Stage Ninja Guitar Roadie
You might’ve known about Stage Ninja from their retractable
instrument and XLR cables, but walking by a booth and seeing
someone effortlessly lift two guitar cases with one hand will make
you look again. It’s not a big thing, but for the gigging guitarists
we know, the Guitar Roadie is going to be a “must have”—two
hands, four guitars. Actually, the guys at Stage Ninja have a whole
range of accessories that demonstrate a knack for pragmatic
design and solid engineering—from 100% recycled rubber guitar
straps that look good, flex just a little and do their part for the
environment, to flexible, cab-mounting mic holders with either
magnet or clamp bases.
MAP $19.99
stageninja.net
VOX Night Train
Finally, those two words will be able to conjure up more than
blurry memories of yesteryear—hangin’ out in empty parking lots
kickin’ out the jams from a dual-cassette boombox. VOX’s small
but hefty entry into the portable rump-kicker category promises
to entice VOX freaks tired of lugging their bigger amps around.
Featuring the same tube complement as the famous AC15, and
the same unmistakeable chiming cleans and raw EL84 bite, the
Night Train also packs in selectable triode or pentode power tube
mode ( 7.5W or 15W) and a Bright/Thick switch for even more
tone-tweaking. They’re calling it an “armored lunchbox”—yumm…
MSRP $800
voxamps.com
WattGrinder’s new ToneGrinder Tubes
Finally—a non-glass, non-vacuum tube that offers
consistency (no more matching!) and longer life. No
more worries about microphonic issues, deterioria-tion or vibration. That’s the pitch anyway—we’ve yet
to test them at length ourselves, but look forward to
doing so very soon. Booth demos were impressive
enough to get our attention. Available in 12AX7s so
far, there are different varieties for different triode
characterstics—allowing you to select a type for your
preferred sound or mix/match to experiment with
new tones. A patent is pending so details of exactly
how these things work are being held close to the
vest. Already in production, a standard ToneGrinder
is expected to street for $139.
wattgrinder.com
96 PREMIERGUITAR DECEMBER 2008
