Peppertones' instruments (Part 1) | Jangwon's basses

I've been noticing Peppertones's instruments when I watch their live performance videos so I thought I'll make a list of all of their instruments as I see them. Jaepyung has way (WAY!) more guitars than Jangwon has basses, at least for the ones that have appeared on video, so I'll start with Jangwon's basses first.

Update: part 2 on Jaepyung's guitar is here!

1. Jangwon's Blue Bass

Rickenbacker 4003S Electric Bass Guitar, Midnight Blue

This is probably Jangwon's oldest bass, or at least the oldest one that appears in videos, because you can see him playing it in older music videos, like New Hippie Generation (2008), Park Trip (2009), or in live performances like the one below (2010). It also appears in Good Luck (2012). He hasn't been performing with this blue bass in recent years, usually appearing instead with either his light blue bass or his black/orange/red bass.

Here's a photo from 2008 showing that the back of the bass is apparently also the same vibrant blue:

And from a photoshoot:

2. Jangwon's Acoustic Bass

I've only seen this acoustic bass once, in this video performance of New Hippie Generation. Originally I missed this out as well, along with the black bass since it's rarely seen. 

[Update: Recently, at the 2019 Peppertones concert "Circle", Jangwon played an acoustic bass, but I have not seen photos of it, and I don't think it's the same acoustic bass as this since I don't recall the gradient colours when I saw it at the concert, but let's see if I can find photos later on.]

3. Jangwon's Black Bass

I actually missed this bass out when I first made the post! It doesn't appear very often but Jangwon has a black bass with a maroon sticker on it that says "Cymbals". I can't identify the brand or make of it since the videos are not clear enough but if anyone has any idea, do comment below and let me know! I had thought it might be the same model as the light blue bass below because of how the body of the bass looks, but the head of this black bass is much rounder than the light blue Moollon so I don't think it's the same. This black bass appears mostly in 2011 during the period where Peppertones performed as Antenna Music Warriors (on Yoo Heeyeol's sketchbook, in 여름날 (Summer Day) MV, Running MV) and later in 2012 at a photoshoot with Nylon TV.

4. Jangwon's Light Blue Bass

Moollon Bass J Classic, Sonic Blue with either Inca Silver or Olympic White 

This bass started appearing sometime in 2012 with Beginner's Luck album photos, and the music video for 노래는 불빛처럼 달린다 (2012). He performs with this quite often over the years and there are too many instances to name so I won't link the videos. I think either this or his black/orange/red bass appears the most in Peppertones' live performances overall.

On a side note, I had to squint really hard at Seize The Moment's video of Fools (2019) to read the words on the bass to figure out what brand and model it was. The words are much harder to read than the Rickenbacker's.

5. Jangwon's Black/Orange/Red Bass

Fender American Vintage Jazz Bass, 3-colour Sunburst

This bass is shown very clearly in Peppertones' Good Morning Sandwichman music video (2014). I don't really recall seeing it earlier than this period, but I haven't dug deeper so I won't say for sure. But I think this is probably a bass that he bought later, or at least performed with only after a while after the light blue one.

This black/orange/red bass has a distinct Fender logo on the silver part of the body but I had to do a few comparisons to figure out that it's the probably one of the 60s bass (like the '64 Jazz Bass) and not the '74 one. The easiest way to see is by the size of the font on the head of the bass. The '64 model has smaller words while the '74 one had bigger words. Again, Seize The Moment's video was what helped me with this (thank goodness for HD videos). 

The thing that still stumps me is that the number of knobs on the body of the bass doesn't quite match all the images of Fender basses I found (Jangwon's bass has 1 less knob), but I'm pretty sure it is a Fender jazz bass. Also in later years, the bridge cover with the Fender "F" logo got removed.

6. Jangwon's Red Bass

Gibson ES-335 Hollow Body Bass, Cherry

One of the comments mentioned this bass so I added it to this post. This cherry red Gibson can be seen in this 2017 video. Jangwon isn't shown playing this bass in the video but I think it is probably his given the way things are set up.

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Of the 6, my favourite bass is the light blue Moollon, because it looks nice in videos and photos. I can't say for sound quality because I've not had the chance to hear Peppertones live. But while making this compilation, I can see why the Rickenbacker is appealing because the blue is so so vibrant and pretty. But funnily enough, that's also sort of the bad point of it, because the blue is hard to coordinate with clothing during performances, and also the reason why I didn't like it as much when I watched videos of their performances.

Anyway, I hope this was useful, or at least entertaining to read. I want to do a similar post for Jaepyung, but like I said, he has alot more guitars than Jangwon has basses so that post would probably take a while. Let me know if you have other thoughts on this!

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See also: Part 2 on Jaepyung's guitars