Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 508

The Kata 4 Headless from Blasius Guitars features a pretty unique body shape with the tone to match. A take on the company’s flagship Kata model, this headless bass is built with three-layer body wings consisting of a bubinga back, maple core, and flamed maple top. Its five-piece neck is a sandwich of maple, padouk, and walnut while the ebony...

Trickfish Amplification introduced a new bass amp at the Winter NAMM Show this year called the Bullhead .5K. A little brother to the Bullhead 1K, the amp features a Mike Pope low noise preamp matched with a Class D power amplifier that offers 500 watts at 8 ohms and 700 watts at 4 ohms. “We embarked on an important mission...

Ever since Julie Slick teased the album back in October, we’ve been patiently waiting for the new EchoTest album. Now we’re basking in the goodness that the band calls From Two Balconies. Slick shares bass duties in the band on her Bass VI with fellow phenom Marco Machera, who plays on a five-string. Slick gave the lowdown on their third...

Juan Alderete is the king of pedals and effects, and he’s proven that once again with his new group Halo Orbit. The band, which includes Japanese guitar whiz suGar Yoshinaga and drummer Mark Guiliana, released their debut album earlier this month and it’s filled with the bassist’s unreal tonal palette. Halo Orbit’s self-titled debut is Alderete’s first full release since...

Viktor L?rincz’s creativity always astounds me, and his latest video is no different. “This video was made with drummer Steven Oravecz, who made a ‘grinder drum’ video on the Facebook,” L?rincz explains. “When I heard it, I felt the groove, and I made my bass line and video, and I mixed them.” Dig it:

Electro Harmonix has expanded their line of synthesizer pedals with the SYNTH9. Suited for bass and guitar, the stompbox emulates classic electronic synthesizers with nine settings: OBX, Profit V, Vibe Synth, Mini Mood, EHX Mini, Solo Synth, Mood Bass, String Synth, and Poly VI. “Using the same innovative technology that powers the award-winning B9 and C9 Organ Machines as well...

Punk legends The Descendents have announced a massive headlining North Amercian tour that will kick off in April and continue throughout December. Anchored by Karl Alvarez, the band will start in Santa Cruz, California and make their way East and then South to cover most of the U.S. with a handful of Canadian dates mixed in. The band will be...

Zoom revealed their latest bass product at the Winter NAMM Show with the B3n, a multi-effects processor that can model individual effects or chains of effects plus amps and cabs. It’s pre-loaded with 67 stompbox DSP effects including 19 dynamics and filter effects, 15 overdrive and distortion effects, 17 modulation effects, 11 delay and reverb effects, and more. “The B3n...

The duo of bassist Hector Baños and vocalist Majo Saenz, aka Boisse, released a new video for their song “Danii.” Featuring an ambient harmonic groove and soulful vocals, this one is beautiful.

Bassist Chris Wolstenholme and Muse will be hitting the road this year for an 18-date tour of North America. Beginning May 20th in West Palm Beach, Florida, the trek will take them across the U.S. and Canada with performances scheduled out as far as September 20th. Tour support will be provided by 30 Seconds To Mars, who is joined by...

This week we’re checking out a cool new bass from Lorita Basses. The Century Series II carries the same singlecut body shape as the Century model, but with a solid body construction and a bolt-on neck. This particular bass has a headless setup and is constructed with a swamp ash body, burl elm top, hard ash and hard maple neck,...

Chris DeAngelis is back with another killer looping bass cover. This time he knocked it out of the park with Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It.” After setting up a percussive groove, he lays out the melody and bass line at the same time. Then he loops the groove and kicks off an ear-bending solo. Dig it: