From Primus to Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, we check out all of the gear in the arsenal of the great Les Claypool.
The funk metal bass legend Les Claypool built a name for himself as the only continuous member of Primus and has since involved himself in many side projects along the way. Known for his tappin’, thumpin’, pluckin’, and flamenco-like strummin’, Claypool has truly solidified his position as a legend in the bass guitar world.
Primus’s lineup shifted in a big way recently. Longtime drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander left in 2024, and after a global search that drew more than 6,200 applicants, Shreveport’s John “Hoffer” Hoffman took the seat in 2025. The new-look trio has since released the single “Little Lord Fentanyl” with Maynard James Keenan, with a tenth Primus album on the way. Claypool is keeping his other bands busy in 2026, too, bringing Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium and the Frog Brigade together for the coast-to-coast Claypool Gold tour.
Read all the latest features, columns and more here.
Bass guitars
Carl Thompson ‘Rainbow’ Bass
Since the release of their major label debut Sailing The Seas Of Cheese in 1991, Claypool has endorsed the designs of luthier Carl Thompson, a master of creating eyebrow raising, brilliant custom instruments for Claypool to concoct disgusting sounds from – the most notable of which is the ‘Rainbow’ bass. Claypool’s infamous instrument features a unique multi-wood construction made by combining strips of curly maple, walnut, padauk, purple heart, ebony and cocobolo, and boasts six strings with absolutely zero frets. The bass also features a string-thru design, as well as a hand-made wooden bridge and Schaller tuning heads, with an Indian ebony fingerboard and an EMG DC active pickup.
Carl Thompson Walnut Four String
When Claypool feels the desire to get less weird – if that’s possible at all – and use a four-string bass, this Carl Thompson model is his go-to. Decked out with an EMG 35 pickup, an EMG-BTC preamp and featuring a walnut body, this bass features the interesting addition of a Kahler locking tremolo system, which Claypool employs for divebombs and pitch bends throughout ‘Those Damn Blue-Collared Tweakers’ and ‘Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver’.
Carl Thompson Six String Fretted
In addition to his whacky ‘Rainbow’ bass, Les owns another six string Carl Thompson model, a maple fretted design which can be seen in the above image.
Fender Jazz Bass
Although he tends to stick with his Carl Thompson basses for live work, Claypool can be spotted with a red Fender Jazz Bass in the music video for ‘Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver’, which he dons in unison with a very creepy silicon cowboy suit. Claypool’s bass in this video looks similar to the basses favoured by virtuosic Rush bassist Geddy Lee, a longtime hero and occasional collaborator of Claypool’s.
Pachyderm Bass
After years of endorsing Carl Thompson basses, Les Claypool made the decision to retire his trusted instruments in favour of a new model he co-designed with luthier Dan Maloney, dubbed the Pachyderm bass. Les owns a few of these models, which feature a P-Bass style pickup configuration, and are constructed with specs similar to his old Carl Thompson basses with the notable addition of LED fret-markers.
NS Design NXT Five String Electric Upright Bass
A celebrated purveyor of different approaches to the bass guitar, Claypool often uses a Ned Steinberger Upright Electric Bass when performing several tracks from 1993’s Pork Soda live, including ‘Mr. Krinkle’ and the haunting ‘The Air Is Getting Slippery’.
Kay Acoustic Upright Bass
This old school upright bass can be spotted in the video for ‘Mr. Krinkle’, featuring a creepily masked Claypool doing his thing in front of a surreal, Wish You Were Here-esque backdrop. Honestly, this band is just too much sometimes.
Regal RD-05 Resonator Bass
Not content with electric and upright basses alone, Claypool also breaks out a Regal RD-05 resonator he’s nicknamed ‘The Dobro’. It’s a regular in The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and true to form he’s modified his by covering the three port holes and fitting a pickup that doesn’t come stock on the thing. A resonator bass is a rare enough sight on its own – trust Claypool to make one weirder.
Michael Kelly Bayou 4 Resonator Bass
Sticking with the resonator theme, the Michael Kelly Bayou 4 has turned up across plenty of his more stripped-back outings, including a spot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and various Duo de Twang shows. It’s the one he reaches for when he wants a woody, acoustic bark rather than the full Carl Thompson growl.
Whamola
Ever heard of the Whamola? Don’t worry, we hadn’t either. Apparently, the Whamola is a one-stringed upright bass with a lever behind the neck to adjust the pitch. In this video, Claypool can be seen hitting the Whamola with a double-bass bow to concoct some absolutely wild sounds, and it’s actually not even that weird – in fact, it sounds pretty cool.
Amplifiers
For the most part of his career, Les Claypool has been a devotee to Mesa/Boogie amplifiers, using their heavy, thumping tone in conjunction with his rapid slapped and tapped style to form the sonic basis of his playing in Primus.
Throughout the ’90s, Claypool favoured a Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+ head paired with two 2×15 Mesa/Boogie Diesel cabinets. Claypool incorporated an A/DA MP-1 MIDI Tube Preamp into his rig, which was used to buffer and beef up his tone in a live setting.
These days, Claypool plays through Mesa/Boogie Subway D-800 heads paired with four Subway Ultra Lite 1×12 cabinets.
Effects & pedals
Claypool is a lover of all things weird, and his pedalboard definitely reflects this. In the above image, you can spot his board boasting a Boomerang Phrase Sampler, a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler and a DM4 Distortion Modeler, a Korg ToneWorks AX300B multi-effects used for its envelope filter effect, a Roland PK5 Dynamic MIDI pedal, a Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer, and a Fractal Audio Systems AX-8 Amp Modeler/Multi-Effects unit.
Going further back, Claypool reached for an Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes overdrive to ‘sweeten up’ his tracks on Primus’s 1997 Brown Album. It’s proof that the weird streak has always come paired with a good ear for tone.
Microphone
Shure 520DX ‘Green Bullet’
That gnarled, distorted vocal sound Claypool pulls out for the likes of ‘Tommy the Cat’ and ‘My Name Is Mud’ isn’t a studio trick, but a Shure 520DX ‘Green Bullet’, the harmonica mic he sings through live to get his voice suitably filthy. Primus are even listed as users on Shure’s own site.
Read about Les Claypool’s failed Metallica audition here.
