Archive for 2011 - Page 32

Here’s a nice Sunday afternoon video, with bassist Darren Frate performing his arrangement of the Kate Bush tune, “And Dream of Sheep”.

Acoustic Image has introduced its new Series 4 line of amps and cabinets, with new features and updates from their predecessors. The company says the new series simplifies their product line, as it consists of two preamp types, one power amp and three cabinet types. The components are then combined to create the actual line, consisting of two amp heads,...

Bassline Publishing has announced the worldwide release of The Jamiroquai Bass Book, featuring transcriptions of 16 tracks from the group’s first two albums, Emergency on Planet Earth and Return of the Space Cowboy. Previously unavailable in the U.S., the 134-page book provides musical notation, TAB and chord symbols for all the lines played by founding bassist Stuart Zender. Each track...

Time for some new awesomeness by bassist Stuart Clayton. This is Stuart’s arrangement of Sting’s tune “Shape of My Heart”, for solo bass. The arrangement comes from Stuart’s book, Solo Arrangements for Electric Bass.

Thunderfunk has unveiled the TFB800-B2 bass amp, rated up to 800-watts RMS at 2 ohms. The new model is an update of the TFB750, combining all the mods that had been added to its predecessor. The TFB800-B2 is housed in an aluminum chassis, weighing in at 21 pounds, and has a plethora of tone-shaping capabilities with a 4-band parametric EQ,...

Queen drummer Roger Taylor has announced a North American talent search to put together an official Queen tribute band for a tour next year, called the Queen Extravaganza. Auditions are open to bassists, vocalists, guitarists, drummers and keyboardists. “The Queen Extravaganza will not be a traditional tribute show,” Taylor explains. “It’s a brand-new show specially designed to enable fans to...

This song opens up just right: with some awesome percussive slap bass by Tony Levin. And he doesn’t stop there. The tune, “Sleepless” is from King Crimson’s 1984 release, , with Levin on bass and Stick, Adrian Belew on vocals/guitar, Robert Fripp on guitar and Bill Bruford on drums. Levin’s bass is painted to resemble the album’s cover.

Michael Manring is kicking off another busy fall and winter season, with several performances and clinics planned in the U.S., Finland and France through January 2012. “Manring Bass Workout” will be held in New Hampshire over the weekend of October 21st and 22nd, with hands-on instruction, performances and demonstrations. A solo masterclass is planned for France in November. Michael Manring...

This week we’re featuring a beautiful custom Xylem 5-string bass. This particular bass is a neck-through design featuring a black limba body with a bookmatched macassar ebony top, accented with bocote and maple. The quartersawn neck is bird’s eye maple and has an ebony fretboard and custom inlays of a tomoe and falling leaves. All the electronics are Bartolinis, including...

After settling up with customers left from the demise of King Doublebass brand, luthier Jason Burns went to work to create a new upright venture catering to the alternative bassist. Blast Cult officially launched this month with their One4Five model bass, a design cultivated from Burns’ 20 years of building. Among the first instruments built under the moniker is a...

Victor Wooten has released The Music Lesson Soundtrack. The album, which is the first all-original release for his new VIX Records label, is culled from the audio version of his book of the same title and is only available digitally. Wooten describes the album as the “largest musical project [he has] ever completed to date.” The bassist recruited his brothers...

Reed James Custom Pickups has announced the RJE Neos, new soap-bar style neodymium pickups. Made in the USA, the pickups have a modern sound, described by the manufacturer as “warm, punchy and very clear.” The RJE Neo pickups are available for 4- through 6-string basses and feature CNC machined black ABS plastic covers with a matte finish, though custom exotic...