Buck-Tick Zone

Yutaka Higuchi

real name: Yutaka Higuchi

nickname: U-ta (pronounced Yu-ta)

instrument: bass

first band: Buck-Tick

date of birth: January 24, 1967 (Showa era, year 42)

siblings: deceased older brother, older brother (drummer Toll Yagami), older sister who is married with children

marital status: never married

education: graduated from Takasaki High School, Gunma prefecture in March 1985

first record bought: "Let It Be" by The Beatles, to give to his older brother (now deceased)

first concert attended: Pink Lady

favorite...

artist: James Jamerson

color: black

cigarette: Marlboro Medium (previously Seven Star)

drink: full bodied red French wine, oolong tea, water (when performing live)

food: fish, vegetables, sushi

movie: Bladerunner

season: spring

sport: if playing it, baseball (his favorite team is the Hanshin Tigers from Osaka, the rival team of his brother Toll's favorite team)

thing about Buck-Tick: playing live

favorite / influential albums:

(this information was compiled from various books and interviews)

Pornography by The Cure
U-ta started to like Bauhaus and The Cure at the same time

Deep by Peter Murphy
U-ta has liked Peter Murphy since he was the vocalist of Bauhaus

Express by Love and Rockets
U-ta likes Daniel Ash a lot and thinks this album is very easy to listen to

Tin Drum by Japan

Word of Mouth by Jaco Pastorius

Porcupine by Echo and the Bunnymen
U-ta likes the bass a lot and often copied it

Purple by Stone Temple Pilots

Space Oddity by David Bowie
U-ta loves Bowie and thought that Atsushi would name Ziggy Stardust as one of his favorites, so U-ta decided to choose this one

Bestial Cluster by Mick Karn

Vienna by Ultravox
U-ta likes the guitar and bass on this album a lot

Doubt by Jesus Jones

Billy Idol by Billy Idol
U-ta thinks this album is so good, he doesn't even have words to express it; he copied this one a lot; even when he listens to it today it still sounds cool

A Wizard, a Tool Star by Todd Langlen
U-ta thinks this album sounds like The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper and loves the melodies

Night Time by Killing Joke
most Killing Joke fans don't like this one but this is U-ta's favorite

Abbey Road by the Beatles

Synchronicity by the Police
U-ta has liked the Police for a long time and thinks highly of this album

MCMXC A.D. by Enigma

Dress For Excess by Sigue Sigue Sputnik

Singles 93-03" by The Chemical Brothers

A Secret Wish by Propaganda
U-ta didn't like synthesizer bands until he heard this album

Armed Forces by Elvis Costello
this is one U-ta got from his brother Toll; he's liked it since high school

Black Sea by XTC
U-ta thinks this is high quality and likes the drums and rhythms

Pop Art by Transvision Vamp

Mother's Milk by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
U-ta thinks they are funny live and likes the bass

Never Mind the Bollocks--Here's the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols
When asked who is the one artist that changed your life, U-ta declared it was the Sex Pistols.

Rage Against the Machine

Asian Dub Foundation

Equipment Overview

[This is lacking some content and needs to be research in order to be updated but most magazines seem to detail more about Hisashi than U-ta]

U-ta used a black bass with white paint marks on it in the early days of Buck-Tick. His main bass then became a black Greco until touring for Aku No Hana when he switched to a Spector maple body. He sometimes switches on stage with a Greco fretless.

U-ta has been using Trace Elliot amps ever since Buck-Tick played the Touhoku Rock Circuit Tour with Rogue, whose bassist used Trace Elliot amps and U-ta decided to get them too. He used a AH500X amp head with four cabinets. During Sexy Stream Liner he kept using Trace Elliot amps for his fretless and used SWR amps for his main bass. As early as Six/Nine he had been using Trace Elliot with SWR but I do not know the details of which amps were used for what. I need to research when and to which amps he switched to but since he's been using Music Man basses, he's also been using Music Man amps. (HD-212 cabinets)

U-ta has been basically using the same equipment for his pedal board, just modifying things a little bit, such as adding a Korg G5 midi bass processor during the Somewhere/Nowhere Tour (Six/Nine). (That effect was later used for the song "Heroine" for example.) Here is a diagram of his setup in 1995. Pictured above is his pedal setup during Sexy Stream Liner. Please note that whenever U-ta has 2 of the same item, it is because 1 is for his main bass and the other is for his fretless. He has 2 Korg AT-1 tuners. He also went from using 2 FV-100L volume pedals to one FV-100L and one FV-300L. He uses a Rocktron Midi Mate for his foot controller which controls the Rocktron Patch Mate.

His rack has also been basically the same. Pictured above is the Sexy Stream Liner setup. It consisted of ETA power distribution, 2 Alesis Quadraverbs (multi-effector), a Rocktron 300G (compressor/limiter), and 2 SWR SM-400 preamps. He also uses a Flip Valve BB-1. His wireless system is Ex-Pro1 (not pictured). U-ta has specific settings for: "Victims of Love", "Lion", "Kirameki No Naka De...", and "Jupiter".

At first, U-ta would play with a pick but then in the 1990s he began playing with his fingers. He alternates between picking and fingering, depending on the song. He tends to put the pick in his mouth when he plays with his fingers so if you ever see a small black object inbetween his lips, that would be his pick.

U-ta practices to the beat of his electric metronome, Boss Dr. Beat DB-66, much to the annoyance of Hisashi. U-ta feels that sometimes a song is fast and since everyone is operating at a different pace, he doesn't want to slip out of time.

Equipment: mid-late 1980s

U-ta's bass in 1986
specs unknown

U-ta's main bass during the Sexual XXXXX! period
black with white paint splatter design (I don't know if he decorated it or if he bought it that way; perhaps he and Hisashi and Hide all decorated their own instruments at this time)
(I have never seen this bass in use since then; did he get rid of it?)

Greco
pickups: EMG
nut and bridge: brass
controls: he had the master volume knob moved down so he wouldn't hit it while picking
usage: this type of bass was U-ta's main until 1990
this was mass produced and sold to the public as the PXB-800 Phoenix bass AKA U-ta model
Greco PXB-800 specs:
body: sen or alder
neck: maple 3 piece
fretboard: ebony, 26 frets, 30R, 432 scale
pickups: pro-duce Px1, pro-duce Jx1
controls: volume, balance, tone, middle shaper switch
circuit: middle shaper active
finish: polyester
hardware: brass
(photo from Aku No Hana recording)

Equipment: 1990s

Spector Jazz J type
pickups: EMG
controls: there is a balance knob for each pickup and he had one of them turned into the master volume
usage: used during the Aku No Hana Tour

Spector
same specs as the previous bass except for the following
pickups: EMG type PJ (notice that one is a split pickup)
nut and bridge: changed to black parts instead of brass
usage: used during the Aku No Hana Tour

Greco PXB Fretless
it appears to have frets but in actuality the frets were removed but the lines remain
usage: it was used to record the following tracks on Koroshi No Shirabe: Victims of Love, Jupiter, Taboo

Rickenbacker 4003
body: maple
neck: maple
fingerboard: rosewood
bridge/tailpiece: RIC/RIC
pickups: single coil
controls: 4 controls, toggle switch
usage: it was used to record the following tracks on Koroshi No Shirabe: Iconoclasm, Speed, Love Me

Greco GEB-100 acoustic/electric
it appears to have frets but in actuality the frets were removed but the lines remain
usage: it was used to record the following tracks on Koroshi No Shirabe: Do the "I Love You", Jupiter

Spector NS-20IL
body: maple
pickups: EMG
controls: volume, treble, bass, pickup balance
usage: main bass from 1990 onwards (then it was apparently used for songs in D tuning)
it was used to record the following tracks on Koroshi No Shirabe: Aku No Hana, Oriental Love Story, ... In Heaven..., Moon Light, Just One More Kiss, Hyper Love.
he had another copy that was fretless; the fretted version was used to record the following tracks on Six/Nine: Kagiri Naku Nezumi, Aikawarazu No "Are" No Katamari Ga Nosabaru hedo No Soko No Fuki Damari (please note that only one magazine I have that I can recall stated there are 2 copies of fretted/fretless so I have some doubts until I see pictures of both or re-read the magazines and compare)

Fender Jazz
usage: this was in the studio during the recording of Koroshi No Shirabe but never made it to any tracks; used to record Six/Nine's "Itoshi No Rock Star"

Gibson Les Paul
U-ta acquired this 2 weeks before the recording of Koroshi No Shirabe and was really excited about it but it apparently never made it to any tracks

G&L L2000
usage: main bass used to record Six/Nine: Kimi No Vanilla, Kodo, Rakuen, Hosoi Sen, Kick (Daichi Wo Keru Otoko), Uta, Mienai Mono Wo Miyou To Suru Gokai    Subete Gokai Da

Fender Precision Bass
(not pictured)
usage: this was a rental and it was used to record the following tracks on Six/Nine: Love Letter, Detarame Yarou

Greco PS-850 U-ta custom fretless
(another article on U-ta's gear lists it as model PS-900MEB, perhaps it was a typo or he has both models and they look alike to the untrained eye?)
body: white ash
neck: maple
fretboard: rosewood with ebony
pickups: Powerstorm
controls: volume, treble, bass, pickup balance
with Pro-Tech active circuit
this is U-ta's fretless bass--it appears to have frets but in actuality the frets were removed but the lines remain
usage: used to record Six/Nine's "Misshitsu", Sexy Stream Liner's "Kimi Ga Shin..dara" and "Kalavinka" for example

Greco PXB-1600
5 strings
body: walnut/maple/mahogany/maple/walnut (5-ply)
neck: maple/bubinga (5-ply)
fingerboard: ebony
pickups: two EMG 40J
controls: volume, treble, middle, bass, pickup balance

Greco GPB-800AM
body: ash
neck: maple
fingerboard: ebony
front pickup: Powerstorm PB
rear pickup: Powerstorm JB
bridge: J-510
controls: volume, pickup balance, pro-tech active 3 band equalizer (treble, middle, bass)
usage: this was U-ta's main bass during Sexy Stream Liner

Equipment: 2000s

(I think this is a Music Man Stingray)
usage: used during the Mona Lisa Overdrive Tour

Music Man Sterling
body: maple, graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity, gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend finish
neck: sculpted neck joint
fingerboard: maple or rosewood, 34" scale, 22 frets
pickups: Music Man humbucking with hum cancelling phantom coil
controls: 3-band active preamp (volume, treble, mid, bass), 3-way pickup balance
tuners: Schaller BM
truss rod: adjustable
scale: 34"
radius: 11"
headstock: 7-5/8" long
usage: used during the Mona Lisa Overdrive Tour

Greco Zemaitis GZ-2500
body: mahogany
neck: mahogany, set-neck
fingerboard: ebony, 22 frets
scale: 812mm
bridge: GZB-1
pickups: custom DiMarzio Model P&J
controls: 2 volume, tone
(picture taken during 13th Floor With Moonshine Tour)

[this page was last updated on Sunday, 05-Oct-2008 22:39:08 PDT]