The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Bass Zone => Topic started by: Chris P. on January 15, 2016, 09:38:48 AM
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For the magazine I put some known and expected NAMM news together. Here it is in very short. Ofcourse next week we know more! :)
Aguilar makes the 1x12 in Blue Bossa
Bartolini's B-Axis is a passive split coil Jazz pickup, a bit like some Nordstrands and the new Seymour Duncan Apollo.
D'Addario will have the stronger, louder, longer lasting and more steady NYXL strings as bass strings.
Darkglass will make a complete amp!! With some on board Darkglass effects.
Digitech has a new bass fuzz.
Dunlop / MXR launches a Mini Cry Baby Bass Wah and flat wound strings in the Super Bright series.
EBS will have an updated, deluxe version of the Sheehan Drive
ESP has new basses with fanned frets.
The New American Elite Series will replace the American Deluxe Series basses.
The Fodera Monarch P has all the Fender style woods, a split P, it's passive and it has to sound as a good '60s P. It's passive but it has room in the cavity for a preamp.
Jerry Genzler is back with amps and Cabs. Genzler Amplification.
The Godin Dorchester bass is a bit Mosrite and a bit Rick guitar and it has P90 style bass pickups.
Hotone has a mini wah too, also usable als volume or expression pedal.
Phil Jones has mini bass monitor, which can be placed on a mike stand, a great looking amp head with all the controls on the upper side (it looks a bit like a very small mixing desk) and inputs for jack and XLR, and a small combo.
Sire has a limited edition with black blocks of the Marcus Miller Jazz and a Candy Apple Red-ish colour is available on all basses.
Taurus brings a DI with compressor, linked to the gain. And a Drive with extra lows.
Warwick has a lot of news. A Rex Brown Reverso, a Lee Sklar Star Bass with a 'Producer's Switch' with no use;)
A LTD 2016 Corvette, leather gigbags,
All German Warwick basses have no (v battery but an accu which can be charged with a standard phone charger and gives you 500 hours of playing time. The new electronics have more headrome and there's a passive tone control.
The German Star Bass can be ordered in 32" now.
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The new Genzler amps have a substantial thread running on TB. I love my Genz amp but I'm not planning on switching.
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I wasn't aware until recently that Lee Sklar is now a Warwick player.
The Warwick rechargeable preamp is something new. Most of the rest sounds like more of the usual.
New and improved strings (yeah, right), yet another new J pickup, another 1x12, Fender changing a series name. Ho-hum.
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Yes, all not very exciting yet, however the Darkglass amp could be a winner. I hope some more news will come up.
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Were Dimarzio stupidly ahead of the curve with the Model J or something? A split coil Jazz bass pickup really shouldn't make many ripples, right?
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Were Dimarzio stupidly ahead of the curve with the Model J or something? A split coil Jazz bass pickup really shouldn't make many ripples, right?
No, it shouldn't. Plenty of them already out there. But there's always the pressure for each manufacturer to come up with something that they can sell to their dealer network as new or improved.
Take strings, for example. If you conducted blind listening tests, could people tell the difference between D'addario XLs and NYXLs? I doubt it. Now Chris says they will introduce "stronger, louder, longer lasting and more steady NYXL strings." Yeah, sure. And if you believe that, I've got some swampland in the Sahara to sell you. ;)
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I wasn't aware until recently that Lee Sklar is now a Warwick player.
It's his beard. It obstructs his lower view, so he doesn't really notice or mind.
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ONCE IN A WHILE.... black hardware looks good. :P
http://www.schecterguitars.com/bass/michael-anthony-bass-detail (http://www.schecterguitars.com/bass/michael-anthony-bass-detail)
(http://www.schecterguitars.com/images/stories/virtuemart/product/michael-anthony-ds.png)
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It's his beard. It obstructs his lower view, so he doesn't really notice or mind.
But his beard has other uses. :)
From NAMM 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8U_-Jvcig
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Michael Anthony is with Schecter now? I thought he was with Yamaha. Both are PJ basses with 3-way switches... :bored:
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But his beard has other uses. :)
From NAMM 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8U_-Jvcig
Obviously a really nice, down-to-earth person. How unsettling! :)
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:D
I will post lots more news soon. Including a great Tech21 Fly Rig for bass (want it), new amps of DNA (David Nordschow, ex Eden), Hartke and Eden, a nice new long scale Danelectro, ...
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Ernie Ball is making (very ugly) passive P and P/J basses now. Desperate times?
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Ernie Ball is making (very ugly) passive P and P/J basses now. Desperate times?
They've had plenty of experience in ugly. That Bongo thing... yeesh.
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Ernie Ball is making (very ugly) passive P and P/J basses now. Desperate times?
Interesting that you brought that up. Did you see what Sterling posted in a NAMM thread at the Ernie Ball forums? He said that their business used to be 90% basses, but now it's 75% guitars, and the Petrucci models alone account for 40% of their volume.
They've tried some new bass designs over the past few years and most of them (like the Big Al) just haven't sold well enough to keep in production. So they'll keep trying to find something appealing. Unfortunately I don't think the new P and P/J models will do it for them. Even if I liked the looks, the 7.5" radius would keep me from ever buying one.
Can't blame them for trying, though, and I wish them the best.
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If Ernie Ball wanted to sell its basses, it wouldn't keep raising the prices on them to Gibson-esque heights. Like Fender, for their most popular models, they're competing with their own past and when the new ones cost more than the vintage ones, they won't sell. I'd still love a Sabre and a double humbucker Sterling, but not for ~$2k!
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If Ernie Ball wanted to sell its basses, it wouldn't keep raising the prices on them to Gibson-esque heights. Like Fender, for their most popular models, they're competing with their own past and when the new ones cost more than the vintage ones, they won't sell. I'd still love a Sabre and a double humbucker Sterling, but not for ~$2k!
You're probably right about the Sabre, which is now discontinued, and the Stingray Classic, which starts at $2K and is a reissue of the the pre-EB Ray. OTOH you can still get a new regular production SR for about $1500, which is more or less in line with the G&L L-2000 or the Am Deluxe Fenders, or at least not much more. The other models aren't that old, there's no vintage to be competing against. Even the Sterling has only been around since '93.
I think the bigger reason is that compared to guitarists, relatively few bassists will spend that much. Look at the various MM Petrucci models. They start at $2100 and go up to about $3K, and they account for 40% of MM's volume. Look at the money spent on fancy Les Pauls and custom shop Fender guitars. That market is just a lot stronger for guitarists than for bassists.
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They've had plenty of experience in ugly. That Bongo thing... yeesh.
They were wonderfully ergonomic basses though, and the 18v electronics are fabulous. And, in the right light, they don't look too ugly (the same can be said of me LOL)
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Summer%20Fever%20-%20Grease%20Saturday%20Night%20Fever%20show/markhome.jpg)
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Summer%20Fever%20-%20Grease%20Saturday%20Night%20Fever%20show/singershome.jpg)
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(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Summer%20Fever%20-%20Grease%20Saturday%20Night%20Fever%20show/singershome.jpg)
Thats a good looking Bongo...er, nevermind ;D
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I'm surprised Bongos have lasted this long. They really do sound good but I wonder how many are sold outside of the MM forum fan base. How often do you see them played at gigs?
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Bongo was a daring design. I personally don't like it at all (to put it nicely), but they do sound damn good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lHLeEOmsLo
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Mark there was nobody looking at you after she put on the red shoes and danced the blues.
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Agree about the Bongo, never could get past the look but every one I ever heard sounded great.
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So it seems that NAMM will be stuff like...
- Brand X has started making vanilla-sounding Class D amps that fit in a small bag.
- Brand Y has started making a neo 115 and 210 cab (woop de doo).
- Brand Z is making another fuzz pedal for an already saturated market.
- Tech 21 make another cool Sansamp product that is still missing one or two vital features.
- Some metal guy gets a sig bass.
...to get the ball rolling...
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So it seems that NAMM will be stuff like...
- Brand X has started making vanilla-sounding Class D amps that fit in a small bag.
- Brand Y has started making a neo 115 and 210 cab (woop de doo).
- Brand Z is making another fuzz pedal for an already saturated market.
- Tech 21 make another cool Sansamp product that is still missing one or two vital features.
- Some metal guy gets a sig bass.
...to get the ball rolling...
:mrgreen:
You forgot some new snake oil being peddled by one or more string companies.
It's the biggest music industry trade show in the US, companies are going to come and show what they've got even if they have nothing new.
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I've got it!
Full-contact neck plates. I'm going to set up a company with a name that is either 1) A pick and mix of common and cherished phrases, such as 'Blues vintage guitar research limited', 2) an Eastern European surname that cascades hard consonants and Zs into each other in a way that nobody pronounces right but sounds disarmingly simple to pulled off correctly or 3) A brutish, bellicose and not entirely PC brand name that draws in the Nugent crowd, like "Rebel guitar alliance" or something like that. I can either have a bloatware-ridden website replete varying transparencies, smooth borders and reams of sub-menus with spurious graphs and diagrams or a circa 1995 Geocities-type website with a crude .gif of a Confederate flag fluttering merrily and a brash, in-yo-face Christian message scrolling incessantly across the top of the screen. No middle ground.
Leo Fender knew a trick or two, and didn't choose a flat, rectangular neck plate by accident. The neck plate functions like (your favorite hackneyed car analogy here) connecting the (part X) to (part Y). Modern manufacturers overlook the tonal importance of this component, and modern plates often have casting errors and sub-par chrome plating, all of which sap the tone from your instrument. Our new, higher mass full-contact neck plate is made from low-background steel/aircraft-grade titanium/pot metal, just like Leo used to do it. After all you wouldn't use (inferior car product A) on your prized (classic muscle car B), would you?
And wait it doesn't end there! A higher density neck plate will actually reduce eddy currents in your instrument, restoring highs. You will notice an increase in volume, sustain, girth and a number of other subtly veiled references to erectile dysfunction we sprinkle into this sort of marketese. Don't believe us? Listen to what a bunch of unqualified 2nd tier guitarists have to say about it!
Take it from me, I taught Stevie everything he knew about tone.
Cesar diaz
I've installed these on both my working guitars. They play like butter now.
Dude that did some TV work in the '90s
Honestly the difference is like night and day, plenty more top.
Deaf old rocker that played in obscure unloved '80s incarnation of UFO and was 2nd guitarist in the John Entwistle band for two months.
I can hear the difference. If you can't then too bad, I must just have better ears.
Guy on forum that traded a cache of potentially stolen 50s Les Pauls Juniors for a mint '66 Ford Mustang on an Internet forum in 2004 and still garners some notoriety as a result.
For the best results, liberally screen your neck cavity with wrinkled copper tape first, and don't forget that the best shims are cardboard shims!
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:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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This is cool though ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHiKIpcUqfc
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Hey Alanko, while you're at it, add to your product line by providing graduated solid steel neck shims available in thousandths of an inch. These can easily be salvaged from automotive feeler gauges with the identifying marks removed and should be easy to sell at $10 each, while you can buy the entire gauge set for about half the cost of one "shim".
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I have a genuine 60s Fender neck shim that came off my Coronado II bass. It's the perfect complement to your new neck plate.
I'll sell it to you for $100....oh wait, now that I look at it, I never noticed before that it's signed by someone named Jimi. How about $5K?
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And there I was thinking you were joking...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-Fender-Neck-Shim-Stratocaster-Telecaster-Strat-Tele-1958-1959-57-/301750826111?hash=item4641c0347f:g:8ioAAOSwVL1WBcTr (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-Fender-Neck-Shim-Stratocaster-Telecaster-Strat-Tele-1958-1959-57-/301750826111?hash=item4641c0347f:g:8ioAAOSwVL1WBcTr)
:bored:
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For the best results, liberally screen your neck cavity with wrinkled copper tape first, and don't forget that the best shims are cardboard shims!
You forgot to spec ORGANIC cardboard!
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And there I was thinking you were joking...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-Fender-Neck-Shim-Stratocaster-Telecaster-Strat-Tele-1958-1959-57-/301750826111?hash=item4641c0347f:g:8ioAAOSwVL1WBcTr (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-Fender-Neck-Shim-Stratocaster-Telecaster-Strat-Tele-1958-1959-57-/301750826111?hash=item4641c0347f:g:8ioAAOSwVL1WBcTr)
:bored:
What the heck is that thing made of??? Looks like something that peeled off the side of an old dumpster.
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A pre-CBS dumpster, naturally. "Correct Vintage Parts" demonstrates my earlier theory about these parts suppliers. The fact that their logo is in the style of a PAF pickup sticker just seals the deal.
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Mine is tan. It's some kind of compressed composite, possibly like some form of Garolite.
The one in the auction is from the 50s so it might be a different material.
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My 63 P had a small shim but it looked like some kind of fiberous, brown material.
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My 63 P had a small shim but it looked like some kind of fiberous, brown material.
my 62 had a thin shim that looked like a manila folder. I suspect they stamped out whatever material was available in the gauge they needed.
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No matter, they're vintage, and you know that only vintage shims get you that vintage tone. ;D
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I have a genuine 60s Fender neck shim that came off my Coronado II bass. It's the perfect complement to your new neck plate.
I'll sell it to you for $100....oh wait, now that I look at it, I never noticed before that it's signed by someone named Jimi. How about $5K?
The neck shim in my Victory is an old matchbook cover. :)
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I have a bunch of matchbooks (folding style) that my dad collected in the 30's and 40's. I could mess with people's heads by using them for shims!
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Here is the shim that came with my '66 P bass ....
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Miscellaneous%20Stuff/IMG_3240_4_1.jpg)
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Speaking of shims, I just noticed these today StewMac Bolt-on Neck Shims (http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supplies/Bodies_and_Necks_and_Wood/Electric_Guitar_Bodies_and_Necks_and_Wood/Electric_Guitar_Necks/StewMac_Bolt-on_Neck_Shims.html). Good idea, price seems way high even for Stew-Mac.
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More NAMM news...
Gibson release the new 'Suspicious '59' Les Paul.
As the supply of real, minty '59 Les Pauls slowly disappear into the bank vaults of the mega rich, Gibson is starting to honour those downright suspicious Les Pauls that crop up on the used market.
Features include such bespoke features as;
Mysterious lacquer over-spray on the headstock.
Ambiguous chew marks on the back of the headstock that may indicate Grovers were fitted.
A finish that may or may not glow under a UV lamp, but certainly wont do it evenly.
An off-center seam on the top. Was it really a goldtop that got refinished? I've seen genuine bursts with off-center seams, so shut up or I'm going home.
One reproduction M-69 pickup ring and one cracked, heavily sanded original. Reason for sanding not apparent.
Router chew marks in the control cavity that will spark at least ten pages of frantic discussion on the usual forums.
A sneaking suspicion that the thing has been re-topped, because the carve just doesn't look right to me, and I held a '57 at Arlington last year.
Telltale Bigsby marks in the finish, but no Bigsby. For an $100 upgrade you can have a fugly, seized NOS Norlin-era bridge fitted.
The dot of the 'i' in 'Gibson' sits just a teeny tiny bit too high for some folk.
One PAF and one 'Tar Back' pickup. Neck or bridge; your choice. The PAF cover raises further suspicion with those in the know.
A sneaking suspicion that the neck has been replaced entirely some time in the '70s, or that the whole damn thing has never been near Kalamazoo.
Suspiciously fresh looking solder in the control cavity, and one pot replaced with one with a 1982 date stamp.
One inlay that totally looks replaced.
Yours for $75,000 because the last owner told me that it used to belong to Joe Walsh. Or Clapton. One of those geezers.
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:mrgreen:
A genuine Gibson Les Paul that imitates a Chinese fake? Why not? You jest, but Gibson offers so many variations today that it's not beyond possibility.
It's a far cry from the 1960 catalog which showed 5 LPs: Standard, Custom, Special, TV and Junior.
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Always worth remembering the hierarchy back then. The Standard was seen as the 'cooking' Les Paul, behind the Custom.