Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 695

Les Claypool’s acoustic outfit, Duo De Twang, will be hitting the road in March and April. Starting in California, the tour will head East in mid-April with dates in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC and New York City. Claypool and guitarist Marc “Mirv” Haggard make up the duo, playing acoustic versions of the bassist’s tunes as well as...

Here’s an awesome rendition of the classic John Coltrane tune “Countdown,” performed by Petros Klampanis. The bassist gets creative with harmonics, insane rhythms, and a shaker attached to his ankle.

Radial Engineering has introduced the StageBug SB-2 Passive DI, which they say suits well to electric bass, acoustic guitar, and keyboards. The new, compact direct box was designed in response to the trend of reducing gear size for traveling purposes and measures at 2? wide and 3.5? deep. The SB-2 revolves around a custom made Eclipse ET-DB3 transformer, which performs...

Eden Electronics introduced their new E-Series of combo bass amps at NAMM this year. Ranging from 20 watts to 180 watts, the six new models are aimed at beginners and up with features to aid practice and performance. Each of the amps is built with Eden’s proprietary enhance EQ control, a custom Eden designed speaker enclosure, heavy duty carpet covering,...

Check out this great clip of bassist Amanda Ruzza getting down on Rique Pantoja’s “Melancia”. The performance was filmed during Cornelia St. Cafè’s Brazilian Jazz Festival in New York City.

ESP Guitars unveiled a host of new basses at NAMM this year, including the LTD BB-4. Available in Natural and Black finishes, the new model features neck-thru construction, a P/J pickup configuration, and active/passive electronics. The ESP LTD BB-4 is built with a 5-piece maple and walnut neck with an alder/swamp ash body. The rosewood fretboard holds 21 XJ frets....

Can you ever get enough Primus? I think not. Here’s a clip of Les Claypool and the boys playing “Too Many Puppies” from their 1990 debut Fizzle Fry.

Just over ten years ago, the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown made its debut at the Apollo Theater in New York. The film’s detailed look into the musicians behind all of Motown’s hits reignited the passion for the era’s music and led to the Funk Brothers receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Recording Academy. As just about any...

David Ellefson now has a signature model of the Jackson Kelly Bird bass, which he helped design last year. The new 4-string bass stands out with the Megadeth bassist’s signature red pinstripe finish over its modern body shape. The Jackson David Ellefson Signature Kelly Bird Bass is built with a basswood body, and a bolt-on bound maple neck with 21...

Bassist Adam Neely sent this awesome video of his band Inside//Outside playing his composition “Effervescent”. The Brooklyn-based 4-stringer describes the tune as odd-metered nu-jazz with a distorted trumpet solo, 8-bit drums, and (our favorite part) a bitcrushed bass solo that starts at the 2:05 mark. We describe it as awesome. Today’s video wraps up our Featured Reader Video Week, but...

The 55th Annual Grammy Awards was a very special moment for Charlie Haden as the 75-year-old bassist was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Over the course of his career, Haden has worked with artists like Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Alice Coltrane, Joe Henderson, and Michael Brecker, just to name a few. During his acceptance speech, the bassist explained...

Known best for their use of the Novax fanned-fret system, Dingwall decided to capture classic tones with their Z-series. The Z1 set out to “capture the best qualities of the classic swamp ash tone” by placing their Super-Fatty pickups in the same relative positions as traditional designs. The Z2 then put the pickups closer together towards the bridge to get...