…and a host of hot new audio products, too!

We were extremely excited to attend this year’s NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, chomping at the bit to show off our exciting new products to the rest of the world. The show was a perfect storm for us, as we debuted everything from new mixers and amps to both studio and active PA speakers, and got them into the hands of users--in some cases, the very same day!

The recording lounge section of our booth showcased the hot new MR5 & MR8 Mackie Reference Studio Monitors. With similar design characteristics to our popular HRmk2 standards, these new ultra-affordable studio monitors attracted quite a bit of attention as booth visitors eagerly lined up to witness the miracle for themselves--true Mackie Reference quality and performance at a super-low price!

The 402VLZ3 & 802VLZ3 “mini mixers” were found everywhere as well. Not only scattered all over the VLZ3 station, of course, but running sound throughout our booth. We put our best minds to this project, trying to figure out how to cram that much quality into that compact of a footprint… and, boy, did we nail it. So now, when your standards are high and your input count is low, you have a high quality, compact offering from our world-famous VLZ3 mixer line.

We can’t forget the “Amp Up!” bar, either. We provided walk-weary visitors with Monster energy drinks from our classy bar built atop seven Mackie S215s, holding up a rack on each wing of both the Millennium and FRS amp lines. That’s right: the new FRS amp line by Mackie. We’re proud to announce that we now offer an amplifier line including all of our modern amp technology and topology, such as our legendary Fast Recover circuitry and well know Class A/B and Class H amp designs--but now with switching power supplies--so the FRS amps are all extra lightweight, uber-efficient, and they run cooler than a Tibetan ice cream parlor.

Speaking of amps, don’t think for a minute that we wouldn’t show Hotwire, Greg Mackie’s innovative and unique Mode-Switching guitar amp. There were more guitar players than anything else at NAMM, we would guess, and a great deal of them swung by to see the real deal: an amp that doesn’t use DSP for “amp modeling," but rather to alter the physical tube gain stage path that each preamp setting dictates. It’s truly a work of art and science combined, and many, many guitarists left our booth awestruck after only scratching the surface of what this amp is capable of.

Our final product debut was the most awaited and acclaimed of all, and deserved a stage all its own. The SRM450v2 and SRM350v2 introduction was indeed massive, as the complete re-design of these legendary speakers incorporates everything that made the originals great, and much, much more. The SRM450v2, for example, now boasts both a switching power supply and Class D amp technology, bringing the weight from 51 pounds all the way down to 40, as well as a neodymium woofer with a 3” voice coil and a high-output, weather-treated titanium dome tweeter. Active circuitry, servo-feedback control, ultra-wide dispersion, built-in protection circuitry and the ever-popular cabinet design still reign strong, and much about the new SRMv2s is strikingly similar to the product you already know and love… only we found a way to make them sound even better--tuned, of course, by the best ears in the business. And don’t forget how much easier they will be to carry to your next gig!

Finally, with an 802VLZ3 blasting the sounds of distorted rock guitars through a pair of SRM450v2s, was our mammoth 4-day Guitar Hero III contest, awarding hourly winners each day of the show. The event’s culmination was a 2-hour final round of all the hourly winners in which show attendee Joe Neven destroyed the competition playing Dragonforce’s “Through the Fire and Flames” on the expert setting, reeling in over 500,000 points. Joe went home with a pair of SRM450v2s and an Onyx 1220 mixer, and the second place winner Nick Guimarais grabbed a pair of MR5s off the show floor. Nice job, Joe and Nick!

And thanks to everyone else in attendance for making our booth a sweeping success this year, and for keeping us busier than any booth had a right to be.

-Matt Redmon, Product Manager