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Summer NAMM 2016: Editors' Picks – Day 2

There was no shortage of ear–and eye–grabbing gear on the second day of NAMM. Here's a look at what got our editorial team drooling.

PG editors pick their top gear from the second day of Summmer NAMM 2016. See everything from day 2 in our photo gallery.

The Senn by Eastwood

Eastwood's collaborating with respected guitar builders to create a line of more affordable "boutique-style" guitars. New for ‪NAMM‬, Nashville builder Jeff Senn's retro mojo heavy entry, the Senn.

Alexander Pedals Radical Reverse

Alexander Pedals makes no secret of their appetite for weird. And for those that similarly embrace this ethos, the Radical Reverse delay will be as welcome as the first blooms of spring. The key to the reverse delay is a truly effective mix control that lends the summed output a more integrated, tape-like quality. The effect is compounded by a cool, rangy modulation (tweak) control. It's also switchable between spiral and fractured granular delays. At $189, that's a lot of weird for the price too.

Greer Amplification Super Hornet

Fuzz with buzz: the Greer Super Hornet by Greer Amplification debuts at‪ ‎NAMM‬. It's a powerhouse octave fuzz inspired by the classic Foxx Tone Machine, with NOS BC-107B transistors juicing up the circuit. With a momentary Stinger switch to goose up the tone and make it slice, it goes from proud octave roar to wall of raging sound instantly.

Swindler Effects Red Mountain Tremolo

Birmingham, Alabama's Swindler Effects showed this prototype of their Red Mountain tremolo at ‪NAMM‬, which will likely hit the streets in August. It's pretty loaded for a compact tremolo circuit, with expression options for depth and rate, a phase inversion switch, a preset, five wave forms and a stutter switch you can use to create momentary tremolo effects a hyper speeds. Street price will be around $175.

Yamaha Revstar

In addition to introducing a couple of new Pacifica solidbodies, Yamaha came to NAMM with two tweaks to its swaggering new Revstar line. At left is the Japanese master-luthier-built version ($1,799 street) with vintage-toned alnico-7 pickups and a copper pickguard, while the standard Indonesian-made Revstar at right displays the new Bigsby option.

Coppersound Pedals Telegraph Stutter

Boston's Coppersound Pedals debuted the Telegraph Stutter, a simple kill pedal that looks like something your grandpappy might have used to warn the next town that a buffalo stampede was on the way. Imaginative and basic all at once, and tagged at only $45.

Valve Train Amps Santa Monica

We're big fans of just about everything Valvetrain Amps has built, but the company had been relatively quiet of late. That'll change this autumn with the release of the Santa Monica (you're seeing a late-stage prototype here)--a '63 Bassman inspired howler that will be around 45 ways and in the neighborhood of $1,600 when it hits the street. Stay tuned!

Valeton Pedals

First-time ‪NAMM‬-ers Valeton brought a bunch of new miniature stomps to Nashville, including the shrunken yet very familiar-looking Loft series—nine pedals with all-analog signal paths based on classic Japanese pedals of yore. Shown here, the pink HB Flanger is based on the old HF-2 Hi-Band Flanger, the blue Analog Chorus aims for old CE-2 tones, and the root-beer-colored Octave goes for the endearingly glitchy vibe of yesteryear's OC-2.

Foxpedal's Wave and Defector Fuzz

Richland, Washington, stomp outfit Foxpedal made its NAMM debut with a diverse line of pedals that includes the Wave reverb/delay (left)—which has Echorec-, Space Echo-, and Echoplex-style modes, as well as a self-oscillation "wash" footswitch—and the Russian-style Defector fuzz. The latter has a unique pre-gain stage, as well as a footswitch that sends your signal into an instant feedback frenzy.

Gretsch Tom Petersson

Cheap Trick bassist Tom Petersson brought his most tantalizing signature 12-string bass ever to this year's Summer NAMM. The Fender Custom Shop-built anachronistic wonder doesn't come cheap with its street price of $11,999, but it looks 100-percent badass—as if it's seen decades of loving yet gentle road use. Features include Filter'Tron-style blade humbuckers, a metal armrest, and a faithfully quirky ol' belt-buckle protector around back.

This legendary vintage rack unit will inspire you to think about effects with a new perspective.

When guitarists think of effects, we usually jump straight to stompboxes—they’re part of the culture! And besides, footswitches have real benefits when your hands are otherwise occupied. But real-time toggling isn’t always important. In the recording studio, where we’re often crafting sounds for each section of a song individually, there’s little reason to avoid rack gear and its possibilities. Enter the iconic Eventide H3000 (and its massive creative potential).

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6V6 and EL84 power sections deliver a one-two punch in a super-versatile, top-quality, low-wattage combo.

Extremely dynamic. Sounds fantastic in both EL84 and 6V6 settings. Excellent build quality.

Heavy for a 9-to-15-watt combo. Expensive.

$3,549

Divided by 13 CCC 9/15

dividedby13.com

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The announcement in January 2024 that Two-Rock had acquired Divided by 13 Amplifiers (D13) was big news in the amp world. It was also good news for anyone who’d enjoyed rocking D13’s original, hand-made creations and hoped to see the brand live on. From the start of D13’s operations in the early ’90s, founder and main-man Fred Taccone did things a little differently. He eschewed existing designs, made his amps simple and tone-centric, and kept the company itself simple and small. And if that approach didn’t necessarily make him rich, it did earn him a stellar reputation for top-flight tube amps and boatloads of star endorsements.

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The luthier’s stash.

There is more to a guitar than just the details.

A guitar is not simply a collection of wood, wire, and metal—it is an act of faith. Faith that a slab of lumber can be coaxed to sing, and that magnets and copper wire can capture something as expansive as human emotion. While it’s comforting to think that tone can be calculated like a tax return, the truth is far messier. A guitar is a living argument between its components—an uneasy alliance of materials and craftsmanship. When it works, it’s glorious.

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Two Iconic Titans of Rock & Metal Join Forces for a Can’t-Miss North American Trek

Tickets Available Starting Wednesday, April 16 with Artist Presales

General On Sale Begins Friday, April 18 at 10AM Local on LiveNation.com

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