Wow, The Guitar Show was certainly a rollercoaster of an event with the busiest crowd I’ve witnessed to-date. At times it was quite a struggle to make your way through the packed waves of attendees, which did though start to peter out just a little after 3 o’c. For me it was fast and furious from the start - and I found it a little awkward navigating around the hall - as the stand layout seemed to have all kinds of little nooks and crannies - which made some booths incredibly easy to overlook ...

I’d like to start by saying that I’m truly proud to have been a Media Partner for this Inaugural Synth and Pedal Expo. It was a superb event - really well attended, and paves the way for an even bigger follow-up - likely taking place over two days next time.

This is the first time I’ve met Stompbox Exhibit Organiser and Delicious Audio Auteur Paolo De Gregorio face-to-face. We’ve had a long-term friendly correspondence and association and greeted each other as long-lost friends. Paolo has ...

The Top visual (above) this time is my favourite stand from the show - the super elegant and lifestyle-oriented Kernom stand - with really smart use of furniture - but with a somewhat eyesore tangle of cables! - overall it looked really striking and elegant compared to everything else at the show!

So another show is over - where I attended all day Saturday. Entrance was the same as before @ £15, while travel was slightly more expensive. I had an open-return train ticket @ £61, plus 2 tube ...

I spent pretty much the whole of Saturday doing the rounds at the Birmingham Guitar Show 22 at New Bingley Hall. Obviously Covid and Brexit Red Tape kept some previous participants away - while there was still a real upbeat buzz around the show.

People were seemingly really happy to be out and about again - and for many I encountered - this was their first big event since the last show - some two and a half years ago now. What I was acutely aware of though was an atmosphere of genuine and ...

Birmingham’s The Guitar Show is the UK’s main guitar / gear show, and this year features the largest selection of pedal brands yet as far as I’m aware. Obviously there are several large distributors here representing a number of brands - like Audio Distribution Group which covers Cioks Power Supplies, Darkglass Electronics, Death by Audio, EarthQuaker Devices, Emma Electronic, Fulltone, JRAD / J Rockett, JPTR FX, KMA Audio Machines, Meris, Neunaber, Maxon, Nobels, Old Blood ...

I spent the whole of yesterday at the Islington UK Guitar Show - which turned out to be quite a different experiences for me compared to last year’s somewhat haphazard inaugural event at Olympia - this was much better organised, and I really enjoyed attending the many breakout events at the show.

For Pedal fans it was really quite a simple show with relatively few Pedal purveyors - and with one stand having most of the action - i.e. the Audio Distribution Group - with 16 brands -...

The Birmingham Guitar Show this year was so much a better affair than the London / UK Guitar Show I attended at Olympia in September - particularly from an organisational and pedal perspective. But I’m kind of sad to report that it was a very pale shadow of the NAMM show that took place almost exactly one month ago. If I tally up all the best new pedals from the NAMM show - only the tiniest fraction of those were on display at the Birmingham Show.

It means that the Beetronics Swarm ...