The Guitar Show Birmingham

[verb]

Has anyone on BC been to the Birmingham guitar show? What did you think of it, is there enough bass content to make it worth while? 

[MoJoKe]

I've been for the last few years.  To be fair it is sold as a "Guitar" show, but many of the exhibitors do recognise our more significant contribution to music and have amps, instruments and bass relevant stuff too, including (last year, I think this too...) Ernie Ball, Markbass, Ampeg and Yamaha. Synergy were there with Sandberg and Bassics, also Ashdown, Darkglass, Bergantino to name a few...   That's quite a lot actually!!

I will again be helping out on the Markbass/DV Mark stand this year, and there will be quite a lot of new Markbass stuff on display, including the new Vintage D2 head/Cab (which is so good I am considering selling my beloved Casa and upgrading!), there will be new Markbass Strings to try out, the new basses, and  if you're struggling to find an old OC-2 pedal out there, then save yourself the effort and come and try the new MB Raw Octaver...  A thing of simple beauty!  ...and definitely deals to be had over the weekend.

One of the very best things about the show is, wait for it...   The CATERING!  Given its location, on the fringes of the "Balti Triangle", the food is mostly curry, and while the choice is limited to a couple of main dishes and some sides/rice (and chips for the heathens!) the quality and flavours are amazing, and its damned good value!

So, not stupidly expensive, well worth a visit if you're at a loose end, and you'll be able to get some great, cheap grub too...!

[verb]

Thanks for that, I will probably go along on the Sunday, sounds like it's worth a visit.

[MoJoKe]

On 21/02/2020 at 18:47, verb said:

Thanks for that, I will probably go along on the Sunday, sounds like it's worth a visit.

come and say Hi, I'll be around all weekend helping out the Markbass guys!  Look for someone who looks a bit like the balding fool in my profile pic!

 

[prowla]

I've just got back from brum; I had an enjoyable day.

 

The car park was full (it's ridiculously small for the venue), so I just parked up one of the streets and strolled down the hill - no biggie.

 

Inside, I had a great conversation with Chris Childs (Thunder bassist - great band!) on the Strandberg stand, a brief chat with Tony Butler (Big Country), a short discussion with Becky Baldwin about custom-made pickguards, and put the world to rights on a couple of topics on The Fretboard stand.

 

And various interesting people on the various stands.

 

The sound levels were just right and pretty much everybody stuck to the hooter signalling the quiet periods - nice one, folks!

 

In one of the noisy bits I got to play a 6-string headless fanned-fret bass on SBC's stand - a really fine, quality, playable piece of kit.

 

As far as buying things, I came home with 3 sets of Ernie Ball guitar strings and two sets of Rotosound's new Ultramag bass strings (they should be interesting), but that's it, so fairly slim pickings.

 

Gripes: suppliers didn't bring spare parts and there weren't any parts & oddments bins to rummage through, and that's about it!

 

[Machines]

I stopped going a few years ago after being quite regular there. Pondered going yesterday, but couldn't be bothered with the drive (25 miles) and car park woes.

I've found it to be fairly dull from a bass point of view, and there was a lot of snakeoil salesmen there. Also found there to be very few bargains, with some stands selling strings at RRP after you paid about 20 quid to get in. 

 

[prowla]

1 minute ago, Machines said:

I stopped going a few years ago after being quite regular there. Pondered going yesterday, but couldn't be bothered with the drive (25 miles) and car park woes.

I've found it to be fairly dull from a bass point of view, and there was a lot of snakeoil salesmen there. Also found there to be very few bargains, with some stands selling strings at RRP after you paid about 20 quid to get in. 

 

It was a fiver to get in and Rotosound were selling two sets of bass strings for £30. 

[NickD]

I'm really glad I couldn't get to this. Based on Facebook I get the distinct feeling that had I gone I'd have ended up sticking a deposit down for that beautiful little Bassics 2x10 flightcase wrapped combo.

[EBS_freak]

1 hour ago, NickD said:

I'm really glad I couldn't get to this. Based on Facebook I get the distinct feeling that had I gone I'd have ended up sticking a deposit down for that beautiful little Bassics 2x10 flightcase wrapped combo.

Speaking of which, nobody has posted a pic of the back yet. How do you get to the back where all the power, fx loops etc are? I presume there's a hatch?

[NickD]

There are pics of the back on Bassics FB page... Looks to be ported through the case too.

[flaxholmelis]

I've been to The Guitar Show for the past 3 years with my guitarist BH and always find it a fun day out. In fact it was 3 years ago that I tried a Fender P-Bass at this show and ended up buying one a few weeks later. I wasn't disappointed this year, although work commitments meant we could only spend a couple of hours at the show and there's nothing like leaving before you're ready to make you feel you want to go back for more. I always love the curry and samosas as well. Glad to see Ashdown were back this year and also Lynx cables for the first time. I love these cables and ended up buying another - you can never have too many! Dunlop had actually remembered my grumble last year that they hadn't got any Max- Grip Jazz 3s on the stand and had brought some (I don't like buying online as I've done this before and got the wrong size - they weren't Max-Grips but 'once bitten...').  So not exactly a big spender this year, but fun all the same. Now looking forward to the UK Bass Guitar Show in Manchester