Mark Damon

"great sound and comfort. The passive noise isolation and full-range, even sound ensures that I hear my bass, and everything else, perfectly."

Mark is also featured on the banner of the company's website www.thinksound.com

The Brimstone Gran Toro version 2.0 has the DiMarzio Will Power pickup in the neck position and dual DiMarzio Model J pickups in the bridge position. Neck is a Precision profile instead of the Jazz profile on the prototype. Bridge and Tuners (including the Bass Xtender D-tuner) are from Hipshot Products. Mark began using this bass at the beginning of the "Who You Selling For" tour rehearsals during the summer of 2016 and on the road as well, replacing his original Gran Toro prototype.

Mark now uses an Ampeg Heritage SVT-CL as his main touring amp.

Via Mark Damon’s Instagram….”First up is an @ampeg Heritage SVT-CL. It’s a beast! This particular one has some extra mojo with the addition of a Heyboer transformer. The separate Gain and output stages of the CL allow me to dial in the right amount of dirt at a (somewhat) reasonable volume. This is my primary #1 amplifier on tour right now, winning that title after edging out my vintage 73 SVT (shown here as well) which had been my #1 road amp for many years but now sits idle, waiting to roar another day”

This is Mark Damon’s converted bass for low tuning

Via Mark Damon’s Instagram…

I am often asked how I feel about 5-string basses. To be honest, I’ve never found a 5-string bass that felt “right”. Either the neck feels too wide, the string spacing too narrow or a combination of the two.

To solve the issue and fill the need for a true low-tuned bass, I converted this 2021 @fender American Pro II to be strung BEAD. This update to the American Pro series has a couple minor, but nice, upgrades…first off they created a sculpted neck heel to allow more comfortable access to the upper frets and the neck now has rolled fingerboard edges. Really comfortable to play! Otherwise, it has the same features as the original American Pro series…Hi-mass vintage bridge, graphite truss rods, tapered tuning shafts, etc. If it ain’t broken….

I swapped in some @dimarzioinc Relentless precision pickups (just like I did on my other AM Pro Precision). Massive low end and midrange growl with a distortion pedal that cuts through everything! Strung thru-body with @ghsstrings Round Core Bass Boomers (medium set with a 130 low B)

I use this bass on “Death By Rock and Roll” for our live show. We’ve been opening our set with that recently and it’s a great feeling busting into that riff on this bass when the lights hit!

Mark Damon uses a Rupert Neve RNDI on both pre and post bass signals.

Via Mark Damon’s Instagram

I also have a @rupert_neve RNDI on my output (post amplifier) to complement my clean pre-DI (also a RNDI) and the mic on my cabinets

Mark Damon discussed the signal chain of his pedalboard on his Instagram post on 12/12/22

My signal goes through the @ernieball volume pedal (for smooth hands-free volume adjustments), straight to the rock solid @bossfx_us TU3 tuner, into the @rupert_neve RNDI for an “always clean” tone to FOH. Then right up the @wizardamplificationinc Crunch compressor pedal (great compression based on the classic 1176), to the @ehx NanoPog octave divider (used on Miss Nothing), to the @darkglasselectronics B3K distortion pedal (my current favorite distortion for bass…doesn’t lose the bottom end!), to the @jimdunlopusa MXR custom shop Script Phase 90 (my “secret sauce”) and then out to my amp.

Mark Damon started using Gravity Picks in 2022 and is currently an endorsing artist.

Mark uses Gruv Gear Recoil Straps on all his touring basses.

Via Mark Damon’s Instagram post of 12/23/21

Gearing up for the road with these @gruvgear Recoil straps (see what I did there?)…Love these straps! Incredibly comfortable, rugged and they look badass. Touring again gives me an excuse to splurge! #gruvgear

Mark’s Instagram post of 10/26/22

I’m using @gruvgear Recoil straps on all my basses and, with this bass in particular, it feels super comfortable with no shoulder fatigue whatsoever!

Mark Damon posted on Instagram 4/22/22

New dressing room addition…the @ampeg Rocket Bass 110. Super lightweight amp, not so lightweight tones! Love it! Perfect pre-show companion.

Mark added an Ampeg PF50-T to his home studio in January 2022. He was also seen using it on a studio session via Instagram on June 5,2022

Recording session setup for today. Old school (66 @fender precision) meets new school (2021 @ampeg PF50-T). #ampeg #fender

Mark added an Ampeg Heritage SVT 4x10 to his live rig in 2022. It is linked to his Wizard 2x10 studio cubes. Via his Instagram on 11/13/22

Let’s talk speaker cabinets…my current setup out here is dual 4x10 cabinets. We decided to go for a more “low rider” type stage setup for this tour cycle, so my usual dual @wizardamplificationinc 8x10 cabs have taken a rest…for now. The @wizardamplificationinc cabs in this setup are actually two 2x10 Studio Cubes daisy chained together. These cabs are awesome! Clear top end and bottom end that never gets “woofy” no matter how hard you push them. Truly “studio quality” speaker cabs. Tight and punchy! Those are paired with an @ampeg Heritage SVT410-HLF with the horn turned all the way off. Nice warm classic Ampeg tone that you know and love! All the cabinets are linked together from the same output at the amp rack. The warmth of the Ampeg cab running this way (no horn and in line) complements the punchy edge of the Wizard cabs nicely resulting in the (hopefully) massive bass tone you hear every night on tour. #ampeg #wizardamps #canyoufeelit