Man, how cool is it for BassCrazy to feature
Mr. Mark Wright. I first met Mark at the 2002 NAMM show. Since then I
have followed Mark's company, AccuGroove. (BassCrazy is featuring
AccuGroove this month as well!!!!). Most
importantly, I have been able to interact with Mark, the person. Mark
was the first person outside of NieCorp, to know what the Audio/Visual division's
first manufactured product was to be. Talk to any Churchbass'er about
Mark and they will tell you that Mark is "truly a humble and generous
man. I know this first hand. Mark's AccuGroove cabs are the BEST cabs
on the market. Mark has never advertised his product to the list. As a
matter of fact, Mark seldom discusses his works of art. Excellent.....
Mark, could you tell us a little about yourself?
I was born the youngest of 5
in a small agricultural town in central California in 1955. Although I
partially grew up in church, I was always in trouble like my siblings
and was arrested at the age of 13. Dealing drugs and all that came with
that lifestyle was all consuming until I gave my life over to God in high
school. Since then I've never looked back and
have been involved as a lay person with ministry every since. Areas like
counseling, teaching, leading home groups, marriage seminars, prayer meetings
and music ministries.
What about your family?
I married my best friend 26 years
ago in 1977. We have a 6'5" 22 year old son and a wonderful 13 year old
daughter. We moved to the San Jose bay area in Northern California in
1984.
Tell us something that most people don't know about you?
I have a passion for cooking.
Especially BBQ and smoking where I have won awards. (Ace.
Do you know the way to San Jose. Mark's BBQ is calling us.....)
What about music & gear? (Click to view Mark's babies...)
In 1970 I started playing in
a Christian Rock band that needed a bass player. Although I had no idea
what I was doing, the leader of the group helped get me started. Christian
Rock was about the only thing I played in various bands until 78. We played
churches, jails, road camps, town festivals, coffee house, etc. A Gibson
EB-3 copy (read cheap Japanese clone) was my first bass & my first amp
was a Traynor tube head with a 15" cab. (Kind of like an Ampeg Flip Top)
In 74 I replaced
the driver with a JBL in the Traynor, then later that year the JBL was transferred
to a Folded Horn cab. That, along with a Kustom tuck & roll head was
my rig until my marriage in 77. Then I replaced the folded horn with two
PA cabs for portability. Each had a 15 with a horn & could fit in the
back of my Fiat sedan. In 75 my Gibson copy was stole, so I picked up a
Gibson Les Paul Triumph bass.
Meanwhile in college, my guitar player
turned me on to Return To Forever. I was never the same after that. While
most of my friends were listening to the standard rock of the day &
I'm diving into this new sound that was blowing my mind.
Around 78 I switched over to playing
Jazz/Fusion in secular clubs. My rig was bi-amped with a RAM 18" bottom
& a Cerwin Vega 2x12 top. We were ready to go on a world tour when
God stopped me. In late 1980, Susie was 8 months pregnant & here I
am going off with some unbelievers pursuing music. I made the correct choice
to stay behind, which led me to stop playing music for a while & enjoy
raising my family. There are no regrets!
Are you still playing out a lot?
Currently, most of my playing
occurs on Sunday at church. I'm a Elder over the Worship Team. Occasionally
I'll do a studio gig, but there's not much time available.
What does you current rig/bass(s) consist of?
My rig is a Millennium STT-1
Origin preamp and a soon to be released Crest Pro 8200 power amp. (4,000
watts) I also use a German made Merlin head when I don't want to carry my
rack. Cabinets? Let's just say, whatever I want. (Lucky
Dog!!! or should I say "Blessed Dog!!!")
My main bass is a 5 string bolt
on Bee bass from Fred Bolton in Oregon. (It
has western maple core with mahogany top and back. The neck is maple with
a Padouk fingerboard. Electronics are an 18 volt preamp with a BassLine
MM style pick-up.
For fretless I use a 6 string Ritter
bass from Germany. (It has a
Mahogany body with a Burl-eye burl
top. Maple neck with Ebony fingerboard. There are two Ritter MASTER BAR
Pickups that are switchable triblebuckers. Each Pickup consists of two
active and one passive coil. You can change between a classic humbucker
sound and a pure "humfree" singlecoil sound.)
Fred from Bee Basses is almost finished with my new neck-through;
single cut-a-way fretted 6 string. Dan Lakland is also building me a
custom 55-94 bass.
Who are some of your influences & heroes?
In no particular order: Jaco,
Kim Stone, Nathan East, Stanley Clarke, Alain Caron, Brian Bromberg, Bill
Dickens, Michael Manring, Scott Ambush, Randy Jackson, Ralphe Armstrong
and my good friend Tim McKissick.
Thanks Mark, and God Bless!!!
