His birthplace: East Cameroon. His current home: New York. His stage: The World. Richard Bona is an internationally recognized bassist, singer, and composer who has risen to the top of the musical ranks. One glance at his bio tells the story: Bona has been enlisted by such legendary players as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Joe Zawinul, Bob James, Sadao Watanabe, Branford Marsalis, David Sanborn, Bobby McFerrin, and Randy Brecker to name a few. Now as a bandleader, Bona is making is an even bolder musical statement.

Watching Bona in action is like nothing else. He is a master of the bass, with incredible precision and speed, and his sound is unique. He often blends Roland’s V-Bass with a GR-20 guitar synth, routes them through a BOSS RC-20 Loop Station, and fires the animated, full-frequency sound into a cutting-edge D-Bass amplifier stack.

Roland met up with Bona at the NAMM expo in Anaheim. Here’s what he had to say about his extensive and unique use of Roland and BOSS gear.

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What led you to the V-Bass?

I come from a very plain sound background. I use to never use effects before. One day I went to a shop in Japan, and the guy who built my fretless bass introduced me to the Roland V-Bass. I tried it for the first time, and I freaked out. I really play fast; in the past I tried some bass synths, and those systems could not pick up my playing at certain speeds. So with V-Bass, that was the first time that a system could keep up with the speed that I was playing. I got hooked up with the V-Bass, and it’s awesome.

What types of V-Bass sounds do you use the most?

The presets are very good, but I like being able to go into the V-Bass and tweak the sounds myself. So all of my sounds are custom. I tweaked them myself, and I prefer that, because it gives you a chance to bring your own color to the machine. I love using the first sound [patch] for example, but I tweaked it. I already wrote three songs with that sound.

Have any of those songs been released?

One was on my last CD — a song called “Summer Woman.” I’ve used a lot of V-Bass sounds on my records.

You use the GR-20 guitar synth as well.

Yeah, I love the GR-20. I combine it with the V-Bass live onstage, parallel. Many sounds are special in there, ya know. I grew up listening to Weather Report; I had a chance to play with Joe Zawinul for two years. So the GR-20 has some of those old-school sounds in it that I love. The horns are great. And there’s some really good distortion sounds. You’d be surprised. After every show people come to me and ask, “How do you get that distortion. It’s unbelievable.” I’m used to it know, but most people don’t realize how much you can do with the bass to make it sound like a guitar and other instruments.

I only use about ten sounds, no more than that. And I give them each a number from one to ten, so I don’t have to think a lot about what’s going on. It’s very easy that way. Same with the V-Bass; onstage I have only about six sounds that I use, but they work great for the kind of music that I’m doing.

You’re playing Roland’s new D-Bass amps now.

Yeah. Last year when I was in Japan on tour, they brought the D-Bass amps for me to play in Tokyo for the first time. So I tried them, and they were really good. I was surprised not only how light they are, but how punchy they are, and how precise the lower frequencies are.

And with COSM amp models built in as well. Speaking of which, do you have a favorite?

I love the “Flat” setting. My bass is passive, so that’s a great thing … being able to choose. Someone who slaps a lot might like one setup, and then someone who plays all-fingers might like another setup. And you can chose between the setups quickly, which is a great thing.

I’ll be using D-Bass on my next tour, the stack with the sub [D-Bass 155X]. That’s another good thing worth mentioning. With the D-Bass sub, you can actually control the level of it. With most subs, you don’t have a choice. It’s either on or off, and that’s it. D-Bass lets you control the volume of the sub, which is great because maybe you’re at a big outdoor gig and you need more sub, but at a small club you need less. You can adjust it. It’s the perfect, complete package.

What is it about Roland/BOSS gear that attracts you?

Roland has a history of making very good equipment — and reliable equipment. I have a very old Roland vocoder, for example. That thing is like 30 years old, and it still works very good. You can see the dust in it, but it’s still rocking. So, look, you can’t go wrong with Roland. When you get Roland equipment, you can keep it for life.

Also, it’s because Roland gear sounds great. Roland has always been ahead. A company, you know, is a reflection of its leader. From the beginning, Roland’s founder [Mr. Kakehashi] is a man of vision. He has always been thinking ahead: “Where do we want to be ten years from now?” And from there, he sets the tone for the company. He had a vision back then, and he still has a vision today. That’s why Roland is a leader.

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Keep track of Richard on the web at richardbona.net.

Richard Bona photos by Al Dugas; gear photo by Bass magazine (Japan)