molan

I think the days of shows being places to go for bargains have been changed by the combination of the Internet and, to a lesser extent, a recessionary economy. It used to be that retailers put everything up for sale at full list price and then might chuck in a strap, case, strings etc or a small discount to sweeten any potential sale. Nowadays a lot of potential buyers have thoroughly checked the lowest possible price across the web (often from overseas or people who don't actually have any stock) and walk through the door of a retailer with a fixed price in mind. Consequently those retailer margins are squeezed and it's much easier to get a discount in store (or online) by being well prepared. Retailers may still put list prices on ads but everyone knows they will deal on a lot of stock unless it's very rare or they have an exclusive distribution deal. When you look at a show then the dealers have got anywhere from £500 to £1,500 extra costs to run a stand (not sure how many people noticed how dark some of the stands were? Reason being you'd have to pay about £400 to hire the house supplied spot lights for 2 days!). The dealers will all try to re-coup as much of this as possible by knockin out low ticket items like strings, tuners, shirts etc but there's not a huge amount to be gained from selling their core stock of basses at below their regular shop discount prices. Some people will be happier to haggle more towards the end of the last day just because it saves a bit of loading etc and there's always the odd 'show' bass kicking around with the odd ding or scratch but, again, if you came across one of those in a store you'd get an ex demo discount on it. In fact one guy told me he was going to buy serving at the show because it was 20% off (kind of a 'we pay the VAT deal) and i'd actually seen exactly the same bass for less, including delivery, online However - what you do get is a massive room full of different basses so you can touch and feel them and be able to compare prices of many more instruments than you'd ever get in a day's worth of shopping around. Unfortunately the noise levels mean you can't really here them properly but you can get a really good feel for playability. So - my, long winded, summary is - go because you can get to see a huge variety of basses but not because you think you'll get a huge bargain

Had a long couple of days working on the Bass gear stand with Phil, Keith &, on Saturday, Tom as well (all fellow BC'er's) but had a great time despite losing my voice pretty much completely and now sounding like Barry White (if only I had the energy to try out my new-found huskiness by crooning walrus of love songs to the wife!). Didn't get to see any of the artists but met so many great people from BC and had a good old natter about all things bass which more than made up for this Also met loads of other super friendly bass players on our stand as well - it never ceases to amaze me what a nice bunch of people most bass people are. As ever I was blown away by the quality of playing by most of the people who took the time to try out some of our basses. The ones that always get me are the younger kids who sheepishly ask if they can try something out & when I say yes they immediately head for the Fodera Matt Garrison 6 string & promptly slay me with the quality of their playing There were a couple who couldn't have been more than 14/15 who really had technical skills but also had a nice groove to their playing as well. One of them asked if he could try the Yin Yang and when I said 'of course' his jaw nearly hit the floor. He played some nice stuff for 5 minutes or so and then carefully put the bass back on its stand and, very formally, shook my hand and said thank you very much for letting him play (his dad quietly whispered that this would have made his day which was also really nice of him). Just goes to show that there's plenty of young talented players coming up that aren't all snotty, arsey brats and makes me feel happier about the future of our chosen instrument. Looking forward to next year (and more stands with those wonderful headphone set-ups!). . .

[quote name='TomKent' post='1158752' date='Mar 11 2011, 10:26 PM']Does Phil eat chocolate by any chance? I owe him big time.[/quote] Phil says yes

[quote name='Tait' post='1158730' date='Mar 11 2011, 10:08 PM']What are these? Never heard of them before?[/quote] Custom build Shuker J basses Unfortunately there will now only be 1 x 4 string version at the show

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='1158545' date='Mar 11 2011, 08:00 PM']I'll be around this stand too. Look forward to seeing you all there [/quote] Excellent I've just seen Phil's line-up for the weekend - looks like: 6 x Fodera 4 x Alleva Coppolo 4 x Zon 3 x Boulder Creek (I'm really looking forward to trying these) 3 x Shuker Satinline (ooh - these too!) Plus 4 or 5 of his used stock as well Couple of Bag End Cabs as well

Just a quick note to say Phil has managed to double the size of his stand for BassGear at very short notice So that means twice as many Fodera / Alleva Coppolo / Zon / Shuker Satinline / Boulder Creek (& whatever else he can fit in his van) for people to try out I'm helping him out on both days so come and say hi if you get a chance. . .

78% voting for rounds at the moment - probably goes some way to show why most basses come with rounds fitted. . .

Maybe look out for an Aguilar DB cab in any of their more traditional colours - a tweed 2x12 would look great And the, more common, black / silver still looks very 'authentic':