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Location: Blogs ProRec ArticlesBill Park |
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| Posted by: Bill Park |
Thursday, July 31, 2003 12:00 PM |
Showtime!
The first thing that we should say is that the attendance was huge, breaking last years numbers. So anyone who chose not to show at the Summer NAMM definitely lost out. In fact, even Sunday was jamming. Yet Sunday is a day that is traditionally slow in the trade show market because it is the last day and a lot of attendees leave early.
The poor economy has caused an impact in almost every part of the country, and the musical instrument business is no exception. This impact has manifested itself as a move to conservatism in product and product releases as businesses try to support and expand on successful products. Though there was no shortage of new products, there were fewer wild and crazy products, and more practical and well thought-out products.
Garry and I are a particularly good fit for a show like this. I tend to run around, get an overview of the whole show, and select what I want to check out from what I have seen and from what I already knew that I was looking for. I tend to make snap decisions and judgements, and I fly on instinct a lot. On the other hand, Garry is very methodical. He goes into a booth and slowly chews his way through the information one booth at a time, digests it, and makes his decisions. He also has very good instincts and between the two of us, we tend to see what is good and what is not so good with most products. I know that I can always rely on Garry for a balancing opinion. We don't always agree, but we always watch each other's backs, so to speak, each picking up on things that the other might have missed about a product or solution.
Garry: Bill and I don't attempt to visit every booth, or even every major booth, when we're at these things. Of course we stop at the booths of our favorite vendors to see what's new. Aside from that, we basically troll the floor looking for particular types of gear or software that we're contemplating purchasing for our studios, keep an eye out for nice guitars to test drive (especially acoustics), and are always on the lookout for new/weird products. Just meeting the people in the booths can be good fun. Anyway, here's a list of what caught our attention, in no particular order.
Jellifish - So how special can a guitar pick be? The "Jellifish" isn't a regular plastic pick, instead it uses about twenty pieces of wire, like an angled brush, to contact the strings. Way cool idea, IMO. It definitely sounds different than a regular plastic pick. I found that it takes some practice to get the feel of the thing. I was using too much force initially and the sound of the wires brushing against my acoustic guitar strings was annoying. With the right touch, you can get chorus-like sounds out of it. $9.95 list. More info at http://www.jellifish.com.
Bill: Picks? I check them out, though I tend to default to the same thing year after year, and that is the Jim Dunlop .96mm Gator Grip. But I like to have a pick assortment on hand for others to use, since nobody ever seems to remember to bring them. Grip Guitar Picks have been around for a while now. The three styles, Rigid, Acetal, and Nylon, each come in three gauges, and each pick is shaped to fit around your finger providing a solid grip and a slightly different attack presentation to the string.
Fred Kelly - I've been a fan of the Fred Kelly Speed Pick. Somewhere along the way I picked one up a couple of years ago, and I have been searching for them ever since. Though I am not a fan of thumb picks, this unconventional thumb pick doesn't feel like a thumb pick, and I find it to be quite comfortable after a short break-in period. (I needed the break in, not the pick.) Widely available but not available everywhere, Kelly has a normal thumb pick, the Speed Pick, the Slick Pick, and the newest, the Bumble Bee. I like the Speed Pick, and I bought a bag of them. http://www.fredkellyspicks.com
Jim Dunlop - also had a new formulation called Ultex. Interesting feel, and could challenge my new favorite Kelly Speed Pick. http://www.jimdunlop.com
Garry: Brian Moore Guitars - Jeez, it was like they had a black hole in there or something. I couldn't walk by their room without getting sucked in. I love nice wood on guitars. The thing that attracts me about the Brian Moore line is that you get a great looking and playing guitar, but it also has a piezo pickup that you can blend in, PLUS the ".13" models come with a 13-pin Roland-compatible jack for hooking up your guitar synth. They claim that the tracking is way better than my Roland GK-2 equipped G&L Legacy. They were demo-ing their guitars using a new Roland guitar synth interface called the GI-20. I couldn't find one in the Roland booth, but it appears to just do the pitch-to-MIDI conversion (no onboard sounds). Anyway, they've just released the "i1000" line of guitars at more affordable price points. Personally, I want the Custom Shop to build me one. More info at http://www.brianmooreguitars.com
Bill: Every time we walked down that hall, Garry turned left into the Brian Moore display room. He's hooked. If you look at what they have to offer, you might be, too.
Guitar manufacturers have concentrated on fancier finishes and tastier woods. Paul Reed Smith always fills a room with amazing finishes and details. This year was no different, and the PRS room is a place to just stand back and admire the craftsmanship. Gibson and Fender field the most popular electric guitars, but boutique guitar makers have a solid customer base and are thriving.
Garry: Goodall Guitars - Bill and I were basically on our way out of the show and off to the airport when he suggested that I stop at the Goodall Guitar booth. Since we had maybe 15 minutes to spare, I tried out the one that caught my eye, an all-koa model called the Royal Hawaiian. I had played several VERY nice acoustic guitars from various boutique makers including Santa Cruz, Breedlove, Lowden, etc, but this guitar was seriously speaking to me. If I hadn't just blown my toy budget on a new motorcycle, I'd have that guitar in my studio right now. About the same price as a new bike too. $7300 list. I really, really wanted that guitar. And it's only across the state at Acoustic Roots in Bryn Mawr, PA. I swear I can hear it calling to me. Honest. SWMBO would not be amused. More info at http://www.goodallguitars.com.
Bill: I spoke to Jane Goodall while Garry fell in love with the Royal Hawaiian. They make beautiful instruments, and used some particularly smart custom appointments on the piece that Garry liked so much, like a mottled cream and brown fossilized bone saddle, and purple heart binding. And they do it while living in Hawaii, in a shop with all the shutters raised to nature and the surf pounding in the near distance. Damn.
Speaking of acoustic guitars, the Santa Cruz and Breedlove offerings always please my eyes and ears. Collings was there, too. In general the high end acoustic guitar makers were out in force, showing that their market segment might not be experiencing the same economic vaguarities as the rest of the market.
Taylor had taken a slightly different approach and was showing a more affordable line of instruments. Last year their display of presentation pieces was stunning. The newer line is in the reach of just about anyone. Taylor also presented their new pickup system, designed in conjunction with Mr Rupert Neve. I had a brief encounter with Mr Neve, which is always a pleasure. http://www.taylorguitars.com
Kiso Guitars is trying to break into the mid to high end acoustic and arch top guitar market. Their designs are quite attractive, but neither Garry nor I thought that their tonality and construction is quite as mature as that of their competition. In our opinion, they qualify as nice, but not great, guitars and could provide serious competition to the mid-level Martin guitars in quality and sound. I expect that this company will grow and improve, and I'm looking forward to what they show next year. http://www.kisoguitars.com
I was disappointed that there were not more acoustic guitar events. I always look forward to seeing world class finger style guitarists when I go to NAMM. I'm spoiled by evenings at Café Milano, the Ryman, or the Wildhorse watching guys like Ed Gerhard and Lawrence Juber play all night, then seeing them performing all day at various guitar booths.
Garry: Tascam - I've been excited about the new FW-1884 since I first heard about it. These days I'm into tools that simplify my studio without giving up performance or flexibility. The idea of having eight mic preamps, audio interface, MIDI interface and control surface in one box is seriously appealing to me. I hope to get a unit in for a test drive and extensive review for ProRec in a month or so. This looks to be one cool piece of gear. Bill was especially interested in the new US-122, a small USB-based stereo audio interface. More info at http://www.tascam.com.
Bill: I really didn't expect the 1884 to be ready by the NAMM show, but it was. And the US-122 was not only showing, but it had been shipping, at least to reviewers. This smaller brother to the US 428 and 244 is a cool little 2 channel USB 24/96k box with MIDI and line inputs as well as mic pres with phantom power. Seems like a great way to get a couple of tracks into a laptop, or a great front end for a SMAART system, from our friends at Frontier Designs and Tascam. The CD-GT1 CD player/guitar/mic processor makes a great training tool. You can slow the speed of playback down to 50% without changing the pitch. A similar tool exists for bass players, the CD-BT1.
Teac/Tascam is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. I've been buying their products since the early 1970s and I generally find them hard to beat for sound, value, design, and ease of use.
Garry: Sound Enhancer - The company basically makes folded horn cabinets for open back combo amps. The poor guy in the booth was lifting up a Fender combo amp to let people hear the regular sound, then putting it on a small Sound Enhancer to hear the enhanced sound. Hell of a way to make a living. Up and down. But I digress. This thing sounds great. I was seriously impressed at the change in tone. More clarity and bottom and volume. Just what the doctor ordered for a combo amp. And since I just got a Vox Valvetronix combo amp myself, a Sound Enhancer could be on its way to my studio Real Soon Now. It also tips the amp up so that you can hear it better. Another simple, but effective product. More info at http://www.soundenhancer.com.
Atomic Amplifiers - Yet another cool idea for fans of guitar modeling preamps such as the Line 6 POD. Atomic Amplifiers make an 18W tube amp called the Reactor 112 that lets you mount your POD into a guitar amp cabinet. Seems like a much cooler way to use a POD on-stage or in practice. It sounded good to me and looks to be a great solution to a common problem. You need to see a picture to really appreciate it, so go to http://www.atomicamps.com for more info.
Line 6 - Line 6 pretty much blew my mind last year at the NAMM show with the Variax, so what have they got this year? For starters, the new Vetta2 amp can communicate with the Variax. This means that changing a preset on the amp can (optionally) change the guitar model on the Variax. Very cool. It's nice to see them making these products work together as a system. They also have a new 300W(!) amp called the HD147. Version 2 of the Guitar Port is out featuring more amp models and effects and better quality sounds. Version 1 owner can update to version 2. More info at http://www.line6.com.
Roger Linn - I guess the AdrenaLinn is old news to some of you, but I missed it. Well now there's the AdrenaLinn2. What a cool box. I've always been a fan of tempo-mapped effects (delays usually), but the AdrenaLinn2 does some much more. Amp modeling, all manner of beat-mapped effects, and a built-in drum machine. It will even slave to your sequence, so you can skip the drum machine part if needed and jam along with your existing songs. I'm not sure the user-interface is all that guitar-player friendly, but what fun. Roger gave a nice demo (even though it was Sunday). He did his job. I know I want to spend some quality time with one at a local music store. More info at http://www.rogerlinn.com.
Bill: Part drum machine, part effects box, and lot's of fun. The effects track to the tempo of the drums, or to incoming MIDI tempo. Twenty four amp models, beat-synced delay with looping, filter effects, Worth checking out. It was a lot cooler than I expected, and I may try to work one into the budget this year.
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