Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 544

I really love bass cams. Sometimes they make you feel a little dizzy, but the perspective is so cool. Here’s a bass cam video of bassist László Demeter playing with his band, byron. Demeter pins down the low end for the song “Zeitgeist,” which was recorded during their New Year’s Eve gig at Clubul Taranului in Bucharest.

After debuting in early 2013 for a short East Coast tour, the Ringers are back with more performance dates. The supergroup is made up of Jimmy Herring, Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau, Gary Novak and bassist Etienne Mbappe. Their trek kicks off January 18th during two appearances at Florida’s Sunshine Music & Blues Festival. They then make their way north along...

Carvin has announced the BX700, an evolved version of their BX500 bass amplifier. The new head unit combines a Class A preamp with a Class D power section rated up to 700 watts at two ohms. Remodeled in a red-faced chassis, the BX700’s controls include three EQ sections. The Contour knob controls an adjustable preset EQ curve that is flat...

Schecter has introduced the Session series of basses, which they describe as combining “no frills looks with high end electronics.” The series includes four and five string basses in the company’s Stiletto and Riot body styles. Each of the models features a contoured swamp ash body and 6-bolt Canadian Maple neck. The 24-fret maple fingerboard is accented with ebony offset...

The Aristocrats are back for another round of world touring in support of their second release, Culture Clash. The supertrio of guitarist Guthrie Govan, drummer Marco Minneman and bassist Bryan Beller will start things off with a string of dates in the West Coast and Mexico before heading to Europe for an extensive 10-week tour. “These will be first-ever live...

This week we check out the Classic 5 String Bass from Zoov Guitars, a custom shop based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While each bass is made to order by luthier Nicholas Lacroix, this particular fretless version really stands out for its beauty and attention to detail. The bass has a beautiful assortment of woods. Its neck is tigerwood is topped...

Aguilar has expanded their pickup line with the AG 4M and AG 5M Music Man-Style bass pickups. The humbuckers were designed to recreate the classic Stingray tone while enhancing string-to-string balance, consistency, and harmonic content. They fit as a direct replacement for basses with this style pickup. The company says the pickups are wired in parallel to give players “crisp...

Gov’t Mule will be heading out next month in support of their latest album, Shout, which came out in October. The trek kicks of February 6th at Columbia, South Carolina’s Township Auditorium and will snake its way around the South and Midwest U.S. Anchored by bassist Jorgen Carlsson, the legendary southern-fried jam band will also be touring Japan in April...

Swiss luthier Tino Tedesco has unveiled The Primal series of basses, including the 4/21 and 5/21. The new line aims to reduce the amount of options to be able to offer a professional instrument on a budget. “We have retained a lot of important features also present on our other models like the graphite reinforced necks, the 2-way trussrods and...

Prepare to have your face melted. Steve Jenkins just released this video for the track “Sphere” from his latest album, Steve Jenkins and the Coaxial Flutter. Using some gnarly overdrive, the bassist wastes no time in ripping it up with a heavily syncopated slap riff. The song takes a chilled out intermission before coming back with even heavier riffs.

Bruno Tauzin sent us this video of himself jamming out a smooth fretless bass groove on his Ibanez Gary Willis Signature bass. The laid back track has the bassist playing some soulful licks and a double-time feel to spice things up.

Vail Johnson has released his sixth solo album, entitled . Describing the music as having a “relaxed intensity,” Johnson’s latest effort features his bass as the lead in fully fleshed out songs. Flow acts as a timestamp for his musical ideas. “This CD is all about simply playing what was in my heart and how I felt about music presently...