NAMM Show 2026: Day 1 Roundup

Lee, Pete and the gang are on the ground at the Anaheim Convention Center, bringing you the buzz from this year’s NAMM show. Hit up our YouTube channel and socials for updates — and check out our recap of day one’s biggest news!

Elliot Stent

Elliot Stent

23/01/26 9:00am - 11 min read | 71 min watch

Gear News / Electric Guitars
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We’ve already brought you loads of early NAMM Show 2026 releases, rumours and news. But now, the event has finally kicked off — and it’s time to fill you in on the hottest products that really made a splash on day one.

Blackstar’s latest gear, brand-new Sterling by Music Man guitars, an exclusive Fender Custom Shop event… there’s a lot of cool stuff to cover.

NAMM 2026: day 1 highlights

The doors of the Anaheim Convention Center are officially open, and thousands of lucky NAMM 2026 visitors are getting first‑hand experience of what the world’s leading music gear brands have cooked up for the year. Scroll down to see what everyone’s been raving about so far:

Neural Quad Cortex Mini

Did you catch this absolutely massive drop last night? Neural DSP unveiled the Quad Cortex Mini, and it damn-near broke the internet. The QC Mini takes everything we all know and love about the OG Quad Cortex and packs it into an even more portable, pedalboard‑friendly format. Same power. Same killer tones. Just… smaller.

Coming in at over 50% dinkier than its bigger bro, the Quad Cortex Mini is ridiculously easy to slot straight into your setup. Fancy a grab‑and‑go fly rig? Sorted. Or if you see it more as a compact home‑studio hub, it doubles up as an audio interface too. In short, it’s a proper do‑it‑all box!

And the best bit? You’re not losing anything that makes the Quad Cortex special. You still get Neural DSP’s world‑class amp modelling, their insanely accurate Neural Capture tech, hugely creative effects chains, plus that crisp multi‑touch display that makes dialling in tones easy. It also plays nicely with the wider Quad Cortex ecosystem, meaning presets, backups and workflows move seamlessly between devices.

Buy the Quad Cortex Mini

Sterling by Music Man: Cutlass Plus, StingRay Baritone & more

The folks at Sterling by Music Man haven’t been sitting still. After teasing their first ’26 models on social media a couple of days ago, the full lineup is now live and available to pre‑order. Here’s what they’re showing off at NAMM:

  • Cutlass Plus: It’s a cranked-up Cutlass, basically. You get a slick roasted Maple neck, rock-solid locking tuners and a versatile HSS pickup config. The standout feature? A push/push mid boost on the volume knob — perfect for cutting through the mix when it’s solo time.
  • StingRay Baritone: Built to go low, with a 27.5” scale length and B standard tuning straight out of the box. Other highlights include a vintage‑style tremolo, powerful ceramic humbuckers and a rather lovely Toluca Lake Blue finish.
  • Luke HSS: Staying true to the full‑fat Music Man recipe, this one features the instantly recognisable body shape and comfy V‑shaped neck Steve Lukather favours. It ups the flexibility with an HSS setup and a 12dB onboard push/push boost, just like the Cutlass Plus.
  • StingRay Short Scale bass: A proper little tone machine. Thanks to its 30” scale, this StingRay is an absolute joy to play — and it sounds the business too. The neodymium humbucker delivers that signature ’Ray growl, plus there’s a built‑in push/push volume boost. Yep, we’re definitely seeing a pattern here, Sterling (and we’re into it).
  • ‘Kokiri Forest’ Richardson signature guitars: Any Zelda fans feeling a bit of nostalgia right now? Jason Richardson’s latest sig models arrive in a lush, gaming‑inspired green finish that feels like it’s been pulled straight outta Hyrule. Looks aside, these modded 6-string and 7-string Cutlass guitars are just as hyper‑ergonomic as ever — fast, precise and built for modern shredders (no Master Sword required).

A lifestyle photo of two Sterling by Music Man Jason Richardson signature Cutlass guitars in Kokiri Forest

Shop New Sterling by Music Man Guitars

Blackstar amps: ID:X Floor, TV-10 amps & Artist FR cabs

Blackstar have clearly been a busy bunch. This morning, they lifted the covers off not one, not two, but three digital floor modellers, a pair of retro-style valve heads, plus two new FRFR cabinets. Here’s a closer look at what they’ve brought to NAMM:

  • ID:X Floor One, Two & Three: Play live on the reg? These amp and FX modelling pedals are gonna save your back and give you stellar tone direct to FOH (sound engineers will love you). They come equipped with 12 awesome amp models, 35+ effects, 99 patches and USB-C connectivity — with no deep menu diving needed. Choose the ultra‑portable Floor One or step up to the Floor Two or Floor Three for a built‑in expression pedal and a few extra footswitches.
  • TV-10 A & TV-10 B valve heads: Remember those TV-10 combos that launched about 18 months ago? Well, Blackstar have now introduced head versions! The American‑voiced TV‑10 A and British‑style TV‑10 B deliver classic low‑wattage, single‑ended Class A tube tone and take pedals beautifully. Partner them up with the new Celestion‑loaded TV-112 A and TV-112 B matching cabs for a complete, portable boutique‑style rig.
  • Artist FR 1×12” cabs: These powered FRFR cabinets are designed to give digital modeller users the dynamics and feel of a real guitar amp, without killing any clarity. That’s where features like whizzer cones, active 3‑band EQs and Presence controls come into play. They also include built‑in kickstands for easy tilt‑back floor monitoring. And best of all, they’re super budget‑friendly. The Artist FR Standard is great for home use and smaller gigs, while the Artist FR Special is better suited to rehearsals and larger stages.

Shop Blackstar 2026 NAMM Gear

Korg Phase8 acoustic synth

The Korg booth is never short on surprises, but NAMM 2026’s real curveball is the wonderfully strange new Korg Phase8. This isn’t your usual “yet another synth” situation. Phase8 is an eight-voice acoustic synthesizer that ignores the rules and blurs the line between electronic control and real-world vibration. It’s the brainchild of Tatsuya Takahasi, the genius behind the Monotron and the original Volcas that kick-started the mini-synth craze. In other words, he’s a bit of a legend.

Instead of pretending to be acoustic, Phase8 actually is. Each of its eight voices drives a vibrating steel resonator, so you’re shaping genuine movement rather than a digital impression of it. Touch it, pluck it, mute it or introduce “found objects”, and Phase8 pushes back with feedback, noise, shimmer and organic texture that standard oscillators simply can’t fake.

It ships with 13 chromatically tuned resonators (with eight installable at any one time), and you can swap and tune them to create your own scales and temperaments. With envelope shaping and modulation, those resonators can snap into tight percussive hits or bloom into long, ghostly sustains. Under the hood, Phase8 is also a serious compositional tool. The built-in polymetric sequencer supports classic step programming and unquantized live recording, plus per-voice step skip, trigger delay and full panel automation.

And yes, it plays nicely with the rest of your gear. MIDI, USB-MIDI, CV and sync I/O make Phase8 feel right at home in DAW-based, hardware, modular or hybrid setups. Its sequencer can even drive external synths while the resonators do their thing.

A stunning lifestyle photo of the Korg Phase8 launched at the NAMM Show 2026

Buy the Korg Phase8

Fender Custom Shop event

The Andertons crew were lucky enough to get an invite to Fender’s very exclusive Custom Shop event last night — and it did not disappoint. The room was packed with hand‑crafted Custom Shop guitars, all set against a backdrop of classic muscle cars, hot rods and glowing vintage neon signs.

Safe to say, there were more than a few jaw‑dropping instruments on display. And yes, this writer is slightly jealous they got to see it all up close!

The even better news? A handful of these beauties will be heading to Andertons later this year. It’s a bit of a lottery as to which ones we’ll receive, so for now, the best move is to bookmark our Fender Custom Shop guitars page and keep an eye out over the coming weeks and months.

Shop Fender Custom Shop Guitars

RANE System One Motorised Standalone DJ System

RANE turning up to NAMM without something disruptive would feel suspicious — and the new System One proves they’re not breaking tradition. It’s a standalone, motorised DJ system that politely acknowledges laptops and then carries on without ‘em, delivering a club‑ready, all‑in‑one setup with high‑torque platters, deep Engine DJ integration and full Serato support. It’s built for open‑format DJs who want real turntable feel without dragging an entire studio into a cramped booth!

At its core are a pair of 7.2-inch aluminium motorised platters with proper torque and inertia, so scratching and nudging behave naturally instead of feeling like you’re moving files around a screen. Because it runs Engine DJ, you can stay completely laptop‑free while still getting modern workflows: fast browsing, RGB waveforms on a 7-inch touchscreen, RGB pads with OLEDs, onboard sampling, lighting control and RANE’s OmniSource flexibility for playing from USB, SD, internal SATA, cloud storage or streaming platforms. And if you do want a computer, System One drops straight into Serato DJ Pro.

Creatively, System One refuses to stay in the “two‑deck” box. Standalone Stems let you pull tracks apart on the fly for instant acapellas, instrumentals and mashups, with dedicated pad modes, Stem FX and over 25 Main FX turning transitions into actual performances. Add the MAG FOUR crossfader, adjustable channel faders, 24‑bit audio, full pro I/O, Bluetooth, dual mics and built‑in SoundSwitch lighting control — and you’ve got a system equally at home in clubs, weddings or livestreams.

A lifestyle photo of a DJ using the RANE System One launched at the NAMM Show 2026

Buy the RANE System One

Martin Guitars: New Standard Series acoustics & Molly Tuttle signature models

Martin has kept the momentum going at NAMM 2026 with a handful of new additions to their Standard Series and two signature models for modern Bluegrass icon Molly Tuttle:

  • Super HD‑28 & Super D‑18: These deeper‑bodied versions of Martin’s celebrated dreadnoughts deliver extra power, richer harmonics and a fuller low‑end — all while staying true to the classic Martin look and feel.
  • Molly Tuttle signature D‑18 & D‑X2E: Inspired by Molly’s treasured 1943 D‑18 and finished with her own touches — including striking Moon Phase fingerboard inlays. Both guitars feature a 1 11/16″ nut width, a spec coveted by Bluegrass players for quick, clean flatpicking.

Watch Lee and Pete react to these, plus the Road Series models we covered in our early NAMM 2026 releases blog, in our Martin tour video:

Shop Martin NAMM 2026 Acoustics

Don’t miss a thing from the 2026 NAMM Show

The NAMM launches won’t be slowing down any time soon, so make sure you bookmark our blog for all the latest news as it happens. You can also sign up to our mailing list via our main NAMM Show 2026 page to get new gear alerts straight to your inbox.

Better yet, follow us on YouTube and socials for live updates direct from the show floor in Anaheim:

A picture showing the Andertons crew at NAMM Show 2026

Get stuck in with these quick links to every NAMM Show 2026 category:

Shop All NAMM 2026 Releases

Elliot Stent
Elliot Stent
Elliot is a content writer at Andertons and plays guitar in a modern rock covers band called Midnight Memento. When he's not working or riffing, you'll find him on a tennis court or glued to an F1 race.
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