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2001 Summer NAMM Notes (Part 1)
July 20-22, 2001  Nashville, TN

by Jason A.Barker

In Memory of Chet Atkins
June 20, 1924- June 30, 2001

Twice a year the International Music Products Association (NAMM) gathers manufacturers of music equipment and holds trade shows for these companies to display their offerings.  The Winter NAMM show is usually held in January of each year in Anaheim, CA.  The Summer Namm convention opens annually during the month of July in Nashville, TN.

All types of companies belonging to NAMM, from large to small, set up display booths to show their product lines to dealers and official visitors to the show.  Manufacturers often use these extravagant events to debut new products, since media attention is extensive at NAMM shows.

Because NAMM shows are not open to the general public, it can be hard to know exactly what goes on at these noteworthy exhibitions outside the coverage of what major media publications offer.  I had the pleasure and privilege of working at the 2001 Summer NAMM session as a representative for Carr Amplifiers.  Due to my responsibilities at our exhibit, it was impossible to see everything at the show.  There are thousands of things to take in, and to document everything in totality is simply not feasible. 

Therefore, I would like to offer this personal glimpse at my experience and some things I found interesting in Nashville 2001.

Enjoy!

If you are familiar with this Web site, you probably know that I having been using Carr Amplifiers for a couple of years now and am genuinely excited about them.  It has been a special privilege to see Steve Carr build his company from scratch and fine tune his products into something unique.  I have been lucky to field test some of the prototypes in gigging environments before their release and have also aided Steve at clinics for Carr Amps.  I traveled with him and Tim Ristau to exhibit the full line of amps and give the world an opportunity to hear these great products for the first time.

I enjoyed demonstrating the amps for the visitors and found them to be very appreciative of Carr Amplifiers. 

We were later joined by California guitarist Matt King, who has done a tremendous job of promoting the line on the west coast.  It was nice to meet him and witness his enthusiasm for the products.

Here is a look at some of the amps we displayed at the Summer NAMM show for 2001:
 
 

This was Carr Amps' first trip to a NAMM show and it was well worth the journey.  The media coverage for the company is almost unprecedented for such a young organization.  In just a couple of years, the amps have received the praises of Guitar Player, Guitar World, Vintage Guitar, Downbeat, and others.  Perhaps the greatest endorsement has been by The ToneQuest Report, an excellent publication geared toward the tastes of discriminating guitarists.  The magazine offered an incredible review several months ago which has stirred the interests of many standout players and dealerships.  In fact, the article was so good that we couldn't have written a better statement of praise ourselves!

ToneQuest publisher David Wilson and graphic designer Rick Johnson visited us regularly during the show, and we had the opportunity to hang out with them for awhile.  Due in part to their efforts, we have been able to capture the attention of a number of established guitarists in the industry.
 
 

The Carr exhibit had heavy traffic which included some noteworthy people.  It was fantastic to see some legendary personalities playing and loving the amps. 

We spent a lot of time with the one and only Cesar Diaz, perhaps the most famous amp tech in the world.  Cesar is probably best known for his service to Stevie Ray Vaughan as his personal tone guru.  He was responsible for the mods and maintenance of SRV's amps and was a vital contributor to his sound. Through the years, Cesar has also worked on amps for Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and G.E. Smith among others.  He was a guitarist with Bob Dylan for awhile as well.  His pedigree is quite impressive.  Aside from his playing and tech duties, Cesar also has his own amp and effects company.

Cesar was quite gracious and a very interesting person.  We ate dinner with him, the guys from ToneQuest and the whole gang from Terry McInturff Guitars.  What a great evening!
 
 

Danny Flowers is a wonderful songwriter and guitarist, best known for his composition "Tulsa Time."  Eric Clapton and Don Williams both had hits with their versions of the song.   Danny's favorite model was the Slant 6V with it's blackface Fender-oriented clean tones, raunchy overdriven sounds and versatile channel switching.  Besides penning #1 hits, Danny is a very nice guy and was quite interested in Carr Amps. (We are especially biased because he is a native of Henderson, NC)  Be sure to check out his latest album "Forbidden Fruits & Vegetables."  It is an outstanding roots-rock tour de force!
 

   Danny Flowers checks out the Rambler                  Steve Carr demonstrates the finer points of the Slant 6V to Danny 
 
 

We also learned that there is a buzz among Nashville's elite session and live guitarist community over the products.  Scott Coney, guitarist for George Jones and Tracy Byrd, has been using Carr amps for an extended period of time.  He has been spreading the word in Music City and we welcomed some of his friends into our corner of the NAMM world.

Chris Leuzinger, guitarist for Garth Brooks and other noted Nashville artists, dropped in and spent quite a while auditioning the models.  A very humble and congenial guy, Leuzinger displayed some impressive chops and made the amps sound wonderful.  He is very interested in the Rambler and will be borrowing one from the local Nashville dealer to test on an upcoming session.  Chris and I had a very good conversation about pedal effects, and we ended up using some of my boxes to show how well the Carrs reacted to them.  We had a nice time discussing our common use of the generic Boss Blues Driver pedal in our rigs. 
 
 

I was particularly happy to meet former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Rick Vito.  Rick visited our booth and plugged into a Rambler.  Besides his contributions to Fleetwood Mac, he has played with a who's-who of contemporary rock and blues artists from Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, to Albert Collins and John Mayall with many more not listed here.

If you still don't know who Rick Vito is, you will certainly recognize his identifiable slide guitar solo on Bob Seger's "Like A Rock," which inundates television these days on the Chevrolet truck commercials.
 
 

Last but definitely not least came a visit from an astounding player I met at the show named Jason Jordan (hey, he's got a good first name).  This guy absolutely smokes. His trio was demonstrating amps over at the Victoria booth (more on that later....or click here now).  He came over to our setup and checked out the 4x10 Imperial combo.

There are so many ridiculously hot players in Music City that you almost hesitate to single anybody out, but trust me, there is no one that I have heard who nails the "in the gut" Telecaster chicken-pickin' style any better than Jordan.  Mix in equal parts of Brent Mason, Albert Lee, Jerry Reed,  throw in some Jerry Donahue and the soulfulness of the blues for good measure....well, you get the picture.

His CD "Genuine Vinyl" is the real deal and eminently satisfying for those craving unadulterated blazing country-rock guitar.  Wow!  Nice guy too!

Dealers from around the country were dropping by and expressing interests in securing the Carr line for their respective stores.  We also had some Carr amps on display in some other manufacturers' booths.  The exposure level was very high for this up and coming product line.
 

All in all, it was a very successful and enjoyable initial NAMM show for Carr Amplifiers.