Bass Guitar

Arjen Lucassen talks briefly about his Dingwall Afterburner II 5-string. Briefly because, after all, what is there to say about a bass? (Bassists start forming your barbed comments now).  

Bassist, singer, and neo-soul pioneer Meshell Ndegeocello's birth year has been reported as both 1969 and 1968. Fittingly, her main instrument is a Fender 1963 Jazz Bass with a neck from a 64 model. Meshell took some time to talk with GW about the latter matter.  

Pink's bassist, Eva Gardner, still out on the record setting Funhouse World tour (they sold 800,000 tickets in Australia alone), talks a little about her, and her dad's, favorite bass strings: Rotosound Nexus.  

Bassists have the right to use synths and samplers too. Virtually eliminating the tracking latency problems of earlier technology, is the Industrial Radio MIDI Bass.  

Nate Patterson of The Dear Hunter finally succumbed to peer pressure (or would that be "pear pressure"?). The rest of his band happily played their First Act instruments while Patterson held out. He is not sure why now because he loves his custom First Act bass.  

The grime that come from your finger, as well as your attempts to "cook" you bass strings in a boiling pot of water shorten its life as well as eats a chunk out of your wallet. You can forget all about that as Ernie Ball will be introducing its new set of Coated Slinky Bass Strings at this Summer's NAMM.  

The light-fingered, Nashville-based, Katie Herzig talked to Gearwire a little about her Hofner Icon bass. She uses it exclusively in the studio. Though we're not sure if it's the same bass heard in that neat song of hers they used in the Fritos commercial, we are sure she has not sent complimentary Fritos to the Gearwire office.  

We send shortest straw drawer Bill Holland through the rhythm section section of Winter NAMM 2009 to check out the SWR Marcus Miller preamp. It has so many features that can be bypassed, you'd think a preemptively concerned surgeon designed it.  

Years of touring and playing live has turned Juan Díes into a realist by default. Consequently, his band employs the David Gage The Realist transducers on their bowed instruments. Go figure.  

Juan Dies of Sones de Mexico clues us in on an upright electric bass that WON'T pummel your bank account into raw oblivion, the Palatino VE-500. This is based on my assumption that you're better at budgeting and finances than I am.  

Sam Bevan, like most of the players in Aram Danesh And The Superhuman Crew, is a long-time multi-genre musician from the San Francisco Bay area. He talks a little about bass gear and pedals.  

Now that Bill's applied enough aloe vera to his sunburn, and Britton's -- uhh -- recovered, we've decided to take one last look at the Summer NAMM product debuts that may have been eclipsed in the standard GW news cycle by the mighty Moog Guitar.  

The power pop outfit from Pittsburgh talk a little about their gear and their plans.  

For about two weeks, we thought the HVAC system in the Gearwire offices was busted, but it turns out it's just hot because Summer NAMM 2008 is here! Covered: Moog Guitar and other, non-Moog-Guitar products.  

Gearwire catches Edison Glass on tour from New York to chat about the gear they use. It's no surprise that their dynamic sound, which ranges from airy to anthemic, stems from Fender guitars and basses.  

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.  

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

Kate Houle shows us her Carlo Robelli bass and Hartke Kickback 12, which she uses to lay down the groove for Before Dawn. It goes to show that you don't need a fridge to get people moving.  

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

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

Brooklyn's Bell Hollow talk about their set up and why they use what they do.  

When your band has a unique lineup like MR RUSSIA, things have to be done a little differently. With two bassists and zero guitarists, you can bet your first born child that there's gotta be some bass overdrive heavily in the mix.  

If you've seen bands with too many bassists before [more than one -- in some instances, one], they normally put on some sort of ridiculously bad spectacle. Not Mr. Russia. Bassists Dave and Ivan talk about how their writing process ensures protection from low end messiness.  

Joining the ranks of such venerable hybrid instruments as the mandobass and the trumpsichord, the Ned Steinberger Design CR4 upright bass combines the tuning and design of an upright, and the scale length of an electric bass.


Wait, where does "cello" come in?  

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.  

Fender guitars have been influential and ever-present in the music scene for the last half century. Now, a new series looks to improve upon that as Fender prepares to release the American Standard series.  

The Fender Mustang is a short scale bass that does not share a name with an NFL team. The Fender Jaguar is not named after a horse. The Fender Squier Bronco is a Squier. All three of these basses have their differences, but one thing they had in common is that they were all in Erik Byrne's basement.  

Laurie G-Force holds down the low end for Atlanta-based VieTNam. It's elementary why she chooses a Fender Jazz bass, but hear why she chose the Ibanez Tube Screamer over other pedals catered more towards bass.  

The new Ampeg Dan Armstrong ADA4 bass and Ampeg Dan Armstrong AMG100 guitars are inspired by humanity's thirst for products to be clear. Remember when Coke and Pepsi fought tooth and nail to deliver the best tasting clear colas? Well, this is much, much cooler.  

Matt Spatial talks about his Boss Chorus Pedal and how he uses it conservatively all the time. It's really helped to shape the sound of The Julia Dream.