One of the things that often comes up in talking about getting the set up right on a bass is fret dressing, or polishing. There are two times this should happen to a bass:

1. Before it leaves the factory.
2. If the frets become overly worn from use (usually years of use).

[More…]

Hat tip to this Bassnews.de post for bringing this Vox product to my attention!

The amPlug has been around a while, but Vox has added two new models, one of which might be of interest to us Bass folks. Described as a “palm-sized headphone guitar amp” this little gadget is modeled on VOX’s classic AC100 bass amp. No digital bits or bytes involved here, this pure good old fashioned analogue. A FET circuit provides a compressor/boost effect and even overdrive. Plug it in to the jack socket on your bass, plug in headphones (or in my case the Future Sonics In-ear monitors from the trusty Ampless Bass Set Up) and away you go. If you want some backing, there is a mini-jack input socket, so you can plug in an MP3 player, CD player or whatever else fits. Nice touch. [More…]

Haven’t done a fun end of week post for a while, so here we go! When @JimAnning sent me this I just had to share it straight away on the Twitter feed, and here it is in its full glory, just ‘wow’:

[More…]

I have to confess that I’m a sucker for anything green – either eco-green or just plain green-green. I had a green bass (of the green-green sort) for a while –  a 5 string Status Graphite Bass – but have been at the more traditional end of the spectrum for a while, so Musicman’s latest little limited edition bass grabbed my attention. The Dargie Delight Limited Edition package includes a very green (as in green-green) Stingray. [More…]

There was a post about the original RebelHead450 in the NAMM 2009 – Bass News, but since then The folks at TC Electronic have been busy dreaming up new things, the latest being the TC Electronic Classic450. Bass amp technology has been bounding along over the last few years – You no longer need a team of roadies to just lug your bass gear around, at least as far as the power amp is concerned. Mind you, even speakers have got lighter with new magnet technology – TC Electronic have also introduced the RS410, a 4×10 cabinet that complements their amp range. [More…]

Oh yes! 25th July 2009. Mark it in your diary, or more importantly, click your browser on over to the bassquake site and sign up, if you can get there. If previous events are anything to go by, it will be amazing. The list of players includes:

• Andrew Gouche (Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, The Jazz Crusaders, The Winans, Madonna, Destiny’s Child, Whitney Houston, George Duke)
• Byran Beller (Solo Artist, Bassist, Clinician, Composer, Freelance Writer)
• Sekou Bunch (Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Ray Charles, Tom Brown, The Tonight Show Band, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart)
• Brian Bromberg (Solo Artist, Bob James, Bobby Lyle, Jeff Lorber, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Joe Sample, Dianna Krall)

[More…]