GALLERY: NAMM 2015 - Day 3
Korg brought the new SDD-3000 stereo delay pedal to NAMM 2015. It's based on the original SDD-3000 rack unit favored by a number of prolific guitarists including The Edge. The pedal offers eight delay types, modulates your delays with five different modulation waveforms, and can sync to other gear via MIDI. And the low-pass and high-pass filters allow for fine-tuning of your delay sounds.
Lâg Guitars introduced the Snake Wood series of its Tramontane line at NAMM 2015. The guitars in the series (TSE1ACE shown) feature Mexican snakewood for the back and sides, a solid AA Sitka spruce top, and Mozambique ebony for the headstock, fretboard, and bridge. The TSE1ACE also features the new Fishman INK preamp system with Fishman’s Sonicore pickup, a 4-band EQ, chromatic tuner, and discrete LED screen.
Zemaitis Guitars brought a new series of more affordable guitars to NAMM this year, but they also debuted this cool addition to the Superior series. The 25"-scale SUA-300S-Diamond features a nato body and neck, pearl inlays, etched aircraft-grade aluminum hardware, and a cool switching system that pairs a standard 5-way pickup selector with a mini toggle that wires the neck and middle pickups, or the bridge and middle pickups, in parallel humbucking mode.
Oh my baritone. Reverend Guitars had their new Descent models in tow at NAMM 2015. The Descent is a 26 3/4”-scale baritone guitar based on Reverend’s double-cutaway bolt-on platform that comes in two pickup configurations. The Wilkinson trem-equipped Descent H90 varietal comes with humbucker-sized Gnarly 90 bridge and Tel 90 neck Railhammer pickups, while the Descent RA comes with chrome-covered Railhammer Chisels.
SKB Cases announced the expansion of their iSeries guitar case line at NAMM 2015 with models for both jumbo acoustics and 335-shaped instruments. Like the nine other guitar and bass cases in the series, these built-for-travel injection-molded cases are watertight and include inline wheels, patented trigger latches (two with TSA locks), injection molded handles, and plush-lined interiors.
Cole Clark Guitars lucked out with some great new redwood finds in its home country of Australia, and the result is a whole new line of guitars. The company brought this beautiful new Angel model to NAMM. Outfitted with a solid redwood top and rosewood back and sides, it also features the company's fantastic three-way FaceBlend electronics for extremely natural-sounding amplified tones.
RainSong Graphite Guitars' debuted its Al Petteway Limited Edition composite guitar with a unidirectional graphite top at this year's NAMM. It features a premium L.R. Baggs preamp with internal mic and undersaddle pickup, as well as a beautiful metallic finish for around $3,000 street.
Collings Guitars brought some smooth new moves to its 360LT Ash model at this year's NAMM—including super-vibey Lollar Gold-Foil pickups!
Empress Effects’ Buffer + Stereo provides about a gazillion ways to manage amp switching and effects looping situations along with noise filters that will get you through any backline or million-stompbox nightmare. Should debut by mid-2015 at around $250.
Bad Cat's Unleash V2 re-amplifier and attenuator is a super versatile tool chest of sorts got gigging and studio guitarists. You can add an effects loop to amps that don't have one, bump the signal of your fave little gigging amp, and silent record with the line out. $499 street price.
Bad Cat also unveiled their new Bobcat line. The 6L6-powered, 20-watt version is pictured here but there are 5 and 100 versions as well. All versions also come with spring reverb. Street price is $999 for the 5-watt, $1,499 for the 20-watt, and $1,799 for the 100-watt version.
If someone has a plan to make a wah smaller than Mooer's new Wahter, we'd like to hear it. It's only slightly larger than Mooer's already microscopic pedals, and the all-metal enclosure feels rock solid. No pricing yet, but the pedal should be out in the first quarter of 2015.
Alvarez pays tribute to the Grateful Dead's long strange trip with an affordable line of flattops. The lovely sounding cedar and mahogany OM pictured here has a street price of just $399.
Amptweaker came to town with the new Fat Metal pedal in tow. Designed with brighter amps or players looking for less emphasis on palm-muting stops in mind, the Fat Metal delivers thicker bottom and smoother edge tones than its cousin TightMetal Pro.
Amptweaker also showed off the new limited-edition Blues Fuzz at NAMM 2015. Features include a germanium/silicon transistor switch for different gain and tone, an internal boost switch for lower output pickups or maximizing fuzz, and a fuzz control that automatically adjusts bias to give more range of cleaner tones.
Guild Guitars brought back a classic with the Newark St. Series T-50 Slim at NAMM 2015. The thin hollow-body axe has a has an arched-spruce top, mahogany back and sides, and a single SB-1F pickup. The T-50 Slim will street for $979 with a hardshell case included.
Aria debuted the P/J-configured IGB-RC bass at NAMM 2015. The IGB-RCs are constructed of ayous for the body, maple for the neck, and rosewood for the fretboard, and are packed with an APJ-1 set paired with an Aria Pro II AXBP-2 preamp.
Aria also had a gorgeous new acoustic making its debut at NAMM 2015. This sunburst MSG-05 has an Engelmann spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides, a rosewood bridge, and will street for $999.
Magnatone's new Lyric is a 10-watt, 6L6-powered box of joy. It's stupidly simple with just a volume and tone control and there are high and low sensitivity inputs as well. The solid pine can and Jensen P10R give the amp a surprising and serious amount of low-end thump. Its big brother features a 12" speaker. They're $1,499 and $1,699 on the street, respectively.
Moog's bucket brigade MF Chorus and Flange are every bit as deep, vocal, and rich as you'd imagine. Like the rest of the Minifooger line, they're built like little bricks, and line do many things Moog they have the look and sound of modern classics. They'll be $189 when they hit the shops.
Cordoba Guitars' new solid-top nylon-string Mini was designed to be the ideal buddy for hitting the road and is available with three different wood options. With a thin U-shaped neck and a 1.96" nut width, the Minis have the playability and feel of a full-size guitar paired with the grab-and-go convenience of a compact and lightweight body.
Xotic debuted the XW-1 wah at NAMM 2015. Inspired by the 1967-1968 Italian-built Clyde McCoy wah, the XW-1 was designed to serve up classic tone but with some modern enhancements like the self-lubricating nylon bushings, gold contact relay with true-bypass switching, adjustable Wah-Q and bias controls, 2-band EQ, low-battery alert, a fuzz-friendly buffering circuit, and smaller footprint.
Mayones Guitars Basses served up the new Jabba 5 Semi-Hollow bass at NAMM 2015. This alder-bodied machine has a hard-rock maple neck and fretboard, and is packed with an Aguilar 5J-70 alnico 5 calibrated set run by a Mayones M-MPB2 preamp with an active/passive mini switch and dials for volume (2), treble/bass, and passive tone.
Supro unveiled a trio of new U.S.-made, vintage-inspired combos to NAMM 2015 attendees including the Royal Reverb 2x10 (left) and Saturn Reverb 1x12 (right). These all-tube beauties (Tremo-Verb 1x10 not shown) all feature tube-driven spring reverb and power-tube tremolo with the intention of bringing back the sweet sounds of the original 1960s Supro reverb amps.
Bedell Guitars brought two gorgeous new acoustics to NAMM. The Belle Voce (left) and Bellissima both feature solid red cedar tops and rosewood backs and sides—and both truly sparkle with detail and character.
Weber’s Diamondback Octar archtop—an 8-string tuned an octave below a mandolin—isn't just one of the most unique instruments we've seen at NAMM, it's also perhaps the most astoundingly well crafted, too. A true heirloom piece.
PureSalem Guitars brought a bunch of new 6-strings to NAMM, including the La Flaca—a big, vibey mama with a vintage-voiced humbucker and a slanted T-style single-coil disguised as an S-style pickup.
ToneLounge announced at NAMM that it had totally upped the ante on many of its guitars, adding new options like multi-piece bodies and a wide array of pickup, bridge, and vibrato selections to choose from.
In addition to its recently released Klon clone, the Archer, J. Rockett Audio Designs brought three other tasty-sounding meat-and-potatoes pedals to NAMM—The Dude is a flexible overdrive, the Monkey Man serves up tweed Deluxe tones and reverb, and the Boing offers simple, straight-up spring-style 'verb.
Doug and the Kauer Guitars gang always brings a bunch of radness to their NAMM booth, and this year is no exception. The new Arcturus features a bolt-on maple neck, Spanish cedar body, Mastery bridge and JM-style vibrato, and Wide Range-style humbuckers by Arcane Pickups.
People tend to think of Steven Fryette of Fryette Amplification as a high-gain guy, but his beautiful new Aether amp proves quite the opposite. Not only is it one of the most unique amps we've seen at NAMM, but it's also one of the most gorgeous-sounding vintage-style amps we've heard, with a fantastically dynamic tremolo circuit and super lush reverb. It also has a brand-new vintage-voiced speaker developed with Fane.
So what's up with the '50s lunchbox-looking thing? The power tube section is housed in there to prevent interference with the preamp (which is in the main cabinet) as well as to protect internal tube elements from being excessively vibrated by bass frequencies. It might seem like tone-nerd hoodoo, but hearing Fryette describe the process and then hearing the amp made us wonder if he isn't one of today's foremost tube-amp gurus.
Oxygen Amps debuted the 36-watt Ozone at NAMM. Available in KT66 or EL34 versions, the single-channel, master-volume amp is available as a combo or head, and features a proprietary "ground-plain" circuit that the company claims makes the amp completely free of unwanted noise.
Buzz Feiten Guitars' big NAMM announcement was the Gemini series—guitars with dual humbuckers and headstocks that match body finishes. Other options include new vibratos (not shown) with adjustable tension on the bar.
Oddfellow Effects debuted the Caveman overdrive at this year's NAMM show. In addition to drive, it has a separate boost circuit that the company says can make your signal two-and-a-half times louder—and the boost can be routed before or after the overdrive.
Carp Amps brought the incredibly fat and delicious-sounding Moonfish to NAMM. Although it's based on a class AB Super Reverb, it actually uses EL34s—and when you crank it, it serves up some pretty wicked tones through the oversized, Celestion Creamback-loaded 1x12 cab.
How's this for presentation? Toneville Amps' new Rio Grande tube-driven reverb and tremolo unit ($1,200 street) is housed in a cool, vintage-y toolbox with storage space for cables, etc. Did we mention it sounds amazing? It's also available with just reverb for $1,000.
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