Top 5SponsoredUses
“All the Foderas I play are basically the same: EMG pickups, PJ style, in the same place.”
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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Victor Wooten. Every item links to its public source.
24 items · Last checked What bass does Victor Wooten play?
Victor Wooten uses Fodera basses, and in 2026 he said all of them are basically the same, with EMG pickups in a P/J layout. He has toured with Hartke amps since 2009, most recently a TX300 head and HL112 cabinet, and has said he uses a DigiTech Whammy for pitch shifting and records in Pro Tools.
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Top 5
Where to start with Victor Wooten's gear.
01
02
Top 5SponsoredHas said they use
Fodera
Yin Yang Standard“I played my main Fodera Yin Yang 4-string with EMG pickups”
Said in Bass Magazine: Victor Wooten & Steve Bailey, Older, Wiser, Bigger, Badder, September 2022
03
Top 5SponsoredSeen using
Hartke
TX300“Coming in at a super-portable 30 pounds combined, Victor Wooten's current rig consists of the Hartke TX300 head and the HL 112 cabinet.”
Seen in AMS Tone Labs: Victor Wooten Interview, March 2024
04
Top 5SponsoredSeen using
05
Top 5SponsoredSeen using
Hartke
LH1000“Wooten used Hartke's HyDrive cabinets and LH1000 amps during the SMV tour”
Seen in No Treble: It's Official, Victor Wooten Jumps to Hartke, March 2009
What gear Victor Wooten uses: a sourced gear guide
Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.
Basses
SponsoredUses
“All the Foderas I play are basically the same: EMG pickups, PJ style, in the same place.”
SponsoredHas said they use
Fodera
Yin Yang Standard“I played my main Fodera Yin Yang 4-string with EMG pickups”
Said in Bass Magazine: Victor Wooten & Steve Bailey, Older, Wiser, Bigger, Badder, September 2022
Univox
Lectra bass
Has said they use
Univox
Lectra bass“The first bass my parents could find that was small enough for me was that Univox”
Said in No Treble: Victor Wooten Shows Off His Incredible Bass Collection and Reveals How He Gets His Sound, May 2026
No store page for this one.
Alembic
Series I bass
Has said they use
Alembic
Series I bass“In a sense, I’ve played three basses in my life: the Univox, the Alembic, and the Fodera”
Said in No Treble: Victor Wooten Shows Off His Incredible Bass Collection and Reveals How He Gets His Sound, May 2026
No store page for this one.
Juzek
Upright bass
Seen using
Juzek
Upright bassSeen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
No store page for this one.
EMG
P/J pickups
Uses
EMG
P/J pickups“All the Foderas I play are basically the same: EMG pickups, PJ style, in the same place.”
Said in No Treble: Victor Wooten Shows Off His Incredible Bass Collection and Reveals How He Gets His Sound, May 2026
No store page for this one.
DR Strings
Bass strings
Seen using
DR Strings
Bass stringsSeen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
No store page for this one.
Amps and DI
SponsoredSeen using
Hartke
TX300“Coming in at a super-portable 30 pounds combined, Victor Wooten's current rig consists of the Hartke TX300 head and the HL 112 cabinet.”
Seen in AMS Tone Labs: Victor Wooten Interview, March 2024
SponsoredSeen using
SponsoredSeen using
Hartke
LH1000“Wooten used Hartke's HyDrive cabinets and LH1000 amps during the SMV tour”
Seen in No Treble: It's Official, Victor Wooten Jumps to Hartke, March 2009
Seen using
Radial Engineering
Firefly DISeen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
Hartke
HyDrive cabinets
SponsoredSeen using
Hartke
HyDrive cabinetsSeen in No Treble: It's Official, Victor Wooten Jumps to Hartke, March 2009
No store page for this one.
API
TranZformer DI
Seen using
Seen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
No store page for this one.
Effects
Has said they use
DigiTech
Whammy“On some of it, I use a DigiTech Whammy pedal, but also I'm using MIDI to have a keyboard sound play along with the bass.”
Said in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
Seen using
Eventide
H9 HarmonizerSeen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
Rodenberg Custom Amplification
GAS Victor Wooten signature distortion
SponsoredSeen using
Rodenberg Custom Amplification
GAS Victor Wooten signature distortionSeen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
No store page for this one.
InnProcess Music
FretTraX MIDI system
Seen using
InnProcess Music
FretTraX MIDI systemSeen in Premier Guitar: Victor Wooten, Speak Your Voice, December 2017
No store page for this one.
Studio
Has said they use
API
512c Mic Pre“I've done a couple of recordings for people using API preamps. One is the API 512c”
Said in Bass Magazine: Lockdown Check-In With Victor Wooten, May 2020
Has said they use
Avid
Pro Tools“But I found this amazing double-time Indian clay pot loop on Pro Tools that I couldn't resist”
Said in Guitar World (Bass Player): Victor Wooten on Words and Tones and Sword and Stone, December 2024
Has said they use
Apple
GarageBand“Those were recorded using Garage Band on my iPhone.”
Said in No Treble: Playing With Words and Music, An Interview with Victor Wooten (Part 2), September 2012
Records and books he has named
Has said they love
Joni Mitchell
Shadows and Light“it was supposed to be a mellow Joni Mitchell/Jaco type of piece.”
Said in Guitar World (Bass Player): Victor Wooten on Words and Tones and Sword and Stone, December 2024
Has said they love
Carles Benavent
Quartet“One of my favorite records that I've been listening to is called Quartet”
Said in Bass Magazine: Lockdown Check-In With Victor Wooten, May 2020
Has said they love
Miles Davis
Nefertiti“I've also been listening to Miles Davis' Nefertiti, with Ron Carter on bass”
Said in Bass Magazine: Lockdown Check-In With Victor Wooten, May 2020
Has said they love
Richard Bach
Illusions“he had a copy of one of my favorite books, Illusions by Richard Bach”
Said in Bass Magazine: Victor Wooten, The Wooten Way, August 2021
Questions
About Victor Wooten's gear.
What bass does Victor Wooten use?
Fodera. He got his first Fodera Monarch around 1983 and told Reverb in 2026 that all the Foderas he plays are basically the same, with EMG P/J pickups in the same place. His main bass on the 2022 Bass Extremes album was a Fodera Yin Yang 4-string.
How does Victor Wooten get his tone?
He told Reverb his basses run an 18-volt preamp with a pan knob instead of separate pickup volumes. He favors the bridge pickup for solo bass and melodies and the neck pickup for heavier bass lines.
What effects does Victor Wooten use?
He told Premier Guitar he used a DigiTech Whammy for pitch shifting on Trypnotyx, and its gear list also named an Eventide H9 Harmonizer, a Rodenberg GAS signature distortion and FretTraX MIDI. He has also mentioned using a looping pedal.
What amp does Victor Wooten use?
Hartke, since 2009, when No Treble reported he used LH1000 heads and HyDrive cabinets on the SMV tour. In a 2024 AMS interview his rig was a Hartke TX300 head and an HL112 cabinet, about 30 pounds in all. Premier Guitar's 2017 gear list adds a Radial Firefly DI.
Which records and books has Victor Wooten named?
He has called Richard Bach's Illusions one of his favorite books, named Carles Benavent's Quartet and Miles Davis' Nefertiti as records he loves, and said Words and Tones was meant to sound like Joni Mitchell's Shadows and Light.
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Named in this guide
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Victor Wooten
About this guide · Last checked
Victor Wooten is the bassist of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and the Wooten Brothers, known for A Show of Hands, SMV with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller, and his book The Music Lesson. This guide covers his Fodera basses, effects and studio tools from his interviews, plus the records and books he has named.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Victor Wooten didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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