CITRON J BASS
Known more for his left-of-center basses, like the big and hollow AE5 Swallow, Harvey Citron’s latest instrument is a J Bass that’s decidedly more traditional, although it isn’t without its subtle little bonus touches. The 2"-thick ash body is bored-out in a honeycomb pattern and topped with maple. The pickups are either hand-wound J-style or custom-blended Citrons that employ multiple wire gauges. The controls are Vol/Vol/Tone plus 2-band EQ courtesy an Aguilar OBP-1. www.citron-guitars.com —JONATHAN HERRERA
NITEWALKER BASS GUITAR TUBE PREAMP
The Newbasstone Nitewalker preamp ($1,195 direct) may look like its shipped out straight from the garage, but the design has me intrigued. Its overdrive is achieved via a high-voltage 12AX7 plate circuit, it uses high-end paper-in-oil signal capacitors, and has a built-in crossover for bi-amping. There’s something lovably surly about the designer, too: a full-refund for dissatisfaction requires that the user be able to produce a receipt demonstrating he had tried D’Addario XL strings. www.nitewalkerpreamp.com —JONATHAN HERRERA
WASHBURN AB 40SH STU HAMM SIGNATU R E ACOUST I C BASS G U I TAR
A softer side of Stu? Anyone lucky enough to see Stuart Hamm do his thing knows there’s more to him than the fancy licks and tricks he has pulled out as a sideman for Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. Certainly Stu can shred, but some of his finer musical moments come when the volume goes down and crazy chops take a backseat to introspective melodicism. In those quiet moments, Stuart has long trusted his Washburn AB 20 acoustic bass guitar. Now a new Hamm-tastic signature bass from Washburn adds a few cool new features to the venerable AB 20. The AB 40SH comes with a spruce or maple top, maple sides, mahogany neck, and rosewood fingerboard. For maximum intonation accuracy and adjustability, the AB 40SH features a monorail bridge design where each string gets its own bridge and saddle. Available in natural and black cherry burst finishes, the AB 40SH isn’t yet available, but we’ll hip you to its finer details when we’re able to check it out. www.washburn.com —BRIAN FOX
BASSLINES BLACKOUTS
Basslines has introduced Blackouts for Bass, drop-in soapbar replacement pickups for 4-and 5-string. The Blackouts and their accompanying tone circuits ($146 each, $270 for a set, $79 for the tone circuit alone) are voiced for the aggro sounds of metal, punk, and associated heavy grooves. That means “cleaner highs, deeper lows, and more dynamic range than traditional active pickups.” However, Basslines’ whole idea behind the Blackouts is that they don’t require the radical tone tweaking sometimes required to make passive pickups come alive in a heavy rock context. The tone circuit is available as separate bass and treble knobs or as a concentric pot for replacing a single tone knob. Blackouts come with all the necessary stuff, including mounting hardware, pre-wired pots, a battery clip, and a stereo jack. www.seymourduncan.com/products/basslines — B I L L L E IGH
REES 5BASS
From England comes the Rees 5bass (approx. $1,500 direct), a mid-priced 5-string that delivers some groovy hardware and pickups in an easy-to-love body. The monorail bridge is an original design, and it allows for through-body or through-bridge stringing. Steel reinforcement bars make the neck extra stiff—no word yet on the weight impact, though. Rees also uses some cool new pickups: Seymour Duncan Passive Phase II NYC soapbars. The coil-splittable design looks pretty hip, so here’s to hoping they show up in even more basses. www.rees-electric-guitars. com —JONATHAN HERRERA
MIKE LULL T-BASS
Holy Cow this looks cool! Luthier Mike Lull built his brand by making super-sweet Fender-inspired basses, but he’s now turned his eye toward another iconic bass: the venerable Gibson Thunderbird. The new Mike Lull T-Bass, available in single and double pickup versions, is a pretty rockin’ tribute to the vintage Thunderbird basses so coveted today. This beautiful bruiser has a mahogany neck and body, a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, and a chrome-plated brass tailpiece redesigned to eliminate the intonation problems that can plague older T-birds. Lull and company went to great lengths to replicate the original Gibson pickup, spec’ing out the alloys of the old pickup covers and using the same gauge pickup wire. www.mikelull.com —BRIAN FOX