NAMM 2018: All the best show floor shots from Anaheim
NAMM 2018: It might be flu season, but if you’re a guitarist, drummer or hi-tech musician, you’ve probably been diagnosed with NAMM fever by now. Fortunately, Dr MusicRadar is here to prescribe a diet of news, videos, hands-on tests, interviews and bulging photo galleries over the next four days, to be taken not just in tablet form, but also on your laptop, phone or other internet-enabled device.
Yes, our team is hitting the show hard, seeking out the finest new guitar, tech and drum products, talking to the folks that have been making them and, wherever possible, trying this new gear for ourselves.
We’ll be bringing you the best of the action from the floor in this very gallery; if you want a complete rundown of all our stories, you can browse our exhaustive NAMM hub page.
So, let’s make our way through the bag-check area, smile courteously at the security guards and head on into the show...
Eric Johnson was on hand to demo his new Thinline Stratocaster to an eager audience.
If you're prone to sweating a lot on stage, this towel-covered Tele from the Fender Custom Shop could be just the guitar for you.
Elektron is embracing FM synthesis with the Digitone.
You probably couldn't play this 9-neck Fender guitar, but that's not really the point. Actually, what is the point?
The star-spotting has begun: here's Thomas Dolby on the Roland stand.
Purple guitars don't begin and end with Prince; here's the ESP Kirk Hammett KH-2 in Purple Sparkle, yours for $4,999.
4-player Korg Gadget on the Nintendo Switch looks like a serious amount of fun.
Marshall's Origin amps range is generating plenty of buzz, and it's not hard to see why.
The Korg Volca Mix doing what it does best: mixing Volcas.
Ibanez has announced 50 new guitars for NAMM, but this Joe Satriani JS1CR30 30th anniversary Chromeboy limited edition still stands out. It'll set you back $6,666.
We'd love to see a full production run of this Custom Shop Blender Guitar from Fender. Master-built by Paul Waller, it features a custom offset body shape with hand-wound single coils.
Jordan Rudess turns up in so many places at NAMM that we're sure he's cloning himself.
An SPD::ONE climbing wall. Just don’t try actually climbing on it, although we were tempted...
The Starship Enterprise called, it wants its control centre back. It also looks like the SE-02 now comes in a new white colourway.
Pucker up and get jazzy with the Aerophones.
Danelectro 59XT - Wilkinson tremolo, coil-splittable Lipstick humbucker and a high-output single coil in the neck.
Novation goes extra large with a one-off display of 64 Launchpad Pros.
The Vox MVX150 Nutube head in all its glory - and complete with a Vox cup and saucer. Do you take sugar?
Seymour Duncan brings its expressive, dynamic pedal format to reverb with the Silver Lake. God bless all who sail on her.
Kids and grownups love it so... BlipBlox from Playtime Engineering is quite literally child’s-play.
Based on a "rare and elusive circuit" (Klon, anyone?), MXR's mini-proportioned Sugar Drive promises transparent boosting and drive alike. Sweet.
Way Huge's Smalls range comprises downsized versions of the Aqua-Puss, Blue Hippo and Russian Pickle.
A fully-loaded 3U RackBrute from Arturia works well even when it’s not plugged into a MiniBrute 2.
The 6U RackBrute from Arturia has multiple attach points for your bus card, making this a flexible proposition.
Harmony guitars are back! We're very taken by the Silhouette, a Gold Foil-loaded offset with custom cupcake knobs.
Supro pays tribute to David Bowie with this limited-edition Dual-Tone model.
Empress's modular synth come multi-effects pedal, the Zoia, is even more mind-bending and colourful up close.
Along with Harmony, Teisco has made a comeback with three all-analogue pedals: a Boost, modulation-equipped Delay and octave-ready Fuzz. There's plenty more to come from the brand, too, apparently...
The Numa Compact 2X is a truly portable stage piano.
Richie Hawtin’s PLAYdifferently mixer invites you to do just that.
Polyend is ditching the three-trigger setup for the Perc Pro. Instead, it will be releasing them individually, based around the prototype we see here.
Ibanez got their announcements out of the way well before the show opened, but that didn't stop their stand housing one of the most exciting ranges at NAMM.
Exhibit 1: this idiosyncratic Steve Vai signature model, yours for $2,266. Stay tuned for a full stand gallery in the next couple of days.
This is one synth that definitely dreams of electric sheep. Dekkard’s Dream also sports a CV expansion unit.
Microvolt 3900 is Pittsburgh modular’s answer Make Noise's 0-Coast. This semi modular synth is begging you to get experimental with it.
Audient‘s new flagship desktop interface, the iD44, offers 20 ins and 24 outs, with four class-A console mic preamplifiers.
We'll come clean: we don't really know what's going on here.
If you're surrounded by a lot of red keyboards, you're probably on the Nord stand.
Waldorf's Quantum lives!
Tom Quayle and Martin Miller were on hand to launch their signature models as part of Ibanez's much talked-about AZ range.
Mooer is teasing the updatable, four-footswitch'd Preamp Live, with loadable models based on the company's popular Micro Preamp line. It even has a tone capture mode, boosts, additional EQ and MIDI capability. Expect more info soon.
The Sensel Morph comes with even more overlay options than when we first saw it here a couple of years ago.
A fully chromed-up prototype Korg Prologue. We’re starting to think the black finish isn’t as nice.
Want something more than a Minilogue, but can’t quite afford the full 16-voice version? The 8-voice Prologue maybe for you.
Victory pedals?! You better believe it: The Kraken, Sheriff and Countess are all hitting the floor come summer.
There was a strong showing from Cort this year – we were particularly taken by the Sunset TC, a bolt-on ash-bodied single-cut, featuring a Duncan Designed P-90/single-coil pairing for $399.
JAM Pedals is out to nail David Gilmour's tone with the Pink Flow, promising seven effects that span the Floyd legend's career.
Chase Bliss Audio was on hand to show off its new analogue pitch-shifting/harmonising delay, the Thermae.
A Sequence mode delivers cascading harmonies, while a Glide knob makes transitions quicker or slower.
Alice In Chains' William DuVall has landed himself a signature model with Framus, boasting a AAA flamed maple top with quilted maple insert, plus Seymour Duncan APH-1N and SH-1TB humbuckers. $5,830 street price.
Ernie Ball's Expression Tremolo offers five waveforms and built-in spring reverb with, naturally, expression control over the lot. $249 street.
Jackson's eye-catching new X Series SL4X comes in a host of neon finishes and packs a trio of Duncan Designed Hot Rails pickups. $816.
We struggled to put this one back on the wall: Gretsch's G5220 Electromatic Jet BT Single-Cut features a rosewood-like black walnut fingerboard, Black Top Filter'Tron pickups and comes in three super-tasty finishes, including this Casino Gold. MSRP $604.
From huge unplayable synths to DIY controller kits. This flat packed Kami-oto keyboard is now on Kickstarter.
The Yudo Neuman is a PCM synth that features “open-minded engineering for both hardware and software.” Unfortunately it is just a prototype, so more Yudon’t than Yudo.
The Sonicware ELZ_1 isn’t quite all we hoped it would be. No LFO, no sequencer, no latching are some early misgivings. Maybe we’ll see those in an update.
Eowave’s drone-tastic Quantrid Swarm is very close to release, so we could be seeing it in just a matter of months.
Doepfer has breathed new life into the Dark Energy, with version three incorporating an additional triangle waveform, wider frequency range and no warm-up period.
Other new modules from the house of Doepfer include the Quad VCO. Dishing out 4-voice polyphony, paraphonic, or super fat monophonic patches.
Koma Elektronik’s Field Kit FX reached its Kickstarter goal and it will be hitting the shops in spring.
Affordable Framus electrics are on the way - this is the Diablo Pro, complete with Seymour Duncan pickups, and costs $899.
Meow! Steel Panther sex machine Satchel has nailed his latest signature model, in Yellow Bengal and complete with Fishman Fluence humbuckers, for $1,944.
Hidden away on the Koma Elektronik stand was this prototype power converter. The Strom Mobile converts your common 5v mobile power brick into a fully serviceable 9v or 12v mobile power unit.
Dustie Waring, Mark Tremonti and Paul Reed Smith talk and play through their new gear for this year at the PRS stand.
King's X man Dug Pinnick has co-developed Tech 21's all-analogue DP-3X signature bass overdrive, promising colossal high-end distortion and fat low-end.
Want Helix effects without the modelling? The HX Effects is a streamlined version of Line 6's top-notch modeller, packing 100+ effects and adding a host of returning classics from the company's classic Stompbox Modeler line.
Guild's returning Jetstar was on show, boasting a solid mahogany body and dual LB-1 pickups, and available in Black, Vintage White and Seafoam Green finishes