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Here’s some images of my new Nick Lloyd Double bass. It’s a 3/4 walnut flatback model.

The back is highly flamed claro walnut.

Sides also are walnut.

Chromatic C extension.

Notice the hand carving on the scroll, and patina Sloane tuners.

Violin corners and traditional F holes give it a bit of an Italian flavor. I love the quality and color of the finish.

The bass has a focused, projecting tone that is both dark, clear, and rich, and it’s extremely playable with smaller shoulders and a 40.75″ scale. Perfect for jazz and also great arco.

Here’s my new Fodera Imperial 5. I feel very fortunate to have a Fodera made for me, it is an amazing fit with my needs.

You can read the specs on Fodera’s website:

http://www.fodera.com/Main/NewBornDetails.aspx?FeaturedItemID=468

The bass has a crotch claro walnut top, Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, ash body, maple neck, and a mahogany tone block. 34″ scale and Duncan dual coils. Note it’s the Matt Garrison Imperial shape, which is smaller than the usual Imperial.

Big thanks to Glenn at Austin Bass Traders for helping me design this beauty, and the amazing people at Fodera. They are truly a special company. Also thanks to many bass artists like Anthony Jackson, Matt Garrison, and Mike Pope who’s input was instrumental in development of this particular bass.

Look for some vids and clips using this amazing bass soon!!!

I had to configure a new pedal board setup for the Six Million Dollar Band, and here’s what I settled on.

We use in ear monitors and no amps on stage, so it started with my trusty Aguilar Tone Hammer, which I use in almost all situations as a preamp and direct box. The gig required chorus on a few tunes (Don’t Stop Believing), and I just snagged the new MXR Analog chorus pedal, which sounds great. There’s also a few with distortion, and I sprung for a Darkglass  Microtubes B3K, which has an incredible full bottom while delivering as much grind as I could possibly want. I added my old MXR Phase 90 out and completed the setup with my Peterson Strobostomp, which is essential with the dark stages and long sets of continuous tunes.

I there the whole setup on a tiny Pedaltrain micro board, and it’s an easy grab and go instant rig. The cables are connected with George L’s cut to length and powered with a One Spot adaptor. Considering I don’t need an amp, this makes for a simple setup!

My next electric in the jazz bass tradition will be a Callowhill Junk 5, made by Tim Cloonan in Philadelphia. Tim and I spent some serious time on the phone and I feel great about his building approach and philosophy; it was a delight to find a builder who had thought of a great number of details that were important to me. He can also source some amazing Brazilian Rosewood, which is CITES protected and not offered by many builders. Seeing one in the flesh a few weeks ago sealed the deal.

One of the biggest things that he’s improved the balance and reduced the weight of his bass, often achieving basses near 7 lbs that sound great and don’t have any neck dive. It will be really gig friendly and I can’t wait to get it! Should be 4-8 months.

Specs:

Junk 5

Chambered ash body

Flame maple top, dark cherry burst finish

Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, no dots

Nordstrand Big Single or Big Split pickups, Sadowsky preamp

Black Hardware

One of the pieces of flame maple will be used for the top: