BASSIDA aka Ida Funkhouser

For a long time I thought that a good bass amp must weigh enough to dislocate your shoulder. If you want to make something happen at the low end you will need pure mass to get through and set your tonal and rhythmical mark. But technology also advances in the music world and so the light weights start to make ground by improving in all areas.

In one of my visits to a local music store I came across one of this little fellows. I had read a lot about tc electronic bass gear, specially the RebelHead RH450 bass amp top. Unfortunately I was not able to test it and check it out not even superficially. But despite the short glance, something grabbed my attention: 3 individually programmable presets!

Once home, I went straight to the net to see what I can find out on the pygmy with the bold name and the presets. YouTube is always a good source and the best audio/visual search engine. And so I found “Bassida” demoing the RH450 during NAMM show 09. Nice little video explaining the basics of the tc electronics amp. The RebelHead looks really good! But in the video you will discover more eye candy... Njoy!

 

BASSIDA aka Ida Funkhouser

Memorabilia

Do yourself a favor and follow this link

http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

on the search box (the one on the left, not the one on the upper right) and type in “bass”. Now make sure you have a few spare hours and …enjoy!

Elixir Strings

When we moved to this small little town, I thought we had moved close to the edge of the world. What could this place have to offer??? (At night it reminds me of “Radiator Springs” from the movie ‘Cars’)

What a surprise when I discovered this: The European HQ of Elixir Strings (Gore Inc.) is located in Putzbrunn, just a few blocks away from my home. I must admit I have never played Elixir strings before but this will change soon.

Unfortunately you cannot put your own set together by choosing individual strings. The sets are available in these gauges:

http://www.elixirstrings.com/

Brandy Anderson

Brandy is actually a photographer. To be more precise: a baby and child photographer in Calgary, AB, Canada.

I made this picture to my favorite in my flickr account last year already. The unity between the big double bass and small little baby is great. You can almost hear the bass, playing slow and low and making it cosy for the little kid.

Brandy is an amazing artist! Check her out here:

http://www.flickr.com/people/tvchicklet/

http://www.freshsugar.com/

Brandy, thank you for allowing me to post this picture on my blog!

Brandi Disterheft

Finally back to my favorite category: ‘Female Bass Players’.

This time I want to introduce to you Brandi Disterheft. She’s a young Canadian from North Vancouver, born 1980. Her first album “Debut” brought her 2008 a JUNO Award, kinda of a Canadian Grammy. Oscar Peterson notably said about Disterheft, "She has the same lope or rhythmic pulse as my bassist, Ray Brown. She is what we call serious."

Here a ‘video’ taster:

 

Awesome tune.

Relocating physically

The date I wrote my last entry here was the last day I played on my basses before the movers arrived. Meanwhile we moved to Munich, Germany in Europe. Yesterday I unpacked my MusicMan MM5 and plugged it into my Boss GT-10B. So, I said to myself this is the right moment to reconnect with you via this blog.

We are settling in well so I guess I will be posting the findings of this new old world.

Breaking balls Sonata – for Vuvuzela

This is not much related but wanted to share. It’s just too good.