NAMM 2026 Pedals

VanWhy

VanWhy

Well-known member
Anyone see anything good in regard to pedals this year?

I'm employed by a guitar manufacturer that take NAMM very seriously. But, to me, it's meh.

Nothing really stands out as something that can be easily reverse engineered. Lots of digital.

The Vox Fuzz and treble boost looks doable.

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Easier to keep those pesky tracer-DIYers at bay if you obfuscate a circuit with proprietary digital-layers of controls.

We're only going to see ever more digital-doodoo from here on out; add in that through-hole is dead, too... the future's so bright from the imploding super-nova [it does not go] I've gotta wear welding-goggles and sell my solder-iron...
 
Not something I'd buy, but just in case anyone missed it...

"Use the Playground to describe effects without coding. An effect is generated, tested and provided ready-to-use in just a few minutes. Alternativly code effects using C++ and our open source repo or your own code."

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Polyend-Endless-Playground-1024x576.jpg

polyend.com

Endless • Polyend

polyend.com polyend.com
 
Guardians of the analog said:
That's because pedals and amps are dead and the real push is towards all digital. But I am interested in hearing the new friedman vox AC30
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I think it's also because a lot of pedal builders are small shops that are going direct to customer. When you have Instagram, YouTube, (maybe FaceBook?), and TikTok, you can convince potential customers to buy from you directly; you don't need to go to a trade show to convince distributors and shops to sell your stuff. I think NAMM just isn't as vital to the industry as it once was.
 
Aleph Null said:
I think it's also because a lot of pedal builders are small shops that are going direct to customer. When you have Instagram, YouTube, (maybe FaceBook?), and TikTok, you can convince potential customers to buy from you directly; you don't need to go to a trade show to convince distributors and shops to sell your stuff. I think NAMM just isn't as vital to the industry as it once was.
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That and pedals are cringey AF anymore. No one wants to sound like a guitar. Most pedals I see anymore are for lame noise ambient stuff. I don't wanna sound like Kevin Shields sharting in the shower.
 
Guardians of the analog said:
That and pedals are cringey AF anymore. No one wants to sound like a guitar. Most pedals I see anymore are for lame noise ambient stuff. I don't wanna sound like Kevin Shields sharting in the shower.
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Paraphrasing a comment on some synth discussion, that's feels relevant here: today's artists aren't musicians (defined here as those who work via music theory and such), they're sound designers.
 
Aleph Null said:
I think it's also because a lot of pedal builders are small shops that are going direct to customer. When you have Instagram, YouTube, (maybe FaceBook?), and TikTok, you can convince potential customers to buy from you directly; you don't need to go to a trade show to convince distributors and shops to sell your stuff. I think NAMM just isn't as vital to the industry as it once was.
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FWIW, the luthier I used to exhibit stuff with in his always very busy booth (pre-COVID) finally bailed this year. Dropping ~$10-20k to almost inevitably come home with some form or other of The Plague and pimp stuff to the same old crew year after year has just lost its charm for a whole lot of former exhibitors.
 
Guardians of the analog said:
That and pedals are cringey AF anymore. No one wants to sound like a guitar. Most pedals I see anymore are for lame noise ambient stuff. I don't wanna sound like Kevin Shields sharting in the shower.
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I think guitar-as-modular-synth-input is a perfectly valid approach, but I understand it's not for everyone. I heard an interior designer say once, "Ugly is better than boring." While I'm not sure I'd take that approach to decorating, it does sum up how I feel about pedals; I'd rather hear unpredictable bleep-bloop sounds than someone's best SRV impression. There's probably a good middle ground between those extremes, maybe Radiohead?
 
Aleph Null said:
I think guitar-as-modular-synth-input is a perfectly valid approach, but I understand it's not for everyone. I heard an interior designer say once, "Ugly is better than boring." While I'm not sure I'd take that approach to decorating, it does sum up how I feel about pedals; I'd rather hear unpredictable bleep-bloop sounds than someone's best SRV impression. There's probably a good middle ground between those extremes, maybe Radiohead?
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Using pedals is fine as a texture in a song, but I can't get behind people who play pedalboards as guitars. That's lame AF, and that's the hill I will die on. I don't defend SRV either, also clown shit. I think the shift is also more about creating a "brand" and being an influencer and pushing products instead of making music.
 
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Definitely things have moved towards branding and selling shite via so-shill bleedia tchahnnullz.

I'm not into the growing hordes of so-called "youtube influencers" — and some youtubers I formerly had a modicum of respect for have slid into the abyss of
"artist hears 'ABCXYZ' for the first time"
which is only a thin-straight-blonde-one away from
"complete utter nobody with a yooboob account hears 'ABCXYZ' for the first time".



I can get behind musicians who can play AND play effectively.
Doug Wimbish, Nels Cline, Adrian Belew and to a lesser extent of "playing a pedalboard" but rather more textural stuff Robert Fripp, Bill Frisell...
 
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