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Pubrocker.com NAMM Report: I came, I saw, I walked a lot.

Heading down to Anaheim, CA on a last-minute decision to go to the NAMM Show ’09 was exciting! It was my first NAMM Show. We drove from Vegas to Anaheim on Friday afternoon, so we missed the first day of the show (like I said, the decision/option to go to the show was fairly last-minute). In just over half a day I walked a lot, talked a lot and saw some great gear from a lot of different companies. Saturday morning around 10:15 we were parked and walking in to the convention center. The size of the show and its layout in the halls (it takes up every bit of every hall) is impressive.

Everywhere you turn there is something! Even before we made it in to the actual convention area we were drawn to the Yamaha area in the Marriott that is nestled up to the convention building. We took a stroll through the Yamaha gear, mostly stopping to grab some info about the StagePas portable PA solution that I’ve been eyeing for a while as a possibility for when I start doing acoustic solo gigs. Out of all of the small PA options I’ve seen, it seems to be the best option for me. My eye was also drawn to the new IM8 series of consoles (4 st channels, 8 aux, 8 group, 4 matrix consoles in 24, 32 and 48 mono channel frames) that look like they’ll give Allen and Heath’s GL-3300 ( a personal favorite of mine) a run for the money.

Me at the entrance

Upon entering the halls my eyes/brain instantly went into ‘Overload’ mode. There were booths from everyone, and I mean everyone. We headed down to the first floor to check out some of the lesser-known brands, there are a lot of companies that make musical gear. Everything from Get ‘em Get ‘em straps to Mid-sized acoustic guitar company Breedlove guitars were down there. I stopped by the E.W.I. booth to say hi to one of the guys who posts on the Harmony-central forums, but kept missing him (He was around the corner getting custom-molds taken for earplugs. There were a lot of the custom molded in-ear companies around the hall, too and most were doing impressions for free if you ordered the product right there at the show… I think I know what I’m saving up for for next year.) I heard some questionable music being played by some girl, and some less than stellar bass playing by some guy. The Spectraflex Cables booth had a couple of guys playing rockabilly, so it wasn’t a total bust down there. I must take this moment to try to describe how loud it was.. Imagine walking into a Guitar Center with a guitar/amp section 100 times bigger than usual, with 100 times the usual hack noise, then add a lot of people talking, and that’s it.

Back upstairs there were a ton of booths, big and small. I stopped by the Elixir Strings booth to say Thank You to Elixir for making a Phosphor Bronze set of acoustic strings, and made my way around to ogle the wears at all the main brands’ (Peavey, Ibanez, Rickenbacker) booths. I wormed through the racks of guitars to the Genz-Benz booth where I met Roger and Andy (two more fellows who post on the Harmony-Central Forums) and even got to meet Jeff Genzler! They were showing the new ShuttleMax 12.0 and their always fabulous NEOX and the new UberBass cabs. Roger was diddling around on a bass filling the area with sweet G-B tone! We stopped by the Latin Percussion booth and had a nice chat with one of their guys about the LP Rhythmix kids line they have which I may just have to send to the nieces and nephews as a ‘happy’ gift (you know, a noisy gift you send for no real reason…..) Next we made out way to the Schecter booth, as always I was impressed, the guitars and basses look great, and I know that my Stiletto Studio 5 is a killer instrument that came at a great price. I was able to actually pick up the Stiletto Classic guitar and, even though it is not a light guitar, I am still (even more-so) in lust for that guitar (it really does look better in person than in pictures!) The Schecter girls were easy on the eyes, too! Back around the back-side we strolled around the Allen and Heath boards, giving a few moments to check out the new iLive digital boards. Cruising around the outside wall we came upon the Bag End booth. For those of you who don’t know, Bag End makes great cabinets, and now they’re even better. Bag End has started making powered bass cabinets, that’s right, just like the trend in easy-to-use powered loudspeakers, now you can have an easily scalable rig with as little as just your active bass and the cab, or you can use the 15” cab with the INFRA system and a 2X10” cab on top. I spent a little time with a Lightwave Systems bass getting the mojo from the Bag End rig, and I’ve got to say, it put them high on my list for rig upgrades in the future. We took a turn by the TKL cases booth to talk about required purchase numbers so we can get another idea planned/started, so keep your eye open for more good news on that front in the future! A quick stop at the Martin booth to see their line of faithfully beautiful acoustic guitars was nice, not sure if I saw anything new, but it is always nice to see an area that is 360 degrees of Martins!

Hanging at the Genz-Benz booth with Scott, Jeff Genzler, Roger and Andy

Manufacturers weren’t the only folks I spoke with, the kind folks from the Adolph Agency, Inc. who publish Christian Musician and Worship Musician magazines were there showing off some great shirts and Sonic Weekly, a site for finding musicians were a few of the booths I stopped at to see what they were all about.

I've been in a slump when it comes to getting content put together for the site, I've got a few general articles written to get things started, and as time goes on I will catch my groove as far as updating, I do believe the site will be useful soon, at least I sincerely hope so... Check out the beginnings I've got now for Live Sound , Stage Wear 101 and Making It Work pages.... Maybe this trip is what I need to get the spark going....

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