Tool and Primus Announce Winter Tour
In what promises to be one of the most anticipated tours of 2016, Tool and Primus are teaming up for a set of tour dates in January. The 8-date trek is a rare outing for Tool, who have seldom played more than 20 shows in a single year since 2007. Kicking off on January 9th in San Diego, the tour...
Bass of the Week: Lea Bass Guitars Dumpster Bass
As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s why luthier Scott Sterling of Lea Bass Guitars decided to create the Dumpster bass. Although the bass has a fine fit and finish, the components didn’t start out that way. “This bass started out as an ‘upcycled’ experiment in tonality – all the wood is from dumpsters in my...
Seymour Duncan Releases The Apollo Jazz Bass Linear Humbucker Pickup
Seymour Duncan has added to their line of bass pickups with the Apollo Jazz Bass Linear Humbucker. The new model employs two coils that sit next to each other under a standard single-coil-sized cover. Duncan’s head of R&D Kevin Beller designed the pickups to get a warm, traditional sound with modern attributes to clean up the sound. “I’ve been playing...
Anders Kjolholm Leaves Volbeat
Volbeat bassist and founding member Anders Kjolholm has announced that he’s left the band. The group, which is reportedly in the studio for their next album, posted a message on their website with the information. “In connection with the planning and preparation of Volbeat’s extensive future plans and wishes for 2016 and onwards, Volbeat and Anders Kjølholm part ways. All...
Acoustic Amplification Introduces Class-D/Neo Series
Acoustic Amplification has introduced a new series of Class-D/Neo bass amplifiers including heads, cabinets, and combo amps. The new models are approximately 40 percent lighter than the company’s previous models. New head units include the B300HD, B600HD, and the B1000HD. Common controls on each head are a blendable overdrive circuit, an Acousti-Comp compression, a Notch filter with frequency control, an...
SolidGoldFX Introduces The Apollo II Phaser Pedal
SolidGoldFX’s Apollo phaser has been updated to The Apollo II. The stompbox combines an all-analog, four-stage phaser circuit with the company’s tap tempo microprocessor. The Apollo II now has an 11-position detent knob that controls a variety of distinct waveforms. Combined with its three different rhythmic patterns, SolidGoldFX says the pedal offers a vast array of unique phasing options from...
Stuart Hamm Announces Winter Tour
Stuart Hamm is hitting the road again in support of his latest album, The Book of Lies. The winter tour will include four solo dates before bringing on the bassists’s band consisting of guitarist Alex Skolnick and drummer Joel Taylor. Hamm’s outing focuses on the West Coast and Midwest. The solo dates start November 27th in Spanish Fork, Utah and...
Nathan Navarro: Mozart’s “Lacrimosa” Solo Bass Arrangement
Nathan Navarro is back with another great solo bass arrangement. This time he explores the classical world with Mozart’s “Lacrimosa”. Navarro brings lots emotion to the performance, adding drama with dynamics changes and beautiful phrasing. A digital download of the song as well as tablature and sheet music are available on his website.
Martha Reeves with James Jamerson: Live on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974
There’s not a whole lot of live footage of the late, great James Jamerson, but the bits that we have are fantastic. Here’s a clip of the master bassist laying it down for Martha Reeves on a 1974 episode of “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.”
Bass of the Week: Wilkins Road Tested Roasted Cayenne WRTJ5
Made in the USA, the Wilkins Road Tested Roasted Cayenne WRTJ5 Bass is an instrument that the builder says will make you feel right at home. Luthier Pat Wilkins, who has been in the industry since 1976, writes that the WRTJ was developed from years of extensive research on one of the most widely used basses in the world. This...
Keeley Electronics Introduces the Seafoam Plus Chorus
Keeley Electronics has introduced the Seafoam Plus, a stompbox that packs a chorus, double tracker, and reverb into one pedal. It uses the company’s new DSP platform and can be internally switched to be tailored for bass or guitar. “We have expanded on the success of our Automatic Double Tracking and Chorus by combining the sounds on our new DSP...
Ed Lucie and Anthony Vitti: Forgotten Grooveyard #12
Berklee bass professor Anthony Vitti has a cool YouTube series called “Forgotten Grooveyard,” where he sits down with faculty, students and visiting artists at the school to kick out the jams. “The idea behind the ‘Forgotten Groove Yard’ was to record some lesser known classic grooves,” Vitti writes. “As a bass player, I approach everything from a rhythm section perspective....