Archive for March 2011

Ampeg is expanding their Bassamp combo series with the introduction of two smaller practice amps, the BA-108 and the BA-110. Designed as miniature versions of their siblings, the new combos have similar features, including a tilt-back design and a ported baffle for low frequency extension. Both models have a 3-band EQ, MP3/CD input with a level control, an effects loop,...

Wyn Guitars is a one-man custom bass shop run by Randy Fullmer, a man with a healthy obsession for exotic woods. An artist at heart, Fullmer got his his start as a luthier at an early age before becoming an animator and producer for Disney. He eventually returned to building instruments, switching to exclusively making basses. Fullmer just finished moving...

George Lacson shared a video with us, featuring him responding to a rainy evening in San Francisco with some solo blues bass. Or as George says, “sometimes you gotta thump n pluck your blues away…”

Bassist Jonathan Miller has left DevilDriver, according to a statement by the band. He reportedly left the tour to enter rehab in January, and has now made the leave official. “I just wanted to thank all of the DevilDriver fans around the world for their die-hard love and support for the past nine years. Yesterday, I decided to leave DevilDriver....

Pigtronix has released the Tremvelope, an effects pedal that combines a tremolo pedal with a filter to allow you to control the effects with the dynamics of your playing. With the envelope switch off, the pedal acts as an optical tremolo featuring stereo panning outputs, sine and sawtooth waveforms, and speed and depth controls. There are also a couple of...

Q: I have a question about long-term pratice routines. There are a lot scale/arpeggio exercises out there, but I want to know: what do you is the best method to really cover all types of scales/chord in all keys all around the instrument? Is it good to do an exercise in all keys an then go on to the next...

Any time a new Adam Ben Ezra video hits, I’m all ears. And Adam never disappoints. Check out this nice fretless work (and singing) from Adam, on his original tune “Tumbada”.

Meet Dan Nelson, an 18 year old bassist from Wales and our player in the spotlight for March 29, 2011. Bio: I started out on guitar for around six months before a friend showed me a old SG bass copy. From then on, I’ve been hooked on bass. About three years ago I started to get serious and started looking...

FEA Labs has just announced the Photon Fuzz, a dual band distortion pedal named after a circuit component in the unit that uses infrared light to control the fuzz distortion. The unit’s drive and bite controls work on both guitar and bass signals to define the fuzz tone’s character. Drive sets the overall gain, and bite sets the activation point...

BassGirl is back! After wowing everyone with her transcription and performance of Tal Wilkenfeld’s lines on Jeff Beck’s “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers“, BassGirl has taken on the monster of a tune, Jaco Pastorius’s “Teen Town”. “My humble tribute to one of the most amazing bass players ever,” the bassist said, as well as announcing she’s just turned 14. Watch...

Alfred Music has released The Studio Builder’s Handbook, the latest entry in their Pro Audio Series. The handbook focuses on building and improving recording studios, for any budget. The book covers a variety of topics, from isolation booth acoustics to building a studio from start to finish, offering details on planning, engineering, construction and gear selection. The book also dives...

This week, Dr. D. continues the series on practicing scales. Check out part 1. Advanced Scale Work At whatever technical level you have been playing scales, you have hopefully been incorporating technical challenges into the mix. Mastering various fingerings, bowings, plucking techniques, refining your left hand shape, trills, vibrato, artificial harmonics, etc., should be an integral part of the routine....