namm observations

[kbaim]

Guitars, whores, and drugs...hooray!

Actually, lets use this thread to inform others on this forum on some namm happenings and impressions. And answer some questions and post pix.

I'll be going back sat. A couple of things I've mentioned already at the sub guitar thread.

Keith

PS Hoping to meet Keith F and say hello. And it was good seeing Tyler who helped me back in winter 2002 when I had my Luke blue dawn on order. It should get here any day...kidding. Sorry.
It's my fave.

Also hoping to see Luke. A long long time ago (Jr high), I was friends with Jeff Porcaro's sister Joleen. She was the sherman oaks version of Julia Roberts. Just beautiful.

 

[kbaim]

Crap. Damn.

Missing Namm today because of cold (Hey buddy, you mind not sneezing on my merchandise? And you got snot in your goatee. Christ, clean yourself up! I've seen heroin addicts look better).

Observation
I may have overlooked them thursday, but LINE 6 was nowhere to be found and wasn't listed in the welcome material. Curious.

KEITH

 

[Estin]

no line 6? well i guess that doesn't hurt me a whole lot. sorry for you line 6 addicts, i had a few of their amps and while they all sounded good, there was just too many options for me!!! i found myself never finding a tone i'd like because no matter what i dialed in and no matter how much i liked it i kept fiddling with those knobs! and before i knew it i fiddled with knobs more than i played! LOL now i just play a mesa and only have a few knobs for clean, and a few for a gain channel so once again i actually play!

 

[kbaim]

Hey, i went anyway. Feeling pretty good by noon. Missed Satriani though. My friend said he was great.

I like Line 6 a lot but you do have to spend a chunk of time searching for sounds to make your own. But once you do you can SAVE them and call them up by pressing a button.
The floorboard makes it even easier. You can go from distortion, to clean with delay, to clean with chorus & delay, to clean with flange and delay all in one stomp each.

Cool Sightings at NAMM
At the BALL booth...
1 VAI
2 LUKE!

Luke was cool, urinating off the bow of the pirate ship and all.
Just kidding. He was shaking hands and taking pictures with everyone.

I got a chance to thank him for his guitars. Told him I had 2 going on 3.

Very sincere smile and thank you in return from him.

KEITH

 

[JDouglee]

Luke was cool, urinating off the bow of the pirate ship and all.
Just kidding. He was shaking hands and taking pictures with everyone.

Sounds like Luke allright!! haha

The Egnater modular amps impressed me alot. Not just a gimmick, and not digital either. Tube modules you can swap in & out at will. The Marshall sounds were really good, and the Recto mod was just plain brutal. Vox has a sweet chime.

A new concept is one thing, but to sound that good? Pretty cool.
For tube guys like me, it's a great answer to amp modeling.

 

[Estin]

randall teamed up with egnator to release a tube modular preamp and a head and a few combo's. you can use either the egnator modules or the randall modules in either. pretty cool. just go to randalls website. randall has some really killer modern metal distortions if your into that. (me)

 

[kbaim]

Roland has taken their cube amp and really shrinked them. They intoduced have a mini cube not much bigger than a lunchbox for $149 retail. effects (delay chorus flange) plus limited modeling, I think 5 choices.

Runs on adapter or batteries that are supposed to last 20 hours. The guy doing the demo had it strapped on to his shoulder like a purse. Must only way around 8 lbs. tough to hear it as there were lots of demos going on at the booth with lots of different products.

Pretty good for that camping trip and practice situations

 

[kbaim]

Huge Bummer

No Steve Morse! Though the booth did have a burgandy SM model as well as a blueburst there. Lots of puzzled looks on the faces of those who tried them with all the switching options

About 20 years ago I saw Steve at Namm, someone had a poloroid, and took a picture of me showing Steve how to play an A barre chord at the 5th fret. Actually positioning his fingers! Funny as hell and I still have it.

He signed it, "Keith, thanks for the lesson".

He's usually used the namm show to set up some dregs dates around town which are always worthwhile, but no dates to be found this year. And dave Larues website said they were going to play some dates (as either the dregs or SMB) but that they fell through

Seeing Deep purple ain't the same for me as it's steve's compositions as much as his playing that inspires me.

KEITH

 

[tvanveen]

I wonder why EB hasn't posted any NAMM info on the Buzz page?

 

[JDouglee]

randall teamed up with egnator to release a tube modular preamp and a head and a few combo's. you can use either the egnator modules or the randall modules in either. pretty cool. just go to randalls website. randall has some really killer modern metal distortions if your into that. (me)

Randall: Japan
Egnater: USA

 

[glockaxis]

I owned a Steve Morse signature guitar and it was great (wish I still had it) but the positioning of the switches and knobs always interfered with my picking hand and that seemed to bug.

 

[kbaim]

JIMMY PAGE SIGHTING

Well, I was told that Page (the guy whose band inspired a lot of us to play electric guitar) was at a meet n greet for GUITAR ONE magazine at the NAMM show. Invite only.

Can anyone confirm and relay stories?

I must say he looks pretty good these days after seeing lots of pix and interviews currounding their dvd and concert release last year.

KEITH

 

[Estin]

jdouglee, i don't think randall is japan. they're based outa illinois and all their amps are made in USA. Randall is owned by US music corperation which also owns like washburn, devinci strings, oscar shmidt..etc.. i've had a vmax and cyclone and they both say made in USA on the back. in addition i had a issue with my first vmax head and when i sent it in to be checked out i got a letter back from Bruce Egnator explaining how he fixed the problem and made a few updates to the current production specs personally. got his sig. and all.

 

[kbaim]

Forgot to mention...

Not pleasant to be shoved aside by PAUL STANLEY'S (KISS) advance team.

Paul Stanley? Who cares?

KEITH

 

[tvanveen]

I would only care if he were surrounded by Dean girls, in which case I would firmly plant my feet and make them go around me.

 

[Jimi D]

Not pleasant to be shoved aside by PAUL STANLEY'S (KISS) advance team.

Paul Stanley? Who cares?

Ya, Paul's an Ernie Ball String endorsee now... It's almost embarrassing, really; I mean, Paul Stanley would endorse the Clap if he got a piece of the penicilin action...

 

[kbaim]

Actually, I got bumped aside when Paul Stanley was leaving, not coming from some other booth on the floor.

KEITH

 

[Estin]

is PS even a good player? i mean he plays silvertone guitars, and i see them hanging on the wall of my local Media Play for $129.99 with a free strap and pics!!!! lol