NAMM News: Stomp whispers from the floor
The Summer NAMM show is much, much more than just a guitar event. Nearly every instrument imaginable is represented on the exhibit floor – from bass banjos to french horns, violins to crystal flutes. The show is both a place for buyers to get the drop on new offerings coming from their favorite manufacturers and a place for education on how to survive in the music biz.
The volume of activity on the show floor often results in treasure hunt-style journey into the various booths searching for elusive pedal scoops. The WTDP? crew combed the carpet to come up with little stomp tidbits… and here is what we found!
Joe says no to a Drivetrain III - The WTDP? crew caught up with Joe Naylor, founder of Reverend Guitars, at the Michigan-based luthiers’ booth showcasing the company’s latest Korean-built six strings. After buying a couple of shirts (I’m a Rev-Head… own a US Avenger and Hellhound combo w/cab), we talked with Joe about the possibility of updating his popular Drivetrain overdrive stomp from a few years back. Sadly for Rev-Heads, Naylor does not have plans for a Drivetrain III. Anyone looking for the signature Drivetrain tone will have to turn to ebay or craigslist, where prices for the US-built Drivetrain I and II range from $100 to $200 on average.
Naylor did share his stomp shopping list with us… a confessed pedal junkie, he planned on picking up an Eden Analog Detroit distortion pedal and Retro-Sonic’s new Distortion stomp as well!
Trillium Amps shelves pedal plans, for now - Jason Beatty with Trillium Amps showed off a quartet of stomp pedal prototypes at the Dallas International Guitar Show earlier this year. When we happened by their stand and saw no sign of the pedals, we had to ask… what happened? It turns out that the stomps have been delayed indefinitely due at least in part to a difference in opinion about the project. Beatty assured WTDP? that Trillium still wants to produce a pedal line, but it may take just a bit longer than initially planned.
New offerings from New York - Boutique pedal shop The Syle let us know that they have several new pedals in the works. Both the latest editons of the Faygun fuzz and Particle distortion stomps made a brief appearance at the NAMM show, but we’re told there are bigger things on the horizon. We hope to corner the man in charge for an interview about some of the new offerings in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
