Sunday wrapped up the 2011 Winter NAMM show. Despite the recession, there was a palpable sense of vibrancy and excitement that persisted until the doors were all closed. And rightly so. Besides reports of dramatically increased sales (the vital sign of the industry), examples of innovation and even revolutionary advancement abounded. For example:

The Orange DIVO OV4 Tube Sync, which lets you mix and match power tubes while automatically adjusting the bias.

The Strymon TimeLine, which may be the deepest delay pedal ever made.

The Eventide Space pedal, which truly goes where no pedal has gone before.

The Moog Lap-Steel Guitar.

The Rivera Rock Crusher power soak, which utilizes new technology to maintain maximum amp tone.

There were also several exciting new pedals for looping guitarists such as myself, including the Vox VL1 Dynamic Looper, the Looperlative LP2, and the Boss RC-30 and RC-3 Loop Stations. Here's some video of Vox's Freddy BeMarco demoing the VL-1.

And speaking of looping, Boss staged the final rounds of competition for its Loop Station World Championship, and all of the contestants were extraordinary, each in their own way. What a treat to see so many artists finding unique approaches to the technology and creating inspiring music. The judges included Dave Navarro, Steve Stevens, and Dub FX.

Here's video of the awards presentation:

Of course, other fantastic musicians everywhere. A few of the highlights for me were Guthrie Govan, Martin Taylor, Andreas Oberg, and Alex Skolnick.

Visit the GP Video Page for more video.

And check out the Guitar Player Flickr page for lots of photos.

There's much more to come, so stay tuned!

B.C.

Trackback Print

Tags:

Categories:

Location: Blogs GP Blogger

Your name:
Your email:
	(Optional) Email used only to show Gravatar.
Your website:
Title:
Comment:
Security Code Enter the code shown above in the box below
Add Comment   Cancel