Here's an update from Drummer Connection's coverage of SUMMER NAMM 2008, Nashville TN.

Saturday was a bit more active than Friday's opening day. We figured as much (people having jobs, etc). The show was pretty busy, but not near as difficult to navigate through as the Winter NAMM show. Keep in mind that this appears to be a very focused event, especially on Guitars. The fact that INFOComm 2008 ended on Jun 20th, and that more than likely reduced the number of electronics manufacturers that were setup here at this show. Regardless, we still made some new friends and have some pictures for you.

One of our favorite artists, Johnny Rabb was on site and religiously displaying the new Roland TDW-20 expansion board which is going to dramatically improve the Roland TD-20 Vdrums (Thanks! we have two of the TD-20's that could use some new features!).

Bob Rupp from Sabian displays the Sabian logo with Pride. Sabian had the strongest presence of representatives that were willing to discuss business and opportunities (at least for the Drumming Industry) on site. It's good to see awesome representatives that are going to be on site to promote the company they work for and believe in... Way to represent, Sabian!

Other drum companies such as Pearl, DW, Premiere, ddrum, etc did not have booths at Summer NAMM 2008. We really looked forward to seeing Pearl, but as of now, we don't have any further expectations of any displays at this show from those companies. However, Tama, Ludwig, Mapex had their own booths. Gretsch Drums were represented by the following kit:

Kaman Music Corporation (a Music Distributor) brought this awesome Gretsch Pure Wood kit out. In fact, someone who we believe will be endorsed very soon, Isaiah Fogle jammed out on this kit (and every other kit in NAMM).

 

Isaiah Fogle - upcoming drummer - 10 years old

Here's an interesting concept.. a moutable fan for your drum kit.

Another pic of Sabian's cymbal setup.

Taye had this interesting, and very nice, kick pedal setup. This tri-beater system covers about any type of beater type you may need. This pedal is very well constructed and heavily adjustable. Something to look out for later on as it hits mainstream.

Eric and Damian (Damian always has a look on his face) at Starbucks taking a load off.

Who would resist another opportunity to go to White Castle? My wife and I stopped by to grab some cheeseburgers.

We'll have made arrangements for Sunday that include only a small trip to NAMM in the morning, so I doubt we'll be doing any more coverage while the show is going on. We have some interesting things planned now that we have covered pretty much everything we as drummers have found interesting at SUMMER NAMM 2008.