NAMM 2020 – Guitars & Basses

Julia had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Berlin and to chat about his new bass model as well as some advice he has for bass players. Check out the video below and the bass in our shop!

Keep on rockin’: Ibanez presented their lineup for 2020 at the NAMM: the PIA (Paradise In Art) “Steve Vai” Signature Series, updates to the RG Series and the new RG Premium Series. You can find the new pieces in the shop!

Godin presents stunning new guitar models, such as this A12 Black HG at NAMM 2020. All news here in the video!

The Fatbee Overdrive was created in collaboration with Howard Davis (of Deluxe Memory Man mod fame). This is truly an icon in the world of effects devices, “bee” sure not to miss it 😉

The PRS S2 McCarty (and Thinline edition) was revealed in a slew of new finishes, and they are incredible! The Thinline, with its mahogany body & neck, rosewood fretboard, faux-bone binding, pattern thin neck profile and 2x PRS 58/15 “S “Humbucker pickups remains one of the most popular guitars around!

Be sure to check our product pages in the next couple of days!

Zoom is back again in the game with a new pedalboard that will surely appeal the modern guitarists. Carbon-fiber inspired look, fully customisable effects, LED, two FX loops and much more.

Check out these incredible new Gibsons, always with so much class and power…

What are the novelties in the bass range from Fender? The American Ultra series, for example, or Tony Franklin‘s signature model. At the NAMM we took a closer look, and listen, at the innovations. You can find the new basses in our shop!

If you ever dreamt of playing an ukulele that resembled your trusty ol’ 52′ Telecaster, now you can!
A perfect blend of rock’n’roll attitude and Hawaiian vibes is the core concept behind this new series, which is comprised of several different models: Stratocaster-,Telecaster- and Jazzmaster-inspired body shapes in two different finishes each!  And they also have a built-in pickup!

Guitarists, express yourselves through the power of your feet and this new pedal! Features: Specially developed, linear 10 k Ohm potentiometer for precise expressiveness, tension can be easily adjusted with a hex key (included) and much more.

Fender never ceases to amaze us, check out all of their new models in the video below including the hot new Tom Morello “Soul Power” Stratocaster and Jim Root‘s new Jazzmaster model: 

Gibson has revealed its brand new Slash Collection – four Les Pauls and two J-45 Standard acoustics.

The Les Pauls will be available in Appetite Burst, Anaconda Burst, Vermillion Burst and November Burst and the J-45s in November Burst and Vermillion Burst.

The Les Pauls feature an AAA flame maple top, mahogany body, a custom C-shape neck profile, SlashBucker pickups, and Slash’s “Scully” drawing on the back of the headstock.

The J-45s have a solid top of sitka spruce; back and sides of solid mahogany, mahogany neck with custom slash profile and a rosewood fretboard. More specs on the product pages and in the video below:

Jackson announced the expansion of its Spectra bass series with all-new X Series models and additional finishes for the JS Series.

X Series: The larger upper horn of the offset body style distributes weight more evenly throughout the instrument for more comfort. The graphite-reinforced through-body maple neck with scarf joint allows for unmatched sustain, with a speed neck contour, 12”-16” compound radius fingerboard and 24 frets. Modern style, flexible tone and incomparable value!

The G5655T Electromatic Centre Block Jr. features a slightly smaller 14” single-cut maple body with a chambered spruce centre block, 12”radius laurel fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets, pearloid neo-Classic thumbnail inlays, dual Black Top Broad Tron humbuckers and an Adjusto-Matic with Bigsby B70 vibrato tailpiece. Available in Casino Gold, Dark Cherry Metallic and Jade Grey Metallic! Stunning!

EVH is ready to take over with their new pack of “Wolfies” (the latest run of the Wolfgang Standard). They come in a myriad of new colours as well as quilt maple and exotic spalted maple versions. All new models feature a basswood body, baked maple neck, 22 jumbo frets, dual direct mount EVH Wolfgang humbuckers and EVH’s Floyd Rose special double-locking tremolo.

Check out all the specs straight from the source in the video below and see all the finishes that the Wolfgang comes in:

Chapman‘s ML Modern Standard is newly improved in version 2 with rolled fretboard edges, baked tonewoods and brand new pickups with high-quality US-sourced magnets. It features a lightweight mahogany body and flamed maple veneer top complemented with two Sonorous Zero humbuckers!

Chapman Guitars presents a new and improved version 2 of ML1 Modern Baritone in its glorious Ocean Fade Abyss finish. Alder body, smooth satin-finished maple neck and ebony fretboard, and fully-equipped with two brand new Sonorous Zero Baritone humbuckers with high-quality US-sourced magnets!

Is it a Strat or a Jazzmaster? Well, it’s kinda both! The Strat hardware gets fused with an offset body to create a unique-looking instrument, finished with a gorgeous Transparent Seafoam Green flamed-maple top and a 1-piece rosewood neck. It doesn’t get any more luxurious than that. Oh and the pickups: 3x Texas Special! Rawk!

Similar to the Lead II strat, the Lead III features two humbuckers instead of the single-coils. All the other features are almost identical, sans the finishes: Olympic White, Sienna Sunburst and Metallic Purple. Rock on!

The Lead series from Fender makes his comeback! Born in 1979, the series was associated with names such as Steve Morse, Eric Clapton and St. Vincent.
The Lead II features dual slanted single coil pickups, modern C-shape neck, medium jumbo frets, 2 toggle switches (pickup selection and phase reverse) and 3 finishes: Crimson Red Transparent, Black and Neon Green.

It’s not Bruno Mars signature guitar, but it wouldn’t look bad in his hands. Four potentiometers, 2 humbuckers, mahogany body and neck: this guitar aims to fill the gap between a typical Stratocaster and a Singlecut set-neck guitar.

The original Troublemaker had a spot-on name: it was very inspired by a Gibson guitar we all know and love. This new version gets a “Deluxe” treatment, which including a Bigsby vibrato to make the instrument classier than ever.

Fender debuts 3 new models under their “unusual” offering of instruments which can be described as… unique, to say the least. The 2020 lineup consists of 3 models:

Maverick Dorado UB – A guitar that seems to have been built out of spare parts – which is quite close to the truth. Remember the Electric XII? This is a revamped and better-thought-out offering with 6 strings, FilterTron-style humbuckers, a Bigsby B50 vibrato unit, dark ebony fingerboard and 3 finishes to choose from: Ultraburst, Mystic Pine Green, Firemist Gold

Joe Dart, of Vulfpeck fame, has a new minimalist design / highly-playable bass model out from Music Man. Get ready to bob your head and kick out the funk!! ? Coming soon!

A magnificent tube amplifier head for electric guitar; with 25 watts of power and two channels powered by 2x 6L6GC tubes and utilising 4x ECC83 /12AX7 pre-amp tubes for an all-out rock fest! Made in Germany. Check out our product page for more details:

Chapman’s latest release, this beast looks, feels and sounds incredible. Alder body, flame maple top, maple neck, ebony (Diospyros Celebica) fingerboard, upgraded Chapman Henchman mini Rrail humbucker (neck) and Chapman henchman humbucker (bridge) pickups. Check out the full specs on our product page. Also available in a baritone version in Paleblood red.

This sleek, other-worldly beauty is a one-of-a-kind guitar! Chapman releases this masterpiece loaded with two Sonorous Alnico 5 humbucker pickups, Hipshot Grip-Lock open tuners, glow-in-the-dark side dots, a flame maple solid carve top and a beautiful satin lunar finish that is sure to draw anyone in.

This stylish Thomann Special Edition LP-style guitar is one of Chapman Guitars’ latest releases and is sure to please both vintage and modern guitars lovers. With its mahogany body and neck, Macassar Ebony fretboard and single Chapman P90 bridge pickup, it’s simply a rock ‘n’ roll machine!

It is available for pre-order in our shop, also in a left-handed version and a Deep Cherry finish!

This rather inconspicuous box delivers 1200 watts of power via a Class-D circuit. You probably can’t compare this with a guitar amp/box, but it does provide enough headroom. A single 12″ speaker is driven by a 1″ tweeter – a classic FRFR (Full Range Flat Response) setup. Did we mention is contains 4 built-in DSP loudspeaker emulations?! Now that’s practical!

Legendary guitarist Paul Gilbert doesn’t mess around, especially when it comes to distortion and tone. This product is his career-spanning accumulation of sounds all in one pedal, it’s all he wants and needs. So if you’re ready to shred you should definitely check this one out ASAP.

Blackstar announces a new series of acoustic amps, developed in collaboration with guitar virtuoso Jon Gomm. Aimed at enhancing the natural sound of the acoustic guitar thanks to a custom-voiced “Natural“ speaker, these amps come equipped with high pass and brilliance controls, bluetooth streaming and are compact and travel-friendly.

Maxon teamed up with the original inventor of the 808 circuit, Susuma Tamura, to create the Apex808. Could this be the ultimate Tubescreamer style overdrive pedal ever made? In Maxon’s own words, “this pedal has a never-heard-before transparency, clarity and note-to-note separation“.

Is this a guitar or a work of fine art? I’m not even sure if I would dare play such an instrument, solely for its sheer value. This private stock Dragon-designed guitar features an african ribbon mahogany body (khaya ivorensis), private-stock-grade curly maple top, chalteccoco neck, a pattern regular shape, ziricote fretboard with a stunning 35th anniversary dragon inlay, 2x PRS 85/15 humbuckers and so many more carefully-designed details. Limited to only 135 pieces worldwide (40 pieces for Europe).

This German-made bass has a paulownia body, toasted maple bolt-on neck, roasted maple fretboard, 22 Frets, 2 Sandberg Blacklabel T Noiseless Single Coil pickups and 2-band Active / Passive EQ. Can’t ask for more, check it out in our shop:

Schecter debuts its new Silver Mountain series, featuring mahogany bodies, arched tops, mahogany necks (equipped with 3-piece carbon fibre reinforcements), ebony fretboard with glow-in-the-dark inlay side dots, Floyd Rose 1500 or Fixed bridges, Sustainiac in the neck and Grover tuners. That’s what I call badass!

With the Acoustic Singer Live LT amp, BOSS is launching a stage combo with the highest sound quality and versatility. A compact workhorse with independent channels for acoustic guitar and microphone. The result is studio quality sound. This two-channel acoustic companion convinces with a number of sound-optimising effects and connection options. The inclined housing design ensures optimised sound projection. Sixty Watts of acoustic sound!

The new Boss Katana Artist MkII is here and already in our shop! The 100 W modelling combo amp for electric guitar scores with further improved sound and exclusive functions. On board are an analog Class AB amplifier section, 5 amp types, with 5 variants each, and 8 tone memory slots. The BOSS Tone Studio Editor software has been revised with more than 60 BOSS effects and new editing functions such as pre- and post-EQs and much more. Everything available from clean to high-gain to electro-acoustic sounds. ?

The Nighthawk series from Sandberg is expanded by a Plus version. Head plates and pickguard are in a noble black. Available in three finishes: Inca Silver, Copper and Dark Grey. Elegant and sexy.

The brand new VM-5 is equipped with Aguilar pickups and electronics, OBP-2 tone control and AG-5P ’60s P-Bass + AG-5M MM-Bass pickups on board. Powerful stuff!

The first shorts-cale bass from Sandberg! With a 30-inch scale, passive tone control and split-coil pickup. Nothing short of perfection!

Check out these gorgeous new semi-hollow models by D’Angelico, 14″ wide with slim C neck profile! The Premier version has Seymour Duncan “Duncan Designed” pickups and is available in Ocean Turquoise, Champagne and Fiesta Red finishes. The Excel version has Seymour Duncan 59s, coil split, Grover Imperial tuners, ebony fretboard, Vintage Natural, Trans Cherry and Black finishes. Coming soon to our shop!

The vibrato and chorus effects that you get from this Walrus Audio boutique pedal are incredibly lush and stunning! An upgrade from the Julia (version 1), this pedal features top jacks (to give you more room on your pedal boards), new artwork, a soft-switch (less click-y) with momentary switching and all the versatile controls as the first version.

This is exciting, a Strat version of the Acoustasonic series (electric and acoustic hybrid guitars)! It’s not the same sounds and features of the Tele version in a Stratocaster body, the whole thing has been reworked to fit with the Strat sound and feel. Watch the video below ? to get all the in-depth details. Fantastic, can’t wait to try one. Coming soon to our shop!

A reissue of a model they offered in the ’80s, okoume body, carved maple top , roasted figured maple neck, wider-than-standard neck (1 11/16″), 2 humbuckers, 5-way switch and locking tuners. Four fantastic finishes: Cobra, Boujee Burst, Honey Suckle and Blue Moonstone! We’re excited!

These little devils are going to fly off the shelves… Equipped with an 8″ Celestion super speaker and a 12″ Celestion Seventy speaker, respectively, and powered by a 6V6GT tube and using 1 or 3 ECC83 pre-amp tubes, respectively, these tube combo amps simply can’t be beat for their price point. Now available for preorder. 

This Distortion / Boost pedal from Earthquaker Devices is not one to miss. If you’re into darker atmospheres and grittier tones this monster is for you! Listen to what it can do in the video below…

Make your guitar (or bass) sound like a synthesizer, really! Just watch the video below for a demonstration and then read the specs on our product page 🙂

This little bass thing is a huge deal! Looks can be deceiving, this cute little baby can shake your walls and rattle your windows. See the product page and video below for all it’s features and specs.

The Bass Butler from Orange is a UK-made Bi-Amp Preamp Pedal for bass guitar. The first channel, which always remains on, features compression control as well as bass, treble and volume control. The second channel, which is switchable, allows you to control gain, bass, mid, treble and volume. Each channel has a balanced XLR DI-out with bass- and guitar-cab simulation and a mix output without simulation. It also features an input for an expression pedal. Check out the video below for instructions on how to use this beast… ?

Ibanez introduces their new line of guitars for 2020 and they are looking fantastic and sounding better than ever. For a run through of all the new (quite diverse) models watch the video below ? Kris & Guillaume got an exclusive look before NAMM 2020 and share their knowledge and excitement with us…

This killer 5-stringer is part of the IbanezBTB Series, only one of the series in their 2020 line. It features an ash body with okoume wings a poplar burl top, maple/walnut neck and a jatoba fretboard.

Julia got to see all the new Ibanez bass models at the Ibanez Germany Showroom, before NAMM, for an exclusive overview of what will be released this year… Check it out in the video below ?