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Artist / Heroes, News,
Jam City at NAMM 2011!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Posted by: Will Cady | Posted in: Artist / Heroes, News,
There was a definite change in the atmosphere at Booth 5599 in Hall B this year. To put it as simply as possible, we seemed to have more gravity than in years past. When people attend NAMM, whether they be renowned artists, presenting manufacturers, store owners with a long checklist, or in the case of this year’s public day, enthusiasts eagerly seeking out the latest in music technology, they all have a check list of ‘stuff I’ve got to check out’. It turns out we were on a lot of those lists.
Interest in our pedals seemed to particularly spike on the artist front this year. We had a visit from Duff McKagan, bassist of Guns ‘n Roses and Velvet Revolver, who along with his brilliant guitar tech Mike Mayhue, was tipped off about our Soundblox Pro Multiwave Bass Distortion by Tom Hamilton, bassist of Aerosmith. As it turns out, the advantages of the Graphic EQ, Clean Mix/Distortion Mix knobs and savable presets have made the MB Pro ‘the anchor to his sound’. Needless to say, Rodge was amped to near maximum capacity at that news.
Perhaps my single most enjoyable moment for the show came when Rodge tasked me with the challenge of luring Bootsy Collins into our booth. Source Audio has worked with Bootsy a bit on nailing down the perfect Bass Envelope Filter sound, but by no means is that a guarantee of a stop and chat from the busiest man at NAMM. The floating single-celled organism that is Bootsy Collins and his posse is a well-known site at NAMM that most show veterans will recall with a smile. When it comes to drawing the attention of the busiest man at NAMM, we usually find that it’s just about impossible to slow down such funky inertia.
Last year, I was completely unsuccessful at funkifying Bootsy’s eardrums enough to earn us a stop and chat. This year, however, I was armed with the unbeatable combination of the Soundblox Bass Envelope Filter and Multiwave Distortion (check out the sound in the video below of my jam with another incredible Parliament Funkateer, Blackbyrd McKnight). So, when Rodge yelled, “Will! Bootsy! Plays something funky!” I was ready to go.
What I did not expect was that the sound would draw over the entire entourage of wild sunglasses, technicolor wardrobes and shaking booties. I held down the groove while Roger and Jesse spoke at length with Mr. Collins about the fine inner workings of bass envelope filters.
The biggest change we had at NAMM between this year and years past was the artist performances scheduled throughout the weekend. 2010 was a great year for us in terms of artist endorsements, and that translated into guest spots in our booth from Bakithi Kumalo, bassist of Paul Simon’s Graceland band; Kevin Walker, bassist for Justin Timberlake and Prince; Blackbyrd McKnight, guitarist and musical director of Parliament Funkadelic; Pete Griffin, bassist for Zappa Plays Zappa; and rising star bass player Quintin Berry from the NAMM-favorite band The Ugli Stick. We were also happy to have some surprise appearances from Bryan Beller of Dethklock and Steve Vai’s band as well as Matt Grundy of Donavan Frankenreiter’s band.
The greatest thing about having all of these incredible artists stopping by our booth was that we were able to turn our NAMM show into a fluid, musical experience. We had jam sessions with Bakithi and Blackbyrd, a duet from Pete Griffin and Bryan Beller, and even some impromptu violin Hot Hand sessions!
When Quintin came by our booth to perform, he brought so much thunder, we had to invite him back the next day. His use of our effects is inspiring and has definitely motivated me to spend some time in the lab seeing how far we can really stretch the sounds of our bass pedals.
We are also happy to say that we've added to our list of awards (now over a dozen in total!) with a Premier Guitar Magazine Premier Gear award! Our second year in a row receiving the prize.
By the time the weekend was through, we had filled up the increasingly notorious Source Audio cricket bat with signatures from some world class artists, made some great music and left feeling like there a lot of people out there who are tuned in to what we’re doing and ready to make our pedals a key part of their sound!
Thank you to everyone who stopped by to talk or try out our stuff this year. We’ll see you in Frankfurt!
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