We’ve just unveiled a stack of new products at the Winter NAMM Show, including two power amps, two new pickups and a revolutionary digital delay pedal. You’ll be hearing and seeing a lot more about all of these in the near future but here’s the quick rundown.

Continue reading “What’s New At NAMM?”

MOK (Media Overkill) Waverazor virtual synth plug-in, price and availability TBA 

What We Love About It:
• With a patent-pending oscillator design that splices waveforms into aggressive and biting sounds, Waverazor promises to bring something truly new to the table for bass patches, synth leads and cinematic sound design.

• The founders of new company MOK have helped create synthesizers like the Alesis Andromeda and M-Audio Venom.
Caveat: Waverazor is still in early development without a ton of formal info out on it. A couple of YouTube videos present the clearest picture of it so far.

Brainworx bx_subsynth sub-bass plug-in, price and availability TBA

What We Love About It:
• Brainworx routinely puts out great models and original plug-ins, and bx_subsynth recreates the DBX 120XP Subharmonic Synthesizer with new features to provide multiband sub-bass generation that adds fundamental subharmonic frequencies to any source.

• The audio examples sound great on a variety of sources, including keys & synths, programmed beats, live drums and sound effects.

Caveat: Without the price, we’re hesitant to get too excited about it.

Seymour Duncan Andromeda programmable digital delay pedal, $299 street, available “soon”

What We Love About It:
• A delay “power users” pedal with up to 5 sec. of delay, modulation, saturation, tone control, and analog emulation.
• 128 presets, MIDI ports for patch recall, USB for updates and Librarian software.
Caveat: It’s not overpriced, but it is a high-end pedal with an appropriately high-end price.

Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator PO-32 Tonic battery powered drum/percussion synth/sequencer, $89 street, available February

What We Love About It:

• It packs a great-sounding synth engine, effects, and sequencer into a smartphone-size unit for a minimal price.
• When bundled with the Microtonic VST drum machine for $139 total, some interesting digital audio transfer technology from the plug-in to the PO-32 lets you load new sounds into the hardware.
Caveat: Great sounds, pocket sized, built-in speaker and mic, battery powered and less than $100? There’s little not to like about this, but it still will have to deliver usable results to avoid the “toy” classification.

Universal Audio Apollo Twin MKII Solo, Duo or Quad Thunderbolt audio interface, $699, $899 or $1,299 street, out now

What We Love About It:
• A full internal redesign with next-generation audio conversion.
• Two Unison mic preamps with preamp models from Neve, API and Manley and guitar amps from Ampeg, Marshall and Fender.
• UAD-2 processing allows real-time tracking with the bundled UAD classic EQ, tape and compressor models.
• Many new software Console features, such as channel strip presets.
Caveat: No ThunderBolt thru port and no ThunderBolt 3/USB-C ports in case you are already on that tip.

Prestige Guitars Ltd. has teamed up with former PANTERA and DOWN bassist Rex Brown to design and release Rex‘s first signature model six-string guitar. The “Rex Brown Custom” signature model was unveiled this past Friday, January 20 at the NAMM show in Anaheim, California, where Rex personally demonstrated the guitar for Premier Guitar. Check out the clip below.

Rex Brown is an American musician and author, best known as founding member of and longtime bassist for the Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling group PANTERA (1982-2003). He is a former member of the band DOWN (2003-2011) and is currently the bassist for KILL DEVIL HILL. He is now heading up his first major solo project — THE REX BROWN BAND. THE REX BROWN BAND‘s debut album is set for release in May 2017 and features Rex on guitar, bass and lead vocals.

The Rex Brown signature model is a single cutaway solid body, designed in direct collaboration with Rex and to his exacting “dream guitar” specs. In creating this model, Prestige incorporated Rex‘s deep appreciation for vintage tone and feel, while bringing the best modern components offered to ensure that this beast would be able to capture his distinct voice both in the studio and on the road. The “Rex” boasts a killer combo of a carved maple top and solid mahogany body and neck. This guitar is finished in matte black with cream three-ply binding surrounding the body, neck and headstock. In order to keep this guitar sounding punchy but not too bright, Prestige went with a rosewood fingerboard and Prestige put Rex‘s very personal touch on the fingerboard with a custom skull inlay designed directly from a ring he wears day to day. Custom relic’d nickel hardware includes TonePros locking bridge and saddle, Grover mini-locking rotomatic tuners and nickel knurled knobs. Prestige completed this beast with the perfect voice for this truly badass signature guitar; a pair of Seymour Duncan “Saturday Night Special” Humbucker pickups, with custom relic’d covers created by the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop.

This guitar perfectly embodies Rex‘s playing style and sound, and oozes rock and roll styling.

The Rex Brown signature model will be priced at $1349.00, and will come with a deluxe custom hard case and full lifetime warranty.

Full specs are as follows:

24 ¾” Scale Length
1 11/16” TUSQ XL Nut
Solid, Carved Maple Top
Solid Mahogany body and neck
Bound ebony fingerboard
C-Shaped neck and 14″ Fingerboard radius
Custom Mother Of Pearl Skull Inlays
Mother of Pearl “Prestige” headstock logo
Seymour Duncan “Saturday Night Special” Humbucker Pickups with SD Custom Shop Antiquities Covers
2 Vol. / 2 Tone / 3-way Toggle Controls
Relic’d Nickel TonePros locking bridge and saddles
Relic’d Nickel Grover 18:1 Tuners
Relic’d Knurled Nickel volume/tone knobs and toggle switch
500k Alpha Pots
Available in satin/matte black finish

Said Adrian O’Brien, VP, Prestige Guitars: “The release of the Rex Brown signature model marks an important move forward in the evolution of Prestige Guitars.

“We consider ourselves very fortunate to have aligned with Rex and to have been entrusted to bring his dream guitar to life.

“Through many months of design and studio testing, we have brought together all of the elements necessary to have a guitar that Rex will be able to use onstage and in the studio that will perfectly suit his new music and the tone and style he envisioned from day one.

“We’ve said it before, but Rex‘s contributions to hard rock and metal through PANTERA and KDH (KILL DEVIL HILL) are immeasurable.

“The next phase in Rex‘s career will see him release his first solo album this May — THE REX BROWN BAND — and this new project is going to absolutely blow people away!

“To have him hitting the stage at major festivals, touring this new album, all with a signature prestige slung over his shoulder is an absolute honor.”

Dynamic Delay

Seymour Duncan refers to the Andromeda as a dynamic delay with a lot of emphasis on how it being a performance tool in its own right. The pedal can be programmed to sync up to either its own internal clock, which we presume it can also send via the MIDI ports on the rear or be slaved to an external clock. The MIDI can also be used to recall any of the 128 patches, for quick access to your different creations. Of course, there is also a tap-tempo function for instant tempo syncing on the fly.

There is also a micro-USB for using with a Patch Librarian/Editing software package and Seymour Duncan also states that this port will be used for any future updates as well.

Dynamic Pong?

Normal, Ping Pong, Reverse and Reverse Pong just four of the delay types that they list in the specifications, out of the eight available delay options.  The Dynamic Expression control has settings for Hard, Soft, Off, Mix, Mod and Saturation. I believe the idea is you can make ‘funky’ rhythmic delay lines with this and then use the various settings to affect the character of these.

Stereo

With stereo ins and outs the pedal should be a fairly creative tool and perhaps it will be even more fun once you get your hands on that editor software?

It looks very busy and the pedal is also quite dark with green text, so I would probably find it a bit awkward to use on a dark stage, so would need to brush up on all those controls before I was confident using it in a band situation. Yet I think I would really enjoy using it in the studio, especially with all those options for rhythmic repeats!

RRP $299

Seymour Duncan Andromeda Delay

Another amazing interview with the man himself! Seymour Duncan with an awesome Fender Guitars story!

Seymour Duncan are known for their versatile guitar pickups and high-grade effects pedals, but now, they are diving headfirst into the world of power amps with the brand-new PowerStage!

PowerStage: Compact Power Amp

An increasing number of guitarists use effects pedals or modellers to create their own custom sound. Seymour Duncan have developed the PowerStage especially for musicians like these. There are two models—a 170-watt and a 700-watt version, and both are ultra-compact and feature a sleek design. With the Powerstage in your rucksack, your days of lugging around heavy tube amps are over! The PowerStage is also a valuable, practical addition to the studio.

Andromeda Dynamic Delay: bewitching sound

The Andromeda Dynamic Delay is a digital delay that’s been developed from an entirely new perspective. Seymour Duncan consider the delay a performance tool as well as an effect, which is why the Andromeda features unprecedented control over the dynamics in your playing. Put your audience under a spell with the warm, repetitive sounds and let your creativity take over. In Greek mythology, Perseus fell in love with the beautiful Andromeda at first sight, which is what you’re likely to do as soon as you lay your eyes and ears on this delay!

Keep an eye on the product pages for up-to-date information on availability and pricing.

Check out our NAMM page for news on all the latest new products.

Chicago death/doom pioneers Novembers Doom are preparing to unleash their new album, and guitarist Larry Roberts continues to wave the Seymour Duncan flag proudly. We thought it was time we checked in to see where his gear preferences are at and what we can expect from the new record. Continue reading “Talking Tone With Larry Roberts Of Novembers Doom”