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Bass Guitar show review 2019


Chrisbassboy5

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2 hours ago, MoJo said:

I think I would have been more inclined to go if likes of Yamaha were there.

I suppose Yamaha don't feel like exhibiting in London because they have a massive store in Soho with all the basses ready to try out, open seven days a week, attendance is free ;)

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/Our-Store/

And Wunjo has lots of affordable basses right there in Denmark Street, if there is something you can't find at the show, they probably have it, also open every day.

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20 minutes ago, Romeo2 said:

I suppose Yamaha don't feel like exhibiting in London because they have a massive store in Soho with all the basses ready to try out, open seven days a week, attendance is free ;)

https://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/Our-Store/

And Wunjo has lots of affordable basses right there in Denmark Street, if there is something you can't find at the show, they probably have it, also open every day.

Maybe a day trip to Wunjo and Yamaha are on the cards for me then. Thanks for that

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2 hours ago, Chownybass said:

Look forward to seeing you guys at the Birmingham Guitar Show and Manchester Bass Show in Feb and March.

I shall almost certainly be at one of these, maybe both. Look forward to finally getting to try out an SWB-1

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Can I just throw something into the noise debate, because I'm finding this all a bit tiring...  I do some work for Markbass/MSL (as a pro musician, not employee), and was on the Markbass stand all weekend.  Interestingly in the Exhibitor Manual for the show, there is no specified noise level, just a reference to noisy/quiet times.

I took my brand new and freshly certified calibrated db meter with me to the show (not a £25 ebay chinese jobby, a proper one... and before say you did the same with your phone, no mobile phone app can measure accurately over 90db, because of the limitations of the phone's microphone), and I left it logging for some long periods.

The noise levels measured at our stand rarely exceeded 97db, even when someone was slapping away (its a thing...  get over it).  That's nowhere near a standard concert volume, but is about as loud as a band should ever need to be at a wedding/function, but across the day the levels tended to average at between 70-88db.

Thats about the same volume as the vehicle noise standing at the traffic lights down the road at Pentonville Road.  OK, the frequency of the noise and sometimes percussive nature of it will contribute to ear fatigue, but I didn't feel the need to resort to my ACS moulds (thank you #hearformusicians) at any point during the weekend.  We also discouraged any jamming this year, and didn't have any ad-hoc performances on the stand.

Yeah sure it got louder than 100db at times, but that was very rare, and usually due to an ad-hoc performance at someones stand, and the coincidence of half a dozen or so people trying something out at the same time and resorting to the volume knob to try and hear themselves...  Everybody contributing, no single guilty party, and generally initiated by the visitors, not the guys manning the stands.

Regarding the show itself, I am beginning to struggle with what sort of show you actually want or expect?  There were definitely some other bigger brands missing, but they were either never, or rarely, there even when the show was at Olympia anyway. There were fewer smaller builders there, but they'll have their own reasons for that, and make no mistake, if people don't turn up and actually buy stuff it can be hard to justify, because believe it or not, directly or indirectly thats the only point of exhibiting!  ...Who knew?

Personally, I prefer the room, but didn't appreciate the extra 1 hour across London slog in the van before and after the show, but apart from exhibitor issues, those are my only thoughts on the weekend.

On another point, can I also say, if you didn't even go, why on earth are you posting negative comments here?  Thats not contributing to the debate in any way.

...and those of you who missed Cody Wright playing with Eric Gales to close the show performances (you probably didn't go because Eric is a guitarist not a bass player, and you just wanted a bass show...), you missed an absolute treat of the tightest improvisation and very best musicianship...

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1 hour ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

I can only imagine there must be a problem of bruised egos among players and exhibitors, and/or a cost in having more than one person, possibly burly bouncer-type guys, going around acting rather unfriendly.

Interestingly none of the burly bouncer types were even equipped with sound meters, so were completely unqualified to enforce anything...

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I suppose I fall into the "whinging camp", and you're right I didn't even go....with the build up you could see that this event WASN'T going to be an improvement on years gone by...no Status, no Goodfellows, no ACG...in fact I don't think that anybody has mentioned any British based custom Bass builders. They were there 3-4 years ago....

I went to a number of combined Bass/Guitar shows back in the 80s, Basses were always treated as the "poor cousin"...token attendees tucked away in the background, giving the prime space to guitars...sounds like this was pretty much the case again this year.

I don't think I've read that anybody thought that this years event was an improvement on previous years because there were guitars there too. People complain about Bassists slapping, however if I attend a "Bass guitar event" I'd that than being overwhelmed by the sound of screaming 6 stringers.

Did nobody consider how the "ambient" noise level might impact on the Seminars??? Personally, if I'd been one of the celebs booked to do a seminar and this was constantly being interrupted by overly loud noise I would have been insulted...they still got paid though I suppose..

No disrespect to those who did seminars this year but, with the hype about this supposedly being a bigger and better event, I'd have thought that the organisers would have booked at least one REALLY big name. This is a Bass Guitar Magazine event, it's not your local Bass Bash - where are the Steve Harris, John Deacon, Paul Turner, Stu Zender calibre bassists? A couple of years ago we had John Taylor, Jah Wobble and Nate Watts - you can't tell me that this year's celebs were a step up.

If the organisers want me to attend year in, year out they need to improve the event year in, year out. IMO the quality of the event has been sliding over time...

 

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Paul Gilbert is a guitard so of no interest to me and John Patitucci, though clearly a very talented Bass player, is hardly a household name. I would argue that if you asked the man on the street who he is, he'd have no idea.

I still have no idea of anything that he's ever done.....

As I said, I  don't believe the LBGS is getting better over time.

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You can't only have names from rock and pop - Patitucci is much more of a star than several other 'big names' we've had, but he's a jazzman, innee, so too technical, too out there, etc. so that doesn't count, does it?

Incidentally, when one of the household names of bassdom, John Taylor of Duran Duran, attended the show a few years ago, people still found reason to complain for the opposite reasons to Patitucci's presence, that is, because apparently his talk was swamped with former Duranettes, so he didn't play much bass, he didn't talk much technique, and chose to reminisce and present his book instead.

They can't win, can they?

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5 hours ago, 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. 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....

I have never been to the show and I was thinking of attending this year but was put off by negative comments about past shows. Having read the post-show comments I think I will attend the next one because it easy to sit here clicking across the web making decisions based on feedback and or whinging but there is nothing like personal experience to make up one's mind, that sounds blimmin' obvious but I think it is particularly salient since the Internet arrived. This thread has made me realise that I personally make far too many decisions based on what folk say online, I'm not saying online advice/opinions aren't valid or extremely helpful (I mean just being a member of Basschat has utterly transformed my bass playing world!) but I've avoided the BGS for reasons that, on deeper thought, I can't recall and I think I really I should go and see and form my own opinion based on the experience. I was the same about the Bass Bashes, I heard a couple of negative comments (not on here I hasten to add) and given those and my misanthropic leanings I just assumed a Bass Bash wouldn't be for me, a not very good player with a couple of basses. How wrong was I, I love a bass bash! I sit there with my FRFR rig often unable to hear myself and I don't care, it's great to meet and hang out with other Bass Chatters and even get your dream bass built by a dude you've only met a couple of times! So, next year I'm going to this Bass Guitar show just like last year I went to my first Bash and had my preconceptions upended by great people and a lovely day...

...I've kind of lost my thread. No gathering together of enthusiasts can be tailored to suit each individual and as such we should accept that some compromise has to be made, take what you can from the event. Although I wasn't an attendee I do know one way in which this event could be improved and that's to get the wonderful and gorgeous catering team in from the Great Big SW Bass Bash to do a food stall at the show, attendance would rocket and it is so difficult to whinge with a huge scone stuck in your gob.

Edited by Frank Blank
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I didn't think it was that noisy; It was a lot less of a slapfest than I thought it would be. It was my first visit so can't compare to past events. I spent a lot of time in the bass workshop room and didn't find noise from the hall was a problem - the lack of space and no air-con was. I would go again, the cost of the ticket got me a decent amount of time listening to and learning from four top pros - this was the main reason for going. I'm never likely to turn up and walk out with a £2k bass, maybe a set of stings..

 

 

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, MoJoKe said:

..and those of you who missed Cody Wright playing with Eric Gales to close the show performances (you probably didn't go because Eric is a guitarist not a bass player, and you just wanted a bass show...), you missed an absolute treat of the tightest improvisation and very best musicianship...

Eric Gales is not just a guitarist - he is an exceptionally talented guitarist. 

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Well, I decided not to go; my son was home for the week so we went out on Saturday and on Sunday I did my tax return! (Turns out I owe the tax man £30k...)

I expect this may be construed as a whinge, but I didn't see anything there which really made me want to go.

The previous one I went to, my head was resonating from the noise and I felt ill; folks do seem to be suggesting that the levels were an issue this time. I suppose there's a trade-off between floor space and costs.

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2 hours ago, afterimage said:

A big  round of applause  to Chowny bass great guys had a play with my first semi hollow bass.

Totally agree, I think @Chownybass have been at every Bass Bash I’ve attended, not just the big shows and that’s to be applauded...

...even though I’m dead to them, ahem.

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