Manowar!

[GuitarGeek]

He has a modified Rickenbacker with the strings close together and another with a very thin neck and close strings so he can play fast shred riffs and chords.
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Yeah, but is that the piccolo bass we're talking about? I can't imagine he uses such an instrument all the time, being that it's tuned higher than a regular bass. It seems that the band would have no bottom end if he was using a piccolo bass exclusively.

[JKL2000]

He has a modified Rickenbacker with the strings close together and another with a very thin neck and close strings so he can play fast shred riffs and chords.

You forgot to say "while greased up and wearing nothing but a loincloth."

[Garden Dreamer]

Yeah, but is that the piccolo bass we're talking about? I can't imagine he uses such an instrument all the time, being that it's tuned higher than a regular bass. It seems that the band would have no bottom end if he was using a piccolo bass exclusively.

I'm not sure which bass he considers the "piccolo", might be just an erroneous description since I don't equate it with the piccolo bass Stanley Clarke uses. He does bass solos which are very fast shredding (i.e. Flight of the Bumblebee) and I guess that's where it comes in. Most of their songs don't have a bass guitar sounding bottom end, he seems to do more of guitar chording a la Lemmy of Motorhead.

Either way, his custom equipment is replete with the usual fantastical hyperbole that surrounds everything the band does...

From his bass tech's blog:

This is legendary Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio's famed Enterprise, which I have worked on numerous times during the passed 25 years. The first time I worked on the Rickenbacker 4001 was just days before DeMaio was scheduled to out on the road as the bassist and musical director for the Broadway musical Godspell's touring company. He complained the bass had no balls. I recommended changing the pickups because the bass's stock pickups are notorious for their lack of output.

When DeMaio returned to collect his bass I handed him a bill for $350. He was furious. The bass only cost $500. I told him that my fee was the price for uniqueness. I told him he could pay it and be himself or I could change it back and he could be like everyone else. When he plugged in the augmented instrument, it had so much power that it almost blew up my test amp. He beamed and asked what other changes could be made.

That began a never-ending quest for excellence and the beginning of our unique friendship. We have modified this bass so many times over the years that it was recently insured for $20,000. By the way, he broke the neck on at least 3 occasions and I had to put it back on

Of course...

[GuitarGeek]

By the way, he broke the neck on at least 3 occasions and I had to put it back on[/I]

Given how many overseas gigs this band does, me thinks it is more likely airport baggage handlers who broke the neck, not Joey himself. Broken guitar necks are a common occurance under such circumstance, and the reason why Steve Howe insists on buying a seat for his guitar when he has to fly (Roy Buchanan used to do this as well).