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Stan Lassiter Website: http://www.stanlassiter.net
Jack Pearson Website: http://www.jackpearson.com

Saturday night it was time for some live music in the form of a VIP jam session (video clips below). Creation Audio Labs had brought in Stan Lassiter and Jack Pearson to kick things off.  I’ve been living in a cave for the past 30 years, so I had never heard of either of them, so I didn’t know what to expect.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that Stan was a very different guitar player than what I had ever seen before.  Within seconds of starting his first song, I already had a perplexed look on my face, as if to say “what the… wait… how do you do…wait…huh?”.  He did things on the guitar that I’m not sure are technically possible without 7 fingers, or a third hand.  And just when you thought you had seen everything, he’d do something else that was just as baffling.
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I stepped into the Creation Audio Labs room just as Brandon was showing off the Holy Fire pedal.  I kept the camera rolling as he explained the features of the pedal to those in the room.

Creation Audio Labs was the company that made this event possible.  I know that putting on this event was a financial risk, not knowing how many vendors would come, or how many people would show up, but I think the event went great.

Creation Audio Labs is primarily a Pro Audio company, who brings some of that experience to the world of guitar effects. (more…)

Nolatone Ampworks website: www.nolatone.com

I spent about 10 minutes playing through two of the amps in the Nolatone room (video clips below), and they offered to run the camera while I played. I first played through a 5 watt combo called the June Bug. As with many other tube amps, the volume seemed way bigger than what you’d expect from a 5 watt amp.  It’s got a clean channel, and an overdrive channel.

The overdrive channel has two different preamp gain knobs (Sweet, and Hot) allow you to mix two different voicing together in any ratio.  A single tone knob and a master volume work on either channel.  The amp was a lot of fun to play, and has a good amount of versatility.

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Sommatone Amplification: http://www.sommatone.com

At the last NY Amp Show, I first saw Sommatone amps, and I also had a chance to hear Jimmy Somma talk about what it takes to be a boutique amp builder as a part of a panel with some other builders.

So it was nice to see them again at the Nashville Amp Expo, and aside from playing through the amps myself this time, I also had a chance to hear Jimmy play some slide guitar. I’ve got a great clip of him playing through one of his amps, and it sounds even better than what you hear in the video.
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Delgado Guitars Website: http://www.delgadoguitars.com

It may sound strange, but one of my favorite parts of the Amp Expo was meeting Manuel Delgado, a 3rd generation, old world luthier. The title? That basically means that guitar building has been in his family for a long time, and he doesn’t take shortcuts.
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I took over 200 pictures at the show and ‘narrowed’ it down to just over 150 of the best. I got shots of at least 95% of amps and guitars at the show and have labeled them by builder/company.
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