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GALLERY: NAMM 2013 - Day 2

Everything the PG editors saw at Winter NAMM on Friday.

Two-Rock introduced its Studio Pro Plus which adds footswitchable expansion control and tremolo to their popular Studio Pro. The new expansion control allows an adjustable EQ bypass to the clean channel and increases the amount of gain on the front end.

Guitarist Brandon Seabrook, architect of fretboard chaos, and his trusty HMT Tele.

Photo by Reuben Radding

With a modified and well-worn heavy metal Tele, a Jerry Jones 12-string, a couple banjos, some tape sounds, and a mountain of fast-picking chops, New York’s master of guitar mayhem delivers Object of Unknown Function.

ā€œIt’s like time travel,ā€ says Brandon Seabrook, reflecting on the sonic whiplash of ā€œObject of Unknown Function.ā€ The piece, which opens the composer’s solo album of the same name, journeys jarringly from aggressive ā€œearly banjo stuffā€ up through ā€œmore 21st-century classical music,ā€ combined with electronic found sounds from a TASCAM 4-track cassette recorder. The end result approaches the disorientation of musique concrĆ©te.

ā€œThe structure is kind of like hopping centuries or epochs,ā€ he adds. ā€œI [wanted] all these different worlds to collide. It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure.ā€

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The Hummingbird Studio EC features a mahogany body and sides with a Sitka spruce top, a Round SlimTaper profile mahogany neck, and L.R. Baggs electronics.

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A forward-thinking, inventive, high-quality electro-acoustic design yields balance, playability, and performance flexibility.

High-quality construction. Flexible, responsive, and detailed-sounding pickup/mic system. Lots of bass resonance without feedback or mud.

Handsome, understated design may still estrange traditionalists.

$1,599

L.R. Baggs AEG-1
lrbaggs.com

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4.5
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Though acoustic amplification has improved by leaps, bounds, and light years, the challenges of making a flattop loud remain … challenging. L.R. Baggs has played no small part in improving the state of acoustic amplification, primarily via ultra-reliable pickups like the Anthem, Lyric, andHiFi Duet microphone and microphone/under-saddle systems, the overachieving, inexpensive Element Active System, and theM1 andM80 magnetic soundhole pickups—all of which have become industry standards to one degree or another.

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During routine quality checks, Blackstar has identified a problem with specific Debut 100 Series amps.

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