Cool gear, great performances, and great people.

The Winter NAMM 2007 went down Jan 18-21 here are some of the sights and sounds from this massively huge show.

One of the keys to making gigging easier is keeping the weight and size of equipment down. Here are some great lightweight stands and amps to get you through the gig without breaking your back. The lighter weight will also help you save a little gas and that is good for everyone.

Joe Satriani unveiled a great, lightweight class A amp that packs plenty of punch. The JSX® Mini Colossal™ Amp. The amp features a power sponge that keeps the crunch at any volume.

Another small and great sounding amp was the Jazz Kat. Lightweight and clean, we were very impressed with the sound of this amp.

http://www.jazzkatamps.com/

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Guitar stands and amp stand have gotten much lighter and compact. Here’s the Old Dog guitar stand that folds up nicely into a compact space and is very lightweight. PRS used these stands for their displays.

A lot of guitar players use twins and like use stands to point the sound upward. Most stands can be heavy and take up valuable space. The Standback http://www.ampstandback.com/ is very strong, compactable and lightweight. It holds up to 100 pounds.

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We found a fantastic capo called the G7th. It is super easy to use, won’t take your guitar out of tune and it looks cool too. One hand operation is made simple by the patented wrap-spring clutch mechanism. You can even use two to get some amazing alternate tunings fast.

http://www.g7th.com

Wireless stuff. Are you a guitar player and you are tired of being stuck to your effects pedals? Not anymore. The Wag It system from Xpresense lets you wirelessly switch effects, control volume, vibrato, swells and more. WAG stands for Wireless Audio Gesture. You control the switching with a ring that goes on your picking hand. Buck Dharma from Blue Oyster cult gives it a test drive. Check out the video for a demo. The ring is customizable to suit your taste.

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Another company, SkyWyre Technologies has created another wireless switching device called “Footloose” that allows you to switch between channels and effects while anywhere on the stage. You can place wireless switches anywhere on stage or use a lapel switch. http://xpresense.com/

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Gary Hoey gave a great performance/clinic at the Peavey auditorium. He talked about the brand new amp he is working with Peavey on and some of his gear and how he uses it. Here’s a little slice of Gary doing “The Grinch”.

Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge describes how he gets his crunch in the studio.

Battle of the Bags

There is one thing everyone needs at a conference…a bag to carry all of the goodies. Here the key is size and durability. It’s hard to say which bag was more popular, but these were the two top contenders. Thanks to Roland and E-Mu for the luggage.

Well, that isn’t everything, but it is a lot of what went down at the Winter NAMM 2007. Time for me to go replace the shoes I wore out walking around the Anaheim Convention Center.