August 27th, 2009,
Categories: Nashville Amp Expo '09
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. Read the rest of this entry »
August 26th, 2009,
Categories: Nashville Amp Expo '09
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
August 25th, 2009,
Categories: Nashville Amp Expo '09
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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August 24th, 2009,
Categories: Nashville Amp Expo '09
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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August 24th, 2009,
Categories: Nashville Amp Expo '09
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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August 12th, 2009,
Categories: Blog
You’ve seen the ads, you’ve read the reviews, you’ve probably even wondered “are they really that good?”. Regardless of how you answer that question in your own mind, the fact is that you can never really know what’s so special about a boutique amp until you play it.
If you live in the south-eastern US, you can do exactly that on Saturday August 22nd and Sunday August 23rd in Nashville, TN. For the past several years, tone-seekers on the East and West coast have flocked to the Amp Shows in LA and NY. And now this one-of-a-kind event will happen again in Nashville.
If you’ve never been to an amp show, it is quite an experience. Unlike NAMM (from what I’m told), there are no decibel police telling you to turn your volume down. Quite the contrary. You may wish that guy who just learned that Van Halen song, playing through an amp louder than God’s would turn down, but you’ll be out of luck. Fortunately all you have to do is crank up whatever amp you’re playing through until you can’t hear him.
Here’s how it works. Creation Audio Labs (the hosts of the Nashville expo), has rented out an entire hotel for the event. Each amp or guitar or pedal company is assigned a room where they set up their goods and wait for you and everyone else to try it out and ask questions.
If you go, be prepared to spend some time watching and listening. There’s far too many people to spend your whole afternoon playing because everyone wants a chance to play the amp they’ve always wondered about, so you’ll have to wait your turn. However, if you just focus on relaxing, having a good time, and soaking it all in, it’s an experience like no other.
May 14th, 2009,
Categories: NY Amp Show 2009
Two short clips showing off two new pedals from aNaLoG.MaN. One is a new delay pedal, the other is an ‘amp in a pedal’ that plugs right into a speaker. The sound quality in the video is not an accurate representation of the pedal because it was shot with a DSLR, not a camcorder.
May 10th, 2009,
Categories: NY Amp Show 2009
I took my camera along to the NY Amp Show this weekend, and shot a few pictures. Wish I had taken more interesting shots, but I’ve never claimed to be a photographer 
There are some video clips too, but I’ve got some editing to do before posting them.
(09.05.2009, 56 Photos)
February 26th, 2009,
Categories: Guitar Reviews
Some thoughts on why I think this Strat is important.
January 6th, 2009,
Categories: Pedal Reviews
The Holy Fire is a different kind of overdrive/distortion pedal. As someone who spent a lot of time modifying and studying traditional clipping circuits in college, I was instantly intrigued by the Holy Fire when I met up with Sarge from Creation Audio Labs at the Great American Guitar Show back in November.
I’ll talk about it more in the video, but here’s the things I like about the Holy Fire:
Read the rest of this entry »
