This past weekend, the Dunlop bass team trekked down to Hollywood for Bass Player Live! at SIR Los Angeles—the only annual event dedicated to bass gear and bass players.

We’re always happy to check out new gear and see old friends and great players, but our favorite part of the show each year is talking to real players, from weekend warriors to seasoned professionals, and getting their feedback on Dunlop bass gear. The response to our MXR Bass Innovations line was overwhelmingly positive this year, especially  for the forthcoming additions to the line—the Bass Overdrive and the Bass Chorus Deluxe.

The highlight this year, though, was when Dunlop Strings artist Robert Trujillo and Jaco Pastorius’ family presented clips from an upcoming documentary about the legendary bass player. Trujillo treated the audience to an in-person display of Jaco’s rarely-seen-in-public Bass of Doom, one of the most revered bass guitars in music history. Many players at the show were disciples of Jaco Pastorius in one form or another, so it was a very moving experience to see the instrument that Jaco used to reinvent the role of the bass player.

We had a great time this year, and while we were pretty busy, we managed to snap some photos of  some of the cool people and cool stuff we saw over the weekend. Check ‘em out below.

But first, here’s a list of some of the top Dunlop artists who came to the show:

Robert Trujillo

Juan Alderete

Justin Meldal-Johnsen

Jimmy Earl

Dug Pinnick

Tim Lefebvre

Dave Ellefson

Andrew Gouche

Bakithi Kumalo

Oskar Cartaya

Damian Erskine

The MXR Bass Overdrive and the Bass Chorus Deluxe

Jaco's Bass of Doom

 

Robert Trujillo and Bakithi Kamalo with Jaco’s Bass of Doom

Jimmy Earl (right) and a fan at the Dunlop table

Tim Lefevbre with Dunlop bass product specialist Darryl Anders (left) and the MXR Bass Innovations pedalboard (right)

King X's Dug Pinnick trying out the MXR Bass Innovations pedalboard

Our friends from Spector had some beautiful basses on display this year.

Sandberg also had some great instruments out for their inaugural BPL! showing.

Aguilar Amplification and Blast Cult had great stuff out as always.

In our opinion, this was the Bass of the Show: a new electric model from Blast Cult called the 30 2. It's got a 32" scale length with upright pickups.

Photos by Lauren Gerber, Joseph Trau and Darryl Anders.