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EXPLAINED: Ampeg | Rare Historical Photos

“I looked at him like he had two heads and said, ‘Let me get this straight – you’re going to fire Jake E. Lee from his own band?’” Greg Chaisson waited years to reunite with Jake E. Lee. But then he had to quit, and couldn’t say why

The bassist, who failed his Ozzy audition but wound up in Badlands instead, recalls pushing boundaries with Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, falling into the music business despite sport aspirations, and being forced to use a substandard bass in the studio

Guitar World

“Yngwie was replaced for becoming difficult. We auditioned Steve Vai in secret”: Gary Shea’s never-say-never approach to Alcatrazz, New England… and maybe even Vinnie Vincent

The left-handed bassist discusses the pitfalls of being with Kiss’ management, selling his Ampeg gear to Malmsteen’s band, and releasing a record that shows what might have been with Vincent

Guitar World

“I’d seen pictures of Keith Richards playing it. I figured I’d try one out”: How Joe Perry found his ultimate slide guitar

And even better still, the Ampeg Dan Armstrong was see-through…

Guitar World

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“On our earlier recordings, we experimented with low tones that only dogs can hear”: Sunn O))) on the challenge of working with 130 guitar tracks and why their live shows are like jumping into a frozen lake

Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson on the drone pioneer's Sub Pop debut, the restorative but draining power of volume and the gear behind their sound

Guitar World

“I’m not an amp snob. I’m gonna give everything a try. Some of the oddest guitars and amps I have are ones I’ve used on my favorite songs”: Joe Perry gives us a decade-by-decade guide to the amps behind his Aerosmith tone

Is Joe Perry a Marshall guy, Fender guy, boutique guy, pedal amp guy? Answer: he’s all of the above

Guitar World

“It quietly became the working guitarist’s secret weapon”: 10 sleeper guitar amps that deserve legendary status

From overlooked British combos to U.S. workhorses, these may not have the Plexi's prestige, but they deliver world-class tone for players willing to look beyond the obvious

Guitar World

“It was so heavy to lift as an 11-year-old”: Josh Homme’s first guitar amp wasn’t even a guitar amp

It was a choice that set the tone for a career full of left-field gear picks

Guitar World

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“I felt like I was being used. I’m not a puppet that you can put your hand up its ass and make do stuff”: The signature gear Josh Homme turned down

Before working with Peavey, Homme had been approached by another firm for a separate piece of signature gear – but it never came to be

Guitar World

“Those who were waiting forOriginto recreate an Ampeg Flip-Top will be delighted – it’s as good as you’d hope”: OriginEffects BASSRIG Fifteen review

OriginEffects has concentrated the revered Ampeg B-15 into a pedal. Has it worked?

Guitar World

"With a DI box and some time to learn the layout, it's a robust, reliable and ridiculously well-equipped powerhouse for the stage and studio": IK Multimedia TONEX Pedal Bass Edition review

The sonic power of TONEX, ported to a bass-friendly version of the TONEX Pedal

MusicRadar

“I’m not sure why the tour ended so abruptly. I never got a bunch of my gear returned. People don’t get sacked from Sabbath – they just don’t get spoken to again!” Ask Jo Burt about Freddie Mercury, Brian Setzer and The Troggs – just not Black Sabbath

The veteran bassist on his Queen and Led Zeppelin links, love for fretless, fighting with a Music Man EQ, and Tony Iommi’s smile when Geezer Butler’s Ampeg rig made a bass feel like an animal

Guitar World

“The ultimate library of bass tones”: IK Multimedia’s Tonex amp modelling suite arrives for bass guitar – with pedals, software and lots and lots of tones

IK Multimedia unveils a Tonex and Tonex One that is designed for bass players, and backs it up with a software suite replete with all the low-end bass amp classics and then some

MusicRadar

“I wound up joining Spinal Tap in Phoenix and played bass along with Adrian Belew on Big Bottom. It was a huge comedy honor”: The chance encounters that led Abby Travis to play bass with Beck, Elastica, The Bangles and The Go-Go’s

The “pinch-hitter of bassists” explains why she prefers groove over technicality, how she approaches joining an established band, her Spinal Tap audition, and why she can’t release her next solo album

Guitar World

“I had three days to learn the entire set… One rehearsal. I met Pink at soundcheck right before the first show then I’m playing in front of thousands and thousands of people”: Eva Gardner on trial by fire with pop megastars and returning to the Mars Volta

Eva Gardner has played with Cher, Moby, Pink, Veruca Salt... the list goes on. Here she reveals how it all started with a bass from Andy Johns, how it's going with the Mars Volta – and what comes next

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I got rid of a lot of my electric basses – at one point I had over 100!” After five decades at the low-end, Stanley Clarke decided to part ways with his astonishing bass collection

The bass virtuoso recounts his bass gear past and present, from his trademark Alembic to the bass equivalent of the Fender Stratocaster

Guitar World

“Jimmy Page said, ‘If you want to go work straight away, do the Ozzy gig. If not, we’d love to have you’”: Phil Soussan is one of the ultimate bass journeymen – he looks back at his storied career, and why he picked Ozzy Osbourne over Jimmy Page

The Last in Line member recalls his weird experience of recording bass on The Ultimate Sin, what it was like being in the room for Zakk Wylde’s Ozzy audition, being frustrated with Vince Neil’s band, and his amazing chemistry with Steve Lukather

Guitar World

“I was playing a lot of jazz when we did Longview. I’d sit in at jazz clubs and read off the Real Book”: If you think Mike Dirnt is another clueless punk, think again

Every success story needs a behind-the-scenes hero, and for Green Day, it was bassist Mike Dirnt. He details the making of American Idiot and his forensic approach to bass tone

MusicRadar

“I’m probably gonna buy this. So there you go. Sold already”: Watch the Pretenders’ James Walbourne get to grips with a vintage Gibson Explorer – and no, not the guitar

The GA-18T Explorer is one of the lesser-spotted amps from the golden era of the Gibson archive but on this evidence maybe it is due a comeback

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Guitar World

“Nobody said, ‘You need to play five-string,’ but for stadium gigs there’s nothing cooler than hitting a low B and feeling it in your core”: Kenny Chesney bassist Harmoni Kelley on why five-strings rule for modern country players

With no experience of the extra string until her successful audition with Chesney, Kelley’s taken her P Bass attitude and hard rock roots for longterm stroll down Music Row

Guitar World

“Both Joe and Guthrie play a mean, funky rhythm guitar on a song like Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. That counts for more than you think”: Bass supremo Bryan Beller reveals what it’s like to play with Joe Satriani and Guthrie Govan

The prolific bassist explains why Satch’s music isn’t as simple as it seems, while it’s a case of keeping up with Govan’s high-speed improv… but the pair do share a certain funkiness

Guitar World

“Bass should stand on its own. It’s as powerful as the guitar”: Conrad Lant on his disdain for Ampeg SVTs and how he bought Andy Fraser’s Gibson EB-3 for £50 – “It was the exact one he played on All Right Now!”

Venom, the original black metal band, have been invoking Old Nick since 1981. On the bass, meet Conrad Lant – ‘Cronos’ to the (black) masses

Guitar World

How the Ampeg Dan Armstrong may well have become a footnote in guitar history had the 'See-Through' electric not ended up in the hands of Keith Richards

Ronnie Wood, Joe Perry and Dave Grohl all played Dan Armstrongs over the years – here's why it's one of the coolest guitars ever

Guitar World

“I had the same punk-rock attack that Duff had. I wouldn’t be afraid to say I stole some of his stuff”: How Tommy Stinson survived the making of Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy

Tommy Stinson replaced Duff McKagan in 1998, but being the bassist in Guns N’ Roses takes work – a lot of it

Guitar World

Ampeg SGT-DI review

With tube amp emulation and a built-in cab simulator, has Ampeg developed the perfect all-in-one pedal rig for bass players?

Guitar World

SolidGoldFX introduces the Beta-V – an attempt to pack the tone of a hefty Ampeg bass rig into a compact pedal

The Canadian pedal maker’s new bass preamp and overdrive promises “bone-shaking mojo-packed dirt”

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