Tony Levin Plays thru a Black Heart Stack

Greetings all,

Well I saw a most amazing concert last night Tony Levin And Stickmen, opening for Adrian Belew.
Tony Levin played the whole concert with a BlackHeart Head and 2 cabs, looked like 12s
Awesome show, crazy sounds from Levin and "The Stick"

Dang, no love for Tony?

Way to many strings to be a Bass :shock:

Way to many strings to be a Bass :shock:
:mrgreen: Well, it has all 4 bass strings on it.

It almost knocked me off my feet with it's sonic capabilities . . .

Read, LOW END :razz:

He also played a 5 string Salmon Pink Lakland Bass

That is pretty interesting. Blackheart would be about the last thing I would have guessed for him.
It looks like the 15 watt head. not enough knobs for the 100 watter. And they don't make a 15" cab so those must be 12's. Hard to create a lot of low end with that setup.
Could be some custom stuff I suppose. Not mic'd either.
I wanted to go to that show but I was out of town.

"Lately I’ve been using these cool little Blackheart amps. On the road, I split the top of my Stick into two of them, with a little delay on one."

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Sep/Stick_Men_Bass_Man_Tony_Levin.aspx

Yeah, the low end of the Stick goes DI to the board (and in-ear monitors, I'd wager) and the top end goes to the amps.

Saw the same Showa few weeks back- long time Tony Levin fan and Adrian's bass player Julie Slick s quite ferocious as well.

Lotsa love for Tony! I bought my Stick in '83 after a Crimson show! One of the most solid and musical bassists in the world

Lotsa love for Tony! I bought my Stick in '83 after a Crimson show! One of the most solid and musical bassists in the world


Wow, that's cool.
I've never played one, could you give a quick overview of how the strings are set up?

Wow, that's cool.
I've never played one, could you give a quick overview of how the strings are set up?

Sure thing! There are 10 (the classic Stick), 12 and 8 string models. For each model there are "families" of tunings all based on the same concept.

On the 10 string there is a "bass" side and a "guitar" side, each to be played by tapping your fingers (a la hammer ons and pulloffs) with your left and right hands simultaneously. It's similar to a piano concept. The output is stereo so each "side" of the Stick can be sent to separate amps (like a bass amp and guitar amp). The lowest pitched strings are in the middle and get higher by fourths or fifth (depending on the side) as they get closer to their respective edges of the fingerboard.

The 4ths on one side, 5ths on the other means that the tunings are mirrored (like your hands) so that by utilizing the same shapes simultaneously in opposite hands, you're getting inversions of the same chord at the same time.

Here's how it breaks down:


The original Stick tuning:

Melody
D
A down a 4th
E down a 4th
B down a 4th
F# down a 4th

Bass
C
G up a 5th
D up a 5th
A up a 5th
E up a 5th (unison with 3rd string)

Here is the Stick Enterprises website which is much more informational!

www.stick.com

It seems insane I know but it's a really imaginative and fun instrument!

Thanks, I've been wondering about that ever since I saw him play with Crimson years ago . . .

Thanks, I've been wondering about that ever since I saw him play with Crimson years ago . . .

My pleasure to have some TLev and Stick appreciation! His signature Stick sound is to run the bass side through a Phase 90 and Dyna Comp - it get's the "Shock The Monkey" sound that's also all over the 80's Crimson trilogy

Thanks for the thread!

Eric