NAMM 2018 Archives

Last year, Markbass announced they would be teaming up with jazz legend Marcus Miller for a series of amps. This year they unveiled the lineup at the Winter NAMM Show, which will include four head units, three combos, and two cabinets. “Marcus has closely partnered with [Markbass founder Marco De Virgillis] to develop his amazing signature amps that not only...

Guild’s iconic Starfire Bass II is available in a new Flamed Maple version for 2018. The company debuted the instrument at the Winter NAMM Show. “The Starfire Bass II Flamed Maple (FM) is a dual-pickup semi-hollow bass guitar that adds additional sonic options to Guild’s iconic Starfire Bass,” Guild writes. “As its name suggests, the Flamed Maple version replaced the...

Ibanez’s flagship Soundgear bass series is being bolstered even further this year with the addition of the SR670 and the SR675. The four and five-string basses are set apart by a mahogany body topped with ash in a black and silver finish. They also feature Ibanez’s new B500 and B505 bridges. “The Ash top offers superior tonal clarity and attack,...

After releasing the BPA-01 floor bass preamp, Bassics took to the Winter NAMM Show this year to unveil a host of new products designed by renowned studio engineer Malcolm Toft. The range includes the A900 power amp, the AH900 bass amp head, and four new pedals: a compressor, a distortion, an EQ, and a preamp. Bassics describes the A900 as...

Warwick introduced the RockBass Corvette Taranis at this year’s Winter NAMM Show. The four-string bass features an extra long 35-inch scale for better use with drop tuning. The bass is built with an ash body, a bolt-on maple neck, and a wenge fingerboard. Warwick fits it with a pair of active EMG DC35 soapbar pickups matched to a two-band EQ....

G&L Guitars have introduced the CLF Research L-2000 Bass, an instrument that harkens back to the Leo Fender’s original innovations with his CLF Research company in the late 1970s. Fender’s creations with CLF went on to be the foundation of G&L’s instruments, including the Magnetic Field Design pickup and saddle lock bridge. “The new CLF Research L-2000 is a fully...

A year after launching the head and preamp pedal, Ashdown has expanded their OriginAL range with two kick-back bass combo amps: the OriginAL C112-300 and the OriginAL C210-300. Both units are rated at 300 watts with the main difference being different woofer combinations. “Each OriginAL combo is loaded with Ashdown Whiteline speakers, proven to deliver Ashdown’s signature bass tone, with...

Wilson Effects has updated their Freaker Wah with the Freaker Wah V2, which they explain offers more flexibility in addition to some updates to the circuit. Equally useful on bass and guitar, the unit is based on the vintage circuit used by Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. The dual-filter synth wah offers a wide range of frequency sweeps...

Hartke launched a pair of new bass amplification products at NAMM this year: the TX300 bass amplifier and the HyDrive 112b cabinet. Both products are lightweight and a good match for each other, with the TX300 weighing in at just five pounds. The TX300 offers 300 watts with Hartke’s 3-band EQ and Shape circuit for tonal flexibility. “The Shape control...

Ibanez has expanded their multi-scale bass lineup by adding the SRMS800, SRMS805, and SRMS806 to their Bass Workshop series. Each bass is built with a five-piece jatoba and walnut neck that has fanned frets for consistent tone across open strings, improved intonation, and comfort. The four-string SRMS800, five-string SRMS805, and the six-string SRMS806 all feature a gloss finish over a...

Fender presented a retrospective line of instruments this year with the American Original Series, but they also imagined some axes from another dimension that blurred timelines. The Parallel Universe lineup was revealed to include several guitars and one bass: the ’51 Telecaster PJ Bass.

EBS is celebrating 30 years in the business this year. While they have tried and true products, that doesn’t mean they aren’t innovating. This year at the NAMM Show they previewed the ReTracer Delay, a compact pedal that utilizes new hardware and software from the company. The ReTracer offers twelve distinct engines to produce different effects. “Benefit from useful features...