About Us

My name is James  Rubel or Jim Rubel if you prefer the less formal.  I have been a bass player for over 30 years.  I have played clubs and bars all over Southern California as well as casinos throughout California and Nevada.  Currently I work several days a month at Disneyland in Anaheim, California with several different bands.  I also freelance with different bands and play corporate events and weddings, which I like doing better than bars for a few reasons.

I am a very rudimentary bass player.  You will rarely hear me slap and I do not play with a pick very often.  For me bass is all about laying down the rhythmic and chordal foundation.  My job is hold everything together and help the singers know where they are.  Friends often say I’m the Donald “Duck” Dunn or Adam Clayton of our little circuit or “click” of musicians.  That is very nice of them to say that.  It is true I will not “wow” anyone with my chops.  I don’t really have any.

This website will share some of things I have learned about playing bass over the years in different rock bands.  However, it will mostly be covering different gear my friends and I have bought over the years.  I will give my opinion on the items as well as what my friend think of some of their gear too.

I hope it tells you enough to make better choices in the bass equipment you buy.

Special Note: There is a page on this site about my grandfather the writer and author James L. Rubel because I think he was an interesting person.  It does not have anything to do with playing bass but he was a writer and I wanted to post a bio and some diary posts he made during World War 1 just for the curious.

Below are a bunch of video clips people have put up on Youtube of some of the bands I play with at Disney. I did not put them up to be an ego thing. More just to show I really do play out and I really do make money doing this.