Rundown video, at 36:40, Ben Shepherd's gear setup is shown, including a blonde Fender Telecaster among his instruments.
At 40:04 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Lehle P-Split II.
At 41:55 in this Rig Rundown for Ben Shepherd of Sound Garden, Wellwater Conspiracy, Hater, and The Desert Sessions, his gear is displayed, showing his Boss TU-3 Chromatic Pedal Tuner.
We can see Ben Shepherd playing a Harmony Sovereign in this video. Incidentally, this guitar was given to him by the owners of the OK Hotel in Seattle after their live music venue was destroyed following an earthquake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Shepherd
In the uploaded music video for Blow Up the Outside World by Soundgarden uploaded on YouTube, you can see Ben Shepherd using the bass at times like 0:46 and 1:39.
Ben Shepherd has been confirmed to use the Fender Precision Bass '51 Reissue since the Soundgarden reunion tour. This instrument was modified with a Badass bridge and a Jazz neck pickup replacing the original single coil pickup, as evidenced by an image on Equipboard.
This is a community-built gear list for Ben Shepherd.
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Discography