James Lomenzo -- he of Megadeth bass-playing fame -- is a huge fan of his new Wyn Guitars custom bass guitar. We spoke with Jmaes and Wyn Guitars founder Randy Fulmer at Winter NAMM 2010.  

We love a good historical reference almost as much as we love a good distortion pedal. In other words, we love the T-Rex Bloody Mary Distortion Pedal, shown here at Winter NAMM 2010.  

Sure, they have some of the best-named effects pedals in the industry, but does the Pigtronix Philosopher King distortion / envelope controller really live up to its self-hype? Watch this NAMM 2010 video and find out.  

No instrument is out of reach for Tonehammer, not even the Arabic hand drum known as the Riq. Three types of Riq drums were sampled in all their glory for the company's latest sound library, which offers 2,300 samples in all.  

If you want that big electronic bass drum sound but lack the hardware to get it, check out EKS-9, the new Synapse Audio soft synth that re-creates the sounds of vintage gear.  

The Europa by Analogue Solutions is the company's latest hardware MIDI step sequencer, designed for use with MIDI synthesizers, analog modulars, drum machines, and the like.  

Let's get ghetto then, shall we? Prime Loops is drawing ghetto house music from the London music scene and bringing it directly to your laptop via the new Ghetto House Grooves loop collection, which offers ghetto fab styles from dubstep, electro, garage, and grime to urban and UK funky.  

Those with a Windows-based setup can now download AuraPlug's new freebie distortion effect plugin, EddieVsHeaven.  

MeldaProduction's new multiband flanger plugin, MMultiBandFlanger, features a continuously adjustable oscillator shape and much more.  

With Minimal House Beats And Synth Collection Vol. 03 under your belt, you'll have a complete arsenal of sounds to produce dance, house, and minimal tech.  

If you promise not to use the new MeldaProduction MFlanger plugin for commercial use, you can have it for free.  

Not everyone works with 5.1 mixes, but those who do have been abuzz about the Penteo/RT up-conversion hardware. This box converts stereo audio to 5.1 in real time -- a huge boon to audio post production houses like Post Haste Media in North Hollywood and Smart Post in Burbank, who've already implemented the Penteo/RT into their work-flows. We visited both companies to find out more.  

Esoteric FX, the latest Sounds To Sample library, is like a boardinghouse of audio samples on steroids, all beefed up with all-analog VCAs fed through stompboxes, warped LFOs, and circuit-bent filters.  

Lenny Dee threw down some hard-edged techno and electro elements for the latest Producer Loops set of construction kits, Lenny Dee: Hard Electronic.  

Watch out for the new Motion Samples sample library, 80’s Drum Beatz, because its rhythm is gonna get you. This library is packed with drum loops and beats programmed to get the sounds that defined 1980s dancefloor hits.  

Ultra slim and compact, the new Sanyo Xacti Sound Recorder ICR-XPS01MF is about the same weight and size (and price) as your old Motorola Razr mobile phone.  

PreSonus has announced full Windows 7 compatibility for all currently available recording interfaces, including the FireBox, FP10, FirePod, and Inspire 1394.  

We check out the new Clavia Nord Piano, a new, 88-key, performance-oriented and piano-centric keyboard from the celebrated Swedish synth-makers. Assonance: accomplished (also, alliteration).  

Walk this way to our Winter NAMM 2010 coverage of the upcoming T-Rex Tonebug Distortion pedal, a little, silver box that's capable of amazing heaps of tone.  

"Say, I smell distortion. Does anyone else smell distortion?"

"Yeah, I definitely smell a diode-clipping product of some type."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're doin' Campbell. Pigtronix Aria, Distortion Pedal, Winter NAMM 2010. I used to say that to gear reps when I was your age."  

Special for the NAMM 2010 show, the Charvel Custom Shop whipped up a pair of one-off Charvel Surfcasters, the anachronistic axe that died a premature death, but not before inspiring a hoard of loyal followers. Just like that long-haired dude from long ago (Kurt Cobain).  

We demo the new T-Rex Engineering Room-Mate Reverb Pedal, a tube-based ambience effect that sounds amazing, but won't eat you cereal or leave dirty socks in the shared bathroom.  

Orange hued and ready to rock, the Orange Rockerverb II series of heads and combos will add new specs and design changes to the original Rockerverb features set.  

Twisted Tools is inviting you to enter its new Web site and experience Vortex, a six-track polyphonic sampler and sequencer for Native Instruments Reaktor 5, and a handful of free Reaktor ensembles.  

If you already own and use Acustica Audio Nebula 3, you'll want to check out CD Sound Master's new The Peak-200A EQ, a collection of 21 hardware-quality equalizer programs made just for Nebula.  

Tha Loops has released its latest loop collection, Indian Loops 1, which weaves the spirit of Indian music with the production style of Timbaland, The Neptunes, and other top hip-hop producers.  

To make the Classic Backbeats II drum loop and sample library, Beta Monkey Music sampled off the retro rock grooves of a vintage Ludwig Black Oyster 1960s drum kit.  

During the entire month of February, you can save 20 or even 30 percent on Universal Audio UAD Powered Plug-In bundles.  

We've been hearing about a lower-price-point Receptor for a little while now, and this functional demo version of the Muse Research Musebox is the closest thing we've yet seen to a final product. We took a look at it at the recent NAMM show.  

Longtime Marshall fan and endorser Slash will be developing a new head with the British amp maker, slated to be an exact replica of the amp heard on the seminal Guns 'N Roses album Appetite For Destruction.