NAMM 2009 - part 5

Toneshaper

There are people how care about sound. I know because I fear I'm one of them. The older I get the more concerned I get about tone and feel and the interaction between those two factors and the musicality I put out when I play. To some I may be the epitome of nerdness but that's they way I am. And now I find that there are more people out there just like me. People who care about the small but important details. We care about the differencies in a Strat used to perform a classic blues gig and a cover gig.

Enter Toneshaper! This is a drop in control unit requiring no soldering. This unit does too much to mention here but you can select capacitor values for your pots, weather one pot should be a blend pot, etc. Just select the proper dip switches and your done. One added bonus, not mentioned in the material, is the fact that, as there is no soldering needed, it's incredibly easy to change pickups. One of the things that makes me hesitant sometimes to change pickups is that I don't care too much for breaking out the old soldering iron.

The unit in the pickture is for a S/S/S setup but there is a version for S/S/H guitars as well.

Trussart Guitars

James Trussart first came to my attention when I first visited the Fender Custom Shop many years ago where Bob Dylan had a guitar on order where the body reputedly came from James Trussart. Since then everybody in the know are familiar with the Trussart products line of very cool and stage noteworthy instruments.

The guitar that I would like to own is this Strat shaped instrument with crocodile textured metallic body. Just awesome!

TV Jones

If I didn't already enjoy rockabilly and Brian Setzer I would probably be turned onto that style just by looking at these great looking instruments.

Voodoo Lab

I very picky about tone. Thus I was very happy to encounter the new pedals from Voodoo Lab and especially the Giggity. It's not an overdriver or booster per se but rather a tone shaping device. It helps you mold your tone in ways not always easily done at you pedalboard up to this point in time. It's very hard to describe in words exactly what it does or what the end result is. But I have to say that if there is one product I feel I definitely must have from the NAMM show, this is it!

The Sparkle Drive Mod is also cool and on my "very interesting products I'd like to buy" list. We recognize most of it from the original Sparkle Drive but new with this pedal is the fact that you can get 4 different kinds of modified Tube Screamer type circuits. Sounded really good in the capable hand of demonstrator James Santiago. That guy can play!

Zematis Guitars

Wood bodies and engraved metaltops. The original Zematis guitars demand top dollar on the used market today. Now you can get reissue Zematis at "normal" custom shop prices. I think these look good.