Summer NAMM 2017

Summer NAMM in Nashville remains a cozy, guitar oriented affair. The freak show element that enlivens winter NAMM is absent in the more tradition-oriented music city version. Still Gator cases provided some photo ops.There weren’t a great number of new things of particular interest to modern guitarists, but the few there were proved pretty exciting.

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Radiohead Rig

The folks at the Gig Rig posted this amazing video of how they put together Radiohead guitarist, Ed Obrien’s pedalboard, a Pedaltrain Grande with their G2 switching system, Loopy2 routing box, powered by their Generator and Isolator power system. Almost everything here is available off the shelf—nothing is custom made. The pedals include a Fulltone Clyde wah pedal, a Digitech Whammy controlled by a Molten Voltage MIDI 2 pedal, a Molten Voltage OZ Looper controller (no doubt controlling the Strymon Timeline, a Klon and Hot Cakes overdrives, a vintage CSL Super Fuzz (a/k/a Sola Sound), an Eventide H9, a Diamond Tremolo, a Dinosaural compressor, an MXR Flanger, a volume pedal and an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man.

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Spotlight: Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses

Check out the Maelstrom record by Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses and you will hear echoes of Scott Walker, Radiohead, and Tim Buckley. Don’t worry, the latest offering by experimental guitar god Westerhus features plenty of the exotic guitar tones we have come to expect from the now former Nils Petter Molvær sideman’s, while adding vocal driven tunes sung in English. Who would have imagined Westerhus would have a singing voice as compelling as his instrumental one? Here, the Norwegian axe-mangler shares the lowdown on his new band with cohorts Erland Dahlen on drums, and Øystein Moen on keys, as well as his need for pedals that “klonk.”

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Radiohead Meets Tiesto

Often modern guitar can be about context. In Radiohead guitars are warped and mangled sonically, but here Thom Yorke  perfectly places a normal guitar sound  in an EDM type setting. Any suggestions for others out there doing this?

PS Check out the cool use of the Electro-Harmonix looper on his voice.

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