[Harp-L] NAMM Report

[conruth@xxxxxxxxx]

I just got back from the NAMM Show (the convention of The International
Music Products Association) in Anaheim, California.  This is a four day
convention where musical instrument makers show their line of wholesale
products to store owners and distributors.

Alberto Bertolazzi, the president of the Hering Harmonica Company from
Brazil, invited me to come to the show to demonstrate Hering harmonicas as
well as their new line of electric guitars (Walker Guitars).

Also there demonstrating harmonicas was Big Chico, a fine blues harmonica
player from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Johnny Rover, a fine blues harmonica
player from Los Angeles.

Many great harp players dropped by the Hering booth to visit and jam,
including Rob Paparozzi from New York, and Tetsuya Nakamura from L.A. (the
harp player with War since Lee Oskar left the band).

Besides harp players many other musicians came by to jam and hang out.  The
highlight for me was the excellent jam I had with Keb Mo.

John Francis and Scott Magowan from The Best Li'l Harp House also dropped by.

WHAT'S NEW AT THE NAMM SHOW?

  -  HERING  -

Hering currently has 10 models of diatonic harps, 12 models of chromatics
and 22 other models of tremolo, octave tuned and beginner harps.

My favorite is still the plastic comb Hering Blues (The harps I've been
playing for the last eight years) and the wood comb Vintage 1923 harp (the
harp that corrected all the problems of the Hohner Marine Band).  This year
there are 2 new wood comb models: the Delta Blues and the Master Blues.

The new Vintage 40 Chromatic is a ten hole chromatic, laid out like a
Richter harp (like the old Koch harp except with out the leaks). So it's
like a cross between a 10 hole diatonic and a chromatic...

  -  HOHNER  -

I had a nice chat with Rick Epping over at the Hohner booth.  The XB 40
(extreme bender) which debuted last year is their newest product.

Darrell Mansfield was playing some great stuff over at the Hohner booth.  I
had been hearing about him for about 30 years and I finally got to meet
him...

  -  HUANG  -

Chamber Huang's health is failing, so Frank Huang has now taken over
management of the Huang Harmonica line.  Frank showed me a prototype of the
New Huang Silvertone.  Very nice...

  -  SUZUKI  -

Suzuki had a small display of harps.  But the salesman at Suzuki were
mostly interested in promoting Suzuki keyboard instruments.

  -  BUSHMAN  -

John Hall (Former owner of Harp Depot) was at he show promoting his Chinese
made Bushman harmonicas.  I tried one and it was nice.   He also has a new
line of Chinese made ukuleles which play very well.

  -  LEE OSKAR  -

Lee was at the show this year but I didn't get to see him.  His Japanese
made harmonicas are, of course, an excellent product and readily available.

MICROPHONES

  -  SHAKER MICROPHONE  -

Shaker Microphone did not have a booth at this year's NAMM Show. Both Joe
Harless and his wife Dawn had health problems last year plus they relocated
their business from Payson, Arizona to Harrison, Arkansas.  The original
dynamic and crystal Shaker mics are still in production, plus, my favorite,
the Shaker-Madcat Mic.

Joe is now gearing up production for the new Shaker Retro Rockett which
will debut this summer at the Summer NAMM Show in Indianapolis.  It's a
crystal mic element housed in a cast aluminum body with a red powder coat
finish.  The grill will be cast out of pewter for a very funky old-time
look.  It's a bit smaller than a regular bullet mic.  It will have a screw
on connector like the old ones.  I tried a prototype and it was amazing...

  -  AUDIX  -

Rob Paparozzi turned me on to a new harp mic called the fireball, made by
the Audix company.  It's a dynamic mic that looks like the ball end of a
Shure SM-58.  It's nice and clean like a 58, but a tad smaller.  And since
it has no body, it's alot lighter.  I only had a chance to play it thru a
very small guitar amp, but my first impression was very favorable.

AMPLIFIERS

  -  KUSTOM  -

My favorite new amp at this year's show was the new Coupe 32 from Kustom.
It's a two channel, all tube, 32 watt amp, with a spring reverb and one 12
inch speaker.  There is a clean channel which will take you from ultra
clean to mildly distorted, and a distortion channel which takes you from
mildly distorted to outrageous!  It was designed by James Brown who has
been designing tube amps for Peavey for the past decade or so.  This amp is
way cool, and it looks way cool too...

  -  METEORO  -

Meteoro amps from Brazil were shown at the Show.  I used a Meteoro V-8
Classic Deluxe all-tube amp when I toured Brazil last October.  It is a
very sweet amp.  They also have 2 amps that are specifically designed for
harp.  But at this point these amps are hard to find in North America.

Well that about sums it up.


Peace & Joy,



Madcat
madcat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.madcatmusic.com