Bass Guitar

Carvin SP Soap Bar Bass Humbuckers: Brand New

July 20, 2007

Carvin now ships the SP series Soap Bar bass humbucker pickup, which features what Carvin is calling "side by side coil design that enhances mid range growl while also delivering a smooth bottom end."

Carvin's...

Offsite Link: More info is at the Carvin official site.

Dean Markley Blue Steel Strings Endorsed By Kenny G's Bass Player

July 11, 2007

Kenny G's bassist Vail Johnson for Dean Markley Blue Steel Strings

It's 1992 again in the Gallery. The magazine is Guitar Player and the company is Dean Markley pushing their Blue Steel bass strings. Pictured is one Vail Johnson, bass player for noted soprano-saxophone Smoove-Jazz titan...

Two New OLP Basses: MM22 And MM23

May 16, 2007

OLP is a company in the business of making legal, lower-priced clones of Ernie Ball Music Man basses. As Squier is to Fender, OLP is to Music Man. Today, OLP announced the debut of two new double-pickup models, the MM22...

Offsite Link: Get more information about the MM22 and MM23 at the official OLP website.

Curve's Musical Mastermind Talks Roland, Fender, ARP

April 25, 2007

Dean Garcia, half of the electronic-shoegazer-genre-defying (and defining) band Curve, has been part of the world of electronic pop for over 20 years. In the mid 80s he played and recorded with the Eurythmics before teaming...

Offsite Link: For more on Curve. For more on The Secret Meeting. For more on The Chrono Logic.

MusikeMesse Video Montage: Seymour Duncan Bass Pickups

April 18, 2007

Take a video-montage tour of the selection of Seymour Duncan bass pickups on display at MusikMesse. Shot live from the floor of MusikMesse 2007 in Frankfurt, this video displays the goods Duncan's bass people brought...

Offsite Link: Get more information about Seymour Duncan bass pickups at the official Seymour Duncan website

Bassist Glenn Hughes On His Fender P-Bass And Other Tools Of The Trade

April 18, 2007

Bassist Glenn Hughes played in some of the seminal hard rock bands of the 60s and 70s, including Deep Purple and Trapeze. Hughes has also done session work with artists too numerous to list. His last several solo efforts...

Offsite Link: For more on Glenn Hughes. For more on Yamaha basses. For more on Manne Guitars.

Singer And Vocalist German Briseno On Touring With Gibson, Marshall, Dunlop And More

March 12, 2007

Seattle based Los Burbanks are a three piece "rock en Español" band. Their new record, Snake, is produced by long time engineer, producer and owner of Water Music Studios, Rob Grenoble along with Michael Barbiero, a...

Offsite Link: For more on Los Burbanks. For more on Los Burbanks record label, Infidel Records.

Tascam MP-GT1: An MP3 Player For Musicians

February 15, 2007

Tascam announced the "first MP3 player designed for musicians" in their MP-GT1 unit, available in Japan February 28th (no pricing or availability for Europe or US announced yet).

The player uses Variable Speed Audition,...

Offsite Link: Get more information about the Tascam MP-GT1 MP3 player at the official Tascam website

King Doublebass - Standup Basses Built To Last

January 26, 2007

King Doublebass standup basses on display at Winter NAMM 07

King Doublebass is a company dedicated to making durable standup basses. Durable as in: moreso than the ones people use to make chamber music. King Doublebass makes them strong enough to stand upon, as many enthusiastic...

Offsite Link: More info is at the King Doublebass official site.

Lee Rocker On The King Double Bass

January 22, 2007

An interview with Lee Rocker of Stray Cats

Stray Cats bassist Lee Rocker is very happy to be endorsing King Double Bass standup basses. So happy in fact, that he has a signature model with King that is built - like all King basses - to withstand the rigors of touring...

Offsite Link: More information is at the King Double Bass site.

From The Floor Of Winter NAMM: Friday Fun With Stray Cats, Nikki O'Neill

January 19, 2007

A look at Friday activites at Winter NAMM 07

Half the fun of going to NAMM for some people is playing spot-the-celeb. I myself saw the ghost of Paul Stanley signing autographs (though at first I thought it was Cher, I kid you not,) had a nice chat with Stray Cat bassist...

Offsite Link: More information is at the NAMM official site

Replace Your Bassist, The Stars Of Track And Field Way

January 16, 2007

An interview with Stars Of Track And Field

The new Stars Of Track And Field CD, Centuries Before Love And War, is hot off the presses. There is industry buzz aplenty, but Stars Of Track And Field haven't had an easy time getting to it. The group began as a foursome,...

Offsite Link: More info is at the Stars Of Track And Field Official Site.

photo courtesy of StarsofTrackandField.com

More Daisy Rock: Tish Ciravolo, Part Two

January 05, 2007

An interivew with Daisy Rock founder Tish Ciravolo

Daisy Rock founder Tish Ciravolo has made it her mission to open up the guitar marketplace to women. In the past, female guitarists have been forced to make do with instruments designed for "man hands". Ciravolo's specially-des...

Offsite Link: More information is at Daisy Rock.

Girl Power Guitars: Daisy Rock Founder Tish Ciravolo

January 04, 2007

An interview with Tish Ciravolo of Daisy Rock

Tish Ciravolo is the founder of Daisy Rock, which is famous for its guitars and basses designed especially for women. Ciravolo has been busy on the newest line of guitars which will debut at Winter NAMM 2007, but she took...

Offsite Link: More info is at Daisy Rock.

Boiling Bass Strings? Rotosound's John Doughty Gives The Lowdown

November 29, 2006

Why in the world would you want to boil your bass strings? What's the difference between roundwound and flatwound? How long do they last? Gearwire recently had a conversation about the bass string with John R. Doughty -...

Offsite Link: Get more information on Rotosound.

Proper Cable Wrapping Techniques

November 08, 2006

There are two schools of thought when it comes to cable, three if you count wadding it up like a dork, and tossing it into a gig bag. Proper cable coiling is one of those little tasks that seems easy, but winds up driving...

Trace Elliot 1215 Bass Combo

September 27, 2006

Summer NAMM 2005: Trace Elliot's 1215 bass combo amp is a fifteen-incher with a 12-band graphic equalizer and dual band compressor. Since this is one of the models brought out for the Trace Elliot relaunch in 2005, should...

Offsite Link: You can also check out the Trace Elliot site for additional specs on the 1215.

Summer NAMM 2005 Fender Big Block Series - Gearwire.com

September 13, 2006

Less is more? No: more is more, and Fender has plenty more for rock guitarists and bassists. The Big Block Series of modified Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters and P-Basses have debuted, rethinking the classic bodies, electronics...

Offsite Link: Check the Fender site for more info.

Fender Highway One upgrade

August 21, 2006

Fender shows off its upgraded line of Highway One guitars and basses. The new Highway Ones include slick features like jumbo frets, hotter pickups, Greasebucket tone circuits, and thin nitrocellulose lacquer finishes for...

Offsite Link: Check out the Fender site for more information.

The Black Heart Procession's Pall Jenkins interview

July 20, 2006

The sunny skies and warm weather of Southern California seemingly have no influence on San Diego's The Black Heart Procession. Founding members Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel (both of Three Mile Pilot) have worked...

Offsite Link: Black Heart's latest CD The Spell is available from Touch and Go Records.

Gearwire Goes SXSW: The Bats

July 16, 2006

SXSW Music Festival, 2006--Austin, TX: New Zealand's Flying Nun label has spawned some of that country's most talented and memorable acts. Among them is The Bats, a four-piece pop group that formed as an offshoot of the Clean,...

Offsite Link: Check out New Zealand's The Bats on the web.

Gearwire Delivers First View Of Ampeg SVT-6 PRO

March 31, 2006

Ampeg flexes new SVT-6 PRO March 30, 2006 Winter NAMM 2006: Weighing in a just over 40 lbs, Ampeg's new SVT-6 PRO bass amp head features a 4-band, +/-18 dB semi-parametric EQ section and delivers 1100 watts of power at...

Offsite Link: Take a look at Ampeg's official site for more details on the SVT-8 and SVT-6 PRO.

Winter NAMM 2006: Ampeg SVT-8 PRO Video

March 26, 2006

Winter NAMM 2006: Ampeg makes the case for its new SVT-8 PRO bass amp head, which sports an all-tube preamp on top of a 2,500 watt (at 2 ohms) digital-switching power section. And at 22 lbs, this thing will give your roadies...

Offsite Link: For more details check out the official Ampeg webosite for their pages on the SVT-8 pro amp.

Tips For Playing Funk Bass

January 26, 2006

So you've bought an electric bass guitar and have been trying your hand at it for the past few months. You have been able to compose a few tunes and are now ready to explore new sounds to become a better bassist.

In...

Choosing Bass Guitar Strings

January 19, 2006

Few things have a bigger impact on the quality of a bass guitar sound than the strings. This fact is particularly pronounced if the strings have been used for some time. As bass guitar strings age, their sound becomes dulled...