Gene Simmons

Band: Kiss
Gear: SVT-CL, SVT-810E
Website: www.kissonline.com

Besides being the most recognizable band in the world (if not the most marketed), Kiss — dressed in Kabuki greasepaint and comic book leather costumes — has earned more gold records (29 and counting) in their 30+ year career than any American rock band in history.

Hundreds of thousands of musicians claim Kiss inspired them to pick up the guitar and form bands; their impact is that incalculable. This became the basis for a famous San Francisco magazine article in the ’90s that sought to examine who had more cultural influence: Bob Dylan or Kiss.

Beneath the seven-inch dragon boots, blood-spitting and fire-breathing, Gene Simmons is an accomplished bassist. Anthemic hard rock about rock ‘n’ rolling all night and partying every day aside, Gene’s constantly rhythmic bass rumble and trademark slide accents beneath Paul Stanley’s stripped riffing gives Kiss a larger-than-life sound that matches their larger-than-life look.