Kings of Kempton 2024 - London International Guitar Show Highlights
As is usual for these events - I prepared a list of my likely targets to hit up during the day - which this time around happened to be my various already established friends and allies from the guitar show circuit. I did not spot any suitable new prospects on the show roster - nor when I actually did the rounds!
My list looked as follows :
- Audiostorm - Lydia-Sean
- Buzzing Bugs - Dan
- Flattley Guitar Pedals - Paul & Jan
- Funny Little Boxes - Andy
- Goliath FX - Matt
- Heavy Repping - John
- Maybury Guitars - Jason
- Pedalborn - Ben
- Rhodium Electronics / Tanquelab - Antonio
- Ritual Devices - Wub
Just a rather slim 10 this year then - where last year there seemed to be twice as many of the usual suspects present. In fact it turned out to be even fewer this year as Lydia-Sean, Ben, and Wub could not / did not make it. Dan Goldberg also saw a sign which alluded to the fact that David from Great Eastern FX Co. seemed to have booked a space but then failed to make it too. So in some ways this show was typified as much be its absentees as by its attendees!
Compared to last year - The Berry FX, Fredric Effects, Fidelity Guitars, Hamstead Soundworks, Hello Sailor Effects, and PedalPatch evidently had different priorities this time around. So it seemed to be a somewhat more subdued affairfor 2024 - apart from for John of Heavy Repping, and Andy of Funny Little Boxes - who both seemed to have had a blistering show - in fact - as very much evidenced by my own actions - in picking up the new DIRT (Alice in Chains) Distortion from Andy - which I had ordered on the Friday, and where I also picked up a few more Jazz III variant picks from John at Heavy Repping - from Master B (Japan) and Pigtrum (Germany) brands, where I also swapped one of my Signature Hawk Tone Bird 7’s for one of John’s 4mm thick Kirinite creations.
I feel the core of this show was the same as ever - which is mostly second hand guitar and gear vendors (a metric tonne of second hand stuff!) - a little ’car-booty’ in some ways as I heard someone utter - a touch unfairly possibly.
I’m always there primarily for the pedals, and there was for sure less of a selection this time around in that area.
Also somewhat disappointingly in contrast to last year - the Panorama Restaurant was shut this time arond.
The only lunch food on offer seemed to be greasy-spoon style Burgers, Hot Dogs and Fries served from two diner-shack-like facilities. The fries were actually pretty decent, while the burgers and sauces were not - the ’Burger Sauce’ came close to ruining the fries too - but they kind of held out. Last year I had a proper cooked meal with a wonderful view across the racecourse courtesy of the Panorama Restaurant - so this year’s catering was definitely a relative disappointment.
I will continue to attend and support this show though as I feel it’s a decent base for many, and hopefully this year was just a blip!
I’m not sure any of the venues get it totally right - where the onsite catering is often a particular weakness - I’m not there really to do a review of the facilities - but I for sure felt that some things could have been done better. The show has a little of that chaotic feel you also get at the big Birmingham show, while the also Racecourse venue for Brighton seems to have a slightly better ambience, and I really like the headphones-only pedal room for that show in particular - and where the onsite catering this year was pretty decent.
We really have to have the Panorama Restaurant back for next year’s Kempton show as that made such a good impression on me last year - and the fact that it was shut this year was a big miss for me!
In any case I started off on the Heavy Repping stand - it just happened to fall that way - other people were either still setting up their stands or already engrossed in other conversation - so Heavy Repping is where I will start this overview!
And Funny Little Boxes’ Andy gets to be the coverstar here as he had the most significant launch / new product at the show for me
Heavy Repping - John
Note that John is copying the pose from his logo / t-shirt design!
heavyrepping.com
So John's was the first stand I landed on for this show - the others on the top level were still finalising their setup - where John was wholly ready by then.
He's been on quite the journey - where as a Plectronaut he's always sought out the best picks and plectrums available anywhere in the world. But latterly has taken to making his own unique creations too. Where I traded one of my signature Hawk Tonebird 7's for one of his Kirinite creations - a 4mm thick chunky variety in a sort of stylised S-Type / Superman Shield type shape - with twin cuts into it sides, and a pretty chiselled bevel - an interesting variant for sure - which I'm sure someone like Rob Scallon would love - as he's a big fan of those chunky types.
The main event for me was 3 different Jazz III size variant sets - from new brands to me - Master 8 from Japan, and Pigtrum from Germany.
As you can see in the following visual - which has that unique Heavy Repping creation at its centre - we start off with the 3 x Pigtrum Wrazze III Super Eco types - which came in a set of 3 (Pink, White, and Black).
I then got two sets of the Master B D-801's - on in standard finish with smooth surface, and the other in 'Hard Grip' finish - which has a sort of metallic grit application on both sides - which feels like a cross between sandpaper and a nail file - a very distinctive surface texture for sure - which rigidly keeps that plectrum fixed between your finger tips - it's a touch of an odd sensation for me - but it really works. Those sets of picks are beautifully finished in premium materials - the Pigtrum ones use some kind of eco-friendly biodegradable plant-based plastic, where the Master 8's use a copolymer plastic 'Duracon' made by Polyplastics of Japan.
Both materials are wonderful to the touch - and beautifully smoothly finished.
I'm not a fan of injection-moulded nylon ones like say Acoustick Attak - where they don't polish out the mold lines where the two halves meet. I checked out the Rombo Picks for the first time at the stand too - and they have those injection moulded manufacturing lines also. While the Master 8 and Pigtrum ones are in a wholly different level of quality for sure - both in terms of material, and overall finishing!
I was really happy with my acquisitions - those are great additions to my expansive Jazz III variant plectrum library - for sure both upper tier ones - where the Pigtrum ones are slightly reminiscent of the Graphtech ones I have - where I'm not sure I have any existing Duracon ones in the collection!
Funny Little Boxes - Andy
So Andy's done his 3rd collaboration with Matt Webster of Let's Play All, where SoundLad Liverpool's Marc Dunn was also a major collaborator. In fact this pedal - which only launched this past Friday I think it was - was supposed to be the direct follow-up to the wildly successful 1991 (Inspired by Pearl Jam) variety. The final 10% was taking quite a long time to sort - the pedal wasn't sounding quite 100% for Andy - where the final inspiration only struck very recently how to solve that.
In the meantime the Queens of the Stoneage Skeleton Key pedal sneaked into the schedule - and as completed ahead of the DIRT - which is named after Alice In Chain's best loved sophomore album.
In fact Funny Little Boxes + Let's Play All have a unique niche here where their collaborative £99 pedal lined is specifically inspired by the sounds of a particular album. The starting point for each circuit - is the recorded album sounds therefore across all the different album tracks - so 13 vis-a-vis the DIRT album.
Andy and his collaborators fairly uniquely start off from that origin - replicating the sound recordings, not a single piece of equipment - say Amp or Pedal voicing, but the overall gain range sound for that album.
Where the 1991 was very punchy mids-forward - on this occasion the DIRT is all about versatile gritty, and beefy High Gain.
I ordered the pedal on the Friday evening - and then thought it probably best to pick it up at the show. Andy is holding that very pedal in the above shot.
Any my review of said pedal will go live tomorrow morning - with the following visual - give to take some last minute ±1% refinements!
I'm kind of expecting this one to be the most successful of the trio. Where I really need to hurry up and buy the Skeleton Key - which has been on my wishlist for a while - just the usual task of juggling all those priorities!
Rhodium Electronics / Tanquelab - Antonio
rhodiumelectronics.co.uk/shop/tanquelab-custom
So right next door to the Funny Little Boxes stand was my now good friend Antonio of London based Rhodium Electronics / Tanquelab (formerly of Camden, but now based in Kingston!) - we had a long and involved chat at last year's show - with a view towards doing some kind of closer collaboration. Where a hole year has shot by in the meantime - with nothing happening quite yet on the collaboration front.
And we had another fantastic involved chat about the core Rhodium Electronics range in particular at this show - where the Dandy Treble Booster and Fuzz Face / 2-Transistor Fuzz variants tend to sell pretty well, while the star of the show - the intriguingly labelled ARF68 Toni Bender Mark IV.3 has not had proper lift-off yet in its current incarnation.
This is actually a really unique 4-Germanium-Transistor MKIV Tone Bender take - based on that circuits's specifics and parts values with some smart tweaks - and besides the final biasing - which leans into the MKIII specifications - hence the 'Mark IV.3' label.
This is a killer enhanced vintage style Germanium Fuzz circuit - in the perfect slimline form-factor with top-mounted jacks and all - it's just not currently resonating with prospects!
Enter GPX therefore stage left for this first collaboration - where we will set that all to rights - and give this fantastic pedal the pedestal and send-off it deserves. I won't bore you with all the technical details - but we already discussed some suitable remedies in helping to connect this pedal better to its intended audience. This is such a fantastic sounding circuit - in can become every bit as relevant as the Pigdog JuJu - with just the right approach.
Stay tuned to this channel for further updates on this project.
Of course that's all largely in Antonio's hands - and needs to be done to his timescales and sensibilities!
Buzzing Bugs FX - Dan
So Dan is currently basking in the afterglow of his successful Los Campesinos! Mortal Joy combination pedal / multi-fx collaboration - which pedal is currently sold out in 3 variations - the original fire-engine red, the one-off Wassup Nerds yellow special edition, and the raw enclosure follow-up edition.
Dan has 2 new almost ready prototypes - which he had hoped to tease at the show, but felt that they weren't quite ready for public scrutiny yet. He's in London in part for half-term - staying with family, so it was worthwhile pitching up at Kempton Park. I had hoped he would have had another show special edition or two of the Mortal Joy - but he's currently sold out on that to the extent that he doesn't even have one of his own - they're all out there in the wide world!
And while those new prototypes are very close to being finished - that will most likely be a project that comes to fruition in early 2025. In any case Dan has promised to keep me updated on progress, and I hope to have further details for you soon!
The range of his 4 compact pedals is still killer - with my own particularly favourites being the BB01 Fuzz PreAmp, and BB03 Lo-Fi Chorus - both stellar! You should acquaint yourself with both of those if you're not already familiar with them!
Goliath FX - Matt
Always great catching up with Matt - while it's starting to feel a little like my many years of chasing up Neil at NRG Effects - which only finally came to fruition this year. I've been chasing up Matt for a similar amount of time - of course with the hope of collaborating at some stage - while it's not looking particularly imminent currently.
New on the board for the show was the Hornburg Bass Muff / Fuzzsortion, a couple of purple crackle variants of BlackIce Overdrive, several Tone Bender takes in striking artwork designs - including a Nebula inspired one, and one made up of tiny multi-coloured hexagons that I really liked.
Matt also had a couple of prototypes of a new Blood of Monnoroth CMOS Bass Distortion - another World of Warcraft reference - referring to a battle between an Elf and an Orc - with each having their own artwork variant. The Elf one was much the better of the 2 - with a much more centrally visible figure - while the orc artwork possibly needs some revision as the Orc is mostly obscured be the controls - rendering it a somewhat abstract collection of line - it's really a matter of where the lines fall! There's also a spatter pattern than needs some slight refinement. In any case the Purple Elf variant was looking pretty good already, while the Green Orc variant seemingly needed more work!
Still very much in evidence is that one remaining Gold Trapezium MKII Tone Bender (Silicon I think) - which has been on the show board for a while. I told Matt if he failed to sell it at this show - he should give me a price - and I will happy take it off his hands!
Matt is ever the master of the textured finish, and for sure I will eventually have one of those wonderful creations in the reference collection - but alas not this time around!
Maybury Guitars - Jason
I expected to see more of my Alternative Guitar Show friends at the show, but the only one that turned up was Jason of Maybury guitars - who has a fine line in reclaimed wood guitars with chalk paint finishes - with something of a nautical theme as far as I'm concerned. You see that paint type on a lot of fishing village furnishings!
Incredibly it looked like one of my favourites from the Kingston show was still available - where I said on the occasion :
"I was wowed by Jason's reclaimed wood / Upcycled guitars in particular - including his main featured Fish Hook S-Style Upscaler with a Teal Chalk Paint finish and Tortoiseshell Pickguard - which at the show was being offered for under £1k."
That was joined here by 3 further siblings in the rack - as you can see from the accompanying picture. So you could attend the show entirely eco-consciously - be getting one of these and some Pigtrum Super Eco picks from Heavy Repping.
Always good to see Jason - who tells me the Nottingham chapter of the Alternative Guitar show is definitely one for 3rd week of next month I think it was. While the Exeter chapter being organise by Wayne of Zona Guitars - looks more likely to happen early next year now!
Flattley Guitar Pedals - Paul & Jan
And last here - simply by the fact of how busy the Flattley stand was at the show - as I had to circulate by so many times to finally get the photo opportunity.
Obviously I announced during my recent Wassup Nerds show report - how Andertons had decided to stock Flattley Pedals - where that decision was made at the recent Guitar Summit show. The paperwork is all done now, and the full range of Flattley Bass and Guitar pedals is on the brink of being shipped to Andertons!
So we can all look forward to a further Andertons video on that subject - with hopefully some really tasteful Pete Honoré playing too!
Paul and Jan like to keep up a very punishing schedule - and where for most of us - the Kempton Park is kind of at or near the end of the 2024 show circuit - Paul and Jan still have 5 more events to attend before year end - including one in Milan around the middle of next month - and two sort of Christmas themed ones in December.
Paul has been grafting hard at this for so many years now - he really deserves this success - and I sincerely hope Andertons will treat him well!
Kind of new at the show was the final production variant of the Bass Valkyrie Chorus - which has a markedly different frequency response to the Guitar original. We should see some Bass demos materialising pretty soon - along with an official launch - while those pedals are already for sale!
Great to see the Flattleys doing so well!
BONUS ROUND!
That fetching Grey and Blue Union Jack Rug so smartly selected by Paul comes from Amazon - and can be yours for just £65!
[View it here!]
