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London Bass Guitar Show 2011


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On my way home from the show for the best of reasons.....a gig tonight. Overall, I enjoyed it. Had coffee with Mark from Bass Direct & a long chat with Sheldon Dingwall, two of the nicest gents you could wish to meet. Lots of great gear to see. On the downside, those who suggested taking ear plugs were spot on. Also, it seems that slap is alive & well.....

I didn't have time to attend any of the worships, masterclasses, etc. Did I miss much?

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[quote name='PTB' post='1159518' date='Mar 12 2011, 04:43 PM']On my way home from the show for the best of reasons.....a gig tonight. Overall, I enjoyed it. Had coffee with Mark from Bass Direct & a long chat with Sheldon Dingwall, two of the nicest gents you could wish to meet. Lots of great gear to see. On the downside, those who suggested taking ear plugs were spot on. Also, it seems that slap is alive & well.....

I didn't have time to attend any of the worships, masterclasses, etc. Did I miss much?[/quote]

I was in heaven! I love nothing more than lots of people playing slap really fast & loudly, after managing to dial a tone into previously beautiful sounding equipment, in order to sound like a dustbin rolling down a hill, pausing only to look up and see if anyone is watching them or not and then continuing a little bit faster and louder.
Lovely!

Overall I enjoyed it, i saw a couple of particular things that i'll chase up over the next couple of weeks - preferably first thing on a thursday morning etc when i'll stand a chance of actually being able to hear what i'm playing and how it sounds.

I saw TM stevens, who was great entertainment, a fabulous player and a great chap too! I've been a fan of his ever since i first heard Sex & religion 15 years ago.
It was great to see Mark King, Biggy, Sean Freeman & Gary Husband play too.
There's a great respect between the two drummers and they both played brilliantly.

I'm not sure i could cope with going both days though.

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Now I've not been to Bass Day so can't compare today to that, but I thought it was really good especially when compared to the terrible Guitar Nation and the last Music Live at the NEC. To my ears it was way too loud in the exhibition hall and a solid case for demo rooms (some of the tones were so loud and dense that I felt a little ill when standing in front of the source). Pretty much impossible to evaluate any of the gear from a sound POV which was a shame at it was an absolute bass porn fest! Watched Dave Marks, TM Stevens, Gary Willis and Mark King and for my money Dave Marks was the best by far, worth the price of entry on his own. Bloody good work Dave, I'll definitely be attending one of your rhythm matters seminars when you come round my neck of the woods again! Only got accosted once for wearing my BC T Shirt which was a little disappointing, but there were a lot of punters there. Hopefully BGM will do it again bigger and better next year given the turn out, although if it stayed the same I'd still go anyway.

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[quote name='ezbass' post='1159657' date='Mar 12 2011, 06:12 PM']Now I've not been to Bass Day so can't compare today to that, but I thought it was really good especially when compared to the terrible Guitar Nation and the last Music Live at the NEC. To my ears it was way too loud in the exhibition hall and a solid case for demo rooms (some of the tones were so loud and dense that I felt a little ill when standing in front of the source). Pretty much impossible to evaluate any of the gear from a sound POV which was a shame at it was an absolute bass porn fest! Watched Dave Marks, TM Stevens, Gary Willis and Mark King and for my money Dave Marks was the best by far, worth the price of entry on his own. Bloody good work Dave, I'll definitely be attending one of your rhythm matters seminars when you come round my neck of the woods again! Only got accosted once for wearing my BC T Shirt which was a little disappointing, but there were a lot of punters there. [b]Hopefully BGM will do it again bigger and better next year given the turn out, although if it stayed the same I'd still go anyway.[/b][/quote]


Me too, however as much as i love bass and playing, i could only manage one day so it was definitely a case of picking your day.
Gutted i'm missing Stu Hamm (but i did catch him at the Bass Merchant recently, so i can deal with that) and Cass Lewis, i believe he was supposed to be there today and is now doing the Sunday (?).

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Yes a great day - lovely to see and speak to many bass playing buddies and make some new ones - upside was the phenomenal Gary Willis, and ace Janek and Dave M, Mr King was great but sadly slap bass (even in his hands) soon starts to grate, and it was the scourge of the trade hall - but I spent much of the day avoiding it and had a lovely time

M

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Just want to add that i had a great time too TM stevens was brilliant a real nice bloke and great at involving the audience,
he also talked a lot of sense with some excellant advice on playing.

I got to try a couple of Foderas as well...wow think i'll save me pennies up. :)

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Just got home and cracked open some Kronenbourg ! Very tiring day but enjoyable. Had some very good chats with various people including Chris May (very impressed by new Tanglewaters), Orange Amps and Bass Gear. Have got loads of great pictures, will get them uploaded tomorrow.

Shouts out to all BCers I saw today and thanks to niceguyhomer for providing transport and MythSte for wearing an easily recognisable blue shirt.

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Home now. Off out for a few beers soon. Had a great chat with John East. Whata genuinely nice bloke and extremely knowledgeable. P Retro coming my way soon.
Agree with above posts about the slap fest.
Was really impressed with the Roger Waters precision I tried.
Have also got GAS for a fair few other basses as well :)

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Car park ticket for the station acquired. Pre bought train tickets picked up. I'll be on the platform at 8 tomorrow morning ready to head up.

BC badge made :)

Must remember to get the plugs out of my gig bag.

See some of you tomorrow perhaps.

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Just got back from the Bass show , in agreement with all the comments on every single trade booth filled with '' slappers ". Not really my idea of a good time , but TM Stevens was great and Marco Mendoza well worth the trip.
I attempted to try out the new Yamaha BB's and the Attitude 3 , but really could not hear a thing as I was competing with all the grommets in the next booth playing mega-slap through rigs that really belong in large venues/stadiums.
I took a wad of cash and credit cards, but I'll probably stick to Basschat for my purchases.
Glad I went, not sure if I would rush back .

Edited by martin8708
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[quote name='WalMan' post='1159841' date='Mar 12 2011, 08:49 PM']Must remember to get the plugs out of my gig bag.[/quote]
Don't forget ! It won't really take the volume down (it goes through you) but will take the top end out making it much more comfortable.

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Can't agree more about every player in every booth trying to out do the next, I'm a great slap fan, but it really got a little tiresome. The MM stand was much more civilised! perhaps if the stands were spaced out more it would help, I pity the folk manning the stands for two days.

Having said that it was a most enjoyable show, GB & Status' looked and played fab as ever, GAS for a Dingwall, the build quality looked great.

Smiles all round if with a slightly sore head.

Thanks for the taps on the shoulders from the two BC'ers that recognised my mug!

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[quote name='martin8708' post='1159842' date='Mar 12 2011, 08:51 PM']Just got back from the Bass show , in agreement with all the comments on every single trade booth filled with '' slappers ". Not really my idea of a good time , but TM Stevens was great and Marco Mendoza well worth the trip.
I attempted to try out the new Yamaha BB's and the Attitude 3 , but really could not hear a thing as I was competing with all the grommets in the next booth playing mega-slap through rigs that really belong in large venues/stadiums.
I took a wad of cash and credit cards, but I'll probably stick to Basschat for my purchases.
Glad I went, not sure if I would rush back .[/quote]

+1...

However, well worth it for the masterclasses & live sets.

M

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[quote name='Platypus' post='1159002' date='Mar 12 2011, 09:08 AM']What you got for us, then?[/quote]


I did take some coffee in a flask too.

TO THE LADY RIDING THE MOBILITY SCOOTER ALONG THE PAVEMENT OUTSIDE OLYMPIA;

- Thank you for tripping me up with your scooter today by diving around me on the pavement with no warning whatsoever. No doubt you were highly entertained by the sight of me sprawled across the pavement, having fell and landed so uncontrollabey that everyone stopped to witness the spectacle. The fall also broke my flask in the process.

I take comfort from the fact we appear to live on opposite sides of London and are unlikely to meet again. Further contributions to my life from you are not required.

Hmphh :)

Edit; Apologies for firing off like that. Some things do grind my gears.

Edited by essexbasscat
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[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='1159938' date='Mar 12 2011, 10:22 PM']Lovely to see so many friends and friendly faces - loved TM Stevens, he alone was worth the price of admission :)[/quote]

I totally agree. Seeing TM and chatting with him was great. What a fantastic genuine bloke.

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It was good to catch up with a lot of BC friends at the show. Although I'm not in the market for anything at the moment it was great to be able to have a browse around. TM Stevens gave a great thought provoking presentation. Get the young off their X-Boxes and PS3s and into live music. Also I definitely need to start having an improved musical conversation with the drummer.

The high level of disorientating slapping in the exhibition hall was really annoying. Agree that the guy on Rotosound was a real PITA, however this seems to be the norm at most music shows and has been for many years. About 10 years ago I was involved in exhibiting at Frankfurt Music Messe. It was the same there with loads of slappers in the guitar/bass halls. It was made worse by the fact that each instrument had it's own hall so in the piano hall, somewhat larger than todays there were loads of people bashing away on grand pianos, and in another were scores of drum kits all being played at the same time.

I can thoroughly recommend taking ear-plugs.

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