It's that time of year again, everybody: NAMM time. The NAMM Show, most definitely the show for everything exciting happening in musical instruments, is here once again. We swung down to sunny Anaheim, California in the dead of a tristate winter for a great few days packed with all our (and your) favorite stuff. Here's ten things from the 2026 NAMM Show we had to put on our postcard. In no particular order, let's hit it.
Surfy springs forward on an anniversary Beach Boys Pet Sounds SurfyBear Reverb
Surfy Industries The Beach Boys Pet Sounds SurfyBear Compact Reverb
Don't look now, but Pet Sounds turns sixty this year. That may very well be enough to put a frown on your face, but our friends over at Surfy Industries will turn that frown upside-down. The Surfy Industries Special Edition Beach Boys Pet Sounds SurfyBear Compact Reverb debuted at NAMM.
It's no secret that the Beach Boys' seminal work Pet Sounds owes quite a bit to the splashy spring reverb units of their day. Luckily for us in 2026, Sweden's finest in authentic, vintage-style analog reverb and amplification delivers a bright green version of their SurfyBear Compact spring-loaded reverb unit to commemorate six decades of such an important record. Coming this year at the tail end of Surfy's favorite season, spring, this mashup of classic psychedelic pop and modern-day analog wizardry is sure to make a splash.
Gibson rings in 100 years of flat-tops with Century Collection acoustic guitars
Gibson Century Collection Acoustic Guitars
Funnily enough, forty years before the Beach Boys put Pet Sounds to wax, Gibson introduced their first flat-top acoustic guitar. One hundred years on and the sounds and styles of the brand's first flat-top acoustics still hold so much weight. At NAMM, Gibson debuted for 2026 their new Gibson Century Collection acoustic guitars.
Gibson's history with acoustic guitars goes back well beyond a century, but their original flat-top acoustic guitars were big trendsetters and movers of their day. The company commemorates this history and pivotal design with a series of acoustic guitars crafted with reverence and attention directed toward the brand's 1920s designs. Gibson Century Collection flat-top acoustic guitars like the L-00, J-45, and J-185 are set to arrive in spring 2026. However you slice it, it's sure to be an exciting year for Gibson acoustic fans.
Fender heads back to the lab with new Fender Studio Pro DAW
Fender Studio Pro DAW Digital Audio Workstation
It's not all about the twentieth century, you know. It is 2026, after all. While Fender did not make an appearance with their guitars proper at NAMM, we did absolutely get a taste of their all-new Fender Studio Pro DAW.
Always working to deliver for their artists' spontaneous creativity, Fender introduces their Studio Pro digital audio workstation. Meant to fire up inspiration with headache-less workflows, built-in features, and authentic, official Fender digital amps, instruments, and effects, Fender's Studio Pro DAW is ready for anything. What's more, new Fender Quantum USB-C Audio Interfaces put players forward with high-performance mix preamps and instrument inputs optimized specifically for Fender instruments.
Orange squeezes a single-channel with the OR60 head
Orange Amps OR60 60-Watt Guitar Amplifier Head
It's always a cool thing to see your favorite names try to squeeze the absolute most out of their designs – no stone unturned, the most blood from the stone, so to say, or, the most juice from the Orange. This was positively the case with the Orange Amps OR60 60-Watt Guitar Amp Head.
For some, a single-channel amp might seem like a challenge, a hinderance, a limitation, even. "What am I supposed to do with only one channel?" Orange clearly sees a couple good tubes and one channel as an opportunity with their OR60. This new release dropped in alongside their OR30 with sixty watts of pure 6L6 tube muscle, a deep, three-band EQ, and a tube-buffered effects loop. The metaphorical miles you can go with one swig of this single-channel Orange are nothing to scoff at. For those who love the simplicity of one channel, a couple 6L6s, and nowhere to be, you really can't go wrong.
Music Man doubles down on dark with the DarkRay II bass
Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay II Bass Guitar
Doing everything on one channel – or even one instrument – really can open up a creative flow-state too good to pass up. Really, don't underestimate the value of not having to put down one instrument to pick up another, or stomp on a pedal, even! One of our (and really, everyone's) favorite ways to see this in motion is with the Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay bass – and wouldn't you know it, we caught something tantalizing at the Music Man booth: The Music Man DarkRay II.
You heard us right. The classic collab model from Music Man and Finland's Darkglass Electronics is getting a new version with the DarkRay II. The DarkRay, for those of you out of the loop, is a collaboration bass guitar model that pops up every now again with Music Man's classic StingRay Bass shape and Darkglass-designed electronics under the hood. The new DarkRay II drops in with a lot of familiar designs, but with new, upgraded gizmos from Darkglass including, in addition to the built-in distortion effect, an onboard octave up and down circuit. It's never a bad time to go big!
Martin supes up their dreadnoughts with Standard Series Super D-18 and HD-28 acoustic guitars
Martin Guitar Standard Series Super D-18 and Super HD-28 Acoustic Guitars
Speaking of going big, sometimes you pack more into your microchips, other times, you build a bigger guitar – both perfectly acceptable paths, if you ask us. Our friends over at Martin Guitar flashed a great example of the latter with their new Standard Series Super D-18 and Super HD-28 acoustics at NAMM.
Part of Martin's refreshed Standard Series, the popular "Super D" body style enters the fray with the Super D-18 and Super HD-28. These "Super Dreadnought" body acoustics are built up with classic spruce tops, scalloped spruce braces, and 20% increased internal air volume over your average dreadnought. In short, these are guitars to make big statements with, audibly and visually. Catch someone's attention all the way across the room and don't lose it for the entirety of your set.
Taylor Guitars revels in never-before-seen, one-of-a-kind acoustic guitars
Taylor Guitars Custom Catch Acoustic Guitars
Attention, as it happens, was on no short supply with Taylor Guitars and their Custom Catch Event at the Viv Hotel. Taylor loaded in a gaggle of one-of-a-kind, custom acoustics from El Cajon for an intimate event. The stars of the show, Taylor's custom acoustic guitars, will be raffled and sold throughout 2026 with incredibly rare specifications, knockout looks, and of course, pristine sounds. Maybe you'll see one of these beauties swing through one of our stores this year... keep your eyes peeled!
Vox views vintage with new, retro fuzz and treble boost pedals
Vox Amps VTB-1 Treble Boost and VFZ-1 Fuzz Effect Pedals
While you're on the lookout for something brand-spanking new, maybe you can check out a blast from the past with Vox and their new, vintage-inspired VTB-1 Treble Booster and VFZ-1 Fuzz! Vox, true-believers in foundational, '60s-style designs that they are, are always fishing up new ways to recontextualize their timeless designs. Something all-the-rage in the '60s but certainly not out of vogue now, their new VTB-1 and VFZ-1.
These two sleek, stark, black stompboxes visually throw it back to some of the earliest days of pedal effects with authentic treble boost and fuzz effects. Streamlined designs couple with the timeless class of Vox instruments for a pair of pedals primed to perform. You might prefer a more glamorous box to stomp, but you can't go wrong with something from Vox.
Kauer hits us with de stijl on showcase guitars
Kauer Guitars Custom Electric Guitars
In case simple and monochrome doesn't butter your biscuit, you can always swing by and meet our friends at Kauer Guitars at their NAMM Booth. Kauer, kings of custom guitars in so many ways, often grace the NAMM Show floor with knockout finish designs for their iconic guitars like the Korona, Gripen, and Banshee. This year's showcase guitars hearkened to De Stijl, otherwise known as "The Style," an early twentieth century Dutch visual art moment driven by geometric designs and primary color palettes, not to get too artsy on you. Be sure to check out Kauer and all the effortlessly cool things they're always cooking up.
Fender Custom Shop revs up with new 2026 models
Fender Custom Shop 2026 Custom Electric Guitars
"Cool" can be an understatement, an overstatement, or right on target as a descriptor. Here, we'd like to choose the latter. At least, that's what we think anyway with the Fender Custom Shop and their own 2026 Showcase event held amid a backdrop of classic cars. Plenty of classic Fender Custom Shop 2026 models were in attendance at this event – your Strats, Teles, and Jazzmasters – all with incredibly unique matches of woods, pickups, and finishes. There's definitely some symmetry in there between the Custom Shop models and the classic cars – sleek, vintage, and ready to ride another day.
Happy NAMM, everybody!
