Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 454

GoGo Tuners has unveiled the Drop Spot, a USB rechargeable 9V lithium battery power supply for pedals. The portable device is capable of powering multiple pedals, pedalboards, and high current effects by offering 9V, 700ma power. The company’s slogan of “Green you’re in and Red you’re out” applies to the Drop Spot as well. Indicator lights go from green to...

Ray Brown was a master jazz bassist that could carry entire songs, with or without chordal instruments. One of his most notable recordings of the latter situation has just been reissued on vinyl for its 60th anniversary. Sonny Rollins’s Way Out West features the trio Brown on bass, Rollins on sax, and Shelly Manne on drums. It was taken from...

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...

Blackstar Amplification has gotten into the bass game with the Unity Series, their first ever line of bass amps. Models in the range span power ranges from 30 watts to 500 watts in combo amp packages. Each has a preamp equipped with a 4-band EQ as well as three preamp voicings: Classic, Modern, or Flat. They also have a response...

Karl Alvarez and The Descendents have announced a spring tour to continue support for their 2016 album Hypercaffium Spazzinate. The massive tour will take them from April 12th in Tampa, Florida to November 17th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Check out Alvarez’s tasty bass work in the video for “Without Love”: The Descendents 2018 Tour Dates:

This week we’re taking a look at another great bass we saw at the NAMM Show: the Majesté Buckeye 5. Majesté’s Willy Abued showed us the bass, which is named after its stunning buckeye maple top. Its striking body shape is made with debitou for the body wings while the five-piece carbon-reinforced azobe and maple neck runs through the length...

There’s more troubling news abound for industry giant Gibson Guitars. After announcing plans to sell off their downtown Memphis factory, rumors have been flying that they may be facing bankruptcy in the coming months. In an article for the Nashville Post, Geert De Lombaerde laid out the dire state of affairs. “The situation facing the iconic Nashville-based music instrument maker,...

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...

The Wood Brothers have returned with their sixth album entitled One Drop of Truth. The 10-song album deviates from their previous efforts by presenting each song as its own masterpiece, diving into a variety of styles and influences. “Often, when you’re making an album in the traditional way, there will be a unifying concept, whether that be in the approach...

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...

Old school gamers got super excited in 2016 when it was announced that the classic Sega Genesis game “Toejam and Earl” was going to get a new chapter called “Back in the Groove.” The game is still being finished up, but the super funky soundtrack performed by Cody Wright is now available. Wright recreates some of the original grooves while...

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.