NAMM 2016 - Vox Starstream

I spent an evening or two looking over the various videos on Youtube from NAMM 2016 to see what new stuff had been launched.  Sadly to say that it was a lot of "same old, same old".  Fender have new Elite versions - which are a revamped deluxe... yes nice but... still a Strat still a Tele...  Gibson seem keen to go on about their heritage and all that... hmm whilst the new nut and tuners are about you'll see most models have two versions one with the new gizmos and one without and traditional nut and tuners etc.  Also the huge discounts I've seen on 2015 models online recently makes you think good old Orville and Co realised that they'd pushed the envelope a bit too far for many of their buyers.

Yamaha - some new acoustics that are based on the old... etc. etc.  You get the picture.

However here was the shining light frankly.  Vox have come and go in the guitar market since their pioneering 60s models.  I remember some in the 70s/80s with Dimarzio pickups.  About 5 years ago a really innovative range of semi acoustics looked like they may get somewhere, they had some really innovative pickups.  However that range quietly disappeared  - see my comments above we guitarists are a terribly conservative bunch.  Look at my collection... Les Paul, Les Paul a like from Gordon Smith, Strat, Strat, Strat with humbuckers, Tele... etc.

What Vox have done is launched the biggest competition to the Line6 guitar range ever.  A modelling guitar with various models available.  Styling maybe too radical for many but the sounds are impressive.  Here's a demo video from Vox.  I've seen street (online) prices at under £600....  The synth sounds add another dimension too...


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