In celebration of 20 years of Goodtime banjo success, Deering Banjo Company has launched the Artisan Goodtime banjos. These banjos, priced from $729, offer stunning aesthetics normally reserved for higher price banjos. A rich dark brown hard maple neck features elegant, eye-catching artisan inlays, while the peghead is adorned with a beautiful carved scroll design that allows the maple color to shine through. A three-ply grade maple rim enhances the Artisan banjos’ full, rich, sparkling tone. The Artisan Goodtime banjos come in all standard styles—four-string plectrum, 19-fret five-string parlor banjos, and 22-fret five-string banjos. All are available both with and without resonators and tone rings.
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Tonebone Bumper
Designed specifically for anyone who has to quickly change instruments on stage, the Tonebone Bumper by Radial Engineering, Ltd., is a compact instrument selector that lets you connect up to four instruments to a single amp and easily toggle between them using a footswitch. Bright LEDs let you know which input is ready for use. Bumper fits easily on any pedal board and automatically configures to the number of instruments connected. Its Drag control load correction can be tailored to compensate for the buffer and replicate the tone and feel, as if connected directly to the amp. Trim control allows sensitivity adjustment for quick changeovers.
How to Voice Standards at the Piano: The Menu
Jazz pianist Mark Levine of Local 424 (Berkeley, CA) provides an easy-to-learn method for playing the melodies of favorite jazz standards, using hip voicings as played by Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock of Local 802 (New York City), McCoy Tyner, and Kenny Barron of Local 802. Author of The Jazz Piano Book, Levine has created a “Menu,” a succinct guide to learning a multitude of voicings so performers can harmonize melodies on the spot. Using two standards and a bebop melody as examples, he breaks up each tune into four-bar sections and shows the best voicings to use on each chord. Once learned, musicians can spontaneously create a personal style of playing, based on the masters of the art form.
How to Voice Standards at the Piano: The Menu, by Mark Levine, Sher Music Co., shermusic.com.
MEL9 Tape Relay Machine
The Eletro-Harmonix (EHX) MEL9 Tape Relay Machine emulates classic Mellotron sounds—
orchestra, cello, strings, flute, clarinet, saxophone, brass, low and high choir, and more. It is designed to work on any guitar without modifications, special pickups, or MIDI implementation, and will also work with bass and keyboards. You can select your sound choice via a rotary switch. Independent effect and dry volume controls let you create the perfect mix, and attack controls set the volume swell speed. Sustain control adjusts the release time after a sound is stopped. The MEL9 Tape Relay Machine comes with an EHX 9.6DC 200mA power supply.
Korg’s Pitchblack Mini Tuner Pedal
Korg’s Pitchblack mini (PBmini) tuner pedal is designed to conserve precious pedal board space, but still offer precise tuning and an easy-to-read display. Though PBmini has the footprint of a credit card, its large, seven-segment, color LED delivers excellent visibility, even on a dark stage. Users can choose from three modes—regular, strobe, or half-strobe mode. Strobe mode allows visualization of the direction and speed of meter movement, plus ultra high precision tuning with +/- 0.1 cent accuracy. Stabilizers on the underside of PBmini help it to stay put.
Todd Sharp Amplifiers
Hand-crafted in Nashville, Tennessee, Todd Sharp Amplifiers’ debut model is the JOAT (Jack of All Tone) 20-Watt Reverb/Tremolo and Model A 2×12-inch speaker cabinet. Each component in the amplifier was painstakingly process selected for optimum performance. This is the flagship model for the company founded in 2016 by guitarist Todd Sharp, a member of Local 257 (Nashville, TN), who has also owned and operated an amplifier repair shop for the past 20 years. It offers a unique approach to vacuum tube guitar amplification. There is no tone stack (conventional bass, mid, treble controls), nor the loss that comes with a convention tone stack. Instead, the JOAT circuit employs rotary selector switches: attitude, low cut, and high cut, along with a “bite” switch. Inputs one and two are designed intentionally to receive single coil or dual coil pickups. The reverb is unlike any other, producing super smooth sound more like a plate than spring reverb. Tremolo offers an ultra-stable, wide range of speed and intensity—from subtle to full stutter.
Mackie’s ProDX Series Mixers
Mackie’s ProDX series mixers combine the power of digital mixing and an ultra-compact form factor that’s perfect for solo performers, small bands, venues, and commercial applications that require lower channel counts. Equipped with Wide-Z mic preamps, the mixers allow connection to mic, line, and instruments, and require no gain adjustment for simple setup. The single knob hardware design lets any user make quick and easy level adjustments, while a companion MixerConnect app allows them to unlock powerful processing and total wireless control. The ProDX series includes the 4-channel ProDX4 and 8-channel ProDX8.
Orange Amplification’s O Bass
Orange Amplification’s O Bass was originally created solely as a demonstrator piece for the 2014 Winter NAMM. Soon after the show, Orange was inundated with requests for the instrument. With its smooth lines, shapely aesthetics, and a distinct vintage sonic mojo the O Bass is destined to become a classic with bassists seeking an authentic retro sound. Available in three finishes (Teardrop Sunburst, Off-Black, and Orange) it is constructed from lightweight Okoumé with a bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and custom-wound split coil pickup. It comes with a second three-ply pickguard for customization, master volume and tone controls, top loading four-saddle bridge, and a padded Orange gig bag.
Streamliner Single Cutaway Hollow Body Guitars
According to Gretsch, the Streamliner Single Cutaway Hollow Body guitars were designed “for guitarists who yearn for something beyond the norm.” They feature Broad’Tron humbucking pickups with neck and bridge pickup volume controls, master tone control, master volume control, and three-way pickup switching. The 12-inch radius rosewood fingerboard has elegant pearloid inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets. Other features include vintage-style gold-painted control knobs, f-holes, nickel hardware, and arched laminated maple construction. Available in two models, G2420T (pictured) is equipped with a Bigsby-licensed B60 vibrato tailpiece, while G2420 comes with a stylish Gretsch Chromatic II tailpiece.
Roland EC-10 EL Cajon
Roland EC-10 EL Cajon adds Roland’s famous electronic percussion technology to this traditional percussion instrument. The self-contained instrument is battery powered and includes its own onboard amplification extending its capabilities to cover a wide range of percussion sounds in one portable instrument. The sound module includes 30 kits with sounds specially developed to complement EL Cajon—tambourine, djembe, shaker, acoustic snare, electronic drums, sound effects, and more. Top-mounted sound controls give quick access while performing. Rear panel controls include volume and a trigger balance knob. A mix in jack allows music to be played from a smartphone or other device.