NAMM January 2005

This year at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, we had two BassLab basses in the AccuGroove booth and the latest Stick XBL prototypes in the Stick Enterprises booth.

The AccuGroove booth held a glossy black L-BOW-V and a satin green SOUL-IV.

Jake Wolf at NAMM, playing the black BassLab L-BOW-V. Behind him is Skip of Knuckle Guitar Works and Jean Baudin playing his 9-string Pacman Conklin.
Jake Wolf at NAMM, playing the black BassLab L-BOW-V.
Behind him is Skip of Knuckle Guitar Works and Jean Baudin playing his 9-string Pacman Conklin.

Jake Wolf, who worked in the AccuGroove booth for most of the show, had this to say:

I really did enjoy the L-BOW bass at NAMM. In the past I have played and owned alot of instruments, and at the recent NAMM show, I played a ton of basses, but the BassLab was definitely the most fascinating. I had a hard time putting it down. I was demoing with it in the booth for hours each day. Other people agreed that the bass spoke very well, and had a clear, articulate, dry sound, yet was still somehow organic sounding. I find that to be funny, because there isn't much, or anything, thats organic about that bass. Nonetheless, it felt really good. It definitely has alot of punch and clarity, but has a suprising warmth and resonance to it.

One amazing thing about that bass was the neck. It's really, really big, especially in the 1st position, and if I'm not mistaken, the radius of the fingerboard is pretty dead flat. Intuitively that would seem very non-ergonomic. But, it played beautifully, it really felt nice. Other basses with necks shaped like that can easily feel cumbersome and difficult to play or "clubby", but the BassLab really went against the common conceptions of what's comfortable in a neck shape.

At the show, I kept putting the bass into people's reluctant hands who were pleasantly surprised by the liveliness and warmth of the L-BOW. At NAMM, it's so hard to make a critical judgement of an instrument after a short time playing it in a noisy distracting environment, but I knew I liked the BassLab.

Visit Jake on the web at www.jakewolfmusic.com

Jake maked a good point about the neck on the L-BOW. It's almost rectangular in cross-section. The STD model has a more "normal" neck profile, and the SOUL is somewhere between P and J basses. But remember - we can make any shape on any model! To some extent, the shape determines tone and response, but it's ultimately a question of feel.

And Jake also described the L-BOW tone using words like "clear", "articulate", "punch", and "warmth". These are exactly the characteristics that make the L-BOW the ultimate platform for extended range basses, with 7, 8, 9, 10, or even more strings. The design lets the lowest and highest notes speak clearly and with warmth.

Vail Johnson plays the British Racing Green BassLab SOUL-IV, while Mark Wright of AccuGroove highlights his Tri210L cab.
Vail Johnson plays the British Racing Green BassLab SOUL-IV, while Mark Wright of AccuGroove highlights his Tri210L cab.

And Jake was happy to have the SOUL-IV in the booth also, for those folks who were more inclined toward a traditional shape, in both the body and the neck!

After the show, the L-BOW-V and SOUL-IV went back to AccuGroove. Mark Wright, manager and co-founder, recently wrote this to us:

Greetings gentlemen,

I've been honored to display two of your basses in our booth at this last NAMM show. Currently I'm using the L-BOW to test our cabinets before we ship them out & of course on gigs. (Yes, I am a bass player myself.)

The reason I'm writing is to congratulate you on such an amazing instrument. I look forward to the day when I can try your fretless & dbl neck as well.

Greg Holmes has been a very good representative/distributor for your firm & I look forward to helping in getting the word out about your fine products. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.

Best regards,
Mark Wright
Manager
www.AccuGroove.com

Stay tuned to this page, we'll have more soon.


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