GALLERY: NAMM 2015 Day 1
Gibson's SG Standard 2015 features a zero-fret adjustable nut, G-FORCE tuners, genuine MOP neck inlays, and is offered in three finish options. Street price: $1,879.
Hammond Organ’s new G Pedal (which is designed for guitar) features variable top speed and fast/slow modes. It also features 122 and 147 cabinet simulations and preset capability. Street price is $329.
Dunlop brought several cool new stomps to NAMM, including a mini wah, MXR ISO-Brick, Sub Machine fuzz-octave, Il Torino Overdrive, and three new Way Huge pedals—the Saffron Squeeze comp, Saucy Box overdrive, and Blue Hippo chorus/vibrato.
Ibanez Guitars' shapely Talman profile returns on a batch if new low-to-mid price basses. The humbucker-equipped models with block inlay pictured here have a street price of just $299. The single-coil version with dot inlay is just $199!
Ibanez's AMF73TSRD semi hollow, which attractively fuses Gretsch and Rickenbacker style elements at $499, features Bigsby-style vibrato, humbuckers, and laminated maple construction.
Ibanez Guitars' Japan-built Tube Screamer Mini pulls off the cool trick of retaining classic TS enclosure style and a traditional TS control set--all in a pedal 3.5" long and less than 1.5" wide. Street price is $79.
Gibson USA brought a slew of new SGs to the 2015 NAMM show including the Derek Trucks Signature model that boasts a slim taper neck specially carved to Derek's specs. Street price: $2,399
Teisco Del Rey Guitars will return with these streamlined takes on the much-coveted Spectrum six string and bass. The curvaceous bodies are molded from a plastic called Luthite. No word on price or dealers yet, but keep your eyes peeled!
Marshall Amplification brought its new Silver Jubilee JCM 25/50 2555 reissue to NAMM. Powered by a quartet of EL34s, it features footswitchable clean and lead channels with a shared 3-band EQ, presence knob, series effects loop, and a 50-/100-watt mode switch.
Engl Amps brought its new 100-watt Artist Edition head to NAMM. Evolved from the signature 6L6-powered head designed for Ritchie Blackmore in 1996, this amp features tweaks requested by Doug Aldrich, including an EL34 power section, threshold-adjustable noise gate (rear panel), and a series/parallel effects loop with wet/dry mix knob. Both functions are footswitchable via the optional controller. Subsequent users of the amp have included Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, and Paul Stanley.
Walrus Audio must have locked themselves in the lab for most of 2014. The result is the Bellwether bucket brigade delay (below), which also features a digital meter clock. Street price should be around $349 when the pedal hits in spring. The Luminary octave pedal (above), which will hit the street in fall, has one- and two-octave up and down functionality along with cool modulation and drive features.
Crazy Tube Circuits was another very busy pedal company in the NAMM offseason. They brought the new compact Magnifier preamp pedal (which sounds beautifully hi-fi and sparkly,) the analog SPT modulation pedal (which switches between 70s phase and rotary modes) and the Splash reverb which packs gorgeous sounding plate, spring, and ambient verb sounds in a standard sized enclosure. The Magnifier is $129 street, the SPT is $210, and the Splash Mk III is $259.
Tech 21 NYC brought several cool new boxes to NAMM, including the Boost Comp, which is optimized for both guitar and bass, DUg Pinnick's new signature Ultra Bass 1000 head, and two signature Richie Kotzen pedals—the OMG overdrive/boost, and a custom version of the Fly Rig 5 that swaps the original's Plexi section for an OMG section.
In addition to bringing their recent H9 Max to NAMM, Eventide brought its new fan-cooled Power Factor 2 power brick, which features eight isolated outputs that can power up to five of the company's own high-current pedals. Two outputs run at 12V, while the other six are switchable between 9V and 12V (via the DIP switches), and the whole unit has a total of 2200 available mA. $229 street
Boss introduced their new ES-8 effects switching system to NAMM and the unit will be available later in the year with a target street price of $699. Features include amp control, the ability to run eight loops simultaneously, and it speaks MIDI.
Boss unveiled the new BB-1X Bass Driver, a special-edition compact pedal designed to deliver bold and punchy sound. Features include independent high and low knobs for wide tonal adjustments.
iSP Technologies brought its new Theta Pro DSP to NAMM. Billed as the ultimate recording and performing preamp, it uses a 32-bit SHARC processor and a cutting-edge A/D converter that yields 124 dB of dynamic range for greater clarity. It comes with 256 presets and an astounding number of parameters to adjust, both in terms of gain, EQ, effects (wah, modulation, delay, compressor, and reverb), cab and speaker emulation, and more. There's also dual XLR and 1/4" outs, headphone jack, and jacks for two expression pedals and a volume pedal. Approx. $1,300 street.
They also brought the super-powerful Beta Bass pedal—a scaled-down version of their Beta Bass head that goes for around $400.
Roland U.S. introduced the new Eric Johnson Tone Capsule at NAMM 2015. It's a modification circuit that changes the tube circuit characteristics of a Blues Cube amp per Johnson's specs and attaches under the amp chassis.
BOSS U.S. brought their new VE-1 Vocal Echo box to NAMM 2015. It features seven types of adjustable ambience effects for your voice, a double-tracking effect for thickening vocal sound, an enhance effect, and pitch correct.
TC Electronic's newest NAMM goodies include the Viscous Vibe and Helix Phaser. Each pedal has stereo ins and outs, as well as a three-way mode switch and an available TonePrint mode. The Viscous also has chorus and vibrato modes, as well as a large speed control that deft-footed players could adjust on the fly. Meanwhile, the Helix has vintage and smooth modes controlled by speed, depth, feedback, and mix knobs.
The Gibson Custom Shop has been hard at work and showed off the new Ron Wood L5S. Limited to a 300 unit run (with 50 signed by Wood), this Burstbucker-loaded, modern interpretation of the '70s-era L5S will soon be available.
TC Electronic also brought redesigned bass cabs to NAMM. Featuring sporty aesthetics and lighter speakers, each speaker also has its own bass-reflex port around back.
Ampeg came to town with their new SCR-DI. It's a bass DI with Scrambler overdrive that combines an Ampeg preamp, EQ pedal, and overdrive stompbox in a rugged enclosure.
The Loar brought two new hollowbodies to NAMM. Shared features include a laminated maple body, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard, trapeze tailpiece, Tune-o-matic bridge with floating rosewood base, TonePros Kluson tuners, and dual volume and tone controls. The LH-302T has dog-ear P-90s, while the LH-304T has vintage-voiced humbuckers. $599 street.
Recording King Guitars brought two new acoustics to NAMM. The Dirty 30s single-0 resonator ($249 street) ) has a spruce-laminate top, rosewood fretboard, 9.5" resonator cone, biscuit bridge with maple/ebony saddle, while the Dirty 30s Harmonella ($199) comes in 0 and 000 bodies with solid spruce tops, rosewood fretboards, a floating rosewood bridge, and a metal tailpiece.
The great Danes from T-Rex Effects brought four very cool stomps to NAMM. The Diva overdrive has a unique mix knob, the djent-able Nitros has a 3-band active EQ, the tuneMaster chromatic tuner has switchable true-bypass and buffer modes (the latter of which works with a clean-boost "beef" control), and the not-quite-ready-yet Replicator tape-echo features a super-tough proprietary cassette, two playback heads, chorus, and—get this—tap-tempo and expression-pedal control! Approx. street price for the Replicator will be $699.
Bassists who dig delicious, tube-style grind are going to be super stoked about the incredible-sounding new Orange Amplifiers OB1-300 and OB1-500 amps. These class AB behemoths feature toroidal transformers, incredibly wide-ranging EQs, and a badass new harmonics section (two right-hand knobs) that really transform the tone from fat and vintage-y to bowed-rattling buzz.
Orange brought a revamped line of Crush amps to NAMM. Though the basic tone circuits are mostly unchanged, there are intriguing new options on certain models, such as spring-style reverb, 4x12 cab emulation, footswitchable channels, and, of course, varying wattages and speaker sizes.
Gator Cases showed off their new waterproof cases at NAMM 2015. The cases are built to ATA 300 specifications and feature an injection-molded shell, wheels and pull handle for easy transport, and a crushed velvet interior with a supportive-foam nest.
Mike Lull guitars had the new Chubby model in tow at NAMM 2015, a new design take on the classic Tele body. Lull used the basic shape of a Tele in mahogany, hollowed it out, and added thickness to the overall shape. Because the center section is solid, there are numerous options available from humbuckers to P90s to a Bigsby trem.
The "ML" in the model name for Dennis Fano's new ML6 is for "missing link." And his quest to fuse Telecaster and SG proved wildly successful from our view. This alder specimen even managed to work in an offset-style vibrato. But the more straightforward Gibson-inspired mahogany and korina versions sound and feel spectacular.
More than a few players will find Two Rock's new Akoya to be the perfect amp. The 6L6 power section and 4x10 speaker configuration will rightly scream "tweed bassman." But the overdrive channel puts lots of big Marshalloid tones at your fingertips. This thing is meaty and loud. Plus the reverb and tremolo are gorgeous.
Lakland Basses introduced their new USA Classic Series at NAMM 2015 that will start shipping in April. The seven models in the series (44-60 US Classic shown) are 100 percent built in Lakland's Chicago shop and available in tobacco sunburst, Lake Placid blue, and black.
Lakland Basses also announced their plans to offer original equipment pickups in a variety of models/styles with standard dimensions for simple drop-in replacement.
Silvertone Guitars debuted a bunch vintage-reissue acoustics under $300 (or under $400 with electronics) at NAMM. The dread at left is based on a '70s model sold only in Canada and features a solid Engelmann spruce top and laminated rosewood back and sides. The three updated takes on sunburst Silvertones from the '60s all feature solid Engelmann tops and mahogany laminates in place of the original instruments' particleboard construction.
Ever the adventurers, Zachary and the team at ZVEX Effects brought some weirdness to NAMM. The Woolly Mammoth 7 (top left) serves up two JTM45-voiced outputs that you can stack together for a variety of corpulent dirt tones, and the original Woolly circuit is finally available in the more affordable Vexter series (bottom). However, the real wackiness here is the new Pedal Thief—a dual-loop, XLR-equipped stomp that lets you share part of your pedal chain with (gulp) your singer. You better be choosy, though, because A) why should that bastard get to use your stomps for free? and B) you'll lose access to those pedals while he/she is using them. To make things even more interesting (perhaps more so for the audience), there's also a vocal mute switch so you can subtly hint that you want your damn pedals back.
Danelectro—the kings of cheap chic—brought three great-sounding new stringed things to NAMM. First up, the Baby Sitar (top left) has a Gotoh "buzz bridge" and a newly reworked, '50s-spec lipstick pickup. The resurrected Convertible deviates from earlier versions in its addition of a piezo undersaddle bridge pickup and its loss of traditional Dano side tape. And lastly, the existing '63 model got both sonic and cosmetic upgrades: Its two pickups have been revamped to beloved '50s specs, and it's also now available in four wonderfully garish sparkle finishes.
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