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’ve really taken to the Kempton Park Reacourse venue for this show - with its superb viewing platform of a Panorama restaurant at the top of the building - in fact there are a few places you can seek refreshments. The whole things had / has an easy family vibe to it - where several exhibitors brought part of their family with them for the day - some the whole shebang, while others had their Dad or Brother in tow - just a really nice easy breezy atmosphere - and so easy to get to for those of ...

Let’s start off with a massive thank you to Unity Street Audio’s Mel Pereira for organising this shindig! The Wassup Nerds!?! Pedal and Noise-Maker Event at Rough Trade Bristol was a runaway success this Sunday just passed. I was hoping to have this article up sooner - but these things take time, and I had other priorities to juggle too.

Bristol looked resplendent on the day too in the dappled sunshine - all those historic buildings looked magnificent - and there was a Prets within easy ...

WARNING! This post is massive, and will probably crash your mobile device! Best accessed via Desktop or Laptop!

Last time I did this exercise I featured just 9 companies in my cover shot, and covered 57 overall - with just videos for the top 9.

While this time around I’ve doubled down - where there are 27 companies in the cover shot and 105 overall! And circa half of those are accompanied by a video - which is a lot! I first cover the 27 Leading Lights group, and then the 78 brands in ...

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 ...

Best Stand in Show by Indifferent Engine (above)

fxexpo.co.uk

The Inaugural FX Expo Show has been quite the adventure - 2 years in the making owing to Covid! - It’s so much a major occasion to have this many prominent and promising independent UK pedal builders all under the one roof. And it could not be helmed by a better man than Alex Millar - who has the strength of will and dogged determination to see it all through.

I obviously did the Show Preview a while back now - and while ...

A key reason for why there were somewhat fewer pedal brands at the recent Birmingham Guitar Show is that many had elected to participate in June 19th’s FX Expo instead. While there are quite a lot of brands that appear at both - Bleak District Electric, Fredric Effects, James’ Home of Tone, Pedal Patch, and Ritual Devices among them.

FX Expo has been in planning for a long time now - and where Covid scuppered an earlier incarnation of this event. It is a ’noiseless’ show - where all sound-...

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 ...

While the more typical and specialist guitar / luthier brands seems to be back in full force - there are seemingly somewhat fewer pedal brands featuring in this year’s Birmingham Guitar Show - in particular compared to the Last Show on February of 2020 - which had the record amount for that roster.

Some of the big brands are missing, including Boss - which on the back of some really strong releases could have capitalised on those great recent introductions to its range. They have always had...