The 5 string bass maintains the familiar Ritter curves and bridge arrangement, with two angled pickups and fairly straight forward 4 pot controls. The more striking features include the recessed rear jack socket (visible in the second picture) and the two tone gold/white – no cheesy plastic pickups, knobs of cover plates here!

Having played a few Ritter bases, I’m sure that this one plays like a dream – I’ll look out for Josh Dunham using it! Ritter Basses will be at the upcoming NAMM Show in Anaheim/California (January 14th to 17th) in Hall C – Booth #4182. (Beside DR-Strings), where the first basses will be released. There will be a number of other models on display, so I expect some great pictures to be coming out of NAMM!

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Jeff Beck will be on tour and I’ve been told that there will a chance to meet him too. Check out “Led Boots” from the DVD, featuring Tal too, pretty cool stuff:

“Led Boots” video clip from Jeff Beck’s Live at Ronnie Scott’s DVD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yg0nGAzNHc

There’s also a bit of a thing going on with Panasonic. Concert attendees that have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 will have a chance to take photos of Jeff Beck performing and submit them to the “Best of the Tour” series for JeffBeck.com. The first 10 owners who show up at the venue will get a special Panasonic VIP pass, which allows them backstage access for a photo opportunity with Jeff Beck. Panasonic will be raffling off two TZ5 class Digital Still cameras at each of the North American concerts.

You can get Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott’s on Amazon and the full list of Jeff Beck Tour dates are on the site. They start on 10th April 09 in New York at The Fillimore, and go through to 23rd April in Oakland at the Fox Theater – loads of dates. No Panasonic prize, but tour dates in Europe too:

• UK and Ireland: 24th June Brighton Brighton Dome, 25th June Birmingham Symphony Hall, 27th June Manchester Manchester Apollo, 28th June Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 30th June Belfast Ulster Hall, 1st July Dublin Vicar Street, 3rd July Southampton Guildhall, 4th July London Royal Albert Hall.
• Holland: 12th July Weert, Holland Bospop Festival, Sportpark Boshoven.
• France: 13th July Sete, France Festival Jazz a Sete @ Theatre de la Mer, 15th July Antibes, France Juan Les Pins Jazz Festival.
• Switzerland: 17th July Montreux, Switzerland Montreux Festival.
• Belgium: 19th July Limburg, Belgium Peer Festival.
• Spain: 22nd July Barcelona, Spain Pueblo Espanol, 24th July Madrid, Spain Festival Veranos De La Villa, Casa De Campo, 25th July Cazorla, Spain Blues Festival , 27th July Alicante, Spain Festival de Musicas del Mundo.

Enjoy!

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The Synergy power amp is a new NAMM introduction for 2009. It is available stand-alone or built-in to a Tri series cabinet (Tri 112L Combo w/ Synergy, Tri 115L Combo w/ Synergy, Tri 210L Combo w/ Synergy.). On its own, the Synergy amp weighs in at 10 lbs and delivers 1,100 watts in to a 4 Ohm speaker. That’s a lot of bass in one box! It measures 17” x 13” x 3.5” – about 2 Rack Spaces (there are optional rack ears available). The Preamp is a hybrid design (solid state, combined with a 12AX7 tube input stage), the Power Amp stage is a Class H amplifier.

Accugroove describe it as “the only amp you’d ever want on a desert island.” – I’m not gigging on a desert island anytime soon, but it still looks like a nice amp and a very attractive addition to the Accugroove line up (I have a Tri 110L which I am very happy with). It is high-power, but still very portable. A straight up amp with the bonus of valve warmth delivered in that Accugroove “hear your bass as it is” way. Full specs:

Power Rating: 

• 1000W @ 2 ohms;  
• 775W @ 4 ohms;  
• 450W @ 8 ohms 

Frequency Response: 

• +0dB, -5dB: 20Hz-20kHz 
• Damping Factor: >500 

More on the  Accugroove site.

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Steve Lawson also got a nice shot of them:

Mark Bass Pedals - photo by Steve Lawson

You can see more of Steve’s photos in this post on his blog: Photos from NAMM so far… The Mark Bass Pedal range includes a DI box (lots of the pedals have an XLR DI output around the back), a booster (with filters), a Valve Compressor, Octaver (-1 octave -2 octaves), a distortion, a synth pedal, a chorus/flanger and a reverb (the “reverbaro”). The latter two have USB connections to link to a computer for editing - all very high tech!

Bassists aren’t know for heavy use of effects pedals, but there are a number of multi-effects boxes on the market from the likes of Line 6, Roland/Boss, Yamaha et al designed for bass. Stomp boxes are the predecessor to the multi-effects unit, and give you one dedicated effect in a box. Again, there are a fair few purpose built stomp boxes for bass (for example, those from EBS), but I’m sure the Mark Bass boxes will be a welcome addition. There is something reassuring about having a box that does just one thing, with nice analogue dials to adjust the settings and then leave in place when you’ve got “that sound”.

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A few picks from the new gear so far… I like to look of the all new tc electronic RebelHead450:

A very high tech, light weight bass head. The mail features (mentioned in the video clip) include:

• Rehearsal input – plug in your mp3 player of sound source of choice.
• Integrated tuner – with LED display.
• Multiple user memories – for storing settings.
• Tone controls.
• TubeTone(tm) – tube sound.
• SpectraComp(tm) – compression.

More on this “Bass Amp 2.0″ (oh yes.. even Bass amps are going 2.0 now )  on the tc eletrconic site. 

No big new gear bass news from Roland this show, but they do have couple of new tuners:

http://www.roland.co.uk/guitar_room_catdet.asp?id=TU1000

http://www.roland.co.uk/guitar_room_catdet.asp?id=TU12EX

There are miles and miles of gear… Stroll though some of the NAMM photos here on flickr - worth it to see the Rob Allen Basses if nothing else. How about a spot the craziest bass competition???

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British Airways wrecked my bass “

Here’s a Video of the damage [warning, this video contains scenes which might be distressing to bass owners who travel]:

I remember when Norm Stockton came over to the UK, I was taken back at the way he had packed his bass. It was in a soft-case, inside of a hard case. I thought that was excessive, but Norm flies quite a bit and that is the method he has settled on.

Aside from the risk of dropping or throwing, flying involves dramatic changes in air pressure and temperature, which can be stressful for a bass. I have heard people suggest loosening the strings to relieve tension on the neck. I don’t know of any bass manufacturers or distributors that do this, so I’ve not been inclined to. What I would recommend is checking your insurance carefully. Will it cover your bass and will it cover it adequately? Check for any conditions about how it should be shipped, and how a claim has to be made.

Before booking I suggest phoning the airline you intend to book with and ask what their policy is for travelling with guitars/basses. My last couple of trips to the US I managed to get my bass on as hand luggage (probably aided by my status as a frequent flyer). Even if the airline say that you can take the bass in to the cabin with you, you may still have to argue your case (no pun intended) when you get to the airport. My last flight the bass went through special handling, which meant I kept hold of it until I boarded the plane, and got it back separately from the normal luggage at the other end.

“You may bring musical instruments as checked baggage as long as they fit within the size and weight limitations of the airline you are taking.”

If you play an upright/accoustic you are very unlikely to be able to keep the bass out of the hold –  just a little too big to get on as hand luggage! Some airlines don’t even allow basses at all, apparently. Also watch out for weight restrictions.

Another option – if you use a standard issue bass – is to hire one at your destination. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with that, I did it once and the bass I got was “well used” shall we say. Of course, if you play something exotic, or  have a bass that’s a life long friend like Steve’s, then that isn’t going to work for you. 

If you are flying with your bass for the first time, hopefully you’re not completely put of. Thousands of basses travel everyday and arrive safe and sound… Do share your experiences and wisdom…

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They have had three different bassists in their 20+ years of gigging, the latest fellow is Ms Zsa Zsa Poltergeist (aka Andy Billups). Andy played a 5 string Fender Jazz for the most part, using a thumb side pick. Side picks don’t photograph well, so let me describe it: imagine a plectrum that curls around your thumb like a ring. That’s basically it. Sort of a pick that you can’t drop. It gave a hearty dose of attack to the sound, which suited the band’s heavy rock stylings.

That got me thinking. When I saw Trip Walmsley (can’t find trip’s homepage – anyone? – here’s a video of him) I seem to remember him playing fretless with a plectrum. When I started playing bass, the community I was part of seriously frowned on pick-using bassists, and that has stuck with me for some reason. May be time to shake off an old habit? Playing with a plectrum gives a very different sound. Something to experiment with!

Oh, and the Hampsters were very good, including an impressive bit of instrument swapping in the later half of the set, and some good three part harmonies. Right, I’m off to find some plectrums (or is that plectra?).

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• 27th November, The Thirsty Scholar Manchester, England.

He’ll be back gigging in the US in the new year, check out his new blog at http://sethhoran.wordpress.com. Seth is offering a special deal on a bundle of his DVD/CDs, until December 15th.More bass than you can shake a stick at, all for fifty bucks:

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