In January we headed to Anaheim, California for the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show. We’ve already reported back on our favorite guitars and basses, as well as the show’s best amps. Now, check out our roundup of the most impressive pedals, accessories, and other equipment we played. See you next year, NAMM!

Beatbox Drums by Beatbox Drums
In a touring vehicle, drums generally take up the most space. Even without drum cases, if you play a decent sized kit, drums are going to dominate the space in your touring vehicle. This product is a drum kit that fits into a box. This is all possible because the box itself doubles as a resonator. It would definitely look unconventional onstage, but big ups to anyone making moves on economizing the amount of space that gear takes up. Playing Tetris with musical equipment every night does indeed get old. Leah Wellbaum / Slothrust

Fretwrap by Gruv Gear
This little accessory is great for muting the strings while you do tapping and also in a recording context when you what to avoid unwanted resonance and noise from the strings you are not using. -Laura Klinkert

Mega Bass Strap by Neotech
This memory foam guitar and bass strap is the perfect thing for someone who gigs a lot, but also suffers from back problems. The internal-control stretch system reduces the weight of the guitar on your shoulders by up to 50%. The people working their booth even had a complicated scale / pressure measuring machine to prove it. It is also more adjustable than straps I have encountered in the past, and caters to people who like to play their guitars higher up. -LW

The Particle by Red Panda
The Particle pedal by Red Panda is a granular delay and pitch shifting pedal with a ton of other things going on. Depending on the settings, this pedal can be well controlled, or incredibly unpredictable. Sonically, I do not know its limits. It can sound like a video game underwater, like a creature about to attack you in the forest, or like a fairy flying toward you, about to kiss your nose. And of course, it is capable of the psychedelic flip-it and reverse-it madness you might imagine. -LW

The Squaver by Sonicsmith
As someone who does not venture far from stringed instruments, it is rare that a synthesizer would catch my attention, but Sonicsmith’s new device definitely had me excited. The Squaver P1 is a semi-modular, audio controlled, analog synthesizer. It turns any audio input (vocals, guitar, bass, you name it!) into analog synth waves. It allows you to mix between square and sawtooth waves. It has the capability of extracting envelope, pitch, and trigger CV from the input audio. The possibilities seem endless with this synth, and it definitely seems like a groundbreaking product in its realm. Go get weird with the Squaver P1 for $730. –Laurence Vidal

Tempest Analog Drum Machine by Dave Smith
This drum machine has one of the best quality sound I’ve ever heard, It’s easy to use and super easy for editing the inbuilt sounds in any context, studio or live. The building and the quality of the hardware seems to be really well done and resistant. You can get all of the most common techno and electro sounds out of it and way more by editing the inbuilt sounds. -LK

TriplePlay by Fishman
The Fishman TriplePlay is a wireless MIDI guitar controller. Whether or not this product is for you, it certainly demonstrates where we are at with music and technology. With the TriplePlay, you can select a variety of instrument plugins and play them via your guitar. It is an ambitious product that I think will evolve with time, and with the development of new plugins and latency solutions. To me, the TriplePlay almost feels like a prank. If you want to play a digital-sounding clarinet on your telecaster, welcome to it. -LW

Ultex Jazz 3 Guitar Picks by Jim Dunlop
This picks are sharp-pointed and also 2.0MM thick. This allows you to have a lot of control over the dynamics, rhythm, and intention. I recommend this picks for sweep picking players because since it’s super thick and sharp it will not blend at all when you sweep. Also, because of the material (ultex) I feel like it is not that bright as common picks and that it will keep it sharpness for longer. -LK