GALLERY: NAMM 2018 Day 2
PRS Guitars Mark Tremonti MT15
Don’t let the small footprint of the Mark Tremonti MT15 fool ‘ya. It’s a blisteringly loud 15-watt, gain machine from PRS Guitars. Tremonti has been in the PRS camp for a while, so a collaboration on an amp was inevitable. It’s based on the Archon circuit with 6L6 tubes and has a staggering five gain stages.
Dunlop Classic 108 Fuzz
One of Dunlop's newest offerings was this reissue of their Classic 108 Fuzz in a mini enclosure. It shares a similar tone to their Hendrix Fuzz Face and features a switchable buffer that allows the fuzz circuit to play nice with a wah.
EVH Gear 5150 III
Eddie’s latest iteration of his EVH Gear 5150 III amp series is this 6L6-based design that adds in one of the most requested features: independent gain and volume controls for channels one and two. This feature will extend to the combos as well.
Taylor Guitars V-Class
A few years ago, Taylor Guitars’ Andy Powers wanted to design a guitar that didn’t force him to choose between volume and sustain. Powers had the idea to position two longitudinal braces on the soundboard of the guitar in a V formation, with the top of the V splayed along either side of the soundhole, instead of arranging the main support braces as a criss-crossed X. The result is dubbed V-Class bracing and this Builder’s Edition model was absolutely stunning. The new bracing will start to appear on the company’s high-end models this year.
Keeley Electronics Aria
Pedal guru Robert Keeley (Keeley Electronics) brought the Aria, a clever comp/OD pedal to NAMM. His popular Compressor+ sits on the right-hand side while a dual-voiced overdrive is on the left. A toggle in the middle allows for the order of the pedals in the circuit to be switched.
Friedman Amplification BE-50 and Vintage T
Dave Friedman (thumbs up) and Friedman Amplification came in hot with the new BE-50 Deluxe head, with three channels and plenty of headroom, and three new guitars including the Vintage T cradled by Dave Black, who played for our demo video. The amp lists for $3,499 and the 6-string for $2,699.
Mooer Preamp Live
Though Mooer is most famous for their microscopic effects, the company's larger format units are consistently impressive. The new Preamp Live, which will be available in March, has drive options aplenty, and enables you to program four presets raging from cleanish boost to raging high gain drive. There's a post and pre switch and a push-button boost as well...in other words, scads of OD and distortion flavors for $399.
Guild Guitars LB-1 Little Bucker
Fond memories of '60s Jetstars in used guitar stores (and power pop king Peter Holsapple's sweet sunburst model) had us twitching to play Guild Guitars' new re-issue. The good news is that it feels and plays great. The quality is top notch, and we're excited to get one hooked up to a big amp to find out how jangly and filthy these LB-1 Little Buckers can get. It's very sweetly priced at $599 too.
D'Angelico Guitars Bedford Deluxe, Ludlow Deluxe, and Atlantic Deluxe
D'Angelico Guitars began a new chapter in its storied history with the introduction of a new solidbody line at NAMM. Meet, from left to right, the Bedford Deluxe ($1,199), the Ludlow Deluxe ($1,299), and the Atlantic Deluxe ($1,299). The Bedford has a neck single-coil and a bridge humbucker that also coil-splits. The guitars also come in lower priced Premiere models.
Ampeg Liguifier
Respected bass name Ampeg introduced a two-stage analog chorus called the Liguifier that’ll range from warm and round to a term-vibed Peter Hook sound with a quick and easy 3-dial control set listing for an affordable $99.
Tokai Guitars THB200S
After nearly 50 years, Tokai Guitars has brought back a reissue of what was originally called the Hummingbird but is now called the THB200S, and which was originally produced from 1967-1969. It features a Jazzmaster-style switching array, a roller bridge and stamped-metal vibrato, and Mosrite-inspired single-coils. The main departure from the old design is the company's new SEB body, which features a three-piece basswood "sandwich" whose thicker middle layer has its wood grains running perpendicular to those of the thinner top and back pieces for what they say improves and quickens body resonance, sustain, and attack.
Laney Amps LA30B
We have yet to hear this beautiful little stack, buts it's hard to not be very intrigued by this new/old creation from Laney's UK Custom Shop. Essentially it's a 30 watt cousin to Tony Iommi's LA100B (the amp that made early Sabbath sound like the underworld exploding forth from Vesuvius). The LA30B you see here never made it past prototype stage, but it's alive and kicking now and we're psyched it's back. No word on pricing or availability yet, but we'd pay a pretty penny just for a taste at this point.
Jext Telez Fuzz Face Tone
From a purely sonic perspective, we're not sure if any pedal builder is on a roll quite like Jext Telez. The Buzz Tone, White Pedal, and Uni Drive are knockouts. And if the player raves weren't testimony enough, I just listened to two engineer friends speak in rapturous tones about how killer this Detroit company's pedals sound. Now they've taken on that sacred cow of sacred cows, the germanium Fuzz Face and even through headphones the results are impressive. It's driven by NOS 2n404 transistors. The toggle is for switching up the bias, which gives you the option for a more wide-open louder twist on the standard Fuzz Face Tone. Dynamics are fantastic. The enclosure looks awesome. The street price will be around $250. Keep bringing it Jext Telez!
San Francisco Guitar Company Ashbury
NAMM newcomers San Francisco Guitar Company brought several versions of their Ashbury solid body. The body is a mixture of offset and Gibson cues with a subtle German carve. But the Firebird/Rickenbacker bass-style neck-through-body construction is a cool twist. The neck and body are all sapele, and the instruments all feature a zero fret and burly beck volute (if you're worried about Firebird-style neck snappage.) a very impressive debut from these guys...and fairly priced for handcrafted stuff at around $2,500.
Tsakalis Audio Works Phonkify
Tsakalis Audio Works brought the Uber-hip Phonkify to the show. It not only does bubbly envelope filter tones, but it has an impressive octave circuit as well. The added expression pedal function gives your lines some added oomph.
JHS Pedals Bonsai
The Tube Screamer has a rather legendary pedigree and JHS Pedals decided to pay tribute with the Bonsai, a nine-in-one overdrive that covers everything from the TS-9 and TS-808 to more modern-day mods by Keeley and JHS. To our ears, it pretty much nailed it and will likely be of interest to Screamer addicts everywhere.
Orange Amplification Brent Hinds Terror
The big news from Orange Amplification is the Brent Hinds Terror. It’s a twin-channel, 15-watt powerhouse that features a tube effects loop, headroom/bedroom attenuators switch, and a “natural” channel that’s voices for transparency.
Satellite Amps Scamp
For those of you that love Adam Grimm's streamlined and screaming Satellite Amps but found them a touch too dear, meet Scamp--a 22 watt, 2 x 6V6 bare-bones mighty mite, that like most Satellite amps, punches like like a heavyweight just as easily as it sings. The best bit is that it's just $849, making this the most accessibly priced Satellite Amplifiers yet.
Beetronics Royal Jelly
The L.A. shop of Beetronics has been (forgive us) a hive of activity of late judging by the abundance of custom-painted pedals at their booth. The newest star is the Royal Jelly--a super tunable and flexible OD/Fuzz. Much of its malleability is made possible by dividing the drive and fuzz circuits at the input and summing them again at the output after much filthy mayhem insures in between. You can use the two circuits independently. But there's also a top-end boost switch that you can use to take the combined sound from simply screaming to scorching. Look for a price tag of about $260.
LR Baggs Align Series
Pedal envy is a thing of the past for acoustic players thanks to the Align pedal series debuted at NAMM by LR Baggs. The result of extensive development, the stomps include a reverb, a D.I., an EQ, and the Session, which allows live acoustic players to add some low-end harmonic grit, compression and other tonal treatments that make guitars, mandolins, and more really pop on studio recordings. The D.I. will street for $159 and the other pedals run $179.
Oni Guitars Reclining Nude
One of the artsier guitars we saw at NAMM today was the Reclining Nude from Australia's Oni Guitars. And while we were so rushed for time as the show came to a close that we weren't' able to get a whole lot of particulars, the guitar pretty much speaks for itself.
Sankey Guitars
Another head-turning axe we stumbled across at the close of the NAMM show today was this organic beauty from Sankey Guitars out of Ottawa, Canada.
Maxwell Custom Guitars
Glenn Maxwell from Maxwell Custom Guitars out of Auckland, New Zealand, came to this NAMM with his stunningly beautiful "archtop" featuring a meticulously carved—not bent—top and thin slotted vents at its edges that act as the soundhole.
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