Another Summer NAMM Show has come and gone, and now it’s back to life as usual. But before we get back into the daily grind, let’s reflect for a moment upon what we saw and heard at this year’s Nashville show.
IK Multimedia wowed us last year with the Stealth Pedal, a killer wah-shaped device that’s actually an interface for their full-blown AmpliTube software (now updated to the even more potent version 3). The Stealth Pedal won a Bass Gear Magazine 2009 Summer NAMM Show Award, and it continues to be a potent tool for live and studio use. Not content to rest on their laurels, though, IK decided to hop on the iPhone/iPad bandwagon big-time and released their AmpliTube iGig – a guitar/bass interface for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad which works in conjunction with a custom version of AmpliTube that has been optimized to run on these Apple devices. Check out our video interview with Dan Boatman (featuring BGM’s Technical Editor, Tom Lees, on guitar!): IK Multimedia\’s iRig in action
Brian Barrett always brings the goods to the Summer NAMM Show, and the Low End booth was a Mecca for bass lovers. He brought several LEJ’s, a Benavente or two, some vintage instruments, and even a Ritter. One of the more intriguing offerings was the new Low End T-bird. It’s about time people started loving the ‘Bird, if you ask me!
Orange had one of the bigger booths at the show (notably larger than what they had last year), and the Terror Bass (500-watt hybrid head) and new Terror Bass 1000 (you guessed it, 1,000 watts!) drew plenty of attention. I managed to get Orange’s own Damon Waller to provide a compare and contrast between the all-tube AD200 Mk3 and the Terror Bass 1000. Check out the videos, here: Damon Waller plays the AD200 Damon Waller plays the Terror Bass 1000
GK always delivers, even when the crowds are small (this was a fairly down year, as far as the Show goes). They had several newish products on display, including the MB-200 and MB Fusion (both of which are mere weeks away – they are just waiting on some parts to reach the factory).