Tone Report Weekly 185 | Page 14

So it’s been a difficult year, but we had the right team in place to keep going, and so we have been. Now we are hoping that 2017 and beyond will continue to be successful for us, and enable us to continue the work that Nic started, so we can keep doing what we do. TR: How was NAMM 2017 for you guys? The Formula 55 overdrive and the new pair of Belle Epoch pedals seemed to generate an awful lot of excitement. HG: 2017 NAMM was really positive for us. Leading up to NAMM, though, we were stressing a bit. We had some fierce winter storms, which meant people weren’t always able to get to the shop in the days leading up to the show, and so we were down to the wire building the Formula 55, Belle Epoch Deluxe and Epoch Pre prototypes. We got them built and were able to bring all of the new prototypes to the show, and they were all very well received. I would say it was easily the best reception for new products of any NAMM we’ve been to, so we were really stoked by that. It went really well. TR: The Belle Epoch Deluxe is shaping up to be the biggest pedal release of the year. The Gear Page’s thread on it was 54 pages long last time I looked, and the pedal community is collectively frothing at the mouth in anticipation. What do you think accounts for this Epoch-mania? Eric Johnson’s Pedalboard 14 TONE TALK // The Devil’s in the Details: A Chat with Howard Gee from Catalinbread