There is so much great new gear at the show this year that it is difficult to choose favorites, but here is a tiny sampling of pedals that caught my ear:

I arrived at the show later than expected, as my plane was delayed leaving San Francisco due to Air Force 2 and the vice president. We sat on the runway for 45 minutes as Mr. Biden's 21-car motorcade played through.

My ears are still ringing from four days of NAMM, but wow, what a gear adventure it was this year! I checked out a lot of guitars, amps, effects, and accessories, and here are some things that stood out to me

 

AXL USA Bulldog axlguitars.com/al1090.html

Ampeg Reverberocket ampeg.com

Bedell LE LEOH-54-2   bedellguitars.com

Boss GT-100 rolandconnect.com

Budda Amp Baby Budda budda.com

Blue Microphones Mikey external mic for iPhone/Pad/Touch bluemic.com

Dunlop Joe Bonamassa Signature Crybabyjimdunlop.com

Fender Select Series guitars fender.com

Fishman Triple Play Wireless Guitar Controller fishman.com

Fender Pawnshop Series Excelsior and Greta amplifiers fender.com

Peavey AT-200 Self Tuning Guitar peavey.com

Line 6 StageSource Lt3 speaker and StageScape M20d mixer line6.com

PRS P22 Piezo Guitar prsguitars.com

Universal Audio Apollo High Resolution Interface uaudio.com

Vox...

Art Thompson and Michael Molenda are on their way to the 2012 Winter NAMM show, to be followed by Matt Blackett and Barry Cleveland on Thursday. Stay tuned for GP's coverage of all of the action from the show floor and beyond.

A Very Happy New Year to one and all!

With the plethora of new gear making its way to the marketplace, I felt it appropriate to share my personal thoughts/feelings about some of the tools I've come across that have made noticeable impressions on me.

Have you ever thought about how great it would be to spend a few years getting your chops together at Berklee College of Music, only to realize that for logistical, time, or financial reasons it wasn’t likely to happen?

Well, while getting a full-on education at the school’s Boston campus may be out of your reach for whatever reason, you might be able to at least partially satisfy your education cravings by taking advantage of Berklee’s extensive offering of online courses, which may be taken individually or as part of a degree program.