In a year filled with choices to make and issues to debate, there’s one thing on which we can all agree: Bass stuff is cool. But what’s the coolest? Starting in December we sought the advice of our favorite special interest group: You. The Bass Player Readers’ Choice Awards go to the grooviest gear and the most inspiring players, chosen by you. Now the online votes are in, and the results have been tallied, and the zeitgeist has been measured. Here’s a special online preview of the awards. For the print version, see the May 2008 issue of Bass Player.

THE GEAR

Best Bass Under $700
Fender Standard Jazz
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0136200332

Best Bass Between $700 and $1,500
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay
http://www.music-man.com/stingray.html

Best Bass Over $1,500
Premium basses have low-volume sales and high-volume loyalty, which may explain why most of the votes in this category went to general brands rather than specific instruments.
Fodera
www.fodera.com

Best Bass Head
MarkBass Little Mark II
www.markbass.it/products.php?lingua=it&cat=1&vedi=69

Best Speaker Cab
Ampeg SVT810E 8x10
ampeg.com/products/classic/svt810e/index.html 

Best Combo Amp
Ampeg BA115
ampeg.com/products/bassamp/ba115/index.html 

Best Stompbox
Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI
tech21nyc.com/bassdriver.html 

Best Multi-Effect
Line 6 Bass PODxt
line6.com/basspodxt 

Best Strings
DR Strings
www.drstrings.com

Best Pickups
Bartolini
www.bartolini.net/index.htm

Best Preamp
Audere JZ3
www.audereaudio.com/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=7

Best Software
Digidesign Pro Tools
www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&

Best Recording Gear
Digidesign Mbox 2
www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=104&langid=100&itemid=23596

Best Accessory
Dunlop Strap Locks
www.jimdunlop.com/index.php?page=products/accessories&cat=13

All-Around Best New Product
MarkBass Little Mark II
www.markbass.it/products.php?lingua=it&cat=1&vedi=69

Best Value Award
Squier Vintage Modified Series
squierguitars.com/products/search.php?section=basses&subcat=vintagemodifiedseries

THE PLAYERS

The Year’s Most Exciting New Player
Tal Wilkenfeld
www.bassplayer.com/article/tal-wilkenfeld/Aug-07/30550

2007’s Best Album For Bass
Rush, Snakes & Arrows
www.bassplayer.com/article/northern-warrior/Aug-07/30528

The Year’s Most Inspiring Player
Victor Wooten
www.bassplayer.com/article/victor-wooten-explores/Jun-05/9774

Coolest Bass Line In A Song Released In 2007
Rush’s “Malignant Narcissism” gathered the most votes for a cool ’07 line, followed up by “Far Cry,” also from the Toronto trio’s Snakes and Arrows album.
www.bassplayer.com/article/northern-warrior/Aug-07/30528

ABOUT BASS PLAYER

The Reader’s Choice Awards ballot also gave you an opportunity to weigh in on your favorite articles and lessons from 2007.

Best 2007 Cover Feature
Geddy Lee, August ’07
www.bassplayer.com/article/northern-warrior/Aug-07/30528

Favorite Non-Cover Interviews
Tal Wilkenfeld
www.talwilkenfeld.com

Best Lesson
Learn To Play Chris Squire’s part on Yes’s “Roundabout”
bassplayer.tv/index.html?req=1=lessons=bptv/lessons/bptv_j07_yes 

Favorite Full-Song Transcriptions
Chuck Rainey on Steely Dan’s “Peg,” November ’07

Favorite Bass Player TV Videos
Bobby Vega on the Sly & the Family Stone sound
bassplayer.tv/index.html?req=1=bvega=bassplayer/bvega/bptv_vega_intro

CORRECTION

In counting the 2008 Bass Player Readers’ Choice Awards, we made an error in vote tabulation in the Best Strings category. In the process of investigating, we determined that our methodology of counting individual string sets was flawed, because a significant number of reader votes only included brand names. Recounting votes by brand name, we have determined that DR Strings is the rightful winner of the 2008 Bass Player Readers’ Choice Award for Best Strings. We regret the error.

Here’s the top 10 list as it should have appeared in our May ’08 article:

Bass Player Readers’ Choice Award: Best Strings
1. DR Strings
2. D’Addario
3. Rotosound
4. Ernie Ball
5. GHS
6. Elixir
7. Dean Markley
8. LaBella
9. Thomastik
10. Fender