NAMM Nummies

[Twangmeister]

No photos of my own, but check out Andy Z.'s and RelicTele's posts for pics of my ugly face and more. Just a few quick reflections:

1) The amps behind me in the photo w/the Les Paul are Atomic Amps, designed and built by legendary NY amp guru Harry Colby. The regular model is 18 (LOUD) watts, using a Line 6 pod or ToneLab as the preamp/FX section. I've played through this rig in mono and stereo and it rips. New models will have 2x12 and 55 watts. For more details, email az@instituteofnoise.com.

2) Met and chatted with Mark Bartel of Tone King Amplifiers, and then had to wipe off my drool on his Meteor II 40w head and cab combo. As our friend Mark Smith has said so eloquently, "It's the best Fender amp they never made." Is it time to sell the Comet 40B and upgrade? Is it sick to love an amp this much? Mark's a great guy and deserves a much more obvious spot at the show. Let's put the GWAR autograph booth in the basement next time, and get Tone King on the main floor!!! Are you wit' me???

3) Bill Kirchen is a fab guy. He was patient while I played his own licks back to him on his guitar and enjoyed the tour of the Talos Amp (OK, I need that one, too). His axe is featherweight, and he's been going back and forth between .010's and .011's. Either way, the thing sounds great and plays like a dream. When is Fender gonna do a Bill Kirchen Artist Series Tele? Oh yeah, I forgot, no more Bardens available, heh heh.

4) Bogner unveiled a new project amp that looks like a lunar landing device, or something that the robot on "Lost In Space" might play through....if he actually played.....you know, like a guitar, or something. (Insert cricket chirping sound hear). You can probably find it on their website. Interesting, especially if your band has a "Sci Fi Channel" endorsement.

5) The Fender exhibit.....weeeelllllllllllll......played the MIM Esquire. What can I say, it didn't do anything a Tele wouldn't do, and the parts and feel are just.....I dunno......cheesier. Please don't flame me, I know there are hundreds, nay, thousands of happy, MIM pickers out there, and I'm not trying to be a snob, but the finish and feel just weren't there. Andy Z thought so, too, so that makes ME right! ;-) What did yo other guys think? Plus, those one-off, CS amps and guitars might keep some folks employed and all, but we were thinking that if you showed up with one of those over-painted dealies than you BETTER have some serious chops, or you're not gonna get invited to Denny's after the gig.

Saw many a happy TDPRI-er (missed ya Larry, sorry, ya big handsome lug, ya). Thanks to Andy and his delightful daughter it was a great day. The best part of any NAMM show, really, is the people watching, everyone scanning to see if your badge reveals you to be "Somebody Famous and/or Important." My favorite dudes are the Do-You-Think-I-Look-Like-Sammy-Hagar wannabes and their bored-looking girlfriends. Gimme a Bill Kirchen or a Johnny Hiland any day. Or just gimme their guitars.
That's it. Thanks for letting me babble on.....now, back to more intelligent programming.

[Rick Towne]

....instead of having a long cord, the amp follows you through the club.

More notes:

When Johnny Hiland played at the Auralex booth on Saturday (with PRS), there were 15 people wathing him, and about 50 in line at the adjacent Dean booth trying to get autographs from someone. Priorities?

Peavey did give Jerry Donahue more space in its display-an entire wall-than his prior company did in ten years.

We (Larry R and I) chatted with Bill Kirchen as well; very friendly. Nice simple Talos amps, but
a decidedly complicated price point.

Will Ray bouncing between Hipshot (not using the new Parsons-bender) and G&L.

No sightings of NAMM mainstays John Jorgenson or James Burton.

Played the only Finnish lefty Tele there at the Mad Prof booth; twice as much $ as my first car. Great neck.

Got the real 'lowdown' on Heritage amps from Paul C (aka Mr. Tim)....they're NOT Hollands.

30

[Twangmeister]

Saw him and his hair, which is the same color as his orange sparkle G&L. Next big trend in music????? Does "Just For Men" make a gold sparkle. Maybe in LA!!

[LarryR]

Rick and I came by Atomic but Andy was off and about with you in tow....sorry we missed you.....I played the same Finnish Tele righty model through the Mad Professor amp...works of art, but at $3000(guitar) and $6000 (amp) they were more then several of my cars.

The P.V. JD feels like an excellent guitar...Rick pointed out that they had pics in the P.V.booth of Fender guits on the wall held by JD.....most interesting
Played a Tele made by Toru Nittono that was just to die for (maple/mahogany 2 humbuckers, not traditional)

The one guitar that caught my eye the most at the Fender booth was a cream colored Benedetto Benny....oh what a gorgeous instrument.......
Thanks for the company Rick....nice to have a like minded gear fiend who can appreciate 8 hours of walking around and drooling......My wife is like, "how can anyone walk around and look at guitars for 8 hours" I'm glad my friends get it....

[Twangmeister]

You and your lawyer friend certainly have champagne tastes, no? ;-) Of course, I will spend several months sweet talking the Missus into a new Tone King, heh heh. Wassup with Johnny Hiland and a maple-necked PRS? It actually sounded great for the fusiony-type stuff, but chicken-pickin' on a PRS? Don't they have laws against that kinda thing?

See ya soon, bro-ham.....

[LarryR]

we went from the J.H. soon to be realised signature PRS with Johnny doing some bridge p/u picking to Bill & Coalburner
and you know the twang factor between the 2 was "Quite" different.......and this is not an indictment of Mr. Hiland who can play circles around me in his sleep but just an observation on tone.....
and it is a drag to have champagne taste on a .02 plain budget! well maybe I could afford an egg cream, but you just don't find it out here......the $6000 demos are just for me to have something to dream about at night!

[InstituteOfNoise]

Sorry we missed ya Larry. We were roaming for possible 4 hours and only got through Hall C and over to Bogner to visit Greg V in Hall B. By then it was like experiencing mall shopping oin Xmas eve. Too many bodies!

As far as those Esquires, I was very surprised at the poor quality of construction. The pickup route was sticking out under the very cheap bridge piece. The sound was decent but not as full as I would have liked to hear. Jere played a real nice ash(?) Tele with a bigsby that sounded just very nice through the Twin setup in the aisle.

[Rick Towne]

1968 2 door slant 6 model new for $1800.....That's sort of my maximum guitar price point.

Speaking of the Gibson closed door policy, Larry and I also hit wall in the PRS booth looking for the JH model: "Sorry, but there's a signing going on in here".

[TG]

You guys who played the Esquires....

What sort of neck profile is it? Like the 50s Classic or is it slimmer?

[Blaster]

Met Mr. Burton at Fender and had a nice chat with him... Later I watched him play a little.