Category: "Gear Reviews"

Hartke HM5410 Combo Review

Hartke HM5410 HyDrive Bass Combo (500 Watts, 4×10 in.) Delivers 500 watts to its internal 4 ohm speaker system. Four 10-inch HyDrive neodymium hybrid cone drivers. Features – 500 watts ( 12AX7 tube preamp ) – 4×10-inch HyDrive neodymium hybrid cone drivers – Two inputs for active and passive basses – Built in limiter – [...]

Ampeg SVT-7 PRO Head

The SVT-7 PRO head from Ampeg is a truly refreshing return to the sounds that made Ampeg the frontrunner of bass amp companies. Out of the box, the head was a little larger than I expected based on Ampeg’s advertising that it is one of their lightest heads ever. Thankfully they weren’t lying, as it [...]

Planet Waves SOS Strobe Tuner

by Brent-Anthony Johnson The ever-revolutionary Planet Waves employs a pair of LED beams onto vibrating bass strings that phase when out-of-tune and become still when in tune for it’s compact and simply very cool S.O.S. Bass Guitar Tuner! This visually oriented device overrules the potentially noisy pre-gig stage environments, and provides a silent nearly-failsafe tuning without [...]

Lace Helix “L” Bass

by Kenny Ames While the Lace bass may be new on the scene of musical instruments Lace pickups have been around since the late 70′s early 80′s. Making and refining their pickups in close relationship w/ Fender, Lace pickups have graced many a stock Fender bass w/ their Lace Sensor series of pickups. Visually the [...]

Morley T.M. Stevens Fonk Wah

by Dave Fowler, Bass Frontiers Editor in Chief The TM Stevens Fonk Wah is as colorful as the man it is named after…upon first taking it out of the box it is a very good looking piece, and it gets better from here…if you are into the whole wah “fonk” thing, then this pedal could [...]

La Bella “Slappers” Strings

by Kenny Ames E & O Mari La Bella has been in the string business for nearly 400 years. Ample time to get it right. And get it right is what they do with their “Slapper” brand of bass strings. Slappers are a nickel wrapped outer winding over a stainless steel core. The blend of [...]

Lakland Decade Bass

The Lakland Decade bass is probably one of the coolest basses to have come out in recent years. Let’s not even talk about the fact that the innovative body shape is really cool, the Chi-Sonic pickups sound really good, and the idea of a truss rod wheel is a no-brainer. No, we won’t talk about [...]

Vinciguerra Custom Shop BAJ Signature 6 String Fretless Bass

Vinciguerra Custom Shop – “BAJ Signature” 6-string Fretless By Brent-Anthony Johnson Since procuring and subsequently rebuilding his first guitar (a $25.00 Les Paul ™ copy) at age 10, Mark Vinciguerra has gained an invaluable a wealth of knowledge about Luthiery, and he’s made the world of custom stringed instruments a much better place through his [...]

St. Blues King Blues Bass

by Matt O’Donnell Managing Editor One of the really cool booths we checked out repeatedly at this year’s Summer NAMM here in Nashville was St. Blues Guitar Workshop. St. Blues exists just a little distance away in Memphis, TN and was originally founded in 1983. After a 17 year hiatus from instrument making, Tom Keckler [...]

The Equation Audio F.20 Super-Electret Condenser Microphone

Nashville Bassist, John Terrence, on the Equation Audio F.20 Super-Electret Condenser Microphone I’ve been using the Equation Audio F.20 Super-Electret Condenser Microphone for a little under a year. Over this period of time, it has proven to be truly versatile. I use it for micing my upright bass, both live and in studio. I’ve also used it to [...]