Barry Wood's NAMM Oddities 2010 Edition
Other Goodies
A New Definition for Tri-Amping
As odd as these cabinets look, the fact that there are no parallel sides eliminate the standing waves that naturally occur in a normal cabinet.
It's also a great business plan because unless you buy 3 or 8 cabinets, your amp head will end up on the floor.
- 3rd Power Amplification Systems
- 750 Cowan Street
- Nashville, TN 37207
- (615) 823-7883
- www.3rdpoweramps.com
Die With Your Amps On
Budda has teamed up with Mark Nasson to design an amp to go with a nice pair of boots. Since leather is a lot more durable than Tolex I suppose you don't have to worry too much about roadies screwing up the finish on your amp. If anything the additional wear will make it look that much cooler.
- Budda Amplification
- 5022 Hwy 493 N
- Meridian, MS 39305
- (877) 866-3439
- www.budda.com
Travis Bickle Would Approve
When you want to switch from using a pick to finger picking you just let go of the pick and the spring mechanism in the JamKat Pick Holster gets it out of the way.
Shown here is the "The Flip" which is the custom-order metal version.
- Pick-Smith, Inc.
- 31907 Calle Potrero
- Paume Valley, CA 92061
- (888) 452-6528
- www.pick-smith.com
Pedal Juice
The Eneloop Music Booster from Sanyo is 9V rechargeable battery pack in an MXR pedal form factor. It also serves as a master power control for your pedalboard.
It sure beats the hell out of using a slew of batteries and saves running another power cord.
- Sanyo North America
- 2055 Sanyo Avenue
- San Diego, CA 92154
- (619) 661-1134
- www.us.sanyo.com
At the Touch of a Button
You might think this is the illegitimate spawn of a guitar and an autoharp but you'd be wrong. The Voice Capo is a device to let you quickly change between different open tunings by simply punching the appropriate buttons on the box strapped to the neck.
- Artioli Designs
- (831) 325-9994
- www.voicecapo.com
Harmonic Capo
This capo isn't really a capo in the traditional sense. When you fret a note it sounds normally but when you play open strings they ring as harmonics. You get a sound that's reminiscent of a mandolin doubling the guitar part.
- Weaseltrap Records
- (864) 910-5367
- www.weaseltrap.com
Plug and Play-In
A acoustic instrument, such as a guitar or violin, sounds better after being "played in" for a number of years. This device simulates this by vibrating the strings for you when you're not playing, which is certainly more refined than propping up your instrument in front a speaker as some people have done.
- ToneRite
- 19 S.W. 2nd Street, Suite 203
- Gainesville, FL 32601
- (352) 214-2760
- www.tonerite.com
Your Own Personal Bradshaw
The ten effects loops on the GigRig Pro-14 can be individually switched in or out for each of the fourteen presets.
The guys at GigRig told me that Bradshaw was refering people to them when they didn't have the money to have Bob build them one.
- The GigRig Ltd
- 4 Stapleton Close, Highworth
- Wilts, SN6 7DR, UK
- +44 (0) 1793 726137
- www.thegigrig.com
Black Light Syndrome
You'd really have to work at it to trip over one of these pedalboards on a dark stage, and take my word for it, you wouldn't want to. These are heavy duty steel and would win in any foot/pedalboard altercation.
- MBJ Designs
- 12116 Stonington St.
- Bakersfield, CA 93312
- (661) 487-6169
- www.mbjmothership.com
Eight is (more than) Enough
The makers of the previous Oddities entry the Hot Hand make a return appearance with their Multiwave Distortion pedal. Like the eight-headed offspring of a Mutron II and a distortion pedal, it's capable of all manner of bizarre distorted envelope follower type effects.
They've also got a version of this pedal that's voiced for guitar.
- Source Audio
- 120 Cummings Park
- Woburn, MA 01801
- (781) 932-8080
- www.sourceaudio.net
Just Another Amp in the Wall
Here is one of the six Basson cabinets that Nikki Six used on the last Motley Crüe tour.
Basson is going to auction off a pair of these custom brick-finish cabinets as a charity fundraiser.
- Basson
- 1954 Kellogg Ave.
- Carlsbad, CA 92008
- (760) 929-0457
- www.bassonsound.com
Guitar Colorforms
Unlike the sticky vinyl kid's toy Colorforms, these are microfiber pieces that electrostatically adhere to your guitar. They work as pick guards and cheat sheets. You can also pull them, flip them over, and clean your guitar with them.
- Alpine Innovations
- 275 North 950 East
- Lehi UT 84043
- (801) 766-4994
- www.alpineproducts.com
It's All in the Presentation
While the art they chose for this guitar hanger/frame was appropriate for the guitar, I thought that it was a little on the unimaginitive side.
If it were my guitar I would do something more cool, reverent, or explosive.
- ShowOff Gear
- 5-18 Ringwood Drive, Suite 337
- Stouffville, Ontario
- Canada, L4A 0N2
- (905) 640-3502
- www.showoffgear.com
Twinkle Toes
While this may look like your run-of-the-mill MIDI footpedal, it's a got a unique trick up it's sleeve. Each of the numbered footswitches has sensors under each corner so that you can generate controller data by applying pressure to different parts of the switch.
- Keith McMillen Instruments
- (877) 812-0408
- www.keithmcmillen.com
Skin Deep
Unlike the vintage headphone designs that these are modelled after, the earpieces are not made of vinyl that gets sweaty and sticks to your head.
While they look cool, I wasn't all that impressed with the sound when hooked up to my iPod.
- Aerial7
- 1369 Broadway, 4th Floor
- New York, NT 10018
- (973) 641-3045
- www.aerial7.com
©2010 Barry Wood