Billy Sheehan is a bassist whose tone is as much a part of his identity as his playing. Premier Guitar puts it plainly: "Combined with his lightning-fast fretwork, Sheehan's meticulously crafted tone defines him as much as his work with Mr. Big"1. In recent years he has been playing in the Winery Dogs trio alongside Richie Kotzen and Mike Portnoy2. For bass pedals, his name is tied above all to a signature drive pedal built with EBS.
The EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive
The original Signature Drive, made by EBS Sweden, was introduced at Winter NAMM 2013, developed in close cooperation with Sheehan himself3. He worked on it for a little over two years5, and Premier Guitar notes that "Sheehan worked for almost two years on this pedal, and it most certainly paid off"1. EBS and Sheehan designed it not only as a distortion box but as a pedal that could retain clarity and low end while pumping out overdriven tone1.
Before the pedal existed, Sheehan got his trademark sound by splitting his signal1. In his own words, the pedal recreates that approach in one box:
"This pedal is a distillate of several important principles in the signal chain for bass. Compression, distortion, tone-shaping and blending all together."
He described the design idea in a MusicRadar interview at NAMM 2013: "we basically uh did in a pedal an approximation of what that pierce does on its own it's basically it's like two channels of a console one channel does one thing one the other channel does another and they sum and combine later on so that's kind of what we did here"5. The problem it solves is one bass players know well: when distortion kicks in, the low end can disappear, something he said is most evident on Sly and the Family Stone records where Larry Graham's bass drops away5.
The Signature Drive Deluxe
A follow-up, the Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Deluxe, was shown at Winter NAMM 20164 and demoed by Sheehan at the 2016 Winter NAMM show6. Premier Guitar's reviewer found it "simple enough for novices, but boasts features that will allow tinkerers to immerse themselves in full-on customization"7.
The two pedals side by side:
| Signature Drive | Signature Drive Deluxe | |
|---|---|---|
| Introduced | Winter NAMM 20133 | Winter NAMM 20164 |
| Aimed at | Players wanting Sheehan's split-signal drive sound in one box1 | Novices and tinkerers wanting customization7 |
| Distinctive feature | Compression, distortion, tone-shaping and blending in one pedal3 | User-swappable op-amp chips7 |
The Deluxe takes user-swappable op-amp chips, so its character can be changed by the player. A list of suitable chips was to be listed on the EBS website, with possible EBS branded chips coming later7.
The reviewer used the Deluxe on a rock gig with a Nash P-style bass into a Bergantino B|Amp and HD210 cabinet, where "Sheehan's signature pedal added fantastic aggression and authority to my bass notes"7.
The rest of his rig
Sheehan's core preamp is older than any of his pedals. He has used a Pearce preamp since the 1980 Van Halen tour, when Talas was opening for Van Halen, and it is still his main unit6. He worries about it, though, because it is the only one he has and it has failed a couple of times and needed repair6.
His other long-standing EBS gear, from before the signature collaboration:
His signature drive pedal is the product of that long relationship18.
Sources (8)
- EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Review, Premier Guitar, 2013-08-30
- EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Deluxe: Some dirt for your bass, gearnews.com, 2016-02-12
- NAMM 2013: EBS teams up with Billy Sheehan and launches new pedal, MusicRadar, 2013-01-10
- NAMM 2016: Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Deluxe bass pedal on show, MusicRadar, 2016-01-21
- NAMM 2013: Billy Sheehan on his EBS Signature Drive Pedal, MusicRadar, 2013-01-25
- Bass Musician Magazine NAMM 2016, Bass Musician Magazine, 2017-01-29
- EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Deluxe Review, Premier Guitar, 2016-09-04
- NAMM 2013: Billy Sheehan on his EBS Signature Drive Pedal, MusicRadar, 2013-01-28