Equipment

Bass:

Melissa prefers to play Fender basses. We all remember the sparkly bass she used since late 1995, which she doesn't use anymore, sadly. During the Auf der Maur tour, she played a black and a sunburst p-bass.

"My first bass was a 1970's sunburst Fender Squier (more in my price range, but everyone knows that the 1970's, Japanese-made Squiers were great!), and it was bought with my 19th birthday money from my father. How did it change my life? Three years later (July 1994), I was on a plane to Seattle to audition for Hole, with my Squier in tow, and in turn, toured the world and made one record with them in the following 5 years. Since then, I've accumulated 6 Custom Shop Fender Precisions (my fave in a great silver sparkle finish w/ mirror pickguard) and a couple of vintage ones (and toured the world for a year with the Smashing Pumpkins). I love my basses, they absolutely changed my life."

The retail precision bass fretboard is constructured from Rosewood, and consists of 20 frets. The guitar body is made from Alder and the neck from Maple. Melissa's basses, when not vintage, are custom made, with a shaved down neck, and in the case of the glitter basses, mirror pickguards.

The Precision bass retails in the following colours:
Black, Midnight Blue, Brown Sunburst, Midnight Wine, Arctic, White. Melissa owns a silver sparkle bass, a golden sparkle bass, sunburst, black, white, red, and black and white. Melissa's second favourite bass is the Ibanez Roadster. She played the Ampeg AEB in Hole's 'Malibu' video.

If you'd like to purchase the precision bass(though you'll have to do without the glitters), almost every music store can order it.
Detailed information on the American Fender P-bass is below.

Body: Non veneered alder or ash
Bridge/Tremolo: Combo string-through-body/top load
Fingerboard: Rosewood or maple (9.5" Radius/241 mm)
Frets: 20 medium-jumbo
Hardware: Highly detailed fret and nut treatment; straplock buttons
Nut: Width 1.625" (41.3 mm)
Scale: 34" (864 mm)
Controls: Volume, tone
Pickups: 1 American split-coil/bi-pole (M), 1 American single-coil/bi-pole (B)
Tuning Machines: Deluxe cast/open back

Effects

Boss Tuner, TC Electronics Chorus/Flanger, Tech21 SansAmp Distortion Boost.

Guitar:

Melissa uses Gibson SG electric guitars, so does her band when playing live.

Amplifiers:

Melissa uses Ampeg amplifiers, "I like a bottom with character, I hate anything that's high-endy. My Ampeg gear has a very thick sound," Melissa says, referring to her SVT head and cabinet, "Even though I don't play with my fingers, I like to get a round tone, organic and flowing."