- Published: 21 May 2020 21 May 2020
Hello, Effects Fans!
I hope this note finds you safe and healthy. The world has certainly been a different place over the past several weeks, although perhaps we are now taking the first tentative steps on the path to whatever the new "normal" will be.
I'm looking forward to the return of live music, as I'm sure you are, too. I know musicians are among those that have been most impacted by the shutdown, so I extend my best wishes to all of you as venues begin to reopen. As we venture back out into the world, I encourage everyone to (safely!) support local businesses, particularly local bars, restaurants, and other small venues that have live music. The bands and venues both need our support. I think we can all agree that going out for a bite, a drink, and some music isn't exactly a difficult assignment!
It's hard to guess when the big venues will open up again. Before the shutdown, I had purchased tickets for The Eagles, The Who, Jimmy Buffett, The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi/Bryan Adams, Def Leppard/Motley Crue/Poison/Joan Jett, Guns 'n Roses, and Sammy Haggar/Whitesnake/Night Ranger. Most of those shows have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely, including one that was scheduled as far out as September. Those were going to be highlights of my year, as they undoubtedly would have been for millions of other fans. I hope our doctors and scientists figure out a fix that will let us pack the stadiums again, as well as our local venues. I can still remember the first concert I ever saw. It was Journey, well technically, it was Point Blank, their opening act, that I saw first. That's back when there was general admission to the floor, ticket prices were around $10, beach balls and frisbees were flying before the show, and the lights in the audience were actual lighters, which were promptly used to fire up a certain hazy, aromatic ambience when the house lights went down... I was a young hick from a midwestern town of 34 people and never thought I'd actually see a big name band, so my mind was blown. Big shows are still magic like that for me, many shows and decades later. Music isn't just pleasant sound. Since that first concert, it has become a part of me and I'm not whole without it. I'll get by with recordings for a while longer, but there's nothing like live music, one of the most basic, primal, instinctive shared social experiences in the history of mankind.
As you know, businesses large and small have been trying to find ways to adapt to the changes. GT has been impacted, of course. Most of our plans have been scrapped, or at least delayed indefinitely as we figure out how best to move forward. Luckily, we can survive this economic shutdown - not forever, but for quite a while longer. We have been forced to slow or stop some activities for now. We do still plan to attend the Dallas International Guitar Festival at the end of July, assuming it doesn't get cancelled. Most other events are already cancelled or postponed until the economy gets fired back up and the health concerns are under control.
During this quiet time, our focus has been on what we can do in quarantine. It turns out that developing new effect modules could continue, although at a slower pace due to shipping and delays with some of our vendors and personal time lost in adjusting to the quarantine. So that's what we've been up to - developing more rack effects. At the moment, we have boards back to build and test a very good flanger and a Swedish death metal distortion for you "turn all the knobs to 11" shredders. A boost used by one of the great rockin' guitarists of all times should also be available soon. And then, another 27, yes, twenty-seven, additional module configurations. In total, we have boards back right now for 32 new modules/configurations. We just need to heat up the soldering iron and make sure the board designs are all correct. That will bring our number of "compares to" module configurations to over 300. That means GT will have a selection of custom rack effects that compares to over 300 different guitar effect pedals, not counting hundreds of customization options. We offer a bigger selection than the major pedal companies combined, but in rack format and at prices much more affordable than rack effects of the past. All made by hand, to order, right here in the USA.
Check it out! And watch for further announcements over the coming weeks as the economy begins to recover and our plans get back on track. It's going to be better than ever!
Cheers!
Bill Gerlt
President, Gerlt Technologies
Dallas, Texas