Bass of the Week: AJR Guitarmods Swift Lite Lightweight Bass
We’ve featured a couple of instruments by AJR Guitarmods over the past couple years, and now we’re checking out their lightest bass yet: the Swift Lite 34-inch four-string bass. The inspiration came to luthier Andy Rogers while thinking of the first time he picked up a bass. “One of the things that surprised me the very first time I took...
Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book Of Bass Available for Pre-Order
In what promises to be one of the best books of the year, Harper Collins has announced they will be publishing Geddy Lee’s Big Book of Beautiful Bass this December. The Rush bassist will chronicle his personal collection of basses that range from the 1950s to the 1980s with commentary on each piece. “It’s not surprising that sooner or later...
Sons of Apollo Cancel Summer Festival Dates, Add European Dates
All-star prog rock group Sons of Apollo has canceled the remainder of its summer festival appearances. The band, anchored by Billy Sheehan on a doubleneck bass, made the announcement on Facebook. “Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, Sons Of Apollo regretfully has had to cancel all remaining Summer Festival appearances at Wacken Open Air and Prog In Park II,”...
TC Electronic Unveils the BQ250 and BQ500 Bass Amps
TC Electronic has expanded their bass amp line with the BQ250 and the BQ500. Rated at 250 and 500 watts, respectively, the head units are described as “bare-bones bass power.” Each features a MOSFET preamp with a custom 4-band EQ as well as a built-in Thrust compressor circuit. They also share connectivity features like a Balanced DI output with pre/post...
Joe Policastro Trio: No Idea
Double bassist Joe Policastro has just released a new video for his song, “No Idea,” featuring his awesome trio with Dave Miller on guitar and Mikel Avery on drums. The bass player sets things up with cool, uptempo melody in the upper register with an open string drone underneath before his bandmates join in. The trio is totally locked in...
Yellowcake Pedals Introduces the Furry and Fried Dual Overdrive Pedal
Alabama’s Yellowcake Pedals has combined two of their pedals to create the Furry and Fried. The left side of the pedal is their Furry Burrito fuzz/overdrive while the right contains their Fried Gold light/medium overdrive. “[The Furry Burrito is] a versatile overdrive/fuzz pedal that ranges from a nice, warm overdrive to a saturated fuzz that produces that Muff-like sustain,” the...
Mistweaver Effects Introduces Two New Pedals
Mistweaver Effects has launched their product line with two pedals: the Serpent Fuzz and the Forestry Overdrive. Made in Singapore, each unit is inspired by vintage gear with a twist. The Serpent Fuzz is described as a take on the Green Russian Big Muff Pi with modern and functional upgrades. “The Serpent provides that throaty powerful saturation with lots of...
Barefaced Audio Unveils Rainbow One10 Bass Cabinets
After announcing a tweed version last year, Barefaced Audio has unveiled a limited run of their One10 bass cabinet in a range of colorful tolex covers. They will be available in limited quantities of red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, and purple. The new units will carry all the same features as the original black One10 including their...
MonoNeon: “Singing Crying Dog” with Walter Geoffrey the Frenchie
MonoNeon can make a killer groove out of anything. In a hilarious example, he took a viral clip of Walter Geoffrey the Frenchie’s unusual crying in a parking lot and made it music. MonoNeon mimics the dog’s outrageous vocalization before putting it to a beat that will get your head bobbing.
Punch Brothers Announce Album, Tour Dates
The genre-bending bluegrass band Punch Brothers is back with All Ashore, an album that mandolinist describes as “a meditation on committed relationships in the present day, particularly in the present climate.” “We were hoping to create something that would be convincing as a complete thought, in this case as a nine-movement, or nine-piece, thought,” he adds. “Though it’s rangy in...
Steve Lawson: Transcendence And Decay
Steve Lawson has a new album coming soon (available now for his subscribers!) called Beauty and Desolation, and it’s gorgeous. Lawson, who is a master of soundscapes, improvised the entire seven-song collection with his bass and an MPC-style MIDI controller called the Quneo for beats and piano parts. “Improvising allows me to play music that I’d never be able to...
The Wood Brothers Extend Tour Dates Into 2019
The Wood Brothers have been on tour for most of 2018, and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down. They’ve just tacked on more dates to their fall tour that will take them into January 2019. The newly announced dates kick off November 9th in Ithaca, New York before jumping down to Texas and working up into Colorado. They...