Aaron Metzdorf, bassist with Austin fuzzy stoner band Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, told us about his love for his Aguilar Tone Hammer.
Aaron Metzdorf: As a kid I developed a knack for "not leaving well enough alone" (per my father). I'd chop anything up and pull it apart to get the sound I want, but always gravitated to raw, simple setups. I kinda have a dull butcher's knife approach to sound.
Consequently there aren't a lot of moving parts to my bass tone: some old mesa boogie road ready cabs, distortion of the Rat variant, and massive pickups (a gibson mudbucker clone courtesy of Stonewall Pickups in New Hampshire).
I've blown up everything from Sunns and Crest power amps, and more than two SVTs, but I really rely on an Aguilar Tone Hammer nowadays. I use the di as a clean send to FOH with the mids killed at around 150hz, and 8dB or so of 40 and 4k boosted. It's the closest I get to surgical or utility, but it's very important to managing all the volume, frequency, and distortion on stage. Can't do without.
