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NAMM 2012 - Day 7 Sunday, last day of show

23/1/2012

This last day at the show began with some random band performing at the stage in Hall E

Tom dropped by again, this time he got to try Shun guitar with the symmetrical tuning. It's quite the testament to his musicality that he actually nailed that sucker within minutes!

Fellow brit and Suhr artist Jack Gardiner was also subjected to the tuning from hell, and let it rip as well!

This guy just improves in leaps and bounds! Scary!

This day also entailed jams with Tom, Jack and myself, so stay tuned for the video.

Fellow Swede, T-rex artist and a monster guitar player Tommy Denander, which has 3000+ albums to his credits stopped by, was floored, and dropped out with an order for the MOEN switcher

Ama gets a massage!

Paul Gilbert acting the Sharp Dressed Man on a meet and greet

james Trussart guitars, cool stuff

How's that for a hollow body huh?

Carlos Osnaya, MOEN FX endorsee, lets it rip for us!

Don't know this guys story, didn't ask... NAMM mascot maybe?
He's still more decently clad than most of the booth girls at the show, which is saying something!

SKB had a new "i-Case" with life-time warranty, rock solid durability, air travel approved (with the customs lock), and water proof. It was solid!

They even had a special PRS-version, I see one of these in my future for sure!

The whole gang from Leqtique, MOEN and One Control gathered one last time at the booth after packing up. See you next year guys!

After closing up shop, me Shun and Ama drove back up to L.A, this time for a double serving of Holdsworth at Baked Potato!

And of course, no evening at the Baked Potato is complete without a serving of their Baked Potato! Our choice was Marinated Beef.

Me and old Maestro!
Unfortunately the guy that took the picture had his finger too close to the flash :/

And with that crowning achievement, we close the book on day 7 of the NAMM trip. Tomorrow is travel day, but stay tuned for all the multitude of vids to come!

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NAMM 2012 - Day 6 Saturday, third day of NAMM

23/1/2012

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Saturday began with some moderate rain, something you don't see everyday in L.A, even in winter!

After Friday's photo and video marathon, Saturday ended being a lot less intense, but with some esteemed visitors =)

At the show I checked Holdsworth's new signature OD by Rocket pedals.
Also also held a signing in their booth during the day (see below).

Gentleman fusion extraordinaire Tom Quayle dropped by the booth, Shun was excited! Tom checked out the pedals as was impressed (what else =) And of course there were jamming! (see vid once it's up at the end of the post).

Holdsworth at the signing.

Shun shows Allan his lap guitar, and explains his b5 tuning (D#, A, D#, A, D#, A). Allan was interested and even brought out pen and paper to note the tuning (and signed the guitar at the 12th fret)

Florent Atem showing his "tapping with pick" technique

After the show we were supposed to rent a car and drive to L.A for the Bozzio/Macacheck show at the Baked Potato. But, we couldn't find any open rentals. At last, the hotel clerk found us one open at the local Anaheim airport (stil like 30 min away). The arranged a ride for us, and what we ended up riding was a stretch limo :) Nice!

We got the rental, drove the Santa Ana freeway up to L.A, and like 4 seconds after we were in the door, Boozio counted in the first tune!

For those that haven't heard Macacheck, imagine a mix between Holdsworth, Frank Zappa and Schönberg, it is quite insane, with little or no tonal center what so ever! But it was great!

And that was all for the day (after driving back in the middle of the night that is).

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NAMM 2012 - Day 4 Thursday, Show Opening Day

20/1/2012

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First day of the show! I stopped by Strictly Seven Guitars to check out Ola Englund's new model.

Here we have Fred Brum ripping it up!

Pretty insane 9-string guitar!!

Fredrik Thordendahl (Meshuggah) stopped by and took some axes for a test drive, the booth got pretty crowded fast!(see YouTube vid at the bottom)

And Ola himself test driving his new Solar 7 axe and Fortin Satan amp, evil riffing ensues!

Later that day Ola stopped by our booth for some posing and guitar riffing (see YouTube vid at the bottom)

Then I was off to the PRS booth of course!
I met up with J Hayes, Product Manage for PRS, the gentlemen that many of the PRS product vids as well. And I just had to snap some shots of the 2012 models!

A very sweet charcoal black Studio, claaaassy!

And this Private Stock semi hollow was eye candy =)

And finally the 2012 PRS amp line up, will definitely be back to play these babies later this week! What I have heard from the Channel H sounds sweet.

On the way back to the Leqtique booth, I stumbled on a performance by the mighty Johnny Hiland performing in the Emotiva booth. (see YouTube vid at the bottom)

After the show we were supposed to get on the NAMM transit buss that goes around to all the hotels in the area for drop offs.

However, we ended up on the wrong transit, and ended up at a Holiday Inn 30 min north of Anaheim! doh!

It was all good however, a little excursion wasn't gonna kill us, and we decided to get some dinner whilst waiting on the return buss to Anaheim.

Buffalo burger! Hell yeah!!

Good end to the day. Check out the vid below to for some NAMM playing =)

Over and out!
//Richard

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NAMM 2012 - Day 3 Wednesday, Build Day

20/1/2012

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Day 3 in Anaheim was build day. So we all started out pretty early for the convention center. Egnater and Deeflexx with, and the suitcase packed to the brim with pedals!

Really nice weather on the way there, and the palm tree boulevard is truly exotic for one used to snow covered birches =)

The convention center is MASSIVE, and having been here before, I know that it can take a really long time to wak through, get our bagdes and registration, but fortunately things went very smoothly for us.

After check-in, we ran into Ron Thal "Bumblefoot (current GnR guitarist, insane guitar freak and all around nice guy!)

Setting up our booth was a pretty quick affair, but these things have a tendency to need alterations as we go so we'll see where we'll end up.

For now though, we have a very nice sound with the Deeflexx. Backing track volume is a little low with the Logitech, so we might need to look at other solutions

When leaving the show, dark had already fell, and I got the chance to take a nice pic of the main entrance =)
Now we were heading for the House of Blues and the Eric Johnson concert..

We finally found our way to down town Disney, which is as chaotic at night as during the day. A band featuring native America indians playign flutes and drums were entertaining (at least I think they were Native Americans, might have been from South America, couldn't tell from a distance).

FInally arrived at the House of Blues, thankfully we beat the rush hour and got our tickets hassle free.

Inside we met up with Japanese master of Funk and Berklee professor Tomo Fujita, and I got the chance to once again play the role of Casper the ghost in flash light =)

We also hooked up with fellow some fellow Swedes that were kind enough to buy me the infamous South Park "White Trash" beer. Tasty? no, not so much =)

Acoustic wizard Andy Mckee was warming up for Eric, and really woved the audience!
(Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions, any eventual videos from this evening can't be posted here, but I'm sure you'll find some on YouTube).

And then Eric with band came onstage. Eric played with his usual good guitar tone, and off beat arrangements and unique style.

However, both I and many others agreed that he sounded a bit "tired" this time, sort of struggling at times even. Still, a legend player!

But Day 3's BIGGEST shock was surely what happened half-way through the set, Eric strapped on a Les Paul!! That was truly the last thing I expected =)

After the show, we had a long walk back to the hotel, and with sore feet, it was time to call it a night!

Over and out!
//Richard

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NAMM 2012 - Day 2 Tuesday, Day after arrival

18/1/2012

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Day 2 in Anaheim started off with a game of table tennis. Haven't played this since my teens, and man was I ever rusty! Ama (at the right), and Shun put up a good fight too =)

After breakfast it was time for some coffee at 7 Eleven and a walk down to Guitar Center for amp hunting! Quite a selection of coffee I must say!

of course , I choose Fusion Energy!
A very nice coffee, with a prominent taste of Lydian b7, and under currents of Diminished and Altered flavors =)

Then began the walk down to Guitar Center and on the way we saw a car I just had to share with you. I can't imagine someone actually driving around in this monster outside, well, a monster truck arena. Super Size, just like everything else the US I guess! =)

Finally arrived at Guitar Center, it was a behemoth of a store for sure!

Inside we bumped in to Swedish guitar builder Ola Strandberg, who makes headless super-ergonomical guitar, with very cool design and ergonomical ideas! Check out his website HERE.

Guitar Center was like a real water hole for us guitar nuts, because we also ran into Jimmy from EM Nordic in Scandinavia (PRS representative) and two forum friends from Sweden (not pictured here).

We ended going with an Egnater Tweaker combo for the show. For one it sounded good, but also since it has the three distinct EQ voicings (Brit, Vox, US), and also because of the voltage options (110/230V), which means we can use it Frankfurt Messe just as easily as NAMM.

Back at the hotel we hooked up with the other guys sharing out booth from One-Control Japan
and MOEN Effects from China.

Here we're back in the hotel room with Steve from MOEN FX, test driving some pedals through the amp.

Here we have MOEN FX GEC9 Effects Routing System. Not only does it look great, but is a true bypass system, with buffer, fully programmable and that can also control your amp (such as all the switching options on a Mesa/Boogie for example). Very cool stuff!
Small footprint for such a device too.

Once again we ended up at The Cheesecake Factory!

And finally, time for todays Cheese Cake, Godiva Chocolate!

Tomorrow we will start to build the booth, and dinner will be had at the Eric Johnson concert at House of Blues, so I'll try to shoot some video then as well.

Over and out!

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NAMM 2012 - Day 7 Sunday, last day of show

NAMM 2012 - Day 6 Saturday, third day of NAMM

NAMM 2012 - Day 4 Thursday, Show Opening Day

NAMM 2012 - Day 3 Wednesday, Build Day

NAMM 2012 - Day 2 Tuesday, Day after arrival

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