Archive for January 2018 - Page 8

Gear news can sometimes slow down in December, especially with NAMM around the corner. But that didn’t stop some companies from announcing some new bass gear that caught readers’ attention. Here are the top 10 reader favorite gear stories from December 2017. 1. Willcox Guitars 2018 Saber Bass Wilcox Guitars is updating their bass lineup by replacing their outgoing Saber...

Vocalist Nicki Gonzalez started the year with a bang. She’s just released a killer version of Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” featuring an incredible cast of musicians, including bassist Hadrien Feraud. “HAPPY 2018, EVERYONE!,” she writes. “‘Thank you’ just doesn’t cut it. I owe this video to the talents, loyalty and dedication of Kamil Rustam and Hadrien Feraud who rallied...

Bassist Dallon Weekes has announced he has left the ranks of Panic At The Disco after eight years with the band. He made the announcement on Instagram. “For the last eight years I’ve had the incredible opportunity to perform in Panic! At The Disco,” he wrote. “While I’m sad to announce that my time with Panic! has come to an...

Cort’s Artisan Series has expanded with the introduction of the B6 Plus AS electric bass. The six-string, open-pore model features bolt-on construction and a “warm open sound with excellent sonic dispersion,” the company says. Cort builds the instrument with a swamp ash body and a five-piece neck made with panga panga and walnut. The fretboard is also panga panga, which...

Metal bassist Dino Fiorenza pulls out all the stops in this playthrough for the song “Biondology”. Beginning with some intense two-handed tapping, he incorporates sweep arpeggios, slap, and more to fill the song out.

Stone Temple Pilots will be hitting the road in 2018 for the first time since announcing their new singer Jeff Gutt back in November. Gutt won the job after initially having his music introduced to bassist Robert DeLeo in the summer of 2016. “The guy’s through and through a great singer, and he’s a good dude, which was definitely one...

Aguilar Amplification is kicking 2018 off by unveiling the SL 212, a new bass cabinet in their superlight SL series. Weighing in at 45 pounds, the 4-ohm cab is fitted with two custom-voiced woofers with Neodymium magnets and a phenolic tweeter with variable level control. It can handle 500 watts RMS. “We spent a lot of time working on the...

Candidly, there are few bass players who sound as original as Cody Wright. In fact, when I first heard him play several years back, I was immediately transported back in time. It was the exact same audio sensation that came over me when I first heard Jaco Pastorius and Billy Sheehan play. It was not just great (and fast) bass...

Vulfpeck’s “Dean Town” is one of the all-time favorites around here. So it was super cool to see the band share this live performance of the tune, which took place during the “Wisdom of Crowds Tour 2017” in Dublin, Ireland. I was also super impressed with the audience, who pretty much sang it note for note and kept up with...

Italian-born, London-based bassist Alex Lofoco has just released his debut album, Beyond, although you wouldn’t know it’s his first solo album from the music. Sometimes biting and sometimes intimate, the intricate music brings lots of influences and was created with an A-list team of musicians. “The album is a mix of fusion rock, jazz, progressive, latin and heavy-metal, featuring an...

Q: I read your column on active vs. passive basses. I have been playing for a lot of years and am having issues with any Bartolini preamp/pickup combination that I use. I think one thing missed in the article was active vs passive pickups (or maybe I overlooked that). Anyway, I’m hearing a clicking sound. I know what you’re thinking:...

Level 42’s Mark King is a master of slap bass. His complex rhythmic and melodic bass lines are tough enough to tackle alone, but he manages to sing at the same time. The folks at Java Jazz Festival just shared this performance of “Something About You,” which took place in 2016. The band is in top form, and King’s performance...