There really hasn't been much of note from Summer NAMM. There's Ableton Live 5 (good but dull, $99 upgrade). But no new synths, no cool new effects, no amusing Behringer outrages. So, here are three new guitar pedals:
Digitech Jam Man: This is a guitar looper (record yourself playing, jam over the top, impress buddies). Interesting points: If you buy a 2gb compact flash card and put it in the back, you can record 6½ hours of loop. It's name is stolen from the Lexicon Jam Man, which was discontinued in 1997 but is still popular amongst people who like looping. They won't get sued, because Lexicon and Digitech are both divisions of Harman International. It has a USB connection... on a guitar pedal! In short, it's the polar opposite of the Zvex Loop Junky.
Boss RT-20: It's a leslie speaker simulator in a big pedal. Why interesting? Because it comes with a fantastically silly magic eye, which shows the 'virtual' bass and horn speakers spinning away. Here's a video [real player, sorry] of a guy playing his guitar synth through one.
Fender Blender: Fender's website says: "There are few Fender products with as much "indie cred" as the Fender Blender." Well, hey, there goes that problem. The Fender Blender is a mildly cultish fuzz/octave pedal. They fetch $3-400 on eBay, but that's peanuts compared with $1000+ for an Ampeg Scrambler, or $1600 for a Frogg Fuzz-Wa (OK, that bidder didn't actually pay up). So, the Fender re-issue for $199 might be more about making Fender look cool than satisfying "an overwhelming demand".
Want more pedals? Check out Analog Industries, where Chris has been running a great analog delay special for the last few days.
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: 12:05 am