Gibson EB-0 Bass And Tech21 SansAmp C'est Basstastique!
As bassist with Firewater, Eric Sanko plays the same Gibson Bass (an "EB" model) that George Scott played with John Cale and James Chance and the Contortions. Eric now fills the bass position with both Cale and the Contortions and even plays Air Force General Buck Turgidson in a staged version of Dr. Strangelove at a Long Island regional theater. It certainly is a small world.
Eric also offers up his services as a translator, though you might want to think twice about hiring him. Unless it's your goal to get detained by French Police and/or precipitate a ground war with Quebec.
[FIREWATER'S "BORNEO" FROM "THE GOLDEN HOUR" PLAYING]
ERIC SANKO: Eric Sanko, bass player.
PATRICK OGLE: What type of bass do you use?
ERIC SANKO: I'm actually using a bass that has a great history to it. It was -- I also play with James Chance and the Contortions, a classic New York oddball, and the bass that I'm playing belonged to the original bass player for the Contortions who also played with John Cale, whom I also played with. His name is George Scott, bass player. George died many years ago in 1982, and I'm lucky enough to be playing his actual bass. It's the actual Contortions bass. It's the Gibson ED something, probably late '70s.
PATRICK OGLE: What do you like about it aside from the history?
ERIC SANKO: The history is great but it has the right kind of thumpiness, focused yet thumpy. But it's not one of these that you can't -- You can actually hear the pitch. This is the kind of an added bonus. You have to know what note you're playing.
PATRICK OGLE: Yeah. All right, before I switch back to drums, what about what kind of rig do you use?
ERIC SANKO: I'm using my cabinet which is a 4 x 10 Ampeg that's been on the road for 15 years now, and it looks it, and we're using Todd's bass head which is a GK 800, Gallien-Krueger, roadworthy. First thing, any head is fine with me. I don't go anywhere without a SansAmp though. That's right GC Electronics.
PATRICK OGLE: [LAUGHING]
ERIC SANKO: It's the secret weapon, with my band, The Skeleton Key, the SansAmp will fit any band. We always use the SansAmp. Cabinet size, amp, I don't care. SansAmp, that makes the sound for me.
PATRICK OGLE: Why is it?
ERIC SANKO: It's got a -- You can dial in the EQ pretty well enough, but it's got this got this right amount of air because it's designed for a bass. It really is perfect for me.
PATRICK OGLE: Do you use any kind of pedals, effects, that sort of thing?
ERIC SANKO: Just the SansAmp.
PATRICK OGLE: Just the SansAmp? Yeah, that's it? Nothing else?
ERIC SANKO: These are my tone knobs. Okay. I suck. Well certainly when we're recording, we have more time. The last record we did, it was with John Cale, we had a lot of time to sit down and actually work on the bass sounds and make special sounds that were tailored to the songs and tailored to the parts because then some songs there are as many as four bass parts, and we kind of stacked them and wove them together, but I have an eight-string bass and an Ampeg fretless which is pretty swell, and Kubickis that I normally use. Basically, anything that makes a noise, I'll plug it in and start pounding on it.
PATRICK OGLE: And give it a shot?
ERIC SANKO: Yeah.
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: I'm Jean-Marc Butty, drummer.
ERIC SANKO: No. He says, "I'm Jean-Marc Butty, drummer." I'm translating for Jean-Marc Butty. He doesn't speak English but he understands it well, right?
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: Oui.
ERIC SANKO: Yes.
PATRICK OGLE: And I guess the first question would be for both of you. What it is like? Probably what do you pick out when you're live?
ERIC SANKO: Bass?
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: Punchy.
ERIC SANKO: [SOUNDS LIKE] Puncheesy.
PATRICK OGLE: And why?
ERIC SANKO: [SPEAKING IN FRENCH]?
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: [SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
ERIC SANKO: He started beating up cows in his youth and...
PATRICK OGLE: [INDISCERNIBLE]
ERIC SANKO: ...a couple of run-ins with the law, he found that it is easier to just take the skins off the cows and stretch them around drums, oil drums, and started getting a knack for it.
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: [SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
ERIC SANKO: Yes. It's very soft to the touch, but now he has some restraining orders from various farmers throughout France.
PATRICK OGLE: And what is the drum kit? What kind of drum kit?
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: [SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
ERIC SANKO: It's made from slain children, a 12-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 22-year-old.
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: Twenty-two.
ERIC SANKO: That's a little old.
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: [SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
ERIC SANKO: Okay. After that, he sneaked in -- He's got into a brush with the law again. He's French. He's had different --
PATRICK OGLE: Yeah. Different rules over there.
ERIC SANKO: It's different rules there. Yeah.
JEAN-MARC BUTTY: [SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
ERIC SANKO: He's also married to his sister. Yeah. I don't know. Any other questions for the Jean-Marc?
PATRICK OGLE: I think we're okay.
ERIC SANKO: Okay. Thank you.
PATRICK OGLE: Thank you very much.
ERIC SANKO: A pleasure.
[FIREWATER'S "3 LEGGED DOG" FROM "THE GOLDEN HOUR" PLAYING]
sansamp
i've got the sansamp gt2 for guitar. i used it for a long time before i got an amp worth using. now i still use it for live sets that require some distortion but something that is small enough that i can't melt faces with the burning power of EL34s or EL84s. The sound is great for what it is. It can go direct, and plus, it travels extremely well for teaching guitar lessons. i can't say that i've used one for bass guitar like sanko, but my point is that his enthusiasm for sansamp is legit. overpriced, just like all other stompboxes and such, but legit nonetheless.
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