Bassist Greg Coatez of The Bangkok Five wants nothing to do with digital recording and he has a plethora of reasons as to why.

"I have no desire to do digital. I love the fuzz and warmth and analog makes musician have to commit to being a musician--commit to the part--no hodgepodging it together," says Coatez. " It is more human too--someone dropping sticks in the background, talking in overhead by accident. There are very few bands honest and super talented; ready to commit to part and show they are not perfect. Perfection is boring it is human element in analog that makes it interesting. There is no chance of chaos and what makes rock no roll exciting."

Coatez is not speaking from ignorance of the digital medium. He has recorded digital, recorded analog and dumped to digital. Regardless of that he feels like music is more about being a great performer and being able to cut it live than about being a great programmer. He dislikes the fact that with digital it is so easy to cheat (or course that being so doesn't mean you HAVE to "cheat").

In addition to his work with The Bangkok Five, Coatez works at World of Strings in Long Beach, California and his main instrument is a '67 Fender P Bass--especially in the studio. He uses other stuff but the P is his main instrument.

"Being a gigantic fan of Motown, nothing sets in he mix like a P bass. With the P bass they got it right the first time." he says.

He tunes his bass lower than most. He uses an ADGC tuning (from top bottom to top). The resulting tone, he feels, stands out in the mix better than standard tuning.

"It fits below kick, sounds like low end of keyboard." says Coatez

Coatez likes to situate his frequency under the guitar and to not load up the frequencies in any particular area. He plays low a lot. He also uses heavier strings than is the norm.

-175 gauge for A

-130 for D

-90 for G

-70 for C

The low string is a Warwick and the rest are D'Addario.

When asked about tension on the neck Coatez says it is not an issue.

"If anything I could use more tension. It is really low low frequency and you have to have a lot of mass and tension to achieve that clear note," he says. "The Fender is on 34 inch scale...would help if it were 35 or 36."

But a longer scale is the stuff of boutique basses and is not ideal for someone who plays as hard as Cortex--he likes a bolt on neck. Heavy strings toned down on a bolt on neck works just fine.

When it comes to amps, Coatez used a real special one recording (and some live).

"On the album I play through a really weird demented 60s Fender head-- a 300ps," he says. "The thing is the most bad ass amp I have ever heard. Really early --3 pre amps....6 GC-6 rectifier tubes, four 655s...output transformers the size of cinder blocks. It is really rare. SVP is the standard for bass amps and this eats those alive."

He used the amp at the Greek in Los Angeles with great effect.

"I could safely put 4000-5000 watts through cabinet and it wouldn't breath heavy." he says.

In other words, you probably do not want to use the amp in a small club. It might kill the audience.

The band recorded their CD at Wet and Dry studio in Eagle Rock (in L.A.). It was all analog on a 2 inch MCI out to a 24 channel Neotech board. He says it is the same one used by Steve Albini but we were too lazy to verify this.

"It was awesome loved that studio. We nailed a lot of it live, Four of the five songs were recorded live." says Coatez.

On the one remaining track he dropped in a stand up bass.

Cortez' pedal board consists of a VHT Valvulator (pre-amp and power conditioner he uses to run visual sound volume pedal) into a Route 66 compressor/overdrive (can use one or both channels simultaneously) then into a Dunlop EQ and finally into a Bellari tube mic pre amp. You may notice the tube-analog-analog-tube chain here.

"I know all about keeping it fuzzy and warm," says Coatez. "I have been playing pro since I was 12. People I worked with showed me how to wire a power amp with a coat hanger. It is about getting fat tone. People on road ask how I get sound. It is tubes and analog -- musicality -- it isn't zeros and ones.

More with The Bangkok Five Soon.