All The Coolest Gear From Winter NAMM 2020
Winter NAMM 2020 is just wrapping up, and if you’re like me, the news has been all over social media and in e-mail. So many companies are releasing SO many new products, it’s hard to keep up sometimes. While I wasn’t able to attend this year, I’ve been following the show through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, various e-mails from manufacturers and retailers and more.
I’ve put together a list of the videos and posts from some of the most unique and exciting gear of the show. While some of these guitars, pedals, amps and more are just prototypes, many are already available for preorder, and some are unique one offs that we might never see again.
Take A Trip To The Minibar
As guitarists, we’re always telling other people to be careful with liquid around our pedals and amps. Which brings me to our first piece of gear out of NAMM - the Rainger FX Minibar distortion. The idea behind the pedal? A distortion that you can pour beer, wine, or water into that’ll change the sound of the distortion. If the pedal is dry, it won’t make any noise, but if you pour liquid into it, it will change your sound in a very interesting way. Check out the video below to get an idea of how it sounds. This is without a doubt, one of the wildest pedal designs I’ve seen in a long time.
PIA, JIVA, Talman and More!
Ibanez released a ton of great new electric guitars at the show, but three I want to focus on are three of their new signature models. Steve Vai’s new signature is called the PIA (Paradise in Art) which comes in 4 awesome finishes, has a magnetic backplate, beautiful looking pickup covers, and a new teardrop grip in the body. Check out Steve’s video below of him debuting the guitar.
For Nita Strauss fans, we also got a new version of her JIVA guitar, the JIVA Jr. Nita was the first female artist for Ibanez, and now her new Jr. signature model comes in at a cheaper price than her regular signature. I think this is great, as it’ll let more and more guitarists get what is a very cool looking and sounding guitar.
Finally, Ibanez also released the Yvette Young slime green sparkle YY10 guitar. It’s based on the Talman shape, and looks and sound great. It features three Seymour Duncan Five Two single coil pickups, Gotoh tuners, and glow in the dark side-inlays. Check out the video below to hear it in action.
Phil and Jerry Jump To Gibson
Phil X and Jerry Cantrell are now men of Gibson! I’m sure we’ll get signature series for both guitarists in the near future, but for now, we do have the announcement of Tool’s Adam Jones signature guitar! Epiphone also came out with a stunning “Inspired by Gibson” line, and Kramer also showed up in a big way, with tons of 80’s-esque axes.
I truly hope Gibson is steering their ship in the right way in the future. An iconic brand like theirs needs a big turn around. One of Gibson’s biggest guitarists, Slash, also had a ton of new signature electrics and acoustics come out at the show.
Fender Debuts Jim Root, Tom Morello and George Harrison Guitars
Speaking of iconic brands - Fender hit the show in a big way with its announcement of a new signature guitar for Slipknot’s Jim Root. Also getting a signature, was Tom Morello, with his “Soul Power” mirror pickguard Strat. We also had a very 60’s vibe George Harrison Strat debuted, which has a beautiful paint job reminiscent of the times. Fender also debuted an incredible version of Eric Johnson’s signature model called the “Virginia” Strat. Check out photos/videos of all the guitars below.
In addition to signature models, Fender also debuted a new Acoustasonic Strat, a Mustang GTX, and many cool new models in the Parallel Universe series.
PRS Debuts new SE models and Maple Fingerboard Silver Skys
PRS had a strong showing at winter NAMM, debuting a lot of brand new SE models that’ll put higher end features of PRS guitars into their more moderately priced SE line. PRS also debuted a new maple fingerboard version of John Mayer’s Silver Sky signature guitar. In addition, they also announced that the McCarty 594 would be added to their S2 series of guitars. Oh, and if you’re in the mood to look at guitars that are super out of reach, check out their Private Stock Dragon (I always remember looking at the Dragon guitars over the years, and being amazed at the craftsmanship, and how long these guitars must take to make).
Even More Guitars
There are so many iconic brands at NAMM, its hard to cover each and every one. Other great guitars I saw - the budget friendly version of EVH’s frankenstein guitar, called the Frankie, Manson releasing Muse’s Matt Bellamy signature guitar, Jackson and Charvel debuting lots of great new standard line and signature series guitars, ESP debuting their Phase II and Phase III new for 2020 guitars, and tons of new models from Gretsch.
Pedals, Amps and More
Guitars obviously take center stage at NAMM, but amp and pedal manufacturers are also at the show in a big way. Growing up, we always had a handful of pedal companies, but now the variety is so wide, there’s always a great chance you’ll be able to find exactly the tone you’re looking for.
Victory came out with the Duchess V4, VC35 Copper Deluxe and a lot more. Boss released a 100 watt Katana Artist amp featuring tons of great tones for under 600 bucks, and the Waza-Air, which are a set of headphones that have amp emulation built right in. They also upgraded some of their mainstay pedals like the DD series of delays, and announced new pedals like the SY-1 and SY-1000 for synth sounds.
JHS pedals announced the Paul Gilbert PG-14, which sounds and looks super cool. You can check out a video of the pedal, and a great interview with Paul below.
Reverb was also at the show and Andy from the team gives you a taste of his favorite effects from Danelectro, Death by Audio, Alexander Pedals, Solidgold FX, Keeley, and Origin FX below.
What’s Your Favorite?
There is an onslaught of new products coming out from the show, and at the same time it’s exciting and overwhelming. It’s impossible to list every single piece of gear, but we have a lot to look forward to for this year!
What was your favorite announcement of new gear from Winter NAMM 2020? Let me know by reaching out on social - I’m @ChasingSound everywhere.
