Bass Amps

Crash Romeo hail from New Jersey and play what they unapologetically call "Pop-Punk." The band's bassist, Steve Matthews, tells Gearwire what he uses and why.  

So many things get better with age -- cheese, wine, George Clooney -- but did that Ibanez Blazer Bass really attain some magical quality once it hit the two-decade mark? Crosstalk discusses the liberal use of the "vintage" tag and its implications.  

Shoegaze outfit, Dead Leaf Echo, talk about their live gear set up.  

Greg Coatez of The Bangkok Five talks about his bass, bass rig and his general distaste of digital recording.  

When bassists and guitarists jam, given no maximum volume level, a cyclical equation builds. The bassist will raise his volume to hear himself over the guitarist, who will in turn raise his volume over the bass. This repeats until nobody can hear anything. Sound familiar? Take a page from Geezer Butler.  

The rhythm section of Lincoln, Nebraksa-based, For Against, get their turn talking gear.  

Ampeg does some headshrinking with the announcement of their new SVT Micro amp head. In unrelated rumors, Robert Trujillo may have greatly offended a shaman asking for directions after a wrong turn during their South American tour. Luckily, no black ice was involved.  

Despite the fact that Ashdown's Little Giant bass amps have a familiar name, what they do is impressive. Pumping 1000 watts out of something roughly the size of a two and a inch stack of computer paper is pretty amazing. What would be more amazing would be a two inch half stack made out of computer paper.  

For ages, the feud between paper and aluminum raged on with seemingly no end in sight. The great moderator, Hartke, has resolved such issues with the HyDrive Drivers, combining the punchy attack of aluminum with the warmth of paper.  

Chances are that fans of Faith Hill and Metallica don't see eye to eye on very many things. Their bassists do see eye to eye on one thing though -- Ampeg makes very solid gear.  

What is it about the Warlock that just screams "METAL!!!"? Is it the pickups, the performance, or that sinister shape? Buzz of Atlanta's End of Days talks about the Warlock and his Schecter back-up guitars.  

If you live in a house without any outlets, you probably ended up on the losing end of that bargain. However, the Roland MICRO CUBE BASS RX will give you something fun and battery powered to do.  

Now that the sexy, Super Redhead has turned twenty, and is unquestionably legal in every state, SWR has beefed it up quite a bit. Bassist Tony Franklin [who's renowned for his work with The Firm, Blue Murder, and David Gilmour] talks about the new Super Redhead and what it is that makes it super.  

I know, it seems like only yesterday that SWR changed the freakin' world as we know it with the introduction of their Super Redhead Bass Combo. I was but a wee tyke when that Redhead first caught my eye, and now it's all I ever talk about with my therapist!  

Laurie G-Force talks about her bass amplifier, a Behringer BX4500H through an Ampeg 1x15 cabinet. Patrick Ogle forces her to remove the sticker covering the Behringer name even though the sticker was probably preventing the BX4500H from exploding.  

Silverchair's "Israel's Son" is an anthemic reminder of what rock was like in the 1990's, fueled by Chris Joannou's ultra-heavy bass line. Nowadays, Silverchair has evolved musically, but Chris keeps his rig solid with some failsafe gear.  

48sin,'s Patrick Windsor says that the band is just four guys who like to make music. Hailing from the Chicago area the Windsor says the band is "rock n roll with a computer." The band consists of Windsor on vocals/guitars/pro...  

The Junkyard Birds, a blues rock act from in Samatan, France spoke with Gearwire about their Rickenbacker guitars and various effects. They told us their name came from how their style was a sort of update to The Yardbirds...  

Boomer, known in real life as Steve Friedman, is a regular at The Guitar Forum and founder of www.guitardiner.com. He's been playing bass since 1964, but that's not all this adventurous forum daredevil does. Check out...  

Jeff Cullum, the bassist for the Deadstring Brothers, plays a Fender P-Bass circa 1990. He admits that he's not much of a gearhead, and he'll play whatever he's handed because for Jeff, the key is performance. If he's...  

We're back with Cobra Starship talking about some more gear they used when recording Viva La Cobra! Ryland and Alex talk about a mythical Wizard Cab from the far East made out of what sounds like magic wood.

Stay...  

Hazel Witch's bassist, Carlos Sepulveda, currently plays a Fender P-Bass through a Gallien Krueger amp. When Pat Ogle caught up with Carlos, Carlos was stuck using a different amp. Carlos reflects on the challenges of...  

Rock band, The Ohio Sky started in August of 2006, and hit the stage in February of this year. The band is composed of musicians who have been working in the Cleveland scene for some time in bands and/or solo performers...  

Behringer has announced the release of the BVT4500 and BVT5500 bass heads in the Behringer Virtual Tube series. These amps respectively deliver 450 and 550 watts of power and feature Behringer's VTC (virtual tube circuitry)....  

The Voodoo Jets recently added bassist Clint Amereno to their lineup. Amereno has played live with 12 Stones, touring extensively with the band. Voodoo Jets are unique in power pop in that they use no guitars, only keyboards....  

San Francisco-based Murder of Lilies began when bassist Tom Kennedy and keyboardist Halleia Sadeghi started looking to put together a project. Since their first show at The Stork Club, the band has played the SF area consistent...  

Warwick's Hellborg bass amp/cabinet combo was on display at Summer NAMM. Gearwire gets the down-low on the pre, the amp, and the cabinet. The pre has a coil-based EQ system, and there are three sizes of the Hellborg amp,...  

Pete Jones endured John Lydon's antisocial antics long enough to do Public Image Ltd's Commercial Zone album. He also performed on several Martin Atkins Brian Brain releases, but time hasn't been kind to those records, as...  

Hughes and Kettner is not a name well-known for software. Instead, the label suggests custom tube bass and guitar amps with huge headroom, great tone, and dazzling electric-blue-and-lucite visual design. Notwithstanding,...  

Thomas Blug and Raoul Walton were doing some jams at the Hughes and Kettner booth at this years Musikmesse. Thomas is a well known guitarist in Europe and it was great to hear some of his licks while we were out there. Check...