NAMM Show 2011 seems to be much busier than last few years. Something like 84-85’000 visitors registered, and seems like not too many of them got caught in the storms on the East coast. Friday at the EBS booth was a blast with a lot of fine artist that added to the experience by their presence. We got Pete Griffin from Zappa Plays Zappa, who did a great demo with music from his band Gryphon Labs, followed up with great lessons on how he uses the EBS effects to create different sounds and to improve the tone. We got it all on video, and it will be released at the blog as soon as edited. Then we had great signings with bass player and producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Nine Inch Nails etc) and Alex Al (Michael Jackson, George Lopez Show etc), as well as apperances by Etienne Mbappé, the great bass player with John McLaughlin. Kevin Eubanks (The Leno show) guitar tech came by to check out the pedals and brought an EBS OctaBass with him for Kevin to check out, and the guitar test station caught more attention.
What’s new this year then? We got some really cool new mini size cabinets in the Classic Line that was released this fall, and now made their entrance to USA (feaured video shows a little sample of how they sound) as well as the incredible bass head Fafner II – which we will demo for you in the next couple days and share as a video. The Fafner II appeared as a preview last year too, but is now available in USA and all over the world.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEdZzdezN_4]
The night ended with EBS distributors and artist dinner, which has become an annual fine tradition. The night also offered EBS on stage with Yngwie Malmsteen at the House of Blues, with bass player Bjorn Englen, as well as on stage with Alex Al at the Bass Bash. Enjoy the pics and come back tomorrow for more!