Dave Schools aka "Dave Smalls", (born December 11, 1964) is the bassist for the band Widespread Panic

Widespread Panic

Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...

 ("Panic"), and hails from Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. In addition to playing with Panic, he has had numerous side projects with Jerry Joseph, The Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome (band)

Stockholm Syndrome is an American Rock music band formed in Athens, Georgia as a collaboration between Dave Schools of Widespread Panic and Jerry Joseph of Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons...

, J Mascis and the Fog

J Mascis and the Fog

J Mascis + The Fog is the post-Dinosaur Jr musical project embarked by Dinosaur Jr's founding member, musician J Mascis.-History:After fulfilling his contractual obligations to Blanco y Negro in the UK and Sire/Reprise in the US, Mascis holed up in his home studio in Amherst, MA, which he named...

, Slang, and Acetate. Schools has also played bass with Gov't Mule

Gov't Mule

Gov't Mule is a Southern rock jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project by Warren Haynes and Allen Woody.The band released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995...

.

Schools attended the Collegiate School

Collegiate School (Richmond, Virginia)

Collegiate School is a preparatory school for boys and girls located in Richmond, Virginia. The student body of Collegiate comprises about 1,500 total students from Kindergarten through 12th Grade...

 in Richmond, where there is a scholarship in his name for aspiring musicians. He went on to attend the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

 (UGA) in Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...

. Schools' enrollment at UGA was brief as he dropped out to pursue musical interests.

Schools plays Modulus

Modulus Guitars

Modulus Guitars is an American manufacturer of musical instruments, most notably bass guitars built with carbon fiber necks. The company, originally called Modulus Graphite, was founded in part by Geoff Gould, a bassist who also worked for an aerospace company in Palo Alto, California.The name may...

 Quantum 6 basses equipped with GHS

GHS (strings)

GHS Strings is a Battle Creek, Michigan based guitar and bass guitar string manufacturer. The company was founded in 1964, and in 1975 was bought by Robert McFee, who is still the CEO...

 custom sets of strings, through Ampeg

Ampeg

Ampeg is primarily a musical instrument amplifier manufacturer headquartered in Woodinville, Washington, though they also manufacture guitars to a small extent...

 cabinets, and a Demeter preamp and compressor/limiter. One thing that sets him apart from other bass players is his utilization of effects. He uses a Boomerang phrase sampler, a Moogerfooger

Moogerfooger

moogerfooger is the trademark for a series of analog effects pedals manufactured by Moog Music. There are currently five different pedals produced, however one of these models is designed for processing control voltages rather than audio signal...

 low-pass filter

Low-pass filter

A low-pass filter is an electronic filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a high-cut filter, or treble cut filter...

 with expression pedal, Boss DM 3 analog delay

Delay (audio effect)

Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...

, Electro-Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. They are most famous for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s....

 Micro Synth, Ernie Ball

Ernie Ball

Ernie Ball was an American entrepreneur, musician, and innovator, widely acclaimed as a revolutionary in the development of guitar-related products. He began as a club and local television musician and small business entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and accessories that...

 VP and other various effects. Schools also owns one of the late John Entwistle's

John Entwistle

John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

bass guitars.

Schools resides in Northern California.