Rex Brown

This bass was played on the first two PANTERA albums and on the first two tours, exclusively.Rex received it as a Jackson endorser early on in his career and it was the main bass during the meteoric, early days of PANTERA. This bass is documented in the videos 'Cowboys From Hell', 'Domination' (live), 'Psycho Holiday' and the 'Art of Shredding', all on YouTube

This video from SkullsNBones.com shows bassist for Pantera, Kill Devil Hill, and Down, Rex Brown at a bass clinic with his new rig, one item of which is the Spector NS-2™ Bass in white. The majority of his newer appearances show him with this white Spector. He in fact actually plays this bass more than his Signature Spector Rex Brown Bass.

In this photo, we can see Brown playing his signature model ESP LTD REX-600 Bass, this bass can also be seen in This video at 2:09, with the best shot of it being around 6:24.

In this photo, we can see Brown with two Music Man Stingray Basses, both Black Single-Pickup models with the only difference being that one is a 4-String and one is a 5-String.

In the video he plays it

In this video at 11:12, Brown can be seen with his Signature Prototype Bass, Brown had many of these Basses made in 4 and 5-String setups with many different Finishes such as:

*Dark Blue Burst (Seen in Video for "Revolution Is My Name") *Plain Black *Black with Flame Paintjob *Grungy White Paintjob

One of these models was also put up for auction in 2015 with a starting bid of $7500.

The discription for this item read:

Says Rex about this bass; "This was one of MANY prototypes that I had drawn up and had Stuart commission for me. This bass was played on just about every Ozzfest we ever played & that was a bunch. This bass in particular isn't as heavy as some of the production models. At a point they got TOO heavy to sport around on stage with all night!! Even though it says proto-type, this design went thru many different woods & necks. This is one of my faves!!"

On the left we can see Rex's custom distressed-finish PJ Warwick Corvette.

In this video at 2:44, it is said on a Facebook Q&A Brown, said that one of his first Basses was a Fender Precision Bass.

In this video at 4:33, it is said that Brown bought this Bass just prior to joining Pantera and was used to record the albums "Metal Magic" in '83, "Projects In The Jungle" in '84 and "I Am The Night" in '85. The Bass was later put up for auction in 2015 with the starting bid at $6500.

The discription for the item read:

In Rex's own words; "This was my every first professional bass that I ever bought. It was purchased off Division Street in Arlington in 1981. The original color was black, but in those days Dime and I were always trying different pick-ups, paint jobs, electronics, etc. It was not until '85 that it became what it is today. I recorded the first 3 Independent records with this bass, in whatever setup we were in. It was my backup after I bought a Hamer explorer that ended up in pieces, right up until the Jackson/Charvel era. It had the sound of an old P-bass that I always liked, as I still have some to this day. The drilled bullet holes and blood splatter was done in Dime's garage on a very late and beer swilled evening. This bass really is the building block bass for me in many ways, it was part of the learning experience we all went thru in laying the foundation of what that rhythm section was all about. That Texas boogie that eventually grew into the Power Groove!! I'm still at odds with getting rid of her, but I'd much rather someone else enjoy it, than it just sitting in a case for another 30 years... Sigh !! The stories it could tell..."

Custom built Reverso, by Warwick

On the second-left, we can see Rex's silver Streamer. We can tell it's a stage 1 as it has P/J pickups.

In this video at 2:44, it is said on a Facebook Q&A Brown, said that one of his first Basses was a Gibson Grabber.

On the right we can see Rex Brown with a Warwick Star Bass.

In this video at 9:58, we can see Brown with a custom NS-2 5-String Bass that he asked Spector to build form him, this Bass has two Humbucker Pickups and was Nicknamed either "Brownie" or "Browny".

In this photo, we can see Rex with Ovation B778.

A custom masterbuilt Warwick Streamer for Rex Brown. This bass can even be seen in Ernie Ball's String Theory video over Rex Brown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CfjcwrRUhI

In this video at 5:25 Brown can be seen with a Red Hamer Explorer Bass, it is said by Brown that this Bass was later destroyed.

In this video at 5:34, Brown can be seen preforming live in 1985 with a White 1985 Jackson Consert Bass with a J40 Humbucker in the bridge.

Like his Ibanez Roadster, this Bass was later put up for auction in 2015 with a starting bid of $15000.

The item discription read:

To quote Rex; "This bass was the very first Jackson I ever purchased at Vally View mall in Dallas. I played this bass exclusively along with my black Jackson/ Charvel that came out at a later timeframe. Although this bass wasn't primarily used on CFH or Vulgar, we did use it on those records by adding piccolo bass strings that are still on it to simulate an 8 string for those records!! I used this bass from '85 through '88 in the early days after Phillip joined the band. I probably played close to a 1,000 sets on this bass, as we were still playing bars at this point, up until 'Power Metal'. This is also the bass we recorded 'Power Metal' with!! The stenciled paintings are by Randy Adams, our now infamous tattoo artist, the other drawings, with a sharpie, are my depicting our nickname for Terry Date, our producer on all but one of the records to follow..,. We called him Richard (as in dick) Humpback, because he was always hunched over the board. This bass is a testament or fly on the wall, of everything we did and became in those early days and time frame!! The Power Metal days... That's why this instrument is of significant meaning to me!!"

In this video at 6:36, we can see a photo of Brown with a Black B.C. Rich Warlock Bass, this is the only known photo of him with this Bass.

In this video at 7:29 we can see Brown with a White Charvel Fusion 5-String Bass, this Bass was used in the video for "Cemetary Gates".

In this video at 7:39, it is breifly mentioned that Brown used a Kramer Ferrington Acoustic Bass to write "Cemetary Gates".

Can be seen in this photo. He uses Stingrays 4 & 5 on Vulgar Display Of Power era.

In this Gibson TV video, Rex Brown discusses and showcases his Gibson Rex Brown Signature Thunderbird Bass.

Rex with James Hetfield. Screenshot from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q82fv_fMnQ&ab_channel=GibsonTV

In this photo Rex Brown is seen playing his signature Epiphone Thunderbird bass.