Vintage Gear at NAMM?

[rbc]

I'm hoping some of you are a little closer to the music industry than I am. I was curious if anyone has been to NAMM? If so, how much vintage gear shows up for display?

I figure the focus there, is on new gear. If there is some vintage gear that shows up, I'm kind of curious how we might arrange for some Rockman gear to show up some year?

Best,

--Bruce

[Guitarvamp]

In the guitar world, it's all about the new stuff. Everyone, at some point, has a love of something old (vintage amp, old guitar, classic pedal, etc).... but buying old stuff doesn't make the current companies any money. So they'll sell NEW old stuff (reissue, updated, "classic", or a multi-effect that "sounds as good as")

How many times have they reissued a Marshall head or some old classic pedal? Heck, even older guitars are now being remade all beat up and pre-"road worn".

Nobody these days is going to pay $300-ish for a Sustainor. People in the old days didn't want to pay that much for a Sustainor - hence why they made the Distortion Generators. For $300 today, you can buy something that is a full amp, speakers, MP3 player, and does a million different guitar/amp/pedal/cab/speaker combinations.

There's still a market for old vintage stuff, just like any other old vintage guitar stuff - but I think we're it. Plus, you have to remember that kids today aren't interested in 'classic rock/Boston' tone - they want drop tuning to the tone of farts, and super-mega-ultra-supreme distortion.

[rbc]

I think I understand what you mean about the Sustainor. Some of the other Rockmodules might do better. The Smart Gate has managed to survive under the Dunlop MXR banner as both a pedal and rack mount. The Equalizer, Compressor, Stereo Chorus and Stereo Echo come to mind. The Stereo Echo's high prices on eBay have always been surprising to me. It make me wonder if it's functionally superior to other stereo echo devices on the market. Perhaps Dunlop could make a success from that one.

[Guitarvamp]

The Smart Gate has managed to survive under the Dunlop MXR banner as both a pedal and rack mount. The Equalizer, Compressor, Stereo Chorus and Stereo Echo come to mind.

Here's what I learned from years of working at a very large music store:

People are dumb.

People are into new and trendy things.

No guitar/guitar device is generally better than another - they have different purposes, uses, and fit better into certain styles/bands.


We pretty much only had 3 different gates to sell - the standard "cheapy" Boss noise gate, the Smart Gate, and the ISP Decimator. They worked in different ways, achieving different results, and when anyone tried to explain the differences, they got lost. We had TONS of gates returned because... you guessed it .... they couldn't hear it doing anything.

Distortions - almost every single person seeking a distortion pedal (for whatever the reason) wanted an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer. After trying some of our suggested pedals, almost nobody bought the Tube Screamers.

Compressors - they were worse than gates. Unless the pedal smacked you in the face with some crazy space noise, looping, or static, people didn't get it.

Most everyone lacked a basic understanding of pedals and effects. Gates were used to quiet down all the noise coming from a Boss MT2 into a cranked Peavey 5150. Nobody ever seeked out an EQ (or much less understood what power they hold). Distortions had to be so aggressive, they would cover up any wrong notes and totally strip you of any tone. Midrange?!? Why would anyone want THAT?!? "Stereo chorus?? Wasn't that something they did in the old days?" Delays seemed to be for the experimenters in sound. Everyone else was interested in loopers - except for a few who bought delays because of the onboard looper. And everything had to be analog, tube, and true bypass (nobody could even tell me what that was).

I couldn't even MENTION 'rack gear'. Everything had to be pedal board-ready.

So, with the Rockman gear.... I honestly believe it's still way over people's heads... even on a basic level. You have to understand how and why an EQ works, what chorusing can do for you, why we love compression, etc.

Ok, so you understand effects. Rockmans may not be the perfect choice for every style and setting. A Sustainor will never be a 5150, nor will it ever be a Fender Twin. Nor should it be.

If we all sounded like Boston, music would get tiresome. Different sounds and tones inspire.

[rbc]

Wow, you covered a lot of ground there. I haven't worked in the stores so, I don't really know. Thanks for that. I think I can understand what you mean. I was over at Guitar Center in Emeryville one day, and someone was fooling with a delay pedal. They turned up the feedback too high with the distortion cranked. I quickly suggested reducing the feedback. The guy turned off the amp instead. Oh well. It didn't really seem like he knew what the knobs did...

[GuitarBuilder]

People are dumb.

You nailed it, Guitarvamp! Despite the fact that technology is now far more advanced than 30 years ago, I firmly believe that the average IQ has actually dropped.