As many of you know, this year's summer NAMM show was held in Indianapolis, IN. For three days, music merchandise manufacturers showed their wares to retailers, journalists and the general public (if they could swing a badge). This was my first NAMM show - not just as an employee of Eden, but indeed my very first show. What follows are some notes on the experience.

I drove up Wednesday afternoon; my first stop was to pick David Nordschow, Eden's founder and now Division Manager, at the airport. It was a quick hop to the hotel, or would have been if I hadn't missed the sign to the correct freeway. Even with a short "sight-seeing" trip, it was not all that long. And it gave David and I something to laugh about. We spent the evening laying out plans over a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse meal, complete with a chocolate mouse cheesecake that could have fed a small family.

The following day was devoted to setting up our section of the booth. David and I spent most of the day stacking amps and cabinets for best visual effect. However, we also wanted to have specific combinations available for demonstration. Everything went very smoothly…except for the destruction of my glasses. Somehow, they got knocked off an amp stack only to be driven down the aisle under the wheel of an equipment cart. I'm still trying to figure out how to get that covered under Worker's Compensation but I'm not holding my breath.

I did have a chance to play with several pieces I had yet to audition. Most notable of these were the Custom Shop sample cabinets (in 210XST configuration). Two of them were loaded with prototype neodymium speakers. We ran these with a WT550 and they sounded just amazing. I wasn't able to tell any difference between the neos and the standard Eden speakers.

Friday morning began with each Division Manager giving a short presentation to the sales crew. David's presentation centered on the new Custom Shop offerings and the new 4 Ohm versions of the D115XL(T), D215XL(T) and D118XL cabinets. He also talked about the WT1550 and Nemesis NA650, both of which will be shipping in the very near future. Afterwards, I showed the sales folks some of the specific rigs we'd assembled and discussed extension cabinet options for the DC210XLT Metro. Much of this info was based on discussions we've had in the Eden Forum, which added extra credibility to our suggestions. (Thanks, Edenites!)

About mid-day, Roy and Dee Dee Vogt arrived. (Roy is our resident Professor of Music and a long-time endorser.) Within minutes, Roy was giving a private lesson to a young fan. Not only did this teenager get to jam with one of his idols on his favorite gear, he also got some very helpful pointers while his mother snapped pictures and shot a short video. Several people commented that they'd never seen such a thing at a NAMM show and were very impressed that Roy would spend so much time with a young player.

After the show, David and I took Roy and Dee Dee to dinner, returning to a Japanese restaurant where we'd had sushi the night before. The sushi was again wonderful, although it took an hour for it to get to the table - and another twenty minutes to get plates and bowls for the soy sauce. We never did get our entrees, however. After waiting more than two and a half hours, I treated the rest of the table to "Customer Complaining the Lane Way," about which we laughed and joked on our walk back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, I gave the sales crew a presentation about our new Dealer Training Program. Roy was kind enough to act as my customer as I demonstrated how to set up an Eden head for best sound. We had just enough time at the end for Roy to play a few songs for the crew. Most sat slack-jawed in amazement at Roy's technique and lyrical soloing. After hearing him perform, they fully understood why we asked Roy to offer lessons on our web site.

The rest of the show was spent answering a million questions and demoing just about every rig we had on the floor. Some of the big hits were the Navigator and WT1550 running two D410XST cabinets in Bridge Mono, the WT800B pushing a D610XLT and the WT550 running a pair of D210XLTs stacked vertically. Of course, there was also great interest in the Custom Shop cabinets, both for the available covering options and the new neo speakers.

On the smaller end of things, the DC112XLT and CXC110 combos got a lot of playing time, as did the Nemesis 650, several Nemesis combos and the entire Silver Series. There were a lot of dealers who hadn't yet heard the Silver Series and all were very impressed with the quality.

The visual updates of both the Nemesis and Eden heads were very well received. The Nemesis heads now feature a back-lit logo, as will the Eden heads in the near future. For now, the only Eden offering with this feature is the upcoming WT1205. Moving forward, we'll be incorporating it into all WT amps.

Over the course of the show, I got to touch base with salespeople from several of the dealers I'd visited during training trips. It was always nice to hear how things were going and catch up on the news. I also got to meet a few endorsers with whom I'd only traded emails. Each time, I was very impressed, and came away thankful that we had such great people on our team.

Because we were so busy at our own booth, David and I didn't have time to visit the competition. To correct that, we walked the floor before the doors opened Sunday morning. It was interesting to see just how many other companies have copied the XLT cabinets. We joked about reintroducing folded horn cabinets as a Custom Shop offering just to see how many companies would follow our lead.

The only problem with NAMM is that it's hard to get away with turning up the big rigs. I was able to thump a few notes at high volume each time I demoed one of the big boys, but David would raise his eyebrow and lower the volume if I went on too long. Many times we laughed about our fear of the Volume Police.

I am proud to say that I won quite a few Volume Wars with the booth across the aisle from us. They'd crank up a guitar amp and I'd run straight for the WT800/D610XLT or Nav/WT1550 rigs. "Take that!" I'd think to myself, and then laugh as they backed off. More than one customer stood wide-eyed with jaw dropped to the floor when they heard how authoritative a big Eden rig sounded. You could almost see the wheels turning as they calculated available credit on the old card to see if they could order one as soon as they got home.

The biggest laugh was the customer who stood twenty feet to the front of the Nav/1550 rig excitedly telling his friend, "my pants are flapping, my pants are flapping! Feel that thump in your chest? Oh, man, I have to have one of these!" I'm pretty sure said friend was the guitarist in the band; I could tell by the way he forlornly moaned and said, "uh, oh."

All in all, the show went well. Many dealers showed great interest in bringing in some products they weren't carrying on their floors. We also met several dealers who wanted to carry various Eden lines. I was also very pleased by the number of individual bassists who said they had recently switched to Eden, or were going to do so after hearing them at the show.

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