Bass Guitar show review 2019

[ambient]

It’s always the same, very noisy, and lots of people, which is why I don’t go. I was even offered a free ticket this year.

[grumpyguts]

This was the first time I have been. I was expecting a bit more stuff on show - maybe a few more stands. There wasn't a lot of space so the opportunity to try stuff was a bit limited. I don't spend big money on my basses so the high end stuff was wasted on me. Maybe I should have had a closer look at the Chowny stand - I like the look SWB and the semi acoustic stuff but it seemed quite busy so I didn't - my fault.

I sat in with four of the Saturday bass workshops, all were interesting. Dave Marks was entertaining and talked about things probably more relevant to me. Paul Geary was good with his son on the drums. The problem was the room was too small and too hot. 

I had a wander around looking for a Basschat stand, even an antisocial grump like me may have said hello.  

 

[MuddBass]

I had previously gone to several bass shows, typically taking along at least a car/van full of degree students with me. The show's coincidence with the busy start of a new academic year combined with an afternoon gig on the Saturday meant that I was unable to attend, so I gave it a miss this year. I was dubious anyway with the guitar/bass amalgamation, so hopefully the points highlighted above will be resolved / improved for next year's show. Personally,  I hope that the date will change too, preferably back to the Spring  (fingers crossed).

[cetera]

I attended yesterday with Hamster & Darren Redick (from Planet Rock).

I much preferred the venue, easier to walk around and more space to see the stands etc.... but the vendor/distributor/manufacturer attendance did seem small. As others have mentioned - no Gibson, Yamaha, Roland, Line 6, Sandberg, Rotosound etc which was disappointing. Even Promenade Music's usual 'second hand' stall seemed smaller. I'm guessing that stand prices for the weekend were higher than before....

The overall volume level was slightly more more manageable due to the cavernous ceiling height - I could actually talk to stallholders (WITHOUT breathing in their ears!) - but again the 'quiet times' were completely ignored. Really - what is the point if noone is going to enforce it?!? I can only imagine the hearing exhaustion that people working there must be experiencing this morning.

My highlights - the excellent Spectors (of course), the white Anaconda Ultra J bass, the Bass Collection 'Betsy', the 'vibrating' strap pack for sale on the Bass Direct stand and the new fab new GK Legacy heads. Meeting lots of friends, fellow players and acquaintances was a bonus as well as the splendid Devin Townsend who was cool

Best bit? The networking opportunities mean I may just have secured myself another gear endorsement!

 

[Chrisbassboy5]

19 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I quite enjoyed it and appreciated that the bass show and guitar show were joined as I attended with the two guitarists from my band and met my brother there who is also a guitarist. And to be quite fair, there’s a lot of crossover between the two instruments in terms of both technology and manufacturers who cater to both. 

It was the first one I’ve been to for about 10 years and I do feel a little disappointed by the size of the show (last couple I went to were at the excel, and a couple at Wembley before that and one at Birmingham. These were much bigger events. Even the major manufacturer stands were significantly smaller than I expected, and a few notable absences (Yamaha, Line 6, Boss/Roland, Gibson, PMT, Andertons). I wonder if there’s a reason for this?

That said, we all went without any particular GAS preconceptions and just wanted a day out looking at some of the latest gear, we wasn’t disappointed. There’s was a few things I haven’t had the opportunity to see, hear or touch in the flesh and most of them were there.

Had a brief chat with Alex @ barefaced and spoke about the gap in the market for a bass focused active frfr speaker, definitely tempted to get a one10 now, I couldn’t believer the tone, depth and volume coming out of a seemingly empty shoebox. 

Finally got to try a Dingwall. I completely get the appeal of the multi scale neck, feels quite natural. The diminutive Jackson Minion bass is rather tempting as a fun little living room instrument, even as a cool little backup bass. I was also quite wowed by the new Vox Starstream Bass. Beautiful piece of engineering, feels great in the hands and lightweight. I also need to convince the wife that the mini super beetle bass amp and cab would be a nice addition to the living room. 

My guitarist friends were quite wowed with the shergold guitars, as was I. Fantastic sounding and feeling guitars at a perfect price point. We had high hopes for Jamie Humphries AmpliTube ‘Brian May’ demo - shame the sound system was dreadful. 

Fianally, John Wheatcroft’s jazz guitar session was very informative, even for us bass players. I took some useful tools away from his session that could apply to any instrument and genre. 

So yes, a good day out, but I hanker for the days of the bigger music show! 

Yes mate. Andertons and PMT could have easily been there.. Wish it had been bigger. As said will stay 'home' and go to the one in Brum as long as it's on again...

Chris

[Twigman]

Never been

Sounds hellish

[Romeo2]

I might be getting this wrong but from what people are saying, most of you reeeaaally didn't like the show. But can you imagine just for a second how ultra excited you would've been at this show pre-internet age when you didn't spend hours every day on a bass forum in the comfort of your sofa and laptop GASing for gear you could actually see and touch at the show, or watching youtube videos checking out the people who performed/did clinics? Loud and crowded seems to be the complaint, this coming from musicians - have you ever been to a gig..? I suppose people who enjoyed it can't be ar** to waste their time telling you here about it, seeing all the negativity. I'll give it a go anyway.

[Romeo2]

I've been to quite a few of these shows, I think my first was in 2013 when I left with an L2k G&L.

This year's wasn't the best in my experience but I really liked it, here's why:

I started to play guitar last December (this time properly, or so I think :D) so to be able to also check out guitars and especially the effects, heaven! I tried a PRS through the neunaber effects, incredible stuff from neunaber, the guitar wasn't too shabby neither (although I tried a different set of effects next day with a different PRS, and it was just nowhere near as good as the previous one, no idea if it was a more budget version or what); lots of cool and crazy sounds from Walrus and Beetronics but the Shergold guitar they had there was something else, never knew about the brand, fell in love; beetronics Overhive was a damn fine stompbox too. Really liked how musicman guitars were there hooked up to an array of mooer effects, got a chance to try most of the effects and guitars, felt like a kid in a playground there. I have to say that the guitar stands seemed better prepared with headphones and readiness to just plug and play. which brings me to

Chowny basses - I met Stephen years ago helping out at his first time at the show, in Olympia, was great to see him now and his extended range, and he was ready for the show: a markbass amp and headphones, I sat down and played through all of his gear couple of minutes each bass, really nice and punchy pickups in his basses, nicely put together, great finishes, thoroughly enjoyed the double humbucker one in red, good comfy neck too.

opportunity to see and play stuff that unless you go to bass direct, you can't try anywhere else - to my utter despair as I can't afford it I finally had a chance to try a Vigier bass, and even though the amp was a crackly one (the guy who plugged me in was very apologetic about it) I fell in love there and then, that neck, those pickups, weight/balance, sublime. Also, tons of guitar effects (another lesson reinforced: 90% of them are sort of meh, good GAS killer, they sound sooo much better in the youtube demos :D)

opportunity to speak to the makers, the builders, the sellers - once you cut through the marketing spiel, some people were utterly fun to chat with, dry humour, silly anecdotes, intriguing insight into how they came up with stuff, etc.

John Patitucci - what a legend, what a nice guy, humble, funny, his duet with just a piano was jaw-droppingly awesome; he was visibly touched at the receipt of the lifetime achievement award, you'd think it wouldn't matter to him much, or that he shouldn't be too surprised, well he held back tears trying to say how grateful he was. 

the venue - I loved it, not only it was so much easier for me to get to it, the area around it is so much nicer than around Olympia, and Olympia always seemed a little claustrophobic, this is good, I will be gutted if it moves back to west London

Ok, so what I'd like to see improved:

clinics/masterclasses need to be in rooms that are not disrupted by performances in the Auditorium (John P first found it amusing, then annoying, then just gave up and laughed - really should not have happened), these could also be bigger as on Saturday (I didn't even try attending these on Sunday) not only were they packed, the aircon was not being turned on, stuffy and just downright smelly, had to leave one as was feeling nauseous;

luthier/tone zone talks need to be inside rooms, geez, I tried 'attending' three different ones, just could not hear anything or focus on what was being said;

more interesting/varied live line-up in the Auditorium - much as I like Ariane and Cody, their solo sets of looped tapping were just not that interesting (I still stayed, the room was air-conditioned and dark so a good rest from the noisy main hall) - another musician, preferably a drummer should be the law for auditorium bass player performances - remember that year when Trujillo was there..? (Ok, Michael Manring may be exempted from this law.)

 

Why do people slap at the show - we will never know, it shall remain one of life's great mysteries. As much as why guitar players can't play chords or riffs all of a sudden but can shred mindlessly up and down the neck like there's no tomorrow.

 

I will be attending the show next year, hopefully it stays in the same venue and remains a guitar and bass show.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Thank you @Romeo2 for giving this thread some balance and breaking up the almost uninterrupted whingefest. Some complaints are valid, and are making their way to the organisers, but clearly it's mostly the whingers who like to report how horrible the show was, as opposed to the veritable throngs who seemed to thoroughly enjoy it but aren't saying much.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Silvia Bluejay

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I didn't get to attend any of the performances or workshops so I can't comment on those but I met a lot of people (including some basschatters) as I was helping on the Chowny stand where it was encouraging to see several youngsters coming up to play the basses. I had a good chat with Tony Butler who was playing his ultra cool Chowny signature bass, and I met met Mike Upton on the Kala stand where I bought a set of flatwounds for my u-bass. I also got a comfort strapp from bass direct and an incredible little amplug2 fly bass headphone amp from blackstar. I was expecting the weekend to be loud so I had my earplugs, but I only needed them a couple of times on Saturday and not at all on Sunday.

[Guest MoJo]

I think I would have been more inclined to go if likes of Yamaha were there. As much as I would like to own a £2000 Anaconda bass, it’s never going to happen. Would love to have had a chance to try a BB435 to see if it’s worth swapping from my 425. As far as I could see, the only exhibitor, with instruments in my price range, was Chowny

[Chownybass]

I'm going to review the Bass Guitar Show attendees instead and give you some perspective from what the show was like as an exhibitor.

WHAT a LOVELY bunch of people you all are. For those who took the time and effort to come out to see us, thank you very much. Very much enjoyed meeting everybody. Everybody was positive, polite and game for trying out our stuff. I was really nice to see the familiar faces and old friends. And make some new ones.

@romeo2 it was good to see you again. Glad you like the new stuff.

I'll try and politely address some of the negativity around the show, and where criticism is rightly and wrongly being directed.

I'll agree the show is noisy. But we are talking about a product(s) that make noise. It's LITERALLY what they do. I agree that the quiet periods were not enforced very well, and that the sound police were a bit toothless. I will be raising this very strongly with the show organisers. The management of space wasn't great either, and if there were performances in the booth it backed up into the aisles making it difficult to get to all the stands. I am also raising this with the show organisers.

To mitigate the noise, we had closed headphones for those that couldn't hear.

If you want a diverse array of stuff gathered in one place. Where you are welcomed and encouraged to put your hands on them and try them out. Where you can talk directly to the product makers - and not just sales staff, who are quite happy for you to buy anything. Where there is a community of like minded individuals and where you can actively support small and local builders and makers - it is the place to go. 

It is NOT cheap exhibiting. For a smaller company like ours - it's probably just shy of a few thousand pounds. Plus hotels, travel, facilities etc. We do NOT make our money back at the show. 

Yes - it's a marketing expense. But also it's also for you guys. 

The venue is certainly nicer. From a sound point of view, the open space makes it less oppressive. It's nice and light. And it's certainly more photogenic. From a selfish logistics perspective it is a bastard to get to in a van.

For those complaining of no bargains - we were offering 15%-20% off instruments on the day. As well as organising discounts for show attendees who want to buy afterwards.

Rather than having a moan, if you ACTUALLY attended the show, and you feel there is anything we - as exhibitors - can do to improve things for you. Let me know. Other than that I know Sylvia is feeding stuff back to the show organisers.

It was EXHAUSTING - but a lot of fun. If the show organisers can assure me they'll do more to tackle the things that annoy me, I'll certainly be back next year. Look forward to seeing you guys at the Birmingham Guitar Show and Manchester Bass Show in Feb and March.

[ezbass]

11 minutes ago, Chownybass said:

It was EXHAUSTING - but a lot of fun.

Having done exhibitions myself in the past (including at the BDC) I can testify to this. It’s a great feeling meeting folks who are actually interested in what you’re selling and have made the effort to come and have a look. But being on your feet all day, trying to say the same thing hundreds of times in a different way, takes it out of you. Noise at any trade exhibition tends to high (people are just noisy on their own never mind if the product being sold makes a sound too) and the old ears get fatigued too, that said, it wasn’t until mid afternoon that I found it started to become oppressive, an improvement on Olympia. The BDC is very bright, which is a good thing, but it is also acoustically challenged with its marvellous roof. However, there is office space and the like on the top and ground floors which could be utilised as demo areas in the future, should the organisers decide to use this venue again. The idea of bringing your own headphone amp that you’re familiar with is something I’d consider in the future, although this won’t help for amps and cabs of course, but demo rooms could sort that.

Finally, it may seem that a lot of people are moaning but, for the most part, Brits can be quite curmudgeonly and an honest critique may come over as negative, especially when we forget to praise the things that we liked. However, if we don’t point out the short comings, things won’t improve and folks will eventually stop coming.

[wateroftyne]

10 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Thank you @Romeo2 for giving this thread some balance and breaking up the almost uninterrupted whingefest. 

Also known as customers giving feedback 😄

[ped]

Nice to hear some positive feedback, too. 

I personally recognise many of the negative comments but also like to look at the show through the eyes of a younger self, who was wide eyed and awestruck at the first event I went too. I even remember being blown away by Nigel Clutterbuck slapping the hell out of something. I suppose it's fair to say that many of us here have a pretty in depth knowledge of gear and what's new - and I'd argue that the show isn't designed to cater for you as much as someone newer to the instrument who doesn't spend hours a day on gear forums. So I think it's important that we don't expect the show to have things that our fairly narrow niche tastes might crave, but instead try and support the show as much as possible. 

I've been to so many now that I know every stand there, and rarely want to play anything - and I get tired of some of the marketing and advertising and the whole thing can feel a bit creepy somehow at times but again I just remember walking in to my first one and thinking 'wow this is awesome' - and now I can appreciate the show for what it is, rather than expect it to blow me, personally, away.

That said my experience is generally limited to the stands as I never get a chance to see any workshops etc, so that's a whole section of the show that I think is a big attraction, and it's a shame if they get drowned out. I really liked the format of the Manchester Bass Day where there was an auditorium for talks (a bit like our own SE Bass Bash!) which also lends a more professional feel to the performances and much better sound.

Apologies that there was no Basschat stand this year, several reasons why mostly involving new parenthood but also costs and distance this time conspired against us. It also doesn't make much sense us having a stand unless we have something to show and sell, so in the future we might have a 'meet and greet' corner or arrange to meet at a certain stand so we can all say hello to each other. 

Cheers

ped

[Silvia Bluejay]

25 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Also known as customers giving feedback 😄

A whingefest is not customer feedback, it's a whingefest. See @Romeo2, @Chownybass and @ezbass for how it should be done.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Silvia Bluejay

[wateroftyne]

1 minute ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

A whingefest is not customer feedback, it's a whingefest. See @Romeo2, @Chownybass and @ezbass for how it should be done.

I dunno. I see a common theme of too much noise, for starters.

[Silvia Bluejay]

That's part of my own whing... I mean feedback, too. As I said, several points are valid and being fed back to the organisers. Others are just whingeing for the sake of it.

[wateroftyne]

10 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

That's part of my own whing... I mean feedback, too. As I said, several points are valid and being fed back to the organisers. Others are just whingeing for the sake of it.

For example..?

[Silvia Bluejay]

Read this thread, and notice those who slag off the show without having been there, in certain cases without *ever* having been there. Others find that it's not worth travelling from Edinburgh or wherever, which is not the fault of the show - I don't think I'll trek even just to Manchester from London, despite my ardent interest in gear and my enjoyment of music shows. Etc. Etc. Etc....

Edited September 24, 2019 by Silvia Bluejay

[wateroftyne]

Just now, Silvia Bluejay said:

Read this thread, and notice those who slag off the show without having been there, in certain cases without *ever* having been there. 

The most important thing is the reason why they wouldn't consider going, I think. IMO they're still valid comments.

[ped]

Just now, wateroftyne said:

The most important thing is the reason why they wouldn't consider going, I think. IMO they're still valid comments.

But if the reason why they don't fancy it is because of the whinging then it becomes a vicious circle, so I see where the comment comes from. No substitute for first hand experience.

[Silvia Bluejay]

8 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

The most important thing is the reason why they wouldn't consider going, I think. IMO they're still valid comments.

Not sure how much weight a comment along the lines of "I can't be ar$ed getting to London for a show that doesn't have my very favourite X, Y and Z, even if it has A, B and C that would be interesting, if I could be ar$ed, but I only want X, Y and Z" would have...

Edited September 24, 2019 by Silvia Bluejay

[wateroftyne]

Just now, ped said:

But if the reason why they don't fancy it is because of the whinging then it becomes a vicious circle, so I see where the comment comes from. No substitute for first hand experience.

Of course. Personally speaking, I've never been to one of these because I imagine the noise is just relentless, and it's a long way to travel to not be able to hear anything.

If the organisers could guarantee some sort of noise management, I'd definitely come along.

[Silvia Bluejay]

I must note that many of those complaining of the noise are, in turn, noise-makers when they get to play some of the gear. It's a vicious circle, and I do think the 15 minutes of playing vs 45 minutes of, erm, less noise should be enforced with Gestapo-like attitude.