It’s nothing to walk down any isle and hear incredible musicianship.  Here’s a video of my bro’s Jermaine Hall and Oliver McEwan in an impromptu jam session at the TC Electronics booth.  They’re jamming to MJ’s Human Nature.  Enjoy!

NAMM & EBS Logos

Guys I’m headed to NAMM in Anaheim, CA!!!  This is my first year and I am so very excited to be attending.  For those of you that may have never heard of it (from namm.org):

NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), commonly called NAMM in reference to the organization’s popular NAMM trade shows, is the not-for-profit association that unifies, leads and strengthens the $17 billion global music products industry. Our association—and our trade shows—serve as a hub for people wanting to seek out the newest innovations in musical products, recording technology, sound and lighting. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages.

In the Winter and Summer every year, NAMM sponsors trade shows that allow all of the merchants and manufacturers to showcase their products.  This results in every musical company that exists convening in one place to show off the goods!!!  Nearly every person that is endorsed by these companies stops by and performs, showcases new products, takes pictures, signs autographs and just hang.  It’s an incredible opportunity to hang and network with musicians from all over the world.

NAMM isn’t open to the public, so a manufacturer or merchant has to help you gain access.  EBS Sweden, a company that graciously allows me to endorse their pedals, allowed me the opportunity to go to this year’s conference!  I am very thankful and grateful for this opportunity.

I’ll have tons of pics and video in the coming days!!

1. Shielded the control cavity
2. Changed to CTS pots
3. Installed Nordstrand NJ5F pickups
4. Installed a Nordstrand 2B Preamp
5. Wired the controls to be Vol/Blend/Bass&Treble Stack.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a fanatic for Roger Sadowsky bass guitars.  I’ve been playing the same M5-24 since 2006.  I call her Brownie because of her Sunburst color and she gets virtually NO downtime and has had one vaction in 5 years (when I played a Sadowsky MV-5 for a tour in South America)!!  We’ve toured 5 continents together and prayerfully we’ll be able to do more.  With all of that being said, I think it’s time to get her a little relief!!

I’ve been searching for another bass to try that could be a great backup to Brownie.  I know that the obvious solution would be to get another Sadowsky, which I will one day, but for now that price tag puts this idea a little out of reach.  The prices of those wonderful instruments have increased over the last five years and I have to admit that I faced a bit of sticker shock when I went back to start pricing basses.  I totally understand it though.

In the interim, I’ve researched almost EVERY bass manufacturer that exists.  I’ve even bought inexpensive basses and have modified them in search of a great backup/alternate bass.  The new Fenders are inconsistent in sound/feel, the older Fenders cost just as much as the new ones, the Squier’s feel/sound great passive but do not have any realistically usable preamps (if any at all), G&L’s are great but just don’t suit my taste or work load, Warwick necks are too small for my hands, and I’m not a fan of the Shecters,  ESP’s, Epiphone’s etc.  So that leaves a few options that could work in my world… Ibanez Premiums, the new Lakland AJ’s and the Carvin SB5000 / B50.

Of the last three basses mentioned, I figured I’d just take a first stab with Carvin.  I met Sekou Bunch at a Jazz Festival in California last year.  We were in the slot right before the band he was with that night.  As we were leaving the stage he invited me to his trailer to check out this new bass, the Carvin SB5000.  He raved that this was an incredible instrument and that I should come play his bass.  I must say that I’ve never owned anything from Carvin before and I had always received those magazines from the company that just seemed to magically follow me wherever I moved!  So I was familiar with the brand through media, but this was my first time up close.  The neck on this bass felt incredible and when he played it on stage the sound was big and round yet articulate for every note.  I was really feeling this bass, except for one thing… the body shape.

Carvin SB5000

I’m just more of a traditional when it comes to bass body styles.  This design is close to a traditional shape, but that upper horn on the bass just didn’t appeal to me.  I went to the website anyway to check out the specs, and it was then that I found out that Carvin offers the SB5000 bass and many others as a custom build.  My Sadowsky was a metro model, so this custom thing really intrigued me and I was very elated to know that I would have a unique bass. A little more delving into the site lead me to the Carvin B50 which has the SB500 electronics with a more traditional body shape:

Carvin B50

Discovering this bass sold me on trying Carvin first.  Everything about this bass is appealing to me.  I honestly don’t think that too many people are aware that the B50 is basically the same as the SB5000.  Web searches yielded little to no information about the latest B50 models.  So when I get my bass I’ll do reviews and YouTube clips on how the bass sounds.   I just made the order on Cyber Monday, which ironically was the last day to receive close to $200 off the price of the bass at the time, but has been since extended for a week.  The base price is somewhere around $860 and price fluctuates with the options you choose for your build.  Build time is currently running about 7 weeks.  This is great considering that many smaller companies average about 6 months.

Please visit Carvin and check out these basses.  I’ll keep you posted on the process!!

I also had the opportunity to play bass on and co-produce a few tracks on the album!  In Jahah’s own words:

“For those of you who miss the “golden era ” of hip hop (Biggie, 2 Pac, Nasty Nas, Jay-Z, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Gang Starr, Black Moon, Wu-Tang etc) my project Nostalgia RED is for you!”

The album is available on iTunes and Amazon or you can download it for free!

For more info and videos click here:

We shared the stage with some incredible Polish artists : Leszek Mo?d?er, Myslovitz, Zakopower, Tomasz Sta?ko, Me Myself and I and Perfect.  We were also able to perform alongside and some legendary artists from the United States and abroad: Michael Bolton, Dolores O’Riordan from The Cranberries and Tricky.

Each foreign artist was asked to perform a song native to Poland.  Our performance piece was a reggae version of Daab’s W moim ogrodzie (In My Garden).

The night was rounded out by an incredible fireworks show that we unknowingly stood underneath.  I have some footage that I’ll share soon of what it’s like to see fireworks from directly under them!!  It was an incredible night!!

The show featured Jaguar Wright, Ledisi, and Angie Stone.  All three artists put on incredibly great shows and there was an impromptu performance from all three artists in the end paying homage to Soul music and it’s roots.  Our fingers are crossed… the response was so great that we are hoping that this turns into a tour!  Wouldn’t you like to see that?!?!?!

We were all a little afraid of that the weather had in store for us this weekend.  When we left Atlanta, everyone was predicting a huge blizzard to attack New Jersey and New York.  Luckily it only snowed for an hour or so and the conditions weren’t bad at all.  Then our concerns shifted towards the incoming inclement weather back in Atlanta, but we heard things would hold off for us until we arrived.  Great ending right?  NOPE!!!… because we make it to the plane to find out the the navigational computer in the plane would not boot up!!  So I was still stuck in Jersey until they could get another one in from Baltimore.

We finally made it back to Atlanta and we did so before the snow started here!  Thank God!  It was cool though, because I was able to be on the beach in the snow for the first time in my life!!