Archive for November 2018 - Page 2

Dwarfcraft Devices has released a new take on one of their earliest effects. The HAX2 is described as “light years beyond” the original and adds the option of a square or sine wave ring modulation. Each of the waveforms has a broad frequency range, which Dwarfcraft says ranges from subsonic tremolo to laser blaster highs to a warm chorus-like effect....

Cory O’Brien sent us this video with a note that says it all: “This video is a few years old. I just discovered it. I can not get enough of it. In a time of turmoil and unrest, I’m so grateful for videos like this. It reinvigorates my hope and imagination. Can you believe that someone not only conceived of...

2017 marked the centennial of the influential jazz pianist Thelonious Monk’s birth. Frank Kimbrough has celebrated the occasion by releasing an incredible six-disc album called Monk’s Dreams that features performances of all 70 of the late legend’s compositions. “The recordings form a fantastically diverse collection,” the liner notes read. “On the six-CD set, Monk’s compositions are played in various configurations,...

This week we’re checking out a total monster of a bass built by Dimitris Matkaris, who says he likes to build “weird” basses to test his building skills. This instrument, which he dubbed The Bass of Navarone, has a multi-scale neck with a behemoth 47-inch scale B-string. For comparison, that’s 13 inches longer than a standard bass scale. “Electric guitars...

Now this is the kind of email we like to get. Brian Thomson wrote in with this incredible clip of The Who bassist John Entwistle from a TV show in the early ’80s. “[Yes] Keyboardist Rick Wakeman has been posting clips from the TV show GasTank that he co-hosted in 1982-3, in the UK, and John Entwistle was a guest...

The Rolling Stones have announced a new leg of their “No Filter” stadium tour that will take place in the U.S. for 2019. The 13-date outing will kick off at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida before heading to both coasts and then wrapping up at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Of course, bassist Darryl Jones will be laying...

MXR has introduced a new power supply for your pedalboard with an emphasis on saving space. The Mini Iso-Brick Power Supply offers noise-free DC power while “taking up less space than a candy bar.” It has five fully-isolated outputs, four of which supply 9-volts at 300mA. The fifth can dish out either 9 volts or 18 volts at 800mA. If...

This one is all pocket. Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles took the stage at Frankfurt Jazz in 2017, with Sharay Reed on bass, and performed their groovy version of the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive.”

Chase Bliss Audio has expanded their line of pedals with The Dark World, a dual channel reverb that is their first fully-digital effect circuit. The effect is a collaboration with Keeley Electronics and Cooper FX that they say celebrates classic and ultramodern reverb engine. “Its dual channel format transcends what most people think of as a reverb pedal, moving freely...

Acoustic Amplification has unveiled two new models with their C-Series: the B300C and the B600C bass combo amplifiers. Both models are built with class-D power sections for strong output power while maintaining a reasonable weight. The 300-watt B300C is fitted with a 15-inch ferrite speaker matched with a piezo horn tweeter, while the B600C bumps things up to 600 watts...

On Thanksgiving, we reshared this epic clip of Billy Sheehan filling in for Geddy Lee during a soundcheck. Billy shared it on Facebook, and someone shared this video in response. Mr. Big toured with Rush during the Presto tour in 1990. Luckily someone shot this video of the two bands coming together on stage for this performance of “In The...

Muse’s latest album, Simulation Theory, explores the idea of living in a simulated existence while steeped in ’80s culture references. The album artwork was designed by “Stranger Things” artist Kyle Lambert, and all the music videos reference film like Back to the Future, Thriller, and Teen Wolf. Muse also dig into the sounds of the era. As opposed to the...