Although Steve Carr wasn’t at NAMM 2024, his latest amp, the Carr Bel-Ray, was—at the Reverend booth. This one’s in a handsome emerald green, and sounds killer. Like all Carr amps, it’s hand-wired. What else? Custom U.S.-made transformers, Solen Fast Capacitors, carbon composition resistors, and Jupiter signal caps. Output is 16 watts, with two 12AX7s, one EF86, one EL84, and one EZ81 rectifier tube. The control set—with its distinctive hot-rod display—is level, 3-band EQ, tremolo speed and depth, and a power attenuator, down to 2 watts. The speaker is a Fane F25. It weighs in at 34 pounds and streets at $3,340.

The Iris/Circle Strings booth had lots to offer. Built for the discerning working musician’s taste and price range, their acoustic line covers a range of options and the DF slope-shouldered dreadnought is a standout at $2,350. They also brought a pair of Paul Languedoc builds that Trey Anastasio fans were busy bugging out about!

Over at Eastman, guitarist Henry James dr used his signature model. His version of the popular Juliet is a solidbody beast with Goldo vibrato, Seymour Duncan Vintage Mini-Humbockers, and a reverse headstock. They’re coming spring 2024 at $2,099

Victory Amps brought two new models to the show. The MK Clean is a monster clean machine with loads of headroom, spring reverb, bright switch, and selectable EQ voicings. On the other side, the MK Overdrive is a 3-channel setup with independent gain controls, switchable volume levels, presence, and more. Production begins in March and they will go for around $5k.