Local Music Gear Feature Story
Written By: Jac Harrison
Written By: Jac Harrison
June 1st & 2nd 2013 - The annual NY Amp Show took place
in beautiful downtown Piscatawy NJ. Like always, Loni and his team put on a
hell of a show. Now before I really dig deep into this year’s show there are a
few points I want to touch on. To start -- this is my personal favorite show. I
know that is a bold statement, but as a guitarist there is no better place that
I have found to date where you can really play the gear -- and hear it. I attend
everything from industry trade shows such as NAMM, to open floor small regional
consumer tabletop shows and they all have one thing in common -- the noise
police. There is nothing that pisses me off more at a guitar/amp show than
having someone come by to tell me to turn it down. How the hell are you suppose
to demo your gear as a manufacturer and more importantly play the gear as a
consumer if someone is coming by with a meter to "protect your hearing". If I wanted to hear someone tell me to "turn-it-down", I would go
to my mothers house. Now I get the fact that the organizers of the
shows are legally obligated to protect the consumers hearing -- but come on --
get creative with your show layout and design. When I pay $20 to get into a show, I'm looking to buy gear and I want to hear it at stage volume or there will be
no sale. This is why I love the Amp Show -- there is no noise police! Each
manufacturer has their own hotel room that is staged as a mini
showroom. You can play as loud as you
want and for as long as you want -- you can even close the door for a private
meeting. If you are professional musician or retailer, you can talk
business in private. These are things that you just cannot do at a traditional tabletop or open floor plan guitar/amp shows. So to sum it up -- you can play loud and for a long time without being bothered by the noise police -- and you can talk in private with the manufacturer . That is why I love the NY Amp Show!
