Knights On Earth bassist, Mike Chiavaro, is a busy guy. He plays with other acts in NYC beyond Knights On Earth. These include Amy Lynn and the Gunshow and Only Son. He also has played on numerous studio albums including releases from Cinjun Tate, Jerseyband and the 45s. He is also set to head out on tour with Wakey Wakey.

And yet he took time to chat with Gearwire about his Aguilar AG500 head. We start with the eternal question; why?

“The two main things are reliability and versatility. I wanted an amp that would work for me in ALL playing and recording situations,” he says. “An amp that sounds great at very low volumes behind a singer/songwriter as well as cranked up with a rock band. That's a hard thing to find.”

He has used other amps and why he changed varied from amp to amp. He does still have the amps.

“I have two other amps, an Ashdown ABM 500 EVO II amp with a 4x10 ABM cab and a Walter Woods Super High Power amp with 2 1x12 Brickhouse cabs. My main reason for moving away from Ashdown was that my rig was simply unreliable. I had the EVO II amp repaired twice in one year. I found myself getting nervous right before going on stage, wondering whether or not my amp was going to cut out mid set,” says Chiavaro. “That's the last thing I want to be thinking about right before I play. Honestly, I love the Walter Woods, but it's not for everything... I was looking for more grit. I think it's a great amp, just a little too clean for my taste right now. I needed some break-up.”

He says the amp seems geared mostly toward rock bass players but that it is insanely versatile.

“Channel 1, technically the ‘clean channel,’is capable of not only a clear, tight bass tone, but also a tube like growl. Cranking the gain will give you a surprisingly punchy tone while preserving warm lows.” he says.

Chiavaro uses his 1978 Fender P-Bass most of the time.

“The beauty of the Aguilar AG500 head is that you really don't need to do much to make it sound good,” he says. “I plug in and leave the EQ flat, at 12 o'clock. What I get is a true representation of what my bass sounds like and that's the perfect place to start. There's no unwanted coloring of the sound.”

Chiavaro has used the amp with a couple of cabinets: an Aguilar DB 410 cabinet and an Ashdown ABM 4x10 cab.

“I must say that DB 410 proved to be a better match. The Ashdown cab produced too many unwanted low frequencies. It couldn't produce the same clarity as the DB 410.” he says.

He says there really is no downside to this amp.

“I like my equipment to be simple like my P-Bass and this amp is very straight forward. I was slightly baffled when I looked at the controls on the second channel, but was quickly relieved once I plugged in. I'm still amazed at how hard it was to get an unusable sound out of that." says Chiavaro.

Chiavaro’s favorite feature is the amp’s second channel.

“It's so versatile. The saturation knob let's you adjust how much drive you want, from a little bit of growl to a full-blown distortion. I find that in most situations, adding a small amount of overdrive really helps the bass sit perfectly in a mix,” he says. “The bass never gets lost. Another plus is that this amp has a ton of power. I've never come even remotely close to feeling like I couldn't keep up, volume wise.”

Chiavaro, who likes to keep it simple, says he never thought he would say it but he is bringing out a pedal board with him these days.

“I use an Electroharmonix Holy Grail Nano; an MXR EQ Pedal with all of the lows scooped out to make my bass sound like it's going through a toy radio, and a Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal," says Chiavaro. "Having the 2nd channel built into the AG500 takes care of all of my distortion needs. Before the AG500, I found the Agro Overdrive Pedal to be great. It somehow keeps all of the lows intact while adding as much grit as you want.”

Knights On Earth EP comes out in June to be followed by a full length. The band will also be playing June 28 at Mercury Lounge in New York City.