Buzz
Lita Ford Plucks Previously Unheard Music From the Past for “Time Capsule”
Guitarist/vocalist Lita Ford, best-known for her time The Runaways (which also produced Joan Jett) and her solo career peak in the late 1980s, has released Time Capsule, an assortment of songs recorded with a host of famous friends back in the ’80s. Ford says she rediscovered the 24-track analog recordings in her Caribbean home. “This is some of the best...
Cog Effects Revamps Tarkin and Grand Tarkin Fuzz Pedals
Cog Effects has expanded their tonal offerings with an update to their Tarkin fuzz range, consisting of the Tarkin and Grand Tarkin mk2. The pedals are hand-built in Sheffield, England. Based on the Green Russian, the Tarkin is now housed in a smaller chassis with a pair of new LPF and HPF switches, which the company says are highly interactive...
Bass on a Budget: 10 Basses Under $1,000 for 2016
Tax season is finally over and it’s time to figure out how to spend that sweet refund from Uncle Sam. Of course, if you’re reading this site you’ve probably already decided on a bass. That’s why we put together this list of 10 new basses for 2016 under $1,000. The list is in no particular order and is not exhaustive....
Zander Zon: Game of Thrones
Zander Zon is back with another stunning arrangement, this time covering the theme from Game of Thrones. I feel as though I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t watch Game of Thrones, so after I listened to Zander’s arrangement, I went back and listened to the original.
Ace Frehley Releases “Origins Vol. 1”
Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley has released Origins Vol. 1, an album almost completely comprised of rock covers. His onetime Kiss bandmate Paul Stanley guests on the album, as does Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, as well as vocalist/guitarist Lita Ford and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. Chris Wyse (The Cult, Owl, Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger) handles bass, as he...
Form Factor Audio Launches Bi Bass Amplifier Series
Form Factor Audio has announced the launch of the Bi 1000 and Bi 400 bass amps. Rated at 1000 and 400 watts respectively, the California-made Class D amps are packed with tons of connectivity and a 3-band EQ. The company describes their new preamp as “designed from the ground up to deliver the type of clarity, response time and tone...
Ask Damian Erskine: Mailbag
As readers send in questions, one of three things happens: a) I turn it into an “Ask Damian” column, or b) I respond directly, because the question doesn’t quite warrant an entire column (I do try to respond to everybody) or c) it gets put into the folder of questions that I’d like to answer but don’t know exactly how...
Jason Everett: Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality, Part One
Bassist Jason Everett, aka Mister E, has unleashed part one of an epic 22-minute bass driven sonic story called “Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality”. This clip captures three movements of the world-jazz-fusion saga, which includes Everett’s slick 7-string fretless work and a diverse cast of musicians. ”’Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality’ is the sonic story of a soul…...
Dave Roe Plays on Sturgill Simpson’s Latest
Country artist Sturgill Simpson has released his followup to 2014’s Grammy-nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Called A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, the Nashville-recorded album features soul-inflected vocals from Simpson and bass work handled by prolific bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Dan Auerbach). Esquire magazine has already said of the album, “It’s hard to...
Reader Spotlight: Mischa Marcks
Meet Mischa Marcks, a bassist with a real focus on music and making music his work. Mischa has studied the world in his travels, and keeps busy playing in bands, teaching, producing, composing and more. Mischa is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: Heartbeat. Pulse. Groove. Five strings, one vibe. An ongoing, perpetually varying...
Ernie Ball Music Man Previews Cutlass and Caprice Basses
Ernie Ball Music Man has unveiled their first fully passive basses with the Caprice and Cutlass models. The basses, which were debuted at the NAMM Show this year, feature brand new body styles that are influenced by old school design with modern playability. Even with new body styles, players will be familiar with the necks as the Cutlass borrows the...
Shareef Addo: Secrets
Shareef Addo sent in this video for his cool bass-centric tune “Secrets”, and it’s been stuck in my head since. The bass drives the song, but vocalist Adam Benjamin helps to fill out the melodic content. This is a great example of making the bass interesting while focusing on the songwriting aspect. Well done, Shareef!