Summer NAMM 2014

[J.Paul]

I wasn't on the road this weekend (for the first time in 15 years) and was able to go to NAMM again.This might not be as comprehensive as something Craig might report on but is just my experience and take on the first day :

 

10:33 am - I popped "Creatures of the Night" into the CD player, turned in way up, and headed downtown (Kiss played here in Nashville last night).

10:57 am - I forgot my pick (which is like forgetting your condom for the porno shoot). I used this analogy all day- no one laughed. I think it's hilarious.

SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

~ I went by the Pearl drums section to see Derek (we use to play together in a couple of bands).

He wasn't present all day - he's an artist rep so … ugh ….. (see 10:33 am.... maybe he's with Eric).

~ I passed by the Gibson / Epiphone booth but Aljon seemed busy. I needed coffee.

 

~ I found a Dunkin Donuts.

~ Then I found Airturn and told them how much we all (in the solo and duo forum) love them. They have a new Ipad holder. It is able to custom size to anything (so you can hold any version phone or ipad).

~ I ran into Lance in the aisle (the Soundcheck guitar repair/setup guy). Nice guy.

~ Circled by Wampler and found Beau Tackett (Blake Shelton's guitarist) hanging around. Super nice dude.

Will come back to that booth later when I've seen everything else.

~ Ron Keel (from the Gene Simmons produced "Keel") was doing an acoustic "rocking country" demonstration at a booth… not sure exactly what the product was (some kind of pick thing)….. he's playing an after hours show Saturday (our old guitarist, Steve, has been playing w/ him for years ~ see the last tour journal).

~ Ran into Anthony Joyner at the Lakland booth (he was working for Lowend Bass). He missed the bass luncheon with Chuck Rainey the day before (so did I).

 

~ I had some issues with one of my Fishman Aura's a few weeks back ... got some tips from the rep.

~ My g/f is buddies with Andi (the Warwick rep) so I went by to say hello and ran into Jaymi Millard.

~ Found my punk band buddies, Blood Drunk Shenanigans, drinking beer. They are playing tonight at Satnta's Pub and want me to sit it (the material is too

involved for me to just stop and go relearn everything.... again)….…. but I'll probably go heckle and other things at tonight's show.

~ I kept seeing Mark Slaughter (who I do not know but know a bunch of people who DO know him). Rock on Beavis.

~ I introduced myself to Bobby Kimball because he was adding a guitar player to his group last spring. We exchanged cards and he turned me onto a website

he's involved with - lotta personality in that guy.

~ Had a 4 minute lunch w/ the Gibson custom shop rep.

 

GEAR TALK / VENDOR ACTION

~ PRS was not represented. I'm baffled by this.

 

…… meanwhile back at the Wampler booth

~ They have ALL their pedals in line for demonstration. I've heard most all of them before but asked about a Vox / Class A. He turned me on to the "Thirty Something". Sounds great. I use the Tech21 Liverpool which is perfect for direct applications but less effective when you defeat the speaker simulator (for use with an amp). The Wampler Thirty whoops the Tech 21 Liverpool for use with an amp. It use to be called the "Ace Thirty" but made Vox nervous (is too close to A C 30) so Wampler changed the name. Got it on my list now.

 

~ Griffin had a booth as well. Who the hell is Griffin you ask? As far as I know they make (excellent) chargers for cell phones and electronic devices. They are based here in Nashville next to Mac Authority. They are at NAMM to introduce their music division which consist of various interfaces. I had one of their chargers with me and bragged about them ~ I've got a new set of comped Griffin earbuds (that sound better than Skullcandy). They are not in retail yet (Sweetwater and a few others) but should be soon. They seem to be in direct competition with IK Multilmedia. Could be cool.

 

Honorable mentions :

~ Pick Porter is a gelatinous circle that adheres to your guitar (without damage to the finish). It holds your picks and capos. Clever.

 

~ Anderson Music Equipment Insurance. Up to $24,000 insured for $150.

 

~ the Rhapsody stand for guitars and basses. Super cool stands for that $5,000 bass that looks like a living room table. Plus they look great onstage.

 

 

I went home shortly before rush hour (3:20 ish) ...... I had to suffer through "I Still Love You" because I burned "Creatures" from Vinyl onto CD as 1 file (you can't skip songs gggrrrr).

[Vito Corleone]

 

[

10:57 am - I forgot my pick (which is like forgetting your condom for the porno shoot). I used this analogy all day- no one laughed.

 

Probably because no one likes watching porn with condoms....

~ I kept seeing Mark Slaughter (who I do not know but know a bunch of people who DO know him). Rock on Beavis.

 

I, TOO, know Mark! Came up with him in the Vegas rock scene in the early 80s. He's the only one from our era who really "made it". Was a really good guy back then and still is!

 

 

 

I went home shortly before rush hour (3:20 ish) ...... I had to suffer through "I Still Love You" because I burned "Creatures" from Vinyl onto CD as 1 file (you can't skip songs gggrrrr).

 

Audacity is really good for pretty easily creating quick files from one long file.

 

Nice re-cap! I enjoyed it!

[J.Paul]

ok. Yes it's 2:45 am after a Friday night show- BUT :

 

If live music is dead and cover acts are passe now ~

Why aren't the karaoke kings and podcast princes and DJ's (DJ Silver/Warner Brothers and ……..) represented an NAMM ?

 

anyone?

[J.Paul]

My 2nd day (Saturday NAMM Day 3 ) checklist / goals :

 

~ Jenni's ??

 

~ Monoprice. Guitars. Super cheap consumer level models. Professional grade? Lets see.

 

~ Zoom. My Q3HD won't record with batteries for more than 2 minutes.

 

~ more magazines !

 

~ gratuitous pictures for my Facebook? Nope…. not unless Luke is there (and MAYBE Brain May or Eddie ~ )

 

~ Voodoolab. GCX walwart brand?

 

~ Say hello to Dave P at the union (Sat office hours? CMA check?)

 

~ girlfriend? I hope so ….. don't know yet …. got "Planet of the Apes" in the cue for Saturday so we'll see...

 

~ visit Hoogie at SIT

 

~ Webstrings?

 

~ Pedalsnake? Jody?

 

~ InTune Guitar Picks

 

~ retailers ? Sweetwater? Tour Supply? Pro Guitar Shop?

 

~ Buzz Feiten guitars

 

~ Ibanez Iceman guitar Paul ( ugh Racer X, Mr Big guy ….?? )

 

~ Greg Bates plays

 

~ Radial mic pre

 

~ Adam Nitti still with Warrior?

 

~ Chamber of Commerce conventions / Tavern 96 gigs

 

~ Rivera

 

~ Emu 6v adapter

 

~ find Craig

 

~ Dairy King hamburger ? / "Planet of the Apes" 100 Oaks?

 

~ Jenni's ?

[J.Paul]

SATURDAY NAMM - last day

 

Today's driving music was "Rock n Roll Over". Got there late in the day so I didn't try to figure out where Craig was. Most of the companies on my list were not represented but I still got stuff done :

 

PEEPS and GEAR

 

~ Before I walked in I ran into Jim Handley (Jim drums for an excellent Journey tribute "Resurrection"), Steve Purcell soon joined us outside but was quite rushed. He was playing at The Mercy Lounge with Ron Keel that night and his gear was still at NAMM (translation "I'm gonna be late for soundcheck and gotta get my stuff"). Love that guy.

 

~ I went straight to the Monoprice booth to check out their $89 Strat (Teles and Les Pauls too). They all sounded marginal but played fantastic. They use the guy who made the RG line for Ibanez for setups before shipping. The Strats come with noiseless singles that are pretty useable. The knobs on the Les Paul are in a slightly different place and, although they make better sense, will take a while to get use to for the veteran player. The Les Paul was the better sounding piece of the three (I am told they also have hollow body models). The also had a tube / Celestion outfitted Monoprice amp for under $300. It did the job but I would sooner buy a Fender Blues Jr and call it a day for that price. These guitars should be (and MAY become) THE defacto starter guitar for everyone. They are not a toy and feel great. I've got a 10% discount now and might get one.

 

~ James Erdman said hey while I was demoing at the Monoprice booth. He directs alot of the major rap videos (mostly in Atlanta) but still plays guitar some and is always up on all the newest tech stuff. Nice guy.

 

~ My bassist, Jason, sent me to Henretta. They make mini pedals ( the size of a small walwart) that are a set-it-and-forget-it (no knobs on front, just an on/off switch). You can combine them (as a custom shop order) into a loopmaster type assembly and essentially create a super small fly rig.

 

~ Zoom gave me some tech tips on my Q3HD

 

~ I left my backpack in the car so went by the Wampler both to get a bag. Some hot chick was there shredding or something close to shredding

 

~ The Brown Box is the highlight of the show IMO. It controls how much voltage is getting to your type amp and corrects it to the exact voltage you want it to be. It is not in retail yet and will cost just under $300 with plans for it to eventually be under $200, It's abiut the size of 2 DIs stacked on top of each other.

 

~ Mike Hanson said hello. He's a longtime Diamond Rio engineer and works with Jude Cole a lot. We've used him on a few things.

 

~ My old roomate, Dave Tough, came by while I was waiting. He won the John Lennon song writing contest a few years back and has had a number of Taxi placements in TV.

 

~ Said hello to Dave Graeff

 

~ Although I do not know Jeff LeBar well, I had to tell him one of my Morgan Rose stories (Morgan is an excellent Jeff Lebar style airguitar king)

 

~ SIT has no new products to the line and Hoogie wasn't there.

 

~ I left early cause it was date night and we don't get too many Saturday movie nights out together. "Planet of the Apes" was pretty decent. I made her listen to "Destroyer" on the way. How romantic.

 

POST SCRIPT

I forgot to mention in Thursday's entry..... I saw here in the forum that if your Airturn's battery runs all the way out then you have to ship it back to the company. Not true (at least not anymore). They have a battery they can ship to YOU (which is now on my checklist).

[J.Paul]

SATURDAY NAMM - last day

 

POST SCRIPT

I forgot to mention in Thursday's entry..... I saw here in the forum that if your Airturn's battery runs all the way out then you have to ship it back to the company. Not true (at least not anymore). They have a battery they can ship to YOU (which is now on my checklist).

 

I should clarify this for anyone that is doing a search -

there is a newer model of the BT105 that is designed for their new snap-in battery,

the older BT105 units had to have the replacement battery soldered in