Summer NAMM '99 in Review: Guitar Accessories: Part 4
Two NAMMs ago, I bought a pair of Doc's Proplugs and really liked them a lot. Since they weren't at the 1998 summer NAMM, I was afraid they went out of business and hoped I didn't lose the pair I had. Seeing their booth this year, I immediately bought another pair.
Originally designed for surfers and scuba divers, Proplugs are simple pieces of concave plastic that fit snugly in your ear. The way they are designed, you avoid having to actually shove anything down in your ear canal, so they are pretty comfortable.
Since they are flexible, if you move your mouth (while singing, for example) the seal isn't broken like on normal style plugs. Therefore, the plugs maintain a constant 20dB attenuation even if you are chewing gum or whatever. They also come in a wide variety of sizes. The proplugs staff actually fitted me using a chart.
Another plus is they offer "vented" models, featuring a tiny hole allowing some non-attenuated sound to pass. This helps eliminate the "muffled" sound of most earplugs. "(The vented plugs) are a good stepping stone for people who never wore earplugs before," product manager Pia Pyle said.
My only gripe is I sometimes have trouble hearing pitch when wearing them on stage. Therefore, I typically wear them during the opening band's set or between sets and yank them out for my set. I try to keep stage volume low, so this usually works.
"I know what happens to hairs when to the ear when hairs get damaged," Pyle said. "(Proplugs) allow you to play music longer without your ears getting damaged. As a musician, I would think ears are your greatest asset. You want to protect them."
Call 1-800-521-2982 for more information on Doc's Proplugs.
One drawback of musicianhood is dealing with all this crap taking up space in your house. And since you're a musician, it's likely you live in a very small house - unless you're living with you parents :-)
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| Stringswing's slatwall used as a guitar display |
Anyway, Stringswing displayed a lot of innovative space-saving products. For $40, you can buy 8 feet of "Strongwall." This is slatwall designed to work with other Stringswing products to support a variety of heavier objects (up to 70 pounds). This would include amps, racks, microphones, cables and keyboards. They also have wooden slatwall which is strong enough to display guitars.
While I think this stuff is primarily intended for retail music stores, I can't help but think it would work great for organizing your home studio or practice space.
Visit www.stringswing.com for more info.
Finally, solo artists or home studio owners might dig the Jam Bass e28. This is a small strip of buttons that adheres to the back of your guitar's neck. It lines up to your fretboard and enables you to play bass notes while you play your guitar. Bassists can also use this device to play chords, or it can be used for percussion or keyboard sounds.
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| The back of guitar neck with the Jam Bass installed. |
While it's fully MIDI compatible, the Jam Bass has its own tone generator featuring 128 internal voicings. Therefore, no external synth devices are needed unless you really want them. Also of note, the Jam Bass has the capability to transpose. It's also compatible with sustain pedals or has an "auto-sustain mode."
My impression from messing around with the Jam Bass is that it's not a plug and play type thing. It would takes some practice ... a lot, actually. First off, you would have to get used to the buttons. They're pretty sensitive and easy to press unintentionally. More importantly, you'd have to modify your guitar technique to utilize the system.
If you only play first-position open chords, the Jam Bass wouldn't work because you only have "G" and "C" under your thumb. This is because the buttons correspond to the low "A" and "E" strings under the fret you are playing. Therefore, you would have to use barred or jazz-type chord shapes to enable you to locate the appropriate button under your thumb.
In a nutshell, I think the typical acoustic songwriter-type would not find the Jam Bass useful. With practice, however, an aspiring Michael Hedges or Tuck Andress could fully explore its possibilities.
The price on the Jam Bass has just been dropped to $299, but you can visit www.jambass.com for more info.
Well, there you have it... Summer NAMM 99 from the eyes and ears of Brett Ratner.
I think technology is catching up to and even surpassing traditional guitar equipment design principles. By thinking outside the box, Tech 21 continues to solve a lot of problems related to traditional guitar amps. Rivera offers a unique, expensive but amazingly effective product for beefing up your tone. DigiTech continues to rival amp sounds by tweaking the guts in their familiar floormount pedalboard. Boss, on the other hand, never ceases to cram new sounds in their stomp boxes.
In short, there's still cool stuff to be had. We probably can't afford it all however, so shop wisely.
<- Back to Part 3
Summer NAMM '99
Brett Ratner is a contributor to Guitar Player, Musician, Electronic Musician and Music & Computers. He also spent two years as the Creative Writer for www.gibson.com. Currently, Brett plays sessions and performs regularly around Nashville with the band Katoorah Jayne. Please email Brett at ratocaster@harmony-central.com with any questions, comments or ideas.
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