Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 641

Reverend Guitars used the NAMM Show this year as an opportunity to introduce a 4-string version of their Mercalli bass. The bass had previously only been available as a 5-string. The Reverend Mercalli 4 is built with a korina body and a five-piece maple and walnut neck that’s finished in a satin amber. It comes with several options, including a...

Orange Amplification introduced the new OB-1K bass amplifier at the NAMM Show this year. The 1000-watt solid-state amplifier is inspired by bi-amping and splits the signal into two separate paths. The first side offers a tight, clean bass sound while the second features two stages of controllable gain and is rich in upper harmonics. Each channel can be toggled or...

George Porter, Jr. will be returning to tour the UK for the first time in years. The bassist will be taking his band The Runnin’ Pardners on a four-date run of Brighton, Manchester, Nottingham, and London. Porter is famed for founding the legendary New Orleans band The Meters and can be heard on such classics as “Cissy Strut,” “Just Kissed...

Jon Willis shared a photo of his pride and joy on our Facebook page, and needless to say I was floored by the instrument. But the story behind it is even better. The bass is a near perfect replica of Billy Sheehan’s famous Wife bass, which the Mr. Big bassist used from his very first gig in 1971 until the...

Here’s another great video of Ray Brown doing what he does best. This clip is taken from his performance at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival with Milt Jackson. With the help of a star-studded band, the duo tackles “Slippery,” which is also found on Brown’s album Something for Lester. The rest of the band includes Clark Terry on trumpet, Eddie...

The members of Korn are getting new signature instruments from Ibanez this year including bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu’s K5 Signature Limited Edition bass. The updated K5 takes an opposite aesthetic approach of Fieldy’s black signature bass and features a flat white finish as well as a white painted maple fretboard. The white theme is accented with a set of blue...

Sometimes you just need a nice buttery groove to make your day. Here’s Jerry Jemmott making it happen with Aretha Franklin on the song “Make It With You” during her 1971 concert at Fillmore West.

HELLYEAH has split ways with guitarist Greg Tribbett and bassist Bob “Bobzilla” Kakaha, according to a new post on Blabbermouth. The supergroup didn’t give a specific reason for the split, but posted about it on their Facebook page. “Things happen for necessary reasons,” they wrote. “It’s so easy for people to assume or makeup reasons for things. Don’t ASSUME anything!...

Zon is going old school with their new Mosaic Mojo model. The new bass carries a classic style and are fitted with a set of Aguilar 60 series pickups to get a vintage sound. The Mosaic Mojo is built with a three-piece maple neck with either a maple or rosewood fingerboard. Zon offers the bass with either ash or alder...

Carvin unveiled the Xccelerator Series of basses at NAMM this year with its introductory model, the X54 5-string bass. The X54 sports several new features for the company including a fast-playing, thinner maple neck that’s reinforced with graphite. Its body also has a new shape with deeply sculpted cutaways for better access to the higher registers. The bass is built...

Spector was showing lots of new instruments at the NAMM show this year, including the NS-2000/5 Dan Briggs Signature bass. It’s modeled after the same NS-2000/5 that Briggs has owned and played since he was 16. The bass features neck-through construction with a 3-piece rock maple neck, a rosewood fingerboard, maple body wings, and a quilt maple top. The body’s...

One of the great hangouts during the annual NAMM show is the Bass Bash held at JT Schmid’s in Anaheim. This year was no exception as players ranging from the great Uriah Duffy to Ethan Farmer to Snarky Puppy all laid it down to a crowd of bass fanatics. Here’s one of our favorite videos taken from the two night...