Bass Gear - Page 227

Facebook is great for discovering new and beautiful instruments. Our friend Russ Sargeant posted a picture of this fantastic Anaconda Crusher Standard and I was hooked. Built in England, the hand-crafted bass has some nice curves for ergonomics and aesthetics. The Crusher comes in several flavors, with the Standard version offering all of the most important features in a clean...

Source Audio has released the Soundblox Hub, a box that allows for linking up five of the company’s Soundblox 2 pedals and saving the settings on each. It utilizes MIDI Program Change and Control Change messages to save and recall up to 128 pedal “scenes” to be recalled later. “For the first time, you can save the state of your...

Alusonic Aluminum Instruments has teamed up with Italian bassist Alberto Rigoni to present the Alusonic Alberto Rigoni Hybrid signature bass. The bass is a take on the company’s hybrid blend of aluminum and wood construction and features an alder body topped with aluminum. “As many bass players, I’m affected by GAS but I’m also pretty eclectic – I’m always looking...

Argentinian effects company MBS Effectos has released the Evolution Volume Pedal. The active pedal utilizes a transparent buffer to allow for placement anywhere in your signal chain. It also has a buffered tuner output that’s not affected by any volume changes to allow for quick and easy tuning. The tuner output can be used to split the signal into dry...

Carvin has unveiled a new line of basses called the Vanquish Series, which the company calls a “radical departure from traditional bass guitars.” Available in 4-, 5-, and 6-string versions, the new model is built with a beveled body for comfort and a 5-bolt neck for increased body/neck contact. Standard features on the series include an alder body, a tung-oiled...

This week we check out the Evolution 4 Custom by Helios Guitars. Made in Italy, the bass is completely handcrafted to benefit its tonal qualities. “Various instruments benefit the typical industry process of precision (in the cut, calibration, painting etc.),” Helios writes, “but suffer the stress of the prime material through the carving phases: high temperatures can be reached by...

After featuring a beautiful 1969 Fender Precision Bass in our Old School series, Tim Wolfe, Jr. sent us a note about his 1962 Precision. Not only is this one great looking bass, the story is equally terrific. Tim’s grandfather gave him the bass after playing it for years. Here’s the story… How long have you owned it? Around a decade...

Three years after selling Lakland Basses to a private investment group, Dan Lakin is getting back into the bass building business. His new company, D. Lakin Basses, is launching two new models that with his signature artists Joe Osborn and Bob Glaub. The Joe Osborn 4 is defined by a pair of single coil D. Lakin pickups with a 1.5″...

Dutch luthier Rikkers Custom Basses turns thirty this year, and to celebrate the company has introduced two new bass models: the Acoustiline and the Acidline. As with the rest of their instruments, the basses are hand made in the North of Holland. The Rikkers Acoustiline is a unique hollow body acoustic bass defined by its bass-reflex ports in the upper...

Shredneck, a company that specializes in practice and travel instruments, has introduced the Z-Series of travel basses. At a total body length of 36.25″, the Z-Series bass is approximately 5/8ths the size of a standard bass guitar. The instrument’s 2-piece nato body is loaded with a PJ pickup configuration with volume and tone controls. The maple neck is topped with...

Murray Kuun is a South African luthier who admits he came to the profession relatively late in life, but his passion is in creating fresh designs. “I am not keen on making copies of instruments that have been copied ad nauseam,” he shared. “All my instruments are original designs.” His first bass model is the Elemental, a neck-thru bass with...

Up for a review is the Ibanez SRF700 Portamento, a 4-string fretless from the company’s new Bass Workshop series. The bass is fitted with some nice features for a bass under a thousand bucks, namely piezo pickups imbedded in the bridge and integrated with Bartolini active pickups. The bonus here is that the piezos actually sound great and not harsh....