NOTE : FREE TO ATTEND HEADPHONES EVENT!

Great news! - the London Synth & Pedal Expo is back for another year on the 22nd & 23rd of March -hopefully just as good as last year’s fantastic sophomore event. And in a superb venue and location - just one stop up from Stratford!

Paolo generally encourage people to bring their own guitar with them - while I’ve been bopped so many times by those guitars - that I rather wish attendees left their axes at home. Space can get somewhat tight on ...

NOTE : Competition is now over - while the -20% promotion has been extended until January 15th!

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that we’ve had DryBell Banners on this site since December 1st - to mark the Brand New DryBell.com website. The celebration is in two parts - firstly, all 5 key Pedal Variants are [20% OFF] throughout December - with FREE Shipping.

[20% OFF] is a fantastic deal for these studio-grade pedals, and a rare opportunity to acquire one at these at incredibly ...

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

So we were back in Bristol once more for the superb Wassup Nerds!? 2 Show - much expanded and in new BIMM Institute Venue in the Stokes Croft area of that city. Said area, is a little way out of the centre of the city, and consists mostly of take-away restaurants seemingly, a few pubs, and is heavily saturated with Vegan and Vegetarian options - so will likely suit the more fussy eaters!

Unusually for me, I hadn’t done any research on that area in advance - where for my lunch break - I ...

It was quite the deliberation - deciding which image should be the cover shot for this feature - on balance I think I made there right decision by picking the very first photo of the day - where Hello Sailor Effects certainly delivers that Technicolour Rainbow which looks so appealing. Moreover I snagged a one-off pedal from that stand - a few minutes before the show was officially opened - but more of that later!

Showrunner extraordinaire Phil Steere above (at the show entrance), AKA PedalPatch Head Honcho.

What a wonderful show!

Just as good as the inaugural one, in fact by several measures even better!

These shows are really like family reunions for me nowadays - I know most everybody on the pedal scene now and seemed to be mostly warmly welcomed into their company. I was up really early on the Saturday - in fact when I walked in at 08:15 only Boss and NRG Effects were close to having set ...

So the second time we’re at Fat Lil’s, thank you to all the helper elves that made all this happen - of course UK Chase Bliss Ambassador Doug Tolley and team - including Jonny ’Guitar’ Davies, Nick Rees, and Fat Lil’s owner Paul Spink.

Cover star on this occasion is Holy Island Audio’s Gwion Christmas - that photo just came out the coolest with those light-flares - it’s often just about the aesthetic hit - I also feel that said visual gives you a good flavour of the venue too!

I picked ...

I’m a huge advocate for supporting any kind of grassroots endeavour happening within the guitar industry - obviously the pedal side in particular. So it was a foregone conclusion really that I would attend the very first Alternative Guitar Show and lend it my support - held this time at the wonderful Fighting Cocks Bar / Pub / Live Gig Venue in Kingston.

I loved the venue - which was accesses behind the main bar / pub - and the whole vibe of the space really reminded me of my student years....

Where the Birmingham Show was a little sprawling and chaotic for me, I very much felt more at home at the Studio 9294 venue for this year’s London Synth and Pedal Expo. As Media Partner for the show, the second year in a row, I was of course in for the entirety of both the day, and actually in very early in particular on the Sunday.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two days -I love having the #90 Bar & Kitchen next door - for some very decent lunches - superb burger on the first day, and Sunday...