The NAMM show feels like such a whirlwind affair. 1,800,000 square feet of guitar, drum, synth, keyboard, piano, pro audio, brass, woodwind, strings and DJ gear all vying for your attention. To say it's not that easy to spot everything through all the noise is an understatement. However, we scoured the hallowed halls of the Anaheim Convention Center to find the juiciest new releases from the show and pick our favourites to share with you.
Luckily, I was not alone in the pursuit of shiny new guitar things as I was joined by MR’s resident guitar gear nerd, Rob Laing. No strangers to the January Californian sun, with the pair of us clocking in over 20 appearances between us, you can marvel at our step-count and read on for our hot picks from the NAMM Show 2025.
This list isn’t exhaustive by any stretch, but we’ve whittled it down to an easy-to-digest number of new things that we loved during our time at the show and we think you might love them, too. Before we dive into the particulars, there are a couple of trends that we spotted during this year’s event.
Back once again for the renegade masters
On the guitar side of things, the return of the likes of Fender and Gibson were a big deal. The only slight drawback for general attendees was that both brands were hiding behind closed doors – access gained by invite only. And they weren't the only ones, as PRS and ESP were also taking a step back from the masses this year.
For us old media types, the prospect of hassle-free content creation within quieter environs for shooting video was all too good to miss. Don’t get us wrong, throngs of people milling around certainly adds to the vibe, but we’d be lying if we said that we didn’t prefer it this way around.
Fender decided to take exclusivity one step further by hosting just the one event where it could display all the new releases for 2025.
The price is right
Another trend we noticed was the proliferation of entry-level pricing among several brands. Chief of those had to be Fender with the announcement of the new Standard series. Sitting at just above the the entire Squier range, but just below the Player IIs, the Standard brings the Fender entry-point to a wider market.
Read the full rundown of the Fender Standard range
Following in a similar vein is Fender group brand Jackson with the revival of the Surfcaster, an offset that we think we will be a big hit for the Southern Californian guitar-maker. Three models will hit the shops starting with the extremely affordable, Poplar-bodied JS Series Surfcaster at just $249.99/£269, with six and seven-string versions of the X-series model also available from $549.99/£669.
Baggs of tone
Not strictly a NAMM Show exclusive, but LR Baggs was on hand to show off its first proper guitar release in the flesh, the AEG-1. Having finally seen it in the wild for the first time, we had to add it to our list of favourites. The AEG-1 is probably the best plugged-in-sounding acoustic guitar out there right now.
A bold statement, but the AEG-1 backs this up with a HiFi Duet electronics system that features bridge plate pickups alongside a WiFi Duet preamp, and this is paired with a Silo microphone alongside Volume, Mix and Tone controls, a Phase switch, mic trim adjust, and a battery level gauge. We can honestly say that LR Baggs has nailed it.
Check out all the details of the AEG-1
Cometh the hour, cometh the Rockman
When you think of that classic 80’s rock tone, you’re probably thinking of the Rockman. This was the ubiquitous arena rock sound that made superstars out of a fair few bands during that era. If you’re struggling, then point your music streaming service to Def Leppard’s Hysteria and you’re pretty much in the sweet spot.
The Rockman, could be classed as one of the first, if not the first amp sim/preamp, the grandfather to a huge market of preamps and modellers that we see today. And it’s Boston guitarist and prolific inventor, Tom Scholz, who we can thank for this little blue gem. The original Rockman Distortion Generator has been distilled into a small pedal by MXR and it encapsulates all the charm of the original and doesn’t fail to put a smile on your face as you rip through some 80’s riffage.
Return of the King
It can’t be a NAMM with a revival of an old marque, just look at Behringer’s latest efforts in the world of vintage synths, then we had the Jackson Surfcaster and MXR Rockman X100 and now we have an all-American legend reimagined for 2025 in the form of the Tone King Imperial pedal.
Despite the heavy noise levels on the show floor, we could tell from the first listen that this pedal is special and perfectly encapsulates the original. The best, though, has to be the fact that what is a high-end amp, costing around the $3k mark now in a far more affordable chassis will only set you back $599
Reinventing the wheel
The Circle Guitar from Circle Instruments is an engineering marvel, where seeing and hearing have to be believing. The concept is simple, what would a guitar sound like if you could endlessly strum the strings? It’s a concept that has progressed and evolved to what we saw at the show and it’s far from the finished article. Quite interestingly, the plan is to license the technology and develop it further. However, in its current form, the plan is to build and sell a very small number of models that will cost you just short of £10k.
At its heart, Circle Guitar features a wheel that is controlled by Ableton Live. The modular active pickups are created by Cycfi, while the main wheel mechanism houses magnetic plectrums, spaced out evenly, with the plan to develop the wheel with some sort of rail system that would allow for free placement of the plectrums. The guitar body is made of poplar, the neck is maple strengthened with two titanium rods and crafted by Manson Guitar Works.
Lay the hammer down
DigiTech’s pitch-shifting technology has worked its way into yet another dive-bombing tool, but this time you have even more tools at your disposal.
Perhaps our pick of the bunch would be the addition of the sequencer. You can sequence patterns of up to five for even more pitched craziness. The speed in which the sequences can be played can be turned up high enough to sound almost chiptune-like, whilst slowing things down will deliver more recognisable arpeggios.
There are two octaves up and two octaves down to choose from and the pedal also features a lift option, much like the Drop pedal, but in the other direction. Switching from one octave to another can be ramped, much like the Ricochet, or instantaneously.
Hammer On is coming soon and is expected to hit stores around late February, or early March for $279.
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