Hot damn, what a bitchin' show...I talked to so many companies, played so many guitars (and more importantly, amps), and just had a blast. Didn't meet any artists, though honestly, the only people I would've wanted to meet that I heard were there were Gene Hoglan and Alexi, cuz all the rest seemed to be generic American classic rock/classic metallers like Kerry King, Slash, Zakk Wylde, etc., who I have zero interest in. So some thoughts that I wanted to share:
Diamond Amps - WOW. First of all, really cool dudes, and even though I took a dim view of the trash and tackiness of the babes they hired to look pretty in skimpy Diamond wear, I won't deny that they were pretty slammin'. As for the amps, they had a booth that my friends and I went in, where I got to play through each amp as a dude explained them and tweaked (though I of course had plenty of specifics to ask, given what an amp nut I am).
By far my favorite of the bunch was the Phantom, their traditional high gain amp - I really fucking loved that thing, so tight and great saturation, but almost no fizz; I'd really really consider getting one when my budget gets to the point of affording me a $2000+ amp. The Nitrox was pretty cool, though less saturated, and the Spec Op actually sounded a little woofy/flubby, so that didn't do it for me (and the Spitfire was exactly what it looked like, a classic rock snooze-fest). And I should mention that even though these descriptions are pretty much what the demo dude and the website says, I thought of them before I heard from either, so I'm proud of my distinguishing abilities
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Krank - Sound booth again, though this time it was all passive; just a guy playing through each. Rev1+ was my favorite, followed by the Krankenstein (Rev seemed to be fuller, though that might've been my preconceived notion of Dime's tone being thin and harsh IMO). But the Rev Jr, that thing fucking cooked, and the guy said they'll probably sell it without the cab, so FUCK YEAH for that. Oh yeah, and the hybrid Rev SST sounded pretty sweet too.
Laney - All I can say is that I really hope there was something wrong with the VH100R I played, cuz I had it on the gain channel with both gains pretty high and the thing was such a ball-less wonder (we're talking, like, 5150 green with gain on 2 and crunch switch off here, meaning you had to beat the shit outta the strings to get any real distortion). I checked the cab impedence and such and it was all good, so oy...
Engl - Couldn't really crank any of their amps, and they were all going through a THD hot plate which I feel castrated the sound a bit, cuz my favorite was the Powerball by far, with the Blackmore and Fireball sounding super buzzy/fizzy (though I couldn't really tweak, cuz the guy was pretty overbearing about being the demo presenter). I know of their rep, though, and I've already played a Savage (in Frankfurt, no less), and loved it mightily, so I wasn't disheartened.
Framus - Played the Cobra for the second time, and have really concluded that it's just too damn fizzy for my tastes, at least at low-to-mid volumes (and I got to tweak it to my heart's content, which I did to no avail). As the volume increases, it probably turns into more of a snarl/bite (like cranking the presence on the 5150 as Suecof suggests in that article), but it was just too much for me.
Bogner - Played an Uberschall through the same cab I own (a great joy), and it sounded pretty good, though a little fizzy as well. But the humorous part was that while I was playing, behind me was this weird tall dude with a moustache and just a strange look about him trying to demo a Metropolis (or maybe Duende, it was a little wimpy combo with side reverb vents). I was oblivious, but my friend later told me that everytime he would start to play, I'd bust out the chunka-chunkas and he'd turn around, look at me, and sigh really heavily (which I was oblivious to, naturally, cuz our backs were to each other). I would later find out this guy was none other than Reinhold Bogner!! But hey, he built the damn Uber for metal, and if he can't just ask me politely to stop, then fuck him. Still though, pretty funny to hear!
Besides that, I talked to tons of Pro Audio guys - Mackie about the Onyx 1200F (which I've decided I REALLY want over the Fireface), Presonus, Little Labs (who were selling the Red Eye for $160 CASH at NAMM ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH god damn being poor), Benchmark (the guy LOVED having an audience about converters, and declared that he thought word clocks were pretty much useless for the purposes of increasing quality of conversion, which was interesting), and many others that I'm forgetting.
I was able to go (as were like 30 others) because of our school's music industry department; I'm not even enrolled (I'm an Urban Planning major!) but since I take so many electives and all the department folk know and (I hope) like me, they let me get in on it also.
Pics coming later when I get 'em developed on a CD!
Diamond Amps - WOW. First of all, really cool dudes, and even though I took a dim view of the trash and tackiness of the babes they hired to look pretty in skimpy Diamond wear, I won't deny that they were pretty slammin'. As for the amps, they had a booth that my friends and I went in, where I got to play through each amp as a dude explained them and tweaked (though I of course had plenty of specifics to ask, given what an amp nut I am).
By far my favorite of the bunch was the Phantom, their traditional high gain amp - I really fucking loved that thing, so tight and great saturation, but almost no fizz; I'd really really consider getting one when my budget gets to the point of affording me a $2000+ amp. The Nitrox was pretty cool, though less saturated, and the Spec Op actually sounded a little woofy/flubby, so that didn't do it for me (and the Spitfire was exactly what it looked like, a classic rock snooze-fest). And I should mention that even though these descriptions are pretty much what the demo dude and the website says, I thought of them before I heard from either, so I'm proud of my distinguishing abilities
.Krank - Sound booth again, though this time it was all passive; just a guy playing through each. Rev1+ was my favorite, followed by the Krankenstein (Rev seemed to be fuller, though that might've been my preconceived notion of Dime's tone being thin and harsh IMO). But the Rev Jr, that thing fucking cooked, and the guy said they'll probably sell it without the cab, so FUCK YEAH for that. Oh yeah, and the hybrid Rev SST sounded pretty sweet too.
Laney - All I can say is that I really hope there was something wrong with the VH100R I played, cuz I had it on the gain channel with both gains pretty high and the thing was such a ball-less wonder (we're talking, like, 5150 green with gain on 2 and crunch switch off here, meaning you had to beat the shit outta the strings to get any real distortion). I checked the cab impedence and such and it was all good, so oy...
Engl - Couldn't really crank any of their amps, and they were all going through a THD hot plate which I feel castrated the sound a bit, cuz my favorite was the Powerball by far, with the Blackmore and Fireball sounding super buzzy/fizzy (though I couldn't really tweak, cuz the guy was pretty overbearing about being the demo presenter). I know of their rep, though, and I've already played a Savage (in Frankfurt, no less), and loved it mightily, so I wasn't disheartened.
Framus - Played the Cobra for the second time, and have really concluded that it's just too damn fizzy for my tastes, at least at low-to-mid volumes (and I got to tweak it to my heart's content, which I did to no avail). As the volume increases, it probably turns into more of a snarl/bite (like cranking the presence on the 5150 as Suecof suggests in that article), but it was just too much for me.
Bogner - Played an Uberschall through the same cab I own (a great joy), and it sounded pretty good, though a little fizzy as well. But the humorous part was that while I was playing, behind me was this weird tall dude with a moustache and just a strange look about him trying to demo a Metropolis (or maybe Duende, it was a little wimpy combo with side reverb vents). I was oblivious, but my friend later told me that everytime he would start to play, I'd bust out the chunka-chunkas and he'd turn around, look at me, and sigh really heavily (which I was oblivious to, naturally, cuz our backs were to each other). I would later find out this guy was none other than Reinhold Bogner!!
But hey, he built the damn Uber for metal, and if he can't just ask me politely to stop, then fuck him. Still though, pretty funny to hear!Besides that, I talked to tons of Pro Audio guys - Mackie about the Onyx 1200F (which I've decided I REALLY want over the Fireface), Presonus, Little Labs (who were selling the Red Eye for $160 CASH at NAMM ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH god damn being poor), Benchmark (the guy LOVED having an audience about converters, and declared that he thought word clocks were pretty much useless for the purposes of increasing quality of conversion, which was interesting), and many others that I'm forgetting.
I was able to go (as were like 30 others) because of our school's music industry department; I'm not even enrolled (I'm an Urban Planning major!) but since I take so many electives and all the department folk know and (I hope) like me, they let me get in on it also.
Pics coming later when I get 'em developed on a CD!
