See You at the UK Guitar Show this Saturday - Islington Business Design Centre, London
I reported last year that I was a little disappointed overall with the debut UK Guitar Show - but am expecting much better from its new residency at the Islington Business Design Centre (N1 0QH) - nearest Tube is Angel on the Northern Line. This time around I’ve signed up to a couple of masterclasses (Paul Gilbert and Devin Townsend) and the Decades Show - and will be spending most of Saturday onsite doing the rounds in-between those sessions. The show website though could still do with some significant improvements - like a floor plan!
I will certainly be making a stop off at the ThorpyFX booth which is always a pleasure and delight, and I will make my way around all the exhibitors as usual - stopping off at the pedal specialists - which I believe number around 24 this year as below. KMA Audio Machines in particular have the very recently launched Cirrus Spatial-Temporal Modifier Delay+Reverb, and Logan Transcend Drive with Switchable+Sweepable Parametric Mids to demo!
Key Pedal Brands Attending:
- Beetronics FX
- Cioks
- Darkglass Electronics
- Death by Audio
- Dunlop
- Earthquaker Devices
- Emma Electronic
- Ernie Ball
- Fender
- Flattley Guitar Pedals
- Fulltone
- Headrush
- Ibanez
- J Rockett
- KMA Audio Machines
- Maxon
- Meris
- Neunaber
- Old Blood Noise Endeavors
- REVV Amplification
- ThorpyFX
- Two Notes
- Walrus Audio
- Xotic Effects
In the wake of Summer NAMM, I'm not expecting any major new announcements here (bar the KMA Cirrus) - some rumours and future plans for sure, but no significant launch - that will surely be held back until next year's Winter NAMM. Several of these builders have had new pedals out this year - so it's always good to take the pulse as such and compare notes on how those pedals have been received.
There will of course be plenty of other related products to review - a plethora of guitars and basses - I only have a passing interest in basses, but I enjoy viewing great craftsmanship whatever the discipline. And I will definitely be dropping in on Crimson Guitars too for sure and checking in on Ben, James, Chris, Tom and/or whomever has turned up on this occasion - as a long-time viewer of their Channel I feel I almost know each one of them personally.
There's a really decent programme of breakout events this year - per the following overview - and I will note which of those I am attending - there's a lot going on and I just realised Adrian Thorpe has a presentation right after Paul Gilbert - so I need to race across to whichever room the 'Tone Zone' events are hosted in :
Auditorium Events:
Saturday 21st September
- 10:30-11:15 Paul Gilbert Masterclass & QA (Attending)
- 12:00-12:45 Nick Beggs Live Performance
- 13:30-14:15 Devin Townsend Live Performance (Attending)
- 15:00-15:45 John Patitucci Live Performance
- 17:00-18:00 Seven Decades Live Performance (Attending)
Sunday 22nd September
- 10:30-11:00 Seven Decades Live Performance
- 11:45-12:30 Ariane Cap Live Performance
- 13:15-14:00 Cody Wright Live Performance
- 14:45-15:30 Eric Gales
Other Event Highlights:
Saturday
- Tone Zone - 10:15-11:00 Ben Crowe of Crimson Guitars
- Tone Zone - 11:15-12:00 Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX (Attending)
- A Stage - 14:15-15:00 Bassist of the Year
- Tone Zone - 15:15-16:00 Colt Westbrook & Jason Stucle of Walrus Audio
- A Stage - 16:00-16:45 Young Guitarist of the Year
Sunday
- A Stage - 12:30-13:15 Lari Basilio Live Performance
- Tone Zone - 15:15-16:00 Colt Westbrook & Jason Stucle of Walrus Audio
- A Stage - 16:00-16:45 Guitarist of the Year
