Last month, we whetted your appetite for the fresh bass-related Winter NAMM Show nutrition your belly so ravenously craves. This second helping in BP’s multi-course NAMM buffet is loaded with even more tantalizing items from each group of the gear pyramid—basses, amps, effects, and accessories. From the far-out funkiness of Traben’s Bootsy Star Bass, to the Swiss Army Knife-like functionality of Seymour Duncan’s Paranormal DI, this list of New Stuff nuggets is so satiating, you won’t believe we’re planning to put a third course on your plate next month!Epiphone El Segundo, Embassy Standard-IV Plus & Nikki Sixx Blackbird.
Epiphone has an assortment of wildly different instruments with one similar feature: They won’t bust your wallet. The Nikki Sixx Blackbird ($665 list, $400 street), which is as dark as the Motley man’s music, features an on/off switch, rosewood fingerboard with righteous inlays, and two Deep Sixx humbuckers. The El Segundo IV ($332 list, $200 street) is an acoustic bass guitar with a spruce top, mahogany body, and a natural finish. The straightforward Embassy Standard-IV Plus ($448 list, $270 street) features active electronics for fine-tuning its twin humbuckers. Epiphone, 800-444-2766, www.epiphone.com.
HenmanBevilacqua B4. TV commercial director Graham Henman’s design aesthetic and luthier Scotty Bevilacqua’s craftsmanship come together in the HenmanBevilacqua B4 ($6,700 list and street). The B4 has an alder body with a maple top and back, German nickel-silver frets, a solid black Filipino ebony fingerboard, and a solid bell-brass bridge. Sleek and stylish, vintage-meets-high-tech. HenmanBevilacqua, (310) 430-2796, www.henbev.com.
Ken Smith Design Basses. Ken Smith Design had some pretty sweet-lookin’ 6-string J-style basses on hand. The KSDv60j6 ($1,195 list, $955 street; left-handed $1,295 list, $1,035 street) features a Ken Smith Burner-style headstock, 18mm string spacing, rosewood fingerboard, three-piece alder body, 3-ply tortoiseshell pickguard, and active/passive electronics. A maple version (KSDv70j6) and a black alder fretless model (KSDvFL6) are also available at the same prices. Ken Smith Design, dist. by Brooklyn Gear, (718) 858-4900, www.brooklyngear.com.
Parker PAB40 Acoustic Bass. Parker is always up to something unique, and the PAB40 ($1,799 list, $1,260 street) is further evidence. Despite its radical appearance, the PAB40 is designed to sound like an upright. The bass features an American black walnut body, a feedback-suppressing soundhole, and Fishman Matrix electronics. Parker, dist. by U.S. Music Corp., 800-877-6863, www.parkerguitars.com.
Traben Boosty Star Bass. Talk about star power! Traben and Bootsy Collins take bass building to the funky fifth dimension with the Bootsy Star Bass (4-string $2,850 list, $2,000 street; 5-string $2,980 list, $2,100 street). It’s a five-pointed star-shaped instrument with five Rockfield Fat Bass-tard pickups, a monstrous Bigger Bridge, three Aguilar preamps, and a Bootzilla shooting star inlay pattern. Fake the funk on this sucka and your nose will grow so fast you’ll make Pinocchio look like Michael Jackson! Traben, (727) 793-0079, www.trabenbass.com.
Warwick Jonas Hellborg Signature Bass & Amps. Eminent Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg (John McLaughlin, Shawn Lane) worked closely with Warwick to create a signature bass, preamp, and two power amps. The archtop Hellborg Signature Bass ($7,499 list, $6,000 street) features an AAA flame-maple body, AAA flame-maple set neck with ebony fingerboard, and a lone MEC soapbar pickup. The JH10 preamp ($3,499 list, $2,800 street) incorporates electronics based on Hellborg’s affinity for vintage Neve consoles, including the switchable 4-band EQ with inductors for delivering a “warm, studio-quality sound.” The 250-watt mono JH20 solid-state power amp ($2,799 list, $2,240 street) and the 2 x 250-watt stereo JH30 ($3,499 list, $2,800 street) both have an extra output transformer to help emulate the tone of a large tube amp. Unlike most solid-state amps, the JH power amps use an output transformer to interface with speakers in the tradition of tube amps. The extra transformer ensures the same power at 4ž, 8ž, or 16ž. Warwick, dist. by Dana B. Goods, 800-741-0109, www.warwickbass.com.
Ampeg BA300 & BA600. The new additions to Ampeg’s BA series are designed to deliver time-honored tone in a powerful, compact package with modern attributes. Each combo amp is available as either a 1x15 or a 2x10 + tweeter. The BA300 ($899 list, $700 street for BA300/115; $999 list, $750 street for BA300/210) cranks out 300 watts and features a 12AX7 preamp tube and Class D switching power amp. Features include a variable compressor and a pre/post xlr tube-driven DI with level control. The 600-watt BA600s ($1,299 list, $950 street for BA600/115; $1,499 list, $1,100 street for BA600/210) have three 12AX7s and allow you to switch between a vintage-style B-15 preamp and a more “modern” tone. Ampeg, (425) 892-6500, www.ampeg.com.
Euphonic Audio iAmp Micro 300. If Napoleon were an amp, he’d be the Euphonic Audio iAmp Micro 300 ($695 list, $520 street). About the size of a half-sheet of paper and tipping the scales at a mere three pounds, this tiny titan delivers 300 watts at 4ž. At the heart of this efficient little low-ender is a Class D power amp and switching power supply that requires no fan or external heat sink. Euphonic Audio, 888-894-3790, www.eaamps.com.
Carvin BR615 Combo. Carvin’s BR615 ($599 direct) maintains the compact form of its BR-series siblings, but a powerful amplifier and 15" speaker make it louder. Its BX600-derived mono-block head delivers 600 watts at 2ž. It offers a parametric EQ with mid-sweep and a 9-band graphic equalizer. Handy features include a compressor and a front-mounted xlr out. Carvin, 800-854-2235, www.carvin.com.
Eden D810RP Cabinet & WTX-260 Head. Tower Of Power’s Rocco Prestia teamed up with Eden to create the towering D810RP 8x10 cabinet ($1,859 list, $1,490 street), which can handle 1,200 watts at 4ž. It has an aluminum bullet tweeter and 2.5kHz crossover point. Eden is also shipping the WTX-260 head ($899 list, $720 street), which is small enough to fit in most gig bags and weighs less than four pounds. World travelers will dig how the WTX-260’s power section automatically adjusts to the local voltage, delivering 260 to 300 watts at 4ž. Features include 3-band EQ and switchable compression. Eden, 800-877-6863, www.eden-electronics.com.
Gallien-Krueger Fusion 550 Head, RBX & Neo Cabinets. G-K is now shipping its first hybrid amp, the Fusion 550 ($1,199 list, $900 street), which the company introduced at last year’s show. It features three 12AX7s in the preamp, a 500-watt Class G solid-state power amp, tube-driven 4-band active EQ, and a bi-amp system. Motorized programmable knobs can set two footswitchable gain, master, and tweeter levels. G-K’s new RBX cabinets can be placed in several positions—upright, stacked on their sides, or rocked back—and interlocking corners allow the cabinets to fit together in various positions. RBX cabinets include the 810RBX 8x10 ($1,199 list, $900 street), 410RBX 4x10 ($699 list, $550 street), 210RBX 2x10 ($529 list, $400 street), and 115RBX 1x15 ($599 list, $450 street). G-K also added new cabinets to its Neo series: the Neo410 4x10 ($999 list, $750 street), Neo210 2x10 ($699 list, $550 street), and Neo115 1x15 ($699 list, $550 street). Gallien-Krueger, (209) 234-7300, www.gallien.com.
Mesa Titan V12. Mesa’s most powerful and versatile bass amp is the new Titan V12 ($1,599 list and street for rack version, $1,749 list and street for head version). The V12 is a tube-driven goliath capable of pumping 1,200 watts into 4ž. Its two independent, identical, and footswitchable preamps can be used for channel switching with a single instrument, or set up as a dual-input, two-channel configuration for players who use two different instruments. Mesa, (707) 778-6565, www.mesaboogie.com.
Peavey VB-2 Tube Head. True tube tone and yogi-like flexibility are the hallmarks of the Peavey VB-2 ($1,099 list, $900 street). Two 12AX7 preamp tubes and six EL34 power tubes deliver up to 225 watts at 2ž, 4ž, or 8ž. A 3-band active EQ with 4-position mid-shift shapes footswitchable clean and overdrive channels. It’s also one of the few amps around with a front-panel effect loop. Peavey, (601) 483-5365, www.peavey.com.
Seymour Duncan SFX-06 Paranormal Bass Direct Box. Seymour Duncan’s SFX-06 Paranormal ($199 list, $140 street) began as an onboard tone circuit and has evolved into an otherworldly DI designed especially for bass. In addition to the requisite xlr out, it includes a 3-band active EQ and a slap contour switch, which applies a preset EQ curve. Seymour Duncan, (805) 964-9610, www.seymourduncan.com.
Sailor Flop -9.8MS2. The brilliant circuit jockeys at Sailor Flop float above the competition … literally. The world’s lightest bass rig, the -9.8MS2 (Price: High. Really high) attains suborbital flux thanks to recent developments in General Relativity (particularly the Decke-Mund Solution), a Class D-rift power amp, and geominimum speakers. Early spotters report super unheavy tone, an airy top end, and sore necks. Sailor Flop, www.sailorflop.com.