Fishman Loudbox Artist BT
With an impressive 120 watts on tap, this dual-channel combo offers both instrument and mic inputs, aux input, XLR output, built-in modulation and reverb, plus Bluetooth connectivity.
$659 street
Fender Acoustasonic 40
At only a hair over 16 pounds, this grab-and-go combo packs 40 watts into a rather small package. It has two channels with combination input jacks, independent 3-band EQ controls, digital reverb, and an XLR output that you can either use to record or feed FOH.
$199 street
Boss Acoustic Singer Pro
This portable gigging machine is specifically aimed at guitarists who want to add a new dimension to their vocals. Included is an automatic harmony setting that builds harmonies that correspond to your guitar chords in real time .
$789 street
TC-Helicon Harmony V100
Built around a single 10" Tannoy speaker, this 100-watt combo offers independent channels for guitar and vocals, modulation, and effects such as pitch correction and harmony. Another bonus is the TC’s BodyRez control, which adds resonance to acoustic signals.
$639 street
Blackstar Acoustic:Core 30
A 2x5" amp that is also an audio interface? Not only does this uber-portable combo offer options tailored for the recording guitarist, it also has independent vocal and guitar channels, built-in reverb and chorus, plus switchable EQ shapes.
$179 street
Hughes & Kettner ERA 2
Designed in collaboration with amp guru Michael Eisenmann, this combo—which includes two 8" custom woofers and a 1" dome tweeter—offers a whopping 400 watts along with three different types of reverb plus chorus, flanger, delay, and phantom power for the vocal mic.
$1,219 street
Orange Crush Acoustic 30
Usually, boxes of this color and shape are found crushing eardrums, but this 30-watt, 8" combo can not only run on batteries, it packs a ton of features in a rather small chassis. Features include dedicated mic and guitar channels, plus dedicated XLR and 1/4" outputs, and an effects loop.
$399 street
Vox VX50AG
Combining a full 50 watts with the company’s Nutube tech, this svelte combo can handle coffeeshop gigs and late-night practice sessions with ease. Each channel features independent EQ controls, digital reverb, and phase/phantom power options.
$299 street
Roland AC-33
A fully featured, gig-ready combo that can handle nearly any one-person show, this box includes feedback controls, a looper, and Roland’s famous chorus effects. It also has a line out, aux inputs, and the ability to run on batteries.
$599 street
Rivera Sedona Lite
This high-end acoustic combo is an incredible tool if you want to go the hybrid route and need a single amp for both electric and acoustic. It also includes a six-spring Accutronics reverb, an anti-feedback equalizer, plus a customized input for Expression System-equipped Taylor guitars.
$2,249 street
One of the great things about NAMM is that it's a beautifully democratic bazaar. Garage-based pedal builders hawk their wares just a stone's throw from the biggest players in the business. And just when you think the newest 6-string from Fender, Martin, Gibson, Taylor, or PRS is the thing you'll remember as you fall off to sleep that night, some upstart fuzz builder pulls you over and blows your mind -- cranking their latest contraption through a ratty, blackface Princeton from a booth the size of your closet.
The whole cross-section is represented here, some of our favorites, anyway. But there's plenty more to see, including in-depth video coverage, at premierguitar.com. Check it out. Then holler and let us know what you think. You'll be seeing a lot of these products reviewed in the months to come, but we'd love to know what you're all hot about, too. Frankly, we're still a little blown away by everything we heard and saw.
Electric Guitars
1. Reverend Eastsider
Reverend’s Eastsider is the company’s second
Pete Anderson Signature model. It has
a Broadcaster-style bridge pickup, korina
body, and a compound radius fretboard.
reverendguitars.com
2. Moog Lap Steel
The Moog Lap Steel was one of the most
intriguing instruments at NAMM. It’s built
around the electronics from the Moog Guitar,
which means the Lap Steel is capable of
practically infi nite sustain, a cool controlled
sustain mode that simultaneously mutes unplayed
strings and sustains played strings,
and a piezo pickup so you can blend natural
lap steel sounds and Moogifi ed tones.
moogmusic.com
3. Jens Ritter Monroe
Jens Ritter’s Monroe, dressed up in deep
and luxurious royal blue from head to toe,
was a contender the running for the Rolls
Royce of NAMM. Ritter conceived the
model after a rockabilly listening binge and
features custom humbuckers and a Bigsby
B7 modifi ed by Ritter himself.
ritter-instruments.com
4. Hagstrom Viking baritone
The new 28"-scale Viking Baritone features
a maple semi-hollow body with fl amed top
veneer, a vintage-voice humbucker and
P-90, dual volume and tone controls, and 22
frets. Besides being beautiful and sounding
great, it’s remarkable in two big ways: It’s
possibly the only semi-hollow production
baritone on the market, and it streets for
around $700.
hagstromguitars.eu
5. LSL Instruments BadBone 2
This vintage-themed beauty comes in a
choice of swamp ash, pine, or alder bodies,
features either a 7.25"- or a 9.5"-radius
fretboard, and has a trimmed-down T-style
bridge that accommodates its handwound
PAF-voiced LSL humbuckers.
lslinstruments.com
6. Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar
Fender’s Johnny Marr signature Jaguar
includes several signifi cant and useful evolutionary
features. Pickups can be wired in
series or in parallel and there’s a reconfi
gured bright switch. Marr also requested
Bare Knuckle pickups and the guitar has
a chunkier-than-usual neck based on a
favorite ’65 Jag in Marr’s quiver.
fender.com
Acoustic Guitars
1. Blueridge BG-2500 Super Jumbo
Blueridge’s BG-2500 Super Jumbo has
a gorgeous flame maple back and sides,
spruce top, sweet, hefty neck, art deco
bridge and barks like a 200-pound hound.
sagamusic.com
2. Lowden F-35
Lowden’s F-35 fanned-fret prototype looks
bound for production and the combination
of reclaimed redwood top and Honduran
mahogany back and sides sounds distinctly
Lowden—warm, detailed, and really
responsive.
georgelowden.com
3. Santa Cruz Baritone
Santa Cruz Guitars brought some show
stoppers this year as part of their program
to support local guitar shops, including
this spectacular dread-bodied baritone
with sycamore back and sides and Italian
spruce top.
santacruzguitar.com
4. L.R. Baggs M80
Lloyd Baggs’ new soundhole pickup
features a stacked humbucking design in
which the second coil is suspended in a
proprietary material that allows the pickup
to act as a 3-D body sensor. It also has
active/passive modes and a multi-segment
battery indicator for more convenient
battery-power tracking.
lrbaggs.com
Amps
1. Orange OR50
Big and classically British, the single-channel
OR50 is a reissue of Orange’s legendary
“Pics Only” 50-watt head from 1972. Two
EL34s, two 12AX7s in the preamp, an attenuator
section and a ton of classic Rock
Over London vibes.
orangeamps.com
2. Marshall 1-Watt Anniversary Editions
Marshall Amplification introduced 1-watt
versions of their classic amplifiers celebrating
the company’s 50th anniversary in
2012. There is the JTM 1, JMP-1, JCM800,
DSL1, and JVM1. Each amplifier represents
the corresponding decade the amp was
originally released.
marshallamps.com
3. Diezel Hagen
A refinement on Peter Diezel’s acclaimed
VH4 head, the brilliant and brutal new 100-
watt Hagen is powered by four EL34s and
has a preamp that’s driven by six 12AX7s
and controlled by four horizontally arrayed
independent channels—clean, crunch, mega,
and lead. It also has three effects loops—one
MIDI controlled serial, a permanent serial,
and a permanent parallel with volume control.
diezel.de
4. Carr Bloke
Carr amplifiers unveiled their new hi-gain
amp, the Bloke. It takes its inspiration
from vintage British heads and late-’60s
tube bass amps from America. Controls
include lead master, treble, and bass with
the bass routed through a separate circuit.
The Bloke is powered by two EL34s, but is
compatible with 6V6 tubes.
carramps.com
5. Jet City JCA22W
Based on Mike Soldano’s Atomic 16
amp, the EL84-powered, 20-watt Jet City
JCA22W is a dream for guitarists who love
hearing pure tube tone onstage but are at
the mercy of sound men in the house mix.
The JCA22W’s monitor-like wedge shape
enables you to blast your own unadulterated
tones into your face while sending a
4x12-simulation via direct output to the PA.
jetcityamplification.com
6. Ampeg R-12R Reverberocket
ampeg.com
Effects
1. Malekko Plus Ultra, Chaos, and Helium
Malekko released three fuzz boxes at NAMM. The Wolftone
Plus Ultra, Wolftone Chaos, and Wolftone Helium all
create different flavors of absolutely insane fuzz mayhem—
and exponentially so when they’re used together—
and they are licensed designs from Studio Electronics,
whose own versions are highly sought-after rarities.
malekkoheavyindustry.com
2. Earthquaker Organizer and Rainbow Generator
Earthquaker Devices was up to their usual sickness at
NAMM. The Organizer helps you generate organ tones
and odd oscillations. The Tone Job is a simple but effective
cut/boost EQ and boost. The Rainbow Machine is a
DSP-driven, pitch shifting, tone twisting, dimension altering
piece of hardware that can also be controlled with an
expression pedal and sounds freaking incredible.
earthquakerdevices.com
3. Egnater Overdose
Egnater announced two new pedals at the NAMM show,
the Holy Driver and Overdose. The Overdose is a pure
analog overdrive and boost pedal. The right side handles
the boost and can be routed either before it after the
overdrive section in the signal chain. There are also patch
in/out jacks so you can insert other pedals between the
overdrive and boost sections.
egnater.com
4. Jack Deville Deuce Coupe
The Deuce Coupe is Jack Deville’s new dual-mode overdrive
pedal. You can double tap the clickless, true-bypass
switch to activate between 4 and 16 dB of boost.
5. Rivera Sustain Shaman
Paul Rivera’s new compressor goes way past traditional
guitar-pedal compressor designs by offering two channels
with extremely low-noise circuitry. Channel B has a
SuperSust switch for long, sustained leads, while channel
A is voiced for rhythm work.
rivera.com
6. Pigtronix Infinity Looper
Pigtronix Infinity Stereo Multi-Track Looper features dual
stereo loops with sync, 20 loop presets, multiplier for loop
2 (2, 3, 4, or 6 times), and USB access to save loops.
pigtronix.com
7. Diamond Pedals Quantum Leap
Diamond Pedals introduced two new pedals at NAMM.
The Cornerstone has two gain controls and two switches
for bright and mid. The Quantum Leap, which has design
roots in the Memory Lane Jr., is capable of everything
from a flanger-ish short delay all the way to a 500 ms,
analog-style delay. You also can get classic, chimey modulation
tones and pitch shifting up or down one octave.
8. Red Witch Synthotron
The new Synthotron pedal, which is dressed up in what looks
like a visual nod to the wild Mu-Tron pedals of old, offers up
a wild variety of psychedelic tones, including octave and
envelope-filter functions that let you get your Dr. Who on.
redwitchpedals.com
Bass
1. EBS Reidmar
ebs.bass.se
2. Epifani AL Combo
Epifani introduced the AL series line of
bass combos at NAMM. The AL is the
first to use a solid-aluminum shell, a
construction technique that Epifani says
results in improved frequency response
and power output without unwanted
tonal colorations.
epifani.com
3. Lakland Bass 60-11 Prototype
Lakland brought a new bass prototype
called the 60-11 to the show, and it’s
likely to appease anyone who’s ever
lusted for a Fender Bass VI. This 6-string
is technically a bass, but will be familiar
to baritone guitarists, too. The bass is
loaded with three Hanson P-90s and
sounds just as good through a bass or
guitar amp.
lakland.com
4. Warwick Jack Bruce Survivor
This fretless, neck-through designed
bass is ready to rumble. Available in both
fretted and fretless versions, this beauty
is handcrafted in Germany and outfitted
with passive MEC single-coils and active
MEC 2-way electronics. With a stained,
high-polish finish in either burgundy red
or nirvana black, Bruce’s signature axe
certainly turned some heads in Anaheim.
warwick.de
5. Gallien-Krueger 800 MB Fusion
GK’s latest features 800 watts (at 4Ω)
of power shaped by a 12AX7-driven
preamp. It’s all packed into an incredibly
portable design that weighs around
five pounds. New front-panel features
include backlit mute and -10 dB input
padding toggles.
gallien.com
The Acoustic Shaman is the world’s first balanced line input Chorus-Vibrato pedal effect, designed expressly for Acoustic Guitars, like Taylor models equipped with the ES Pickup System. All other unbalanced effects pedals, when used with the Taylor ES equipped guitars, lose up to 6db of level and a whole lot of great tone is missing. The Acoustic Shaman can also be used with any instrument with an unbalanced output, such as an electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, etc. It is also ideal in a studio control room with balanced line pro gear. As the outputs are unbalanced, this makes it a great interface from the balanced output instruments to the unbalanced inputs of traditional guitar amplifiers and other pedal effects devices. It can be used in a mono or a stereo multi-amp setup.
The 3D-Shaman is a 3 output Chorus-Vibrato effect, with left wet, right wet, and center dry outputs. When used in a multiple amp setup, much like Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, and Steve Lukather pioneered in the late '70s, a huge panoramic image is spread across the amps, resulting in an aural sensation of great dimension, much like 3D movies, except with your ears. It can also be used with one amp in Mono, and with two amps in several different wet and dry stereo combinations. A Panoramic switch turns on an enhanced wide aural image, and the Tone and Ef. Level controls allow the player to adjust the right tone and depth of the effect.
Like all Rivera Shaman series pedals, they are built for years of rugged road use. Housed in a 16 gauge stainless steel case, and constructed with audiophile and military quality components, such as WIMA wound polypropylene capacitors, Analog Devices OP275s, numerous discrete low noise FET circuits, and film resistors for low noise and high performance. Rivera is shipping these new products in February of 2012.
For more information:
Rivera