Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 716

Aria Guitars has announced they’ll be launching the Aria Pro II Cliff Burton Signature Bass at NAMM this week. A year in the making, the bass is a replica of the Black ’n Gold I bass Burton played. The bass made with the authorization of the late bassist’s family and bandmates in Metallica, with whom Burton set the bar for...

The first leg of Clutch’s Earth Rocker Tour is set. The tour kicks off with the North American leg on March 8th in Cincinnati, Ohio. The band is hitting the road in support of their upcoming album, Earth Rocker, which has been confirmed for a March 19th worldwide release date. Supporting acts for the upcoming tour include Orange Goblin, Lionize,...

Spector will be unveiling their Coda Pro series basses at NAMM this year. The new models offer the company’s classic inspired Coda at a lower price point by building them in their Korean Factory. Available with four or five strings, the Coda Pro basses feature two EMG HZ passive single-coil pickups paired with Spector’s TonePump Jr. active 9-volt tone circuit....

I’m not sure how I stumbled onto this video, but I’m sure glad I did. Gentle Giant’s “Free Hand” is already an awesome song, but add bassist Ray Shulman’s ballsy tone and energetic performance to the mix, and it’s a home run.

Traynor has introduced the Small Block Series, a line of compact, lightweight 200-watt bass combos. Available in 1×10, 1×12, and 1×15 speaker configurations, Traynor says the the new models are ideal for the working/practicing musician with features like a 1/4” auxiliary input, 1/4” headphone output, and an XLR balanced DI output with switchable pre and post settings. Each of the...

With all the talk of the new Black Sabbath album this year, I’ve been geeking out on tons of old videos of Geezer Butler and the band. Here’s one of my favorite songs, “Snowblind”, live in 1975. Geezer really rocks out on this one, white ’70s pants and all.

Sadowsky has introduced a new onboard bass preamp that comes prewired and offers the same controls and preamp as all Sadowsky basses. The controls include Volume, Pan, Vintage Tone Control, Treble, and Bass. Pulling up on the tone control bypasses the preamp. The preamp can be installed with the included control plate or transferred to another plate or pickguard and...

This week we look at the Ibanez BTB776PB, a six-string bass featuring a hot poplar burl top. Ibanez created the BTB line to create a boutique feel by implementing the same concepts without the boutique price. The line, including the BTB776PB, features a 35? scale, select body materials, neck-thru construction, and deep cutaways. The BTB is built around a 5-piece...

Photo Credit: Mika Hiironniemi As bassists, one of our main goals is to make the band groove. The only problem is that the term can be vague. Many young players that begin their quest for the elusive groove are met with descriptions like, “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.” In an effort to share ideas and bring us...

Ryan Haines sent in this very cool video of an original song he co-wrote with singer-songwriter Jenna Jackley. “It’s a nice, bass oriented piece with a tuneful bass solo at about 2:50,” he shares. Indeed.

Victor Wooten has announced the first tour dates of 2013 in support of his latest releases Words and Tones and Sword and Stone. The band will be trekking across the West Coast through February, including a two night stay at Yoshi’s in Oakland, California. As with his new albums, the tour will include a stellar group of musicians playing many...

EBS will be debuting their latest offering for bassists at next week’s NAMM Show, the Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Pedal. Designed along with the bassist himself, the new pedal mixes clean and distorted signals together to preserve low frequencies to “find balance between distortion and definition.” “This pedal is a distillate of several important principles in the signal chain for...