Bass Gear Round-Up: The Most Popular Gear for August 2012

1. Squier Introduces Vintage Modified Telecaster Bass and Telecaster Bass Special

Squier has beefed up their Vintage Modified series with the introduction of the Vintage Modified Telecaster Bass and the Vintage Modified Telecaster Bass Special. The new models feature classic body and headstock shapes as well as a medium 32? scale. Available in Black and Vintage Blonde, the Telecaster bass sports a single Duncan Designed PB-102…

2. Schecter Unveils Sean Yseult Signature Casket Bass

Sean Yseult now has her own signature casket bass from Schecter Guitars. The new coffin-shaped axe is based on the bass she designed for White Zombie’s AstroCreep tour in 1994, which led up to the release of AstroCreep: 2000. The bass features a mahogany body and 3-piece mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard…

3. Epiphone Introduces Tobias-Designed Toby Deluxe-V Bass Guitar

Epiphone has unveiled the Toby Deluxe-V, a 5-string version of the bass originally designed by Michael Tobias. The new instrument shares many of the same features of the last year’s reintroduced Toby Deluxe IV, including an asymmetrical neck profile, Tobias SCR and SCT split humbucker pickups, and the Active Tonexpressor Bass Enhancement control…

4. Italia Introduces the Imola Bass Guitar

Italia’s new bass, the Imola, is described as “part 60s and part 21st century.” The bass features a korina body with acoustic chambering, and an f-hole. Finish options include Black and Tobacco Sunburst. The Imola’s hard rock maple neck is topped with a rosewood fingerboard. Pickups on the bass are a pair of Wilkinson WBJs…

5. Ibanez Now Offering SR256 6-String Bass

Ibanez’s SR series has gotten a little bigger with the new SR256PW, a 6-string bass with active electronics and a price most can reach. Offered in Pearl White, the bass is built with a mahogany body and a bolt-on 3-piece maple neck. The rosewood fingerboard has pearl dot inlays as position markers…

6. Alembic Unveils Stanley Clarke Signature Deluxe 5-String Bass

Stanley Clarke will be stretching out a bit more with the introduction of his new Alembic Signature Deluxe 5-string bass, which the company will offer in their signature series. Tuned E to C, the step from a 4- to a 5-string bass allows for playing Clarke’s songs written for tenor bass…

7. Jackson Unveils JS Series Kelly Bird Basses

Back in April, David Ellefson gave us the scoop on a new bass he was working on with Jackson that would combine elements of a classic bass style he sported during Megadeth’s “Countdown to Extinction” tour, and the company’s Kelly guitar model. Jackson has now introduced the resulting Kelly Bird basses…

8. Kauer Guitars Introduces Daylighter Bass

California-based Kauer Guitars has introduced the Daylighter Bass, modeled after their popular series of guitars by the same name. With several feature options, the company says the bass can cover ground from “classic Motown vibe straight through the most aggressive modern bass tones.” The Daylighter’s body is made of Spanish Cedar…

9. HAO Introduces Bass Liner Preamp Pedal

Japanese boutique pedal company HAO has unveiled the Bass Liner Preamp pedal. Co-designed with Phil Jones of Phil Jones Bass, the stompbox-sized preamp offers a 5-band EQ, Level control, and an Input Gain control to suit any bass…

10. Intellitouch Releases Freedom One Digital Wireless System

Intellitouch has introduced the Freedom One, a digital wireless system for bass and guitar that provides a 24-bit digital wireless link between your axe and your rig…

Bass of the Week: Schecter Stargazer-4

Schecter’s Stargazer-4 is a quirky take on basses of years past. The old school-inspired 4-stringer is built for versatility with EMG’s MMHZ humbucking pickup in the bridge position and the EMG SJHZ single-coil pickup in the neck position. For further tonal adjustments, the bass has an EMG active 2-band EQ in addition to a pickup blend knob…

Bass of the Week: Spector NS-2

Few basses can define a company as easily as Spector’s NS-2. Originally designed by Ned Steinberger in 1979, the company’s flagship P/J style bass provides the blueprint for many of their designs. The American-made NS-2 features neck-thru construction with a 3-piece maple neck reinforced with carbon fiber rods. Fingerboards can be pau ferro, birdseye maple,…

Bass of the Week: Bassline Worp

In experimenting with neck designs, German luthier Rüdiger Ziesemann was looking for a way to improve sustain in his Bassline brand designs. He came up with a radical neck profile with extended mass and a groove on the back for your thumb. The concept was first introduced into his electric upright model called the Universal,…

Bass of the Week: Nordstrand NX5

I’ll admit it – I’m a sucker for boutique top woods. That’s why I had to do a double take when I saw Nordstrand’s first NX5 Bolt-on bass guitar. Its spalted maple top and matching headstock have a gorgeous textural look with striking light and dark contrasts thanks to the spalting, which is naturally created…

Old School: 1964 Höfner 185 “Artist Bass”

Zsolt Váradi sent us this wonderful story (and video) of his equally wonderful 1964 Höfner 185 “Artist Bass”. Höfner’s “Vintage” site has this to say about the Artist Bass: Introduced in late 1962 as the main two pickup bass for the UK market, it replaced the Hofner “Solid Bass” which was actually the European market Hofner 182 model…