Wow, yesterday was productive but CRAZY at NAMM!! Spent a lot of time in the back office areas with A/R from Blackstar and Peavey and also at product demos (by one of my clients ) at Blackstar and Rock N Roll Gangstar apparel... but stlll got a little time to look around. Peavey back offices was buzzing with people- they are apparently getting ready to announce someone "big" signing on with them...I was sitting in a cubicle with one of my artist and next cubicle, there was Michael Anthony eating a plate of tacos lol! Guys from Great White were in there as well working through some kind of deal- Blackstar has a prime booth (where Marshall used to be I think?) and had a LOT of traffic and they are really pushing their "ID" series...and Gus's sig amp as well...which I have to say the ID Series head/cab was impressive considering its solid state. It simualtes any power tube and has a very "warm" tone. Met and talked with Alex Skolnick, Frank Hannon, Ray Alder (Fates Warning) Rowan Roberston and a few others...It was a madhouse...Also talked for a minute or two with Pete Diezel who personally takes the time to show you through his amps- I CANNOT believe how bad@ss the Herbert is. My first time hearing it in person-Totally blew me away! Anyway, I wanted to go to the Egnater booth- not enough time in a day...Randall had Joe Delaney playing the Thrasher amps- Pretty cool- I didnt look for or see the Fortin amps but they were showcasing the Thrashers (EDIT-Thrasher IS a Fortin design? I guess it didnt floor me but I really didnt give it much time) when I got there. (I personally prefer my RM100) I was also lucky enough to avoid a line and chat real quick the man himself at the BC Rich booth too...
Yep- cool dude...He was just walking around the show on his own. I just introduced myself and told him I was huge fan of his early Testament stuff (he probably hears that a million times) ...very informal. One of my faves too, but he was not getting barraged like some others. There was a booth (Zoom I think it was) that had hundreds of people nearby (because they had a table full of members of AIC/Anthrax) and nobody seemed to take notice of him. Go figure. Forgot to mention Gene Hoglan and Jeff Loomis too. Gene is one of the BEST drummers in the world if you ask me. He was standing around Jeff's signing area but seemed like nobody knew who he was either.