WE PROMISED LAST MONTH THAT WE'D BRING YOU THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S NEW THIS AUTUMN FROM THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT INDUSTRY'S TRADE SHOW. SO, HOT OF FOOT AND WEARY OF EYE, HERE WE ARE PUTTING TYPE TO PAPER EVEN AS THE LAST MANUFACTURER IS WINGING HIS TRUCKLOAD OF GOODIES BACK HOME, A PILE OF DEALERS' ORDERS NESTLING UNDER THE DASHBOARD NEXT TO THE YORKIE BARS.

Unfortunately, as we said last month, the public aren't admitted to this trade-only show so, cameras at the ready, pens poised, eyes and years ever open for gossip, the MUSIC U.K. team did the rounds on your behalf. Eyes down, gentle reader, tomorrow's gig could look like this...

Sometimes a Trade Show will have a definite theme — this year is clearly a year for NEW GUITARS, and this is one in the eye for the over-reported views of those naive souls who delight in predicting its end as a major instrument. Yes, there were plenty of fine keyboards, amps and effects — but everyone seemed to be pitching in with new guitars. Still, in no order of precedence whatsoever, here's our product-by-product look at the new gear.

The latest coup in electronic percussion went to Atlantex, who now have this market almost cornered. New from them was a well priced electronic drum kit called Desert Drums. This caught everyone by surprise as no rumours had even hinted at its appearance. The Desert Drums comprise a set of neatly mounted pads connected to a 10 channel rack system, with analogue and digital synthesis modules on tap. The tonal range is excellent; the cymbal modules include, for example, digitally stored real cymbal and hi hat sounds.

Price for a five drum kit including bass drum with five modules and a controller is just £650. Separate drum modules with a pad will work out at £130 each, the Desert system allowing up to ten drums and ten voice modules. A sequencer with full facilities for storing and playing rhythm sequences is £750. The sequencer can be used with other equipment too, such as the Simmons drums. More details on this brand new percussion set-up soon!

Other goodies from Atlantex included the latest MXR 2000 Series effects pedals, which we briefly snapped in our APRS review last month, plus the superb MPC (Musical Percussion Computer) launched recently. This offers 10 analogue drum sounds — 4 toms, handclap cymbal, hi-hat, bass drum and snare — each sound being produced by advanced synthesis techniques. The voices can be played in real time on 8 octagonal pads using hands or sticks and there is a recording capacity of up to 26 bars, 25 sequences and 25 songs. The MPC can be programmed from its own on-board or external computers (like the ubiquitous ZX81). When programmed it can dump onto cassette or onto the MPC's computer for replay. You can even have a TV monitor display for a graphic representation of what you're programming! RRP of the MPC is £846.69.

Finally, Atlantex have yet another new electronic percussion unit in the Mattel Synsonics system — more about this next month.

Moving on to other miracles of technology we spotted the latest Steinberger (the six string guitar version) plus its UK counterpart, the Strata guitar. These both follow the carbon graphite, headless principle — the major difference being that the Strata has wood side-pieces, making it more like a conventional guitar. The price? Just £995 to you, sir! Both the Steinberger and Strata guitar models seem destined for stardom and we'll be giving more details of both soon.

New from amp-makers Axess (makers of the MUSIC U.K. STAR BUY AWARD-winning Sessionette amp) were two fine-sounding bass combos, one featuring a 15" speaker, the other 4x10" types.

Regular readers might recall that we were the first to get our paws on an exciting new valve amp from CUSTOM-SOUND/ROOST. This has now reached full production stage and should be widely available soon. Interestingly for a valve amp, much of the Roost's circuitry is on printed circuit boards and the sound has been altered slightly too, making it even better than before. Roost also had a pair of their latest speaker cabs for small PA use on demo when we saw them, and the sound from their Fane dual cone speakers was quite remarkable.

The latest amp from CUSTOM SOUND is a very snazzy looking 100 watt keyboard combo, the 727. Albeit late entrants in the field, they have a winner here. The 727 has a 15" ultra-high quality Fane driver allied to a horn tweeter. The sound is really clean and there's tremendous depth from it. Price should be below £300.

Surprise news too regarding long-time favourites Gretsch. After an absence from guitar making they have just been re-vitalised by a change of ownership resulting in the glad tidings that Gretsch guitars will be in production again soon. It could be months before we actually set eyes on them, but newly-appointed distributor DIXIE KIDD tells us they're on their way! Meanwhile the drums continue to be imported and availability should improve.

Dixie also handles the Tom Scholz Rockman, and there's a new reverb-less version of that — the Rockman Ultralite. This is £65 less than the reverb model but reverb can be added later (very fairly) for the difference between the two types at new list price.

On to those new guitars. WASHBURN had some fresh models — especially in their electro-acoustic range. Looking rather close to the beautiful Ovation Adamas, especially in its decoration, was the new all-wood Sundance, retailing at £599, plus two Chet Atkins look-alikes: the Mirage selling at £465, and the Spirit at £449. Also new were Washburn effects — a digital delay at £369, spectrum analyser + 10 band graphic (£279) plus a 90+90 power amp, the WP 1000 at £279. There are pedals too, in the Accelerator Series: analogue delay, stereo chorus, flanger, graphic, distortion and phaser. Optional is a floor-mounted mains powered container for tying together the effects. Tremolo buffs should check-out a new system from Washburn, called the Dive-Bomber Vibrato. This can be fitted to many of their existing range of solids and costs £25 extra. Three new 'V' copies, the Tour Series, were launched plus two new Strat-like Force Series models and a new, cheaper bass, the Stage B5.

Red hot was a home recording machine from ARIA. This is going to shake a lot of people up because, although there are none in the country yet and all distributors GIGSVILLE had to show dealers was a drawing, the specs looked very impressive and the price being talked around could make it a genuine hit for next year — we'll keep you posted on that one!

Still on ARIA, we saw the new models we we wrote about last month (including the BOBCAT, WILDCAT and those superlative looking Black-and-Gold models). From a quick glimpse, they all seemed to be well up to the expected Aria standard and we've been promised samples to test very soon. British guitar makers had their say too. The main makes on show were OVERWATER, WAL, GORDON SMITH and Birmingham's own JAYDEE. The standard of British guitar and bass making is getting so high these days that it seems absurd that these craftsmen's instruments are so hard to find in many music shops — even some of the better ones. This situation may not, however, last much longer as there were plans afoot at the show for a guild or some such organisation to be formed by the British makers to promote their products. The quality of guitars from the four major names on show remains as high as you'll find anywhere.

Talking of guitars, how about strings? The good news is that VINCI strings (one of the best American-made brands) now have full-time distribution over here via FRED WACHSBERGER — watch out for them, they're excellent.

Still on excellence, C F MARTIN were represented by the DREADNOUGHT GUITAR CO and they had some of the finest acoustics on show (naturally enough!). Martin are celebrating their 150th year in business and have produced a series of astoundingly beautiful commemorative instruments, each signed by the current Martin family generation (yes, they're still there!). OK, Martin guitars are expensive — but the craftsmanship and experience which goes into them has hever been bettered and each one is an investment in both musical and financial terms. Recently Martin have tried their hand at some lower-priced models and Phil York from Dreadnought had a plain but breathtaking 0017 in mahogany on the stand. We'll be looking at a Martin or two soon — you've been warned!

This leads us to one of the most unusual developments at the show. ROSETTI had a sample of the latest acoustic from GIBSON — the J-25. This is a remarkable development from Gibson — a synthetic back but not rounded a la Ovation, rather a more normal shape which means that, apart from anything else, it won't keep falling off your lap in the studio.

With its spruce top and synthetic back, the new J-25 had a remarkable mellow sound and particularly comfortable neck. The price? Around £300. Watch out for this one.

Other new products from the Gibson stable were equally fascinating. On the electric front, there's the Invader, featuring a hardwood body, twin exposed humbuckers, bolt-on neck — a great looking guitar which could be selling around the upper £300s. Overall, after a period when Gibsons were becoming prohibitively expensive for many UK players, it now looks like they're really getting themselves sorted out.

On the Gibson-ish front, the Epiphone line now being made in Japan is looking specially tasty. We sneaked an Emperor Jazz guitar off the display and were pleased to find it was made of quality wood. It should sell for under £500, which isn't bad for such a high quality jazz model.

ROSETTI had one item, though, that we couldn't fathom at all. This was a SONY attempt at a home recording machine which looked hideously garish in its plastic casing. The unit appears to work on a two-track cassette basis, with a built-in radio. It's too early to reach any conclusions but, on the face of it, the unit just looks wrong and seems very oddly specified for a price which could be around the £600 mark.

Happier altogether from ROSETTI, who probably had more new products this year than any other single company, was the new ASUMI range of inexpensive Japanese-made solid guitars. These will sell for around the £129 mark and, although simple, look like being good value for money.

Yet another ROSETTI product is from SEIKO — a range of digital keyboards and synths, from very simple 'single finger chord' types at £399 up to a complete system for around £1,350. The compact Seiko DS310 is a digital synth with auto bass chords, simple chords, auto rhythm and a computer link facility. Also new are the Seiko DS202 and the DS101. This latter is a digital type, again with computer interface potential and a total of 12 instrument sounds plus 4 types of digital sounds. The DS101 has a digital sequencer working on the 'harmonic addition' principle, and there is also a DS320 digital sequencer which can use a RAM cassette to enhance the memory facility. Brand new at the show, more details will follow.

Eye catching guitars were also to be found on the STENTOR stand. They've just taken on the Japanese KAWAI electrics — which, strangely, have always sold well overseas but not in the UK. Stentor's new Kawais, however, look good and have low prices, so keep your eyes open for them. The new range is called the Kawai Aquarius.

These Aquarius models are vaguely Strat-like but look particularly nice and seem well made. Basses are on the way too. Aquarius guitars start around the £165 mark, basses come a bit dearer.

Still on guitars (acoustics this time), LOWDEN have new models plus a new string line originated by George Lowden and made by SUPERWOUND. We'll be giving those a STRING SEARCH fairly soon. The new LOWDENS include some magnificent jazz models, nylon strung with cutaways, and a new Lowden amp specially designed to handle acoustic/electric guitars to the best advantage. Called the GA 100, it has two channels, one with a 5-band graphic. A McKenzie 100 watt 12" driver is fitted, along with Accutronics reverb and the whole package does look interesting although rather strangely coloured in chocolate brown with copper fittings. The GA 100 carries a 2-year warranty and will sett for £355.

K IRVING DISTRIBUTORS who handle Lowden guitars, amps and strings also have two new acoustic guitar ranges. These are the Artisan Series (from £230 to £290) and the Flambeau budget priced models ranging from around £125 to £155.

Back to electric guitars. TOKAI are getting an ever-larger range together, and UK distributor Eric Dixon of BLUE SUEDE MUSIC showed us some rare models made in Japan but not presently imported into the UK. These included Strat types with V necks, some unusual 'vintage' years.

Eric also imports the Evans echo range and this has grown rapidly in recent months to include just about every type of delay effect. Watch out for those new Tokai models, though. We'd like to see the rarer vintage Strats and Teles over here in addition to the 'vintages' already imported, and will be reporting back on some soon — if we can prise them out of Blue Suede's clutches. Although this show isn't known for its home recording emphasis, two leading companies in this field were there. We'll kick off with MTR. Among a range of equipment including items for PA and recording use (like the Cutec 4-track) Tony Reeves of MTR also had the VESTA FIRE Frequency Spectrum Analyser which has a very natty LED chain read-out. MTR also distribute the McGregor range of amplification and this now includes models like the MOS-FET Studio Lead guitar combo (100 watts into 1x12" McKenzie speaker for an RRP of £301.88), a matching bass combo, the Bassman (100 watts into a 15" speaker for £362.25) plus head versions of these two and a whole line of mixer-amps heads, combos, all at good prices.

The other home recording exhibitors were BANDIVE (of FOSTEX fame). Of interest to the scientifically-minded was a highly portable signal generator come frequency counter. Small studios and PA users please note — it costs about £300.

Also new from BANDIVE was a sample from a gigantic range of speakers and specialised drivers made in Japan by the FOSTEX people. These are claimed to be of very high specification and could be worth looking into — or should that be listen in to? There were also Fostex power amps — 150 watt stereo into 4 ohms will cost you £350, while the 300 p.c. comes out at £499. Finally, Bandive have a 16 into 8 mixer for just £1,000 with 16 track monitoring. Suitable either for PA or studio use, it looked like a bargain to us.

Back on percussion, we came across a new LUDWIG kit aimed at a lower price range than we might expect from this prestige manufacturer — just £595 plus cymbals and stands. Looked tasty and well worth our getting Rick Palmer to have a bash at, we felt.

PA people KUDOS from the West Country seem to have expanded their range considerably. In addition to their well known minispeaker cabs, they are offering the MX4120, a 4 channel mixer amp with echo (£383.23 for 140 watts RMS into 4 ohms) and the larger, 6 channel 280 watts into 4 ohms model MX6400 (£570.40). New to us was KUDOS' 666 enclosure (a Beastly looking cab — ho ho!) with six 6" drivers operating across a full range and handling 300 watts continuous per cab. The cost is £308.37. Accessory suppliers RHINO had at least one item we've been hoping to find for weeks (see our Letters Page). This is a stabilised and regulated power supply box, which will retail at a very fair £17.67. It takes a feed from any typical cheap mains to 9v transformer and splits to five smoothed feeds for driving effects pedals without the incompatibility problems usually associated with cheap transformers. By coincidence we're also carrying a plea for a unit just like this, written before the show — someone must be psychic at RHINO!

Also new from RHINO was an inexpensive mixer, the SMX-12 — a 6:1 at just under £110, featuring bass and treble Eq, line plus high and low inputs, effects send and return. Another mixer (a volume only type) is the 6:1 SMX-11, battery powered and very handy at just £38.

On the keyboard front, a new line of equipment was launched by Italian makers SIEL. This included a polyphonic synthesiser, the Orchestra 2, with the usual pre-set effects and 49 keys, the Opera 6, a polyphonic programmable with dynamic keyboard control, six voices and 61 keys, a fully polyphonic electronic piano, the Quattro at £1,099, a nice new mono synthesiser with 49 keys, the Cruise, at £649 and a 37 key version, the Mono, selling for £249. We'll be testing a SIEL as soon as we can get our hands on one. HOHNER had a couple of nice new introductions, including the West German MAXIMA GOLD strings. These are very popular in the States and are literally gold-plated! Endorsees include Frank Zappa. HOHNER also showed a new range of SCHALLER pickups including the fascinating Western II, which features out of phase (and thus hum cancelling) coils with a 4 position switch to enable the user to choose from out of phase, humbucking, single coil and standby settings. Also new from SCHALLER was a 'Golden 50' Humbucker, claimed to have the '50s sound. The Western II will sell for £35.45, the Golden 50 at £17.40.

PEAVEY, as ever, had so much new gear on show that it was impossible really to get to grips with it in one sitting. Still, we've covered the new 800 watt Max in Jerry Wasley's August exclusive review and that model was on show. Attracting a lot of attention, though, was the new Encore 65 watt, all-valve combo plus a new keyboard combo, the KB300, which delivers 130 watts RMS in into 4 ohms, offers 3 channels, reverb, compression etc, and looks to be a great package. Goods news for those who want to own a genuine 'big name' American-made guitar.

GOLICO handle RICKENBACKER and had a superb collection on their stand, including one of the rare special order twin neck models — tasty! But the real teaser is the new 230 which replaces the previous 430. It has newly designed high output pickup circuitry, a Schaller bridge, two vols, two tones, twin pickups, plus a full scale neck (the 430 was only ¾ size). The 230 looks a little plain but it's well priced at £290. A similar shaped model, but with gold plated hardware and active power will sell for just £399. The models shown were prototypes but they're coming soon.

Another new introduction from GOLICO was the Rickenbacker 350 semi-acoustic, a similar model to the old 330 fitted with 3 pickups and a full scale neck rather than the 330's ¾ scale.

BADGER, who make some nice small amps, announced three new keyboard combos at the show, the Keyboard Coda 15 (a 15 watt combo), plus 30 watt and 70 watt models. Also new were PA enclosures, 4x12s and a 70 watt, four channel PA amp. Reviews will follow.

Back on guitars, KEITH HAND unveiled the GORDON SMITH GALAXI guitars and basses (see this issue's reviews) and also had some interesting other lines like a craftsman West German built headless bass called the WARWICK. This follows a fairly typical Steinberger-like pattern except for some novel extras, like a hollow tube at the base which fits the instrument to its specially designed ultra-safe guitar stand. The woodworking quality on the Warwick was first rate — as was the price of £650 which isn't at all bad for a bass in this Steinberger-done league. Fretted and fretless models are available at the same price.

If playing the bass is more your problem than buying one, then help is at hand in the form of some interesting additions to the range of tuition systems offered by LABTEK INTERNATIONAL (they of HOTLICKS tapes). New introductions include some basic to ultra-advanced level bass tutors, each provided with cassettetapes (a la Hotlicks) as well as written info.

PEARL continue to carry the flag for drummers and had several new lines, including a new set called the "Deep Export". This is a very reasonably priced kit with deeper shells than normal. Particularly innovative from PEARL was a 'floating snare' — a new concept which allows optional shell choices from one drum. Rick Palmer has been put on the alert for a review of this concept.

On the effects front, PEARL showed a new 'Octaver' plus yet another digital delay. Could this have been the year of the cloned delay system?

Anyone who reckons that organs are no longer the 'thing' (with the presence of so many synths around) should take a look at a new model from ELKA-ORLA. They unleashed the X109, a twin manual type with built-in 50 watt RMS stereo amplification. Also built-in is a 6 voice monophonic synthesiser. Price of the new Elka X109 is a very reasonable £1,399 for what looks like a tough road-going keyboard.

ROLAND, as anticipated, had brought over the latest products from their recent NAMM show success in the States. We had a chance to see their answer to the Rockman, the BOSS PLAY BUS, which intrigued everyone who tried it — not least of whom was Gary Moore who we spotted quietly doing his nut with one! The Play Bus is a headphone amp system with on-board distortion facility which can be used on its own or linked with a friend's unit for ensemble playing. Notable was the quiet circuitry. This will retail at £175 plus stereo phones with a built-in mike talkback system for an extra £65.

The biggest news for the forthcoming gig season, however, has to be from FENDER. Almost unbelievably, they have announced the revision of their entire guitar ranges — and you aren't going to believe some of the implications of this!

The FENDER line now includes complete up-dated Strats Teles and basses, some of which have undergone massive alterations. Take the ELITE STRAT for example. Through the body string fastening has gone, so has the tremolo set-up, replaced by a new kind which is no longer accessed via the back. Even the pickup selector has been ousted to make way for a push-button system! Even more, the Elite Strat is now active powered. Further, the neck shape is changed to a 12" radius and fat frets are now standard. A new truss rod system called the Bi Flex is fitted, supposed to be capable of dealing with warps in both planes and, a great surprise this, the micro-tilt system has been revived. There are so many changes to the basic Strat idea in the Elite Series that even these revolutions aren't the whole story — that will have to wait till we can borrow one to review.

The Telecaster too can now be had as an Elite version, active powered again, with the new 'TBX' and 'MDX' tone circuitry, a refined bridge, a new style pickup selector and a good range of finishes and colours.

Elite FENDER basses include a brand new bridge with a rotary knurled adjustment on it for micro-tuning (somewhat a la TP6 in concept) and the bass can have either one or two noise cancelling pickups. It is, of course, active as are all the Elites.

Thankfully for traditionalists, Standard models of the old faithfuls are offered, but even these have some of the Elite Series' features such as new bridge types (top-loading) larger frets and a different neck radius. Regrettably, they are only available with maple necks — goodbye rosewood; for that you have to move up to the Elite range. The Vintage Series, the Squiers and the acoustics are to continue.

As if all this weren't enough change for several years, there are many new amps too, including a low-priced 'Sidekick' Series of small combos and several major amp introductions besides. We hope to be able to follow-up these developments with more details later.

Drummers will delight in noting that ZILDJIAN launched new 'paper thin' crash cymbals; the lightest type they offer. The Paper Thin Zildjians come in 14", 15", 16", and 19" types. Other new Zildjians are 15" hi-hat, 18" and 20" China Boy types in the AMIR range.

Bargain of the Show? That accolade probably goes to HONDO guitars whose anticipated models (see our show preview last month) turned out to be real bargains. Copies still exist in the HONDO range, but there are bargain price original designs too.

Once again, reviews have been arranged to see if production examples match up to the quality of the samples we saw at the fair. Well, that was it for the 1983 show. Now all that remains is to sit back and see how much of this new equipment finds its way into our local stores — and then it's up to us to try them and buy them (or otherwise). Needless to say, the MUSIC U.K. team has been on the scrounge for review samples — watch this space!