Doni Blair, the bass half of the rhythm section of The Toadies, plays a pair of Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz basses. Most musical connoisseurs would not associate The Toadies with Rush. But divergent musical minds can think alike when it comes to the hardware. And all bassists love Geddy Lee. It is a bassist rule (akin to commandment to love Jaco Pastorius).

Can you tell me why you like the Fender Geddy Lee basses? What is it about them? How are they different?

Honestly? Because they're Geddy Lee's! You can take them off of the wall of any store & just play them. You don't have to do anything to them at all. They sound & play great right from the start.

You have two. Are they set up differently or is one a "just in case" bass?

One was a gift from my wife, it's signed by Geddy Lee and is the most important bass I have; it also has Seymour Duncan pickups in it to give it a boost. I've probably made five records with that one alone. The other bass is stock and has a little bit of a rounder tone to it. It's best to have two basses out on tour that are similar, that way if something happens mid-song you can change and the overall tone will remain consistent.

What is the best thing about the Geddy Lee bass?

Again, they're Geddy's basses! They come with Badass II bridges, the necks are perfect, they aren't too heavy. . . plus, they're Japanese made which means the manufacturing is better and they aren't too expensive.

How about the worst thing?

Not a single damn thing.

Tell me why you use the Acoustic Head/Ampeg Cab? Why this set up?

I was using Ampegs for a while -- fantastic heads but not quite right for what the Toadies need. There are a lot of bass lines played in an upper register & Ampeg's are more known for their low end, not high end. The Acoustic's were used mainly in the 70's by Jaco Pastorius and have an incredible punch to them, both in the low end & high end. It's perfect for what I have to have for the Toadies: growly low end and loud highs. The Ampeg 8X10 is pretty damn unbeatable. Period.

What did you use before you discovered the Geddy basses and why did you change?

I used an Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray bass along with my Geddys, but it didn't quite fit the Toadies sound so I changed.

As an aside, the various band members sent gear lists that included items that were, strictly speaking, not gear despite being items considered indispensible by many musicians (beer, strange herbs, notebooks full of grandmother jokes).

Your bandmates seem to consider beer and [herbal supplements] to be indispensable tour gear. Why do you gravitate toward caffeine?

I'm straight edge and I think everyone who knows me knows that it's a GOOD idea that I don't do any drugs. Bad things would happen. I love caffeine too much; I'm a coffee junkie, plus it gives me a good jolt right before a show when I need it!

In addition, Blair told me my grandma was Kareem Abdul Jabar. This is inaccurate. My grandma’s name was Lou Alcinder.