Yamaha Music Australia is displaying so many notable product brands at the Melbourne Guitar Show this year that it needs to allocate separate booths to each to do them justice. As well as having a huge array of new Yamaha electric and acoustic guitars, they’re also promoting the latest awesome gear from Vox and Line 6 for your viewing and purchasing pleasure.
You’ll find the gear on these stands; Line 6 on #63-65, Yamaha electrics and amps #70, 82, 83, Vox on #81 and Yamaha acoustic upstairs on #A10.
Yamaha Guitars Product Manager Euan McInnes tells me that what is particularly significant this year, is the 60th anniversary celebration of Vox Amps.
“It is a pretty awesome achievement” says Euan. “We’ll be acknowledging the fact that Vox has such a rich history providing sound solutions for guitar players of every kind for six decades. There are not many other amp companies out there who can lay claim to such heritage. Product-wise, there will be a focus on the newest Vox amp heads called the MV50. We’ll have a full display of those. We’ll be doing demonstrations all day and running a competition where we are giving some away via a social media comp. There will be a range of all of the Vox gear there from AC to VTX, AV series, accessories. The other marquee release for us is the desktop amp called the ADIO, which is a small desktop amp for home and small gig use, bluetooth enabled stereo units with wicked powerful sounds.”
Also extolling the virtues of Vox amps on the weekend will be legendary Australian recording and performing artist Diesel, who among others things, will be presenting a Vox Workshop at 3.30pm on Sunday in the Winners Circle Workshop Room.
“We’re looking forward to hosting Diesel on the Sunday, ” says Euan. “He’ll be talking all things Vox. He’s been a Vox user for many years, so he’ll talk a little about his history with the company, play a few songs and give the new MV50s a go as well.”
Also on view at the show will be a range of Yamaha Revstar guitars, THR amps and the new BB Basses, which also happen to be celebrating a milestone of 40 years.
Upstairs in acoustic land, you’ll find the fine range of new Yamaha acoustic guitars.
“With acoustic guitars we are officially launching to the public our revamped A series of acoustic-electric guitars,” explains Euan. “We’ll also be focussing on our amazing Trans Acoustics, Silent guitars and FG series, so we will have a great range on display upstairs on stand #A10 in the acoustic area. We’ll have junior starter guitars right through to Japanese hand crafted A series guitars. We will also have some amazing guitar show only pricing too.”
Yamaha’s Trans Acoustic guitars have been receiving some incredible press due to the amazing sound enhancement system it possess. You may have seen YouTube clips of players looking bewildered as there is no visual evidence of any physical sound improvement hardware on the guitar.
“They are something special,” suggests Euan. “In terms of acoustic guitar development, not just over years but centuries, it’s largely unchanged. You’ve got six strings going across a wooden box. Every now and then there is a change in technology that changes the game. The first of those might have been the magnetic pickup to amplify the acoustic sound. We can talk about wood reformation technologies and so forth but having these effects built into part of the guitar body itself with no external amplification or speakers to be found … yet we’re getting these wicked big room reverb and chorus effects coming straight from the guitar. They really have to be played to be believed.”
The third area which Yamaha has booked is for their Line 6 range. Australian Line 6 product manager Jon Beckx tells us that the focus will be on several new products. “We’ll be presenting the the Line 6 Helix, the Variax Shuriken, which is the dream child of Twelve Foot Ninja’s Stevic Mackay, the Spider V range of amps and also their wireless technology as well,” says Jon. “This will be first time for a lot of people to see the Variax Shuriken and the Helix LT, which was released at Music Messe a few months ago. It’s going to be an open testing forum, so people can come along and try things out. We have competitions running too. There’s a Spider V60 with wireless transmitter that you have the chance to win. To enter, you simply come in, take a photo and list what your favourite feature of the Spider V is.”
Stevic Mackay will present a Line 6 and Variax Guitar showcase in the Winners Circle Room at 2.30pm on the Saturday too. “Stevic is going to be doing his clinic on the Variax guitar and maybe popping down to the stand to do some signings,” adds Jon. “We will also have a special on the stand, where if you buy a Spider V, it will be at a reduced price and you get a free wireless transmitter as well. The guitar show is fantastic. It’s the Aussie NAMM, the hype seems to be growing and it seems to unify a lot of the players too, so we’re really proud to be part of it.”