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2001 Summer NAMM Notes (Part
4)
by Jason A.Barker
Levy's had a large display in the main hall of the Nashville Convention Center featuring an abundance of guitar straps and cases. Some of the designs were exquisite and eye-catching. Here are some scenes from their exhibit:
I have always loved the sound of rotating speakers such as those found in old Leslies. The main drawback to them is their size and weight. They need a road crew to move them! While there have been some credible attempts to distill the essence of the Leslie into small pedals, there is something that you can only get from an actual moving speaker and the Doppler Effect it produces. Motion
Sound has been making some excellent smaller rotating speaker devices
for the past few years, so I was very interested in checking out their
latest lineup. These included footswitches for fast/slow speeds and
on/off adjustments.
I plugged into a Sidewinder
model featuring a 12AX7 preamp tube. This amp sounded authentic and
conjured up the classic rotating speaker sounds with ease. I was
attracted to the portability of it and fell in love with the inspirational
tones. The company also makes some other models not pictured here.
Veillette Guitars (pronounced vay-ette) have caught my eye in guitar publications before, but it was only at this NAMM show that I was first able to play them. Their lineup consists of well-made instruments specializing in unique tuning formats. They make a lot of baritones and twelve-string models of both acoustic and electric design. While all of the guitars I played sounded and played nicely, I was enamored with the MK-IV Nylon-String Baritone Guitar. Talk about deep and rich! This model is conducive to creativity. I could sit and discover new things on it all day. Maybe one day......
As a past owner of Victoria products, I was keen on checking out the latest from Mark Baier. Steve Carr and I paid a visit to Mark and talked with him briefly about his new amp models, the Sovereign and the Victorilux. I didn't spend any time with the Sovereign head, but took a close look at the striking new Victorilux combo.
Victoria has excelled at producing replicas of tweed era Fender amps with high quality and attention to detail. With the Victorilux, Mark Baier has addressed the wishes of many players by offering a Victoria amp with reverb and tremolo. Guitarist Jason Jordan, as mentioned before, was demonstrating this particular amp with his ultra-tight rhythm section. If you want to see Nashville-style picking at its finest, check out a couple of MPEG movies I shot of him by clicking on the following links: MPEGs: -Jason Jordan blazes with the new Victoria Victorilux -Jason
Jordan picks a funky and mean Tele-style guitar with his trio
It won't help, but here were his settings on the amp. Check out the cool faceplate...
There was just too much going on at the NAMM show to get it all on camera, but I can say that music lovers would have had a great time looking at the numerous exhibits. We ended up working eight hours on our feet each day and put a lot of effort into helping everyone out who was interested in Carr Amps. Therefore our time to roam was limited, but we did get a good overview of what was happening. Some of the other exhibits I checked in on briefly were the private room exhibits by Fender and Paul Reed Smith Guitars. They were so crowded and full of dealers that it was not much fun to visit them. It reminded me of those scenes you see on the news of stressed-out stock market people working on Wall Street. While I didn't really notice anything that jumped out at me in the PRS room, I did see where Fender released several amps at this show of interest. The initial word on these models is that Fender might be addressing some concerns that players have been raising over the past few years regarding their amp line. The new amps supposedly feature blackface clean sounds with modern overdrive voicings in each amp.
The concession stands at the Nashville Convention Center left a lot to be desired nutritionally-speaking. Most of what they offered were greasy hamburgers (I called them NAMMburgers), hot dogs, and junk food. They also charged a ridiculous $2.00 for bottled water. NAMM is capitalism at its finest. They won't let you bring in outside food. I did get to visit a little bit with my old friend Alan Waite from Fender. It was good to see him again since he's moved to company headquarters in Scottsdale,AZ. I also got to speak to Fender's Ritchie Fliegler at the airport on the way out. He seemed like a nice person. My local friend Greg Germino made the trip out to Nashville with the crew from Mojo Musical Supply. He had assembled a dynamite head and cabinet amp based on the old Fender Tweed Twin design. I didn't get the pictures of it that I wanted to, but I hope to get a chance to take some of it and play it in the near future. Greg also had a Belov amp in the booth. They had arranged for one to be available in the Klein Guitars display. It's been an exhausting but memorable week for me. I am most grateful to Steve Carr for his continued allowance for me to participate in the exciting events of his company. I hope you have enjoyed this online journal of my visit to the 2001 Summer NAMM show. It is now time for me to go catch up on my sleep! Jason
All Steelbender web site content ©2000-2002 Jason A. Barker unless otherwise noted
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