Rick Jones, founder of Acoustic Image, has introduced a new speaker cabinet: the upshot. Acoustic Image is best known for their concept of downfiring speakers. This speaker cabinet is the same idea, but reversed: the speaker is upward firing!
I’ve tried this little beast, and what I like best is that it is so small and light. You can even put it in a back pack. But even at this small footprint, the sound is pretty big. And the up firing speaker really helps to hear yourself better.
Rob Anzelotti’s new angled endpin design is very easy to use. The RobPin’s key feature is the “Bottom Block Rest” which takes on most of the bass’s weight. This eliminates most of the typical stresses on the socket, bottom block, and pin.
Use: Once you have it adjusted to your preference, you only slip it in and out of the socket when you are packing and unpacking the bass. When detached, it might even fit into the accessory pocket of your bag! The set screw in your socket needn’t even be especially tight. The weight of the bass goes onto the “Bottom Block Rest”, keeping the bracket from turning.
Height and angle adjustment: The RobPin is available with interchangeable rods of different lengths. The angle of the pin going to the floor can be set at 25°, 35°, or 45°. If your endpin is not 10mm, then adapters are available. (If it doesn’t come out of the socket, which is the case for most tube endpins, then you naturally need to remove the holding pin).
Soon available at Lando Music / www.kontrabass-atelier.de.
Type: combo, single channel
Power Rating: 300W
Drivers: 12″ + 4″ cone
Features: solid state preamp with gain, taste, lo, lo-mid, hi-mid, hi, master volume controls, “mute” switch, DI pre/post, XLR balanced DI out, 1 x effects loop, tuner out, line out, line in
Dimensions: (W x H x D): 44 cm x 45 cm x 35 cm / 17″ x 18″ x 14″
Weight: 14.1 kg / 31.06 lbs
Very lightweight amp. Special version with changed input impedance (piezo-friendly 5 MegOhms) available at www.kontrabass-atelier.de)
Type: amp head, single channel
Power Rating: 300W/500W/900W/1000W
Features: solid state preamp with gain, taste, lo, lo-mid, hi-mid, hi, master volume controls, “mute” switch, DI pre/post, XLR balanced DI out, 1 x effects loop, tuner out, line out, line in
Weight: 1,4 kg
Special version with changed input impedance (piezo-friendly 5 MegOhms) available at www.kontrabass-atelier.de)
Double Bass legends Gary Karr and John Patitucci will be performing at the first edition of the Dutch Double Bass Festival. The festival is an initiative of double bassist James Oesi and takes place from the 19th to the 21st of May (the 19th being devoted to masterclasses and workshops) in De Electriciteitsfabriek, The Hague. The program is made up of a diverse line-up of more than ten national and international acts in which the double bass takes the leading role. Classical music as well as jazz, cross-over and contemporary music are all represented in the program.
The Dutch Double Bass Festival offers a broad range of live music: from classical to jazz, cross-over and avant-garde. Friday the 19th will be devoted to masterclasses and workshops while the regular festival days will take place on the 20th and 21st of May. Joining Gary Karr and John Patitucci in the line-up will be a score of double bassists. Including a few world premieres. Principal of the bass section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dominic Seldis, will be premiering his arrangement of West Side Story. The bass section of the world-renowned Rotterdam Philharmonic will be performing with star bassist, Edicson Ruiz of the Berlin Philharmonic. Asko|Schönberg’s bassist Quirijn van Regteren Altena , after years of development, will be presenting his own Hybrid bass invention: an acoustic bass with the ability to connect to the unlimited world of digital sound.
Website: www.ddbf.nl
Bassist Emilio Guarino from New Jersey (USA) has designed an angled endpin, and in order to mass-produce this endpin, he asks for support at Kickstarter:
Angled bass endpins were first adopted by Francois Rabbath and his students, but thanks to their many benefits they are becoming more mainstream every year.
Angled endpins are very popular because they make the bass easier to play. The bass feels as if it is floating. It moves with the motion you need to play the instrument, not against it. Straight endpins balance best when the bass is completely vertical. This position is not ideal for actually playing it. If you’ve ever felt like it was difficult to keep the bass in a comfortable position, you know what I’m talking about. Angled endpins keep the bass in a comfortable position in all ranges of the instrument.I created The Chromatic Endpin to solve these problems. I wanted a solution that I could use on different basses and allow me to experiment without modifying my instrument. Also, it has the added benefit of being very user friendly. No professional installation is necessary. It takes less than two minutes to assemble and it adjusts even faster.
Unless it’s your group, people want you to play behind them. And they love it when you play great solos – but let’s face it: they don’t care as long as they are playing great solos.
– guitarist Herb Ellis