Paz Lenchantin Joins The Pixies
The Pixies have announced that former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin will be joining them as the touring bassist for their upcoming worldwide tour. Lenchantin, who has also played with ZWAN and The Entrance Band, will begin her duties with the band at Toronto’s Massey Hall on January 15, 2014. “We are really looking forward to playing with her...
Dean Markley Introduces Signature Series Bass Strings
Dean Markley has announced the Signature Series bass strings, available in 4- and 5-string sets. The strings feature a nickel plated steel that’s slowly wound over a hex core. This provides complete contact between the wrap wire and core, which the company says results in a maximum transfer of tone and sustain. The wrap wire is electroplated with pure nickel...
Sean Martinez: Interconnected
Sean Martinez has a new EP called Omnipotent Dream coming out soon, and he’s been dropping some teasers from the upcoming release. Here’s an awesome video of Martinez playing along with the track “Interconnected,” which features some gorgeous tapping, ambient effects, and gnarly distortion for a spacey vibe.
Ben Allison Releases “The Stars Look Very Different Today”
Ben Allison has a new atmospheric album out, . Taking its name from David Bowie’s lyrics to “Space Oddity,” the bassist’s eleventh album as a leader brings together his lifelong love of space, technology and film. Allison used the record as a medium to explore musical textures that tie the three together. The result offers up a sci-fi vibe influenced...
EC Pedals Releases Michael Benson FuzzDriver Pedal
EC Pedals has joined forces with bassist Michael Benson to released the FuzzDriver, a stompbox that combines the company’s Bass Overlord and Angry Ape Gated Fuzz effects into one. The effects can be activated separately or together to create new textures. The Fuzz side of the FuzzDriver has Level, Tone, Gain, and Growl controls. Its Growl knob controls the gate...
Metalin’ Guitars Introduces New Aluminum Instrument Stands
Metalin’ Guitars has a pair of funky new instrument stands made of solid aluminum. The respective Floor and Gooseneck models feature a sturdy tri-tilt balancing assembly that can be disassembled for storage or moving. Built to fit basses and guitars guitars, the stands have a lacquer safe padding to keep your instrument’s finish safe. They also come in custom finishes...
Bass of the Week: Prometeus Guitars Ahab
Any instrument named after the monomaniacal captain from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick needs to have a similar aggressive design, and the Prometeus Guitars Ahab delivers in spades. This week we check out a 6-string, multi-scale version of the bass that left me speechless. While the Ahab can be built with varying woods and materials, this particular bass sports a jaw-dropping...
Sketches of Bob: An Interview with Bobby Vega
San Francisco in the ’60s and ’70s was a hotbed for bassists. With bands like Sly and the Family Stone, The Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane calling the city their home, the Bay area was fertile with exciting new music filled out by a lot of low end thump. It was in this musical landscape that Bobby Vega began his...
Muse Releases “Live at Rome Olympic Stadium” CD/DVD
Muse has followed up the success of last year’s The 2nd Law with a new live album and DVD. presents the band’s Italian performance on July 6th in front of over 60,000 fans as part of their Unsustainable Tour. It also acts as a musical snapshot of the band’s increasingly electronic sound, which lead singer Matt Bellamy says will be...
Lehle Now Shipping Julian Parametric Booster Pedal
Lehle is now shipping the Julian, a preamp pedal with parametric mids and treble controls for tonal shaping and recreating sounds of classic treble boosters. Its booster offers up to 15dB of boost or cut. Since the vintage boosters had low input impedance, the Julian is equipped with a switch that reduces the impedance from 1MOhm to 10kOhm to reproduce...
Jon Liebman’s “Rock Bass” Method Reissued
Fifteen years after its original release, Jon Liebman’s Rock Bass instructional book has been updated. The revised edition features a new section focusing on music from the 2000’s, an updated appendix on equipment and effects and a foreward by Billy Sheehan. Rock Bass now features over 130 musical selections ranging from the earliest rock riffs of the ’50s to present...
Sandberg Announces 5-String MarloweDK Signature Bass
Two years after issuing MarloweDK’s signature bass, Sandberg has unveiled a five string version of the instrument. The MarloweDK 5-string bass retains most of the features of the four-string with a few adjustments to accommodate for the extra string. Built with an alder body and a bolt-on maple neck, the bass has a longer 35″ scale for a more powerful...