🎸 Namm 2026 — Rumors, Predictions and Breaking News from the World’s Biggest Guitar Gear Show!

The hottest releases and most exciting gear drops from Ibanez, Taylor, EVH, Marshall, Quad Cortex Mini and many more

Tubes are heating, pedals are being chained together, promo picks are being squeezed into skinny jeans pockets, and bass players are toughening up their slapping thumbs.
Yes — NAMM is back.

After a year that saw the music industry pull together in the face of shared challenges, with NAMM taking a leading role in lobbying Congress, 2026 feels like a year of renewed unity among manufacturers — or at the very least, an agreement to split the cost of a laminator. But make no mistake: brands will still be fighting for your eyes and ears at the biggest gear showcase on the planet.

2025 marked a genuine return to form for NAMM after several shaky years when major companies were abandoning the show at an alarming rate. Now most of them are back — sometimes with smaller booths or in private back rooms. Thankfully, after many NAMM tours, we’ve become very good at finding those rooms.

So stay with us as we take you along for the ride: testing the most exciting new guitar gear, stepping behind mystery doors for exclusive previews, and catching up with some of the A-list guitar talent that the world’s biggest music event always attracts.

The Biggest News, Rumors and Predictions for Namm 2026

Fender

The biggest news at Fender is the appointment of its new CEO, Edward “Bud” Cole — the man who led the revival of Fender Japan and opened the brand’s Tokyo Flagship store. It’s obviously too early for him to have made any major changes, but it will be fascinating to see how his leadership shapes Fender’s NAMM strategy.

Beyond the usual Custom Shop spectacle, it’s hard to predict what Fender has planned. But the timing of Mateus Asato’s departure from Suhr certainly raises a few eyebrows…

Gibson and Jackson

With 2026 marking Megadeth’s grand farewell, we fully expect Gibson to lean heavily into all things ’Deth. There’s the long-teased Dave Mustaine Les Paul that has been hinted at for years, along with the killer custom Explorer Teemu Mäntysaari has been wielding on recent tours.

We also know a new Michael Schenker Flying V is in development — and surely, surely, the long-awaited Mark Morton Les Paul will finally show its face.

Speaking of Megadeth, Jackson closed out last year by releasing a pair of new Chris Broderick Soloist models.

Gibson has also paid tribute to rock royalty with a Collector’s Edition replica of Keith Richards’ go-to six-string — his legendary 1960 ES-355.

Guitars and Brands

Donner is launching what it calls “the ultimate headless guitar” — the HLX-500. It certainly looks familiar. Elsewhere, the company has refreshed its Hush headless lineup with five new finishes, while the original HUSH-I (first unveiled at NAMM 2022) has received an upgrade in the form of the VHUSH I EVO2.

In terms of sheer bang for buck, it’s hard to beat Harley Benton’s ST-Modern Carlos Asensio signature model. The YouTuber’s Superstrat packs rolled fingerboard edges, Luminlay side dots, a roasted maple neck, and a Vega-Trem VT1 Ultratrem — all for under $700.

Ibanez has unveiled what might be its most “prog-rock” guitar ever with the launch of the Alpha Series. With strong Abasi Concepts, Ernie Ball and Strandberg vibes, it’s a refreshing and futuristic entry into the shred and metal specialist’s lineup.

NAMM is also traditionally a prime time for new Ibanez artist models. At Guitar Summit, the brand unexpectedly launched the Bernth signature guitar. Could more surprise signatures be on the way? After all, Isaiah Sharkey has been teasing a new Ibanez on social media…

Kiesel is showcasing its all-new Aero range of electric guitars. With their sci-fi, space-age S-style looks and striking grated pickguards, they’re among the most visually distinctive instruments of the show.

PRS’ early 2026 lineup includes a long-awaited Mojave Brown Satin Silver Sky, a brand-new S2 Vela HHT, a host of updated models, and major wholesale SE upgrades — including new tuning machines and pickup rings.

PRS has also surprised everyone with a brand-new Ed Sheeran signature guitar: the SE Cosmic Splash, a beautifully specced hollowbody baritone limited to just 1,000 pieces.

Silvertone is back with a vengeance, reviving the ultra-cool 1478 offset, the semi-hollow 1446, and the wonderfully oddball 1449.

Pedals and Effects

DigiTech/DOD will be showcasing the Badder Monkey overdrive — but will there be more surprises?

The JHS Pedals x Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi 2, recreated from a long-lost circuit schematic, was one of 2025’s coolest pedal launches and will be out in force at the show.

Electro-Harmonix has also unveiled a potentially game-changing Effects Interface Hardware Plugin, which turns pedals into plugins — and plugins into pedals — without converters, re-amp boxes, or complex cable setups.

It’s been a while since the Nano Cortex, hasn’t it, Neural DSP? Could this be the year of a John Mayer signature pedal? We can dream.

This may finally be the moment when we learn what Gamechanger Audio’s mysterious Recoder actually is.

Strymon, long considered the king of digital pedals, made its first move into fully analog stompboxes with the Fairfax — a Class-A output stage drive pedal described as “a complete miniature amplifier in 100% analog form.”

Death By Audio’s Destroyer Series looks outrageously cool, offering reverb, delay, phaser and fuzz in what the company calls a “family of beautifully chaotic stereo tone machines.”

Forget digital emulations — Dirty Boy’s Silver Boy is a fully analog version of a popular digital amp sim.

Keeley’s latest collaboration with Andy Timmons is the Nocturne, a reverb pedal the virtuoso describes as “the most inspiring reverb I’ve ever heard.”

J. Rockett’s Aqueous Chorus blends CE-1 style character with modern tonal flexibility.

Crazy Tube Circuits will channel classic Orange fuzz and grind with the Orama twin-footswitch drive pedal.

EarthQuaker Devices and Dr. Z have teamed up for the ZEQD-Pre — a tube-loaded preamp pedal built around a pristine EF86 valve.

Collision Devices is serving up the Snack Series: compact fuzz, pitch and delay pedals that sound as good as they look.

Nuclear Audio’s Fission Drive splits your signal into two frequency bands with independent gain — a brutal and brilliant concept.

DSM & Humboldt follow their acclaimed Simplifier with the Dumblifier, delivering authentic analog Dumble-inspired tones.

Boss is targeting beginners with the ultra-affordable GX-1 modeler.

Ibanez is making a bold return to the high-end effects world with the ambitious Layer Delayer.

Poly Effects and Josh Smith have launched the Kanso.

Vox expands its pedal lineup with the VFZ-1 and VTB-1.

Walrus adds a feature-packed volume pedal to its Canvas range and introduces the Mantle analog bass preamp and DI.

YouTube star Ryan “Fluff” Bruce expands his signature gear empire with the Warm Audio Fluff Drive.

Amplifiers

Marshall celebrates Lunar New Year with a striking collaboration with Beijing artist FCCK.

EVH will unveil its first-ever digital amplifier, the Hypersonic.

Electro-Harmonix shocks everyone with the ABRAMS100 — a 100-watt solid-state head for under $300.

Orange rolls out the OR60, an all-valve amp it calls the most versatile it has ever built.

Vox adds new Greenback combos to its Hand-Wired amp family and celebrates 25 years of Valvetronix with the VT20X and VT40X.

Synergy Amps debuts machine-learning power amp technology in partnership with Wampler and Friedman.

Acoustic Guitars and Bass

Taylor lifts the curtain on what may be its most advanced acoustic lineup ever. The Next Generation Grand Auditorium models feature new bracing, the all-new Claria pickup system, and the innovative Action Control Neck.

Ibanez brings back the legendary Iceman bass for the first time in almost 20 years.

Aria announces a commemorative Cliff Burton signature bass to mark 40 years since his passing.

Accessories and Tech

Seymour Duncan releases its third Slash signature pickup set.

D’Addario expands its XPND pedalboard ecosystem with the Pedal Pry Tool.

Casio introduces the Dimension Shifter — a strap-mounted controller that allows wireless effect control through movement.

🎶 Namm 2026 isn’t just a trade show. It’s where the future of musical tone is revealed.