lukeward2004

Ill do my best to make it, just need to confirm a date and ill give you a yay or a nay...

Basically, the MXR is a Gain box - so when Im soundchecking, I take the bass with the highest overall output, My Active Warwick Streamer LX5, crank it up to full volume, and adjust amp volumes etc alongside the engineer to suit the FOH sound with the MXR switched OFF. Once this has been set, I then switch to one of the other passive basses, and straight away you notice a volume difference. Engage the MXR, and increase the gain until the volume with the MXR engaged is the same as the Active bass with the MXR disengaged. Most of the time, the MXR is engaged for my Jazz as my Precision is loaded with SD 1/4 £ers, which have a pretty hot output as they are.

Me at a gig a week or so ago: Doing Vocals Grooving with the P... And Just generally looking sexy

On a serious note, Luke Ward in a nutshell: 22, plays warwick basses and various custom J/P basses, too much gear and not enough talent, been playing 6 years, tries to cover his inability to play by pulling silly faces and throwing himself around in the "groove" of said song. Plays for The Natalie long Band, and is currently trying to cobble together a Funk band so he can indulge in self gratification via his bass.

We all start off in the water. Some of us will manage to grab a surfboard and glide effortlessly to the beach. Others may find some other kind of metaphorical boat. The rest of us will have to swim. Sometimes the water will be rough, sometimes the water will be smooth, and not everyone will make it to land. Whilst you're in the water, why not take a look at what's around you- dive down, look at the reef, look at the fish. Maybe you will spend time trying to see a shark, only to get eaten. Maybe a jellyfish will sting you. You might even drown. No matter what happens, you will experience something that those who took the surfboards and boats will never. Luke Ward's music is one of the beautiful reefs that only a few people will chance across. His music is the brightly coloured fish that brush against your toes. His music is one of life's pleasures that most will overlook. Stop and look around you. Luke Ward is not really a cheesy metaphor, he is in fact a real life human who lives in a town called Windsor. He shares this town with a few interbred foreigners, and the Royal family. He started out playing covers in pubs and clubs several years ago, and proved so popular that he was able to introduce his own songs into his set. These were the songs that are yet to fling him into supernatural stardom… erm, I mean international stardom. Don't get me wrong - Denny is not a ghost. Although it has been rumoured that he likes to say 'woo-hoo, yoo-hoo' a lot. (Please check out the lyrics section in order to understand this amusing comment). He is also somewhat of a local celebrity, you can go anywhere in the local music scene, mention his name and be asked to leave. I mean, mention his name and you will discover how people warm to the charm of his voice and strength of his persona.

Well, I draw upon many influences, and have come to find a sound that I am happy with - Im not sure how relevant this is as I cannot pin my tone down to one artist or say ive tried to capture someone elses tone - I like to have my own thing going on. I use a Warwick Streamer LX5, a custom Jazz bass that is based heavily on a 75 model, and a custom Precision bass, which is based on a '62 Fender Precision. These three are all run through a Hartke 3500 head, with 12ax7m tube upgrade, an Aphex Aural Exciter C102, Korg DTR 1000 Rack tuner into a Hartke 410XL cab. The rig gives me a nice, clean tone, with plenty of low end and plenty of volume. I think the only thing I would look to change is the weight, and just as soon as I can find a lightweight Cab that cn give me minimum colouration to the sound, ill make the change. I also use several pedals - an MXR Auto Q filter, which is funky as hell, a DHA VT2-Dual Custom Valve overdrive box, a Boss OC-2 Octaver, and an MXR Micro Amp to balance out the volume differences between my Active Warwick and passive J/P basses. I use a Shure T Series Wireless which I will be changing for a rackmount SLX system soon, but all in all thats the lot. Signal chain goes Bass>Wireless>Pedalboard>Tuner>Aphex>Amp. I use an active DI from the back of the amp for tying into the PA at gigs. I find that using this setup gives me so many options tonally, depending on what bass I use. I play a hell of a lot of Funk at the moment, a fair bit of reggae, and rock. I have never once had trouble finding a tone I was happy with for eithe rof these applications.

WHOOT! Looks like ive landed ....