Hellmut Hattler has since he began as a bassplayer 40 years ago owned and
played many basses from different brands. We will walk through some
of the many models, and discuss why Hellmut liked them, and why he
went on to the next model. So this page is mainly about technical issues. |
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Bass - Gear - picture | Type / model / year | Hellmuts comments |
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1969 Upright bass |
Hellmut says: Bought this instrument for little money from a retired teacher. Was proud as hell, as it promised to get me more into jazz… it sounded quite good but was incredibly hard to play, my fingers suffered so I also played it not just with a bow but hit the strings with a rubber tipped drumstick. Someone broke the bass years later on at one of the famous Wintrup Christmas parties… |
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1969 Höfner semiacoustic (<- Click for large photo, HH is still finger picking) |
Hellmut says: My very first bass guitar. I spend all my money for it being 15 years old. I wanted to form a band, but the guy who was supposed to play bass had no instrument (I was the guitarist ![]() |
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1970-72 Fender Telecaster bass |
Hellmut says: I’m sure this instrument is the reason for my unusual playing technique. The sound of the single coil pick up and the wide and empty “playing field” tempted me to play with a guitar plec again. It sounded great with the Rotosound roundwound strings. I gave it to Karthago's bass player Gerald Hartwig (you know I never kept my worn out instruments . . .) . |
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1972/74 Modified Rickenbacker 4001 wood/beige + Gibson EB0 pickup ![]() |
Hellmut says: A friend sold it to me after intensive sound experiments by building in replacement pick ups. I guess he chopped out too much wood, as the bass smashed into pieces after a warmup gig in Berlin – just one day before Conny Plank was recording the legendary “KRAAN live” album… |
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1972/74 Rickenbacker 4001 wood/beige + some upright bass (over the shoulder) |
Hellmut says: The upright bass was built by the German company “Framus”. an attempt to sound jazzy in a amplified band (which didn’t really work)… - and in the picture we see is the last days of the modified Rickenbacker (R.I.P.) |
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1960s
Eko Model 995 Violin Bass![]() Belonged to Jan Fride. |
Schnellste bassist der welt (Wintrup 1975) |
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1974/75 Rickenbacker 4003 black |
Hellmut says: That’s the instrument I had to buy in Berlin the very day of the “KRAAN live” recordings! It wasn’t even perfectly adjusted when I went on stage… those were the days… |
![]() Copenhagen 1976 |
1976 -1978 Travis Bean TB2000 |
Hellmut says: I didn’t use it much, it gave me cold fingers, the neck is made of aluminium. I played it on the “Lilienthal” album (1978) though. http://www.travisbeanguitars.com Travis Bean TB2000 was first produced in 1975 |
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1976 Hamer explorer |
Hellmut says: Wiederhören constitst of two recording
sessions, I guess I played the Hamer on the one with Conny Plank (= Vollgas
Ahoi, Silky Way, Yaqui Yagua, Wiederhören) . In the same session
we recorded “Sunday walk”, which dropped onto my “Bassball”
album, so this should be the Hamer on this track, too. |
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1977 Rickenbacker 4003 Red |
Hellmut says: My favorite Rickenbacker. It sounded so much better than the black one, but was mechanically shit. This is the bass that Hellmut 'customized' into the one you see below (MB's comment). |
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1977/79 Rickenbacker "Hellmut Hattler signature" |
Hellmut says: It wasn’t a signature model. I “customized” it myself . I only replaced the bridge (built by the Hannover based co. “Rockinger” who made a bass for me once, too), cut the face out, sticked the rainbow tape on and replaced the name tab, wrote my name on the headstock... I never had the idea to ask Rickenbacker for an endorsement deal. I donated this to the Meinl/Ibanez museum, Neustadt/Aisch. ![]() |
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1979 Rickenbacker 4003 Black |
Hellmut says: I bought many Rickenbackers, and I think they sold many bass guitars because I used them and made them popular in Germany. But they never offered me any instruments, and as they have not been very stable or well built, one day my red one passed away, too… So I was very happy when Ibanez offered me a well paid endorsement deal that lasted for many years and helped to have the time and the money to do lots of musical experiments during the 80'ies. |
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1979/84 Ibanez Roadstar - red |
Hellmut says: Ibanez released many basses, modifying the repertoire every now and then, so I had a hard time to get everything tested. I used the less expensive istruments, such as “blazers” and several “roadsters”. Michael Bohn: I just listened to the tune 'Playing for you' from Nachtfart 1982, and I often noticed that on this particular tune, your bass sound is more rough than on the other tunes. It sounds great, but more heavy than Kraan use to. Why is that? Hellmut Hattler : Recordingwise this song should have the same bass sound as on "Wintruper echo". Both tracks were recorded at the old "ege studio" in Bad Schussenried (nearby). His old tools and mixing console sounded veeeeery special, (Gerry Brown refused to record there after a long sound check...). "Wintruper echo" was mixed later in Berlin (Budde studio), I guess the"playing for you" mix was done at ege's (don't remember exactly). Anyway, I liked this roaring bass sound as it fitted perfectly to the song's atmosphere. |
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1979/84 |
Hellmut says: During my Ibanez era I exclusivly played their instruments. Also fretless- four-, five- or eight string basses. (Some fretless bass is heard on Soul of stone (possibly also on other albums) - MB) |
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198? Ibanez Blazer |
Hellmut says: A cheap model, that felt good, and sounded good. Ibanez wanted me to play more expensive Ibanez basses, but accepted that this was my favorite. It basically had a sound like a Fender precision. ![]() |
![]() 30.10.1987 Gütersloh Alte Weberei |
1987 IBANEZ Roadstar white |
Hellmut says: Oh, this one sounded great. It’s maybe a fault to give an instrument away, when a new one appears, as I still miss this one! Its the one I used on 'dancing in the shade' , but i remember having dubbed one of Peters compositions during the recording sessions with my (then) brandnew white warwick. Here you can see it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uljBW62cTK8 ![]() A slightly different and later Roadstarmodel - rounded bodysides, different pickups, no tremolo. |
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1990 – 199? Warwick streamer |
Hellmut says: The German Ibanez distributor kicked me out of the endorsement contract after I asked them to build in Warwick pickups in my upcoming signature model. Warwick felt guilty and made me a Warwick endorsee ![]() ![]() My warwick (i just wrote a “T” before and an “O” behind the “W”arwick brand sign) |
![]() BassLab Soul-IV |
1994![]() Auerswald Hammer 4 |
Webmaster: In the nineties Hellmut borrowed and
tested many basses, some of them made from composite materials (e.g. not
wood). Basslab lent him
a BassLab Soul-IV (dont know if it was used for any recordings).
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1995 |
Hellmut says: This is how my 1990ies fretless sound looks like! I played the “Universal 4” upright bass on several TAB TWO records. http://www.bassline-bass.de/endorser.php |
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1995 |
Hellmut says: This was / is my main instrument, especially when I travel. Very reliable. I have two, a blue and a white. ![]() 091105 HATTLER in Ulm, Roxy. Photo by Timmi Steinel. |
![]() ta daaa! |
1999 Ritter Bass - Custom Made ![]() |
Hellmut says: This bass guitar is a real custom made instrument developed and manufactured by Jens Ritter himself. He “merged” the Status- the Rickenbacker- and the typical Ritterbass bodies into one single shape! A great Instrument built by a real genius! More photos of this bass: http://www.ritter-basses.com ![]() |
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2000 |
Hellmut says: The Sharkey is an incredibly organic sounding instrument. All of the fretless tracks on the HATTLER albums are done with it. I feel just not good enough to play it onstage. http://www.magnusguitars.de/baesse.htm ![]() |
Links to some of the mentioned manufacturers:
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Todays gear (2009): |
Thanks to Hellmut Hattler & Fred Bauer. (Published December 2009 / Michael Bohn )
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2015 - Hellmuts daughter Mia plays
a Rockinger bass - formerly owned by Hellmut.![]() Click for a larger version 2015 - Hellmut is happy about his new Warwick gear. ![]() Click for a larger version |
02.03. 2015 - Hellmut with is brand new Warwick bass:
Hellmut: "my new warwick custom made bass (with a tankwood neck)
arrived today - same shape as my old Streamer, but the wood of the neck,
the frets, the pick ups, the electronics, the machine heads - almost eveything
is different except the body shape." |
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<-- Left - November 2016 Hellmut says: After more than 1300 concerts and after 25 years of constant operation, my white Status Bass has got a green eyed sister! Mr. Rob Green (Status CEO) built me a great follow-up instrument (that might easily become the touring stimulus for the next 25 years). --------------------------------------------------------------------- 25.2.2021 update from the Kraan Facebook: ![]() Nach 40 Jahren: Verschollener KRAAN-Rickenbacker kehrt zu Hellmut Hattler zurück! Hellmut Hattlers roter Rickenbacker-Bass ist ein Stück deutsche Musikgeschichte https://www.bonedo.de/artikel/einzelansicht/nach-40-jahren-verschollener-kraan-rickenbacker-kehrt-zu-hellmut-hattler-zurueck.html |