The EM Poll

Indy Summertime: Summer NAMM 2005

Aug 11, 2005 6:34 PM, by Geary Yelton

           

EFFECTS ADDICTION

New effects processors are never in short supply at Summer NAMM, and this year was certainly no exception. DigiTech has added the GNX3000 ($599, shipping now) to its line of guitar workstations. It furnishes 57 effects and can handle as many as 11 of them simultaneously. It models dozens of amps, cabinets, and stompboxes ranging from Ampeg SVT and Arbiter Fuzz Face to Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. The GNX3000 comes with X-Edit editor/librarian software and Pro Tracks Plus recording software. DigiTech also showed off the JamMan ($449), a stompbox version of the classic rackmount Lexicon effect on the same name. The JamMan has a maximum 6.5 hours of sampling time, CompactFlash storage, USB connectivity, and all the functionality you need to record, overdub, and manipulate loops and phrases. DigiTech's new stompbox Black-13, produced with Anthrax and S.O.D. guitarist Scott Ian, gives electric guitars a heavy-metal edge.

Way back in the corner of the main hall, Moog Music unveiled its Moogerfooger MF-104Z ($729, available in September). The MF-104Z is an analog delay processor that updates Moog's original MF-104 that was introduced in 2000. Like all Moogerfoogers, the MF-104Z can be rackmounted or placed on the floor or tabletop. It offers delay times from 50 to 1,000 ms. The Moog product that drew the most attention, however, was the Minimoog Voyager Rackmount Edition ($2,195), which debuted at Winter NAMM.

TC Electronic was demonstrating its top-of-the-line guitar processor, the G-System ($2,245, shipping now). The floor-mount G-System lets you combine as many as eight simultaneous effects and save them to a single preset. Eighteen chrome footswitches give you control of 25 effects and four external effects loops.

Not to be outdone, TC-Helicon showed off its flagship vocal-modeling processor VoicePro ($3,495, shipping now). But the best surprise was the announcement of free downloadable software editors (Mac/Win, available in August) for the VoicePro, VoiceWorks, VoiceLive, and VoiceOne 2.0 processors. The programs will run standalone and as VST plug-ins and will communicate with the hardware units through MIDI.

Guitar-maker Fender was there with another surprise: the resurrection of the Fender Blender ($199, shipping soon). The legendary octave and fuzz pedal, produced from 1968 until 1977, has been reissued with a few minor improvements that include a bypass circuit and a durable aluminum case.

Stalwart stompbox maker Electro-Harmonix was there with a host of effects pedals. A sophisticated-looking processor called the Flanger Hoax ($298, shipping in September) was somewhat shrouded in mystery. Details were sketchy and no one was demonstrating it, but at least it looked cool. The English Muff'n ($298, shipping) contains two 12AY7 vacuum tubes and attempts to re-create the sound of a cranked-up Marshall stack from the 1960s.

Zoom announced a slew of new effects pedals for guitar and bass (prices and estimated ship dates were unavailable). The A2 and A2.1u are a pair of processors for acoustic guitar. The A2 offers guitar-body modeling, feedback suppression, and a choice of 6-band EQ or 2-band parametric EQ, and the A2.1u adds an expression pedal and USB. Likewise, the B2 and B2.1u offer amp and cabinet modeling, stompbox modeling, three synth sounds, and EQ for bassists. The G7.1ut Guitar Effects Console supplies a programmable tube preamp with six footswitches and an expression pedal. The G9.2tt adds a second tube and a second expression pedal. Zoom's prototype drum machine/loop recorder/effects processor, the Streetboxx SB-246, promises 13 touch-sensitive pads, 25 basses, 70 drum kits, 100 patterns, and 500 sounds that load instantly.