So you want me to tell a story?... ... Oh ok then !!!!
Birmingham Guitar Show Saturday 28/02/2015.
The first question I had to ask myself was " Was I actually going to go to the show?"
I still hadn't made up my mind during the previous week, and I said to my missus about 9:00 the night before that I had made up my mind and intended to make the 2 hour drive from Cardiff to Birmingham, Bingley Hall to go to the Guitar Exhibition.
So next morning, I got up early and the first problem was that my 8 year old sat nav didn't recognise Bingley Hall !!! I set it for the next post code (Zip code/Postal Area) and trusted there to be some signage nearer the venue telling me that Bingley Hall was just around the corner (yeah right!!!).
What swayed me to go?
Well I didn't want/need another guitar, but here was a chance to see the majesty,amada up close and also the new MM amps made by Marko from Markbass.
So set I set off around 7:45am - the satnav got me to where I told it - but depite keeping an eye open, I saw no signs to the Bingley Hall venue and no sign of any "guitar type people" making their way there.
I ended up asking a "local" and thankfully the directions he gave were spot on and I found my way with no further problem.
Those who know me realise that (and for those that don't) in the past I've had had the good fortune to work a few shows for the UK distributors Strings n Things and had "represented" Ernie Ball on the shop floor at venues such as Birmingham NEC, London Excel and London Olympia and at an Albert Lee clinic in London.
Those shows were big - lots of traders, lots of big stands, big crowds, Rock luminaries attended together with the great and the good such as Jim Marshall - all the big guns used to be there.
However, what with the economic climate over the last few years, these big shows no longer happened - I hadn't been to one for years and apart from seeing Ming from S & T and talking via e mail to "The Devil"
I hadn't seen the rest of the guys for quite some time.
So you have to appreciate that although Bingley Hall was a sizeable event, it was nothing like the shows of old sizeways, but still the S & T guys "performed" just as well to a smaller audience as they have done in the past at larger venues.
After paying my entrance fee (jeez that hurt - can't remember the last time I did that lol) I set off for the MM stand.
The
smaller than I was used to S & T stand looked very good with a great selection of guitars on stands, available for all to play - big difference was they(the guitars not the guys from S & T) all had padding on the back to stop belt rash
- I wonder if that was because in the very last show I did with them, an Albert Lee was badly scratched by a punter?
There were two MM amps set up on their "stage". One for the Devil (more later) and another for his hapless victims. Andy from S & T came over and said that the other MM amps were around the rear of their stand. Here's some photos of the Devil with "those amps" in the background.
Not only am I a big fan of MM guitars and got to know a lot about them over the years, I'm also a big MM amp fan and have two of them. My electronics incapability preclude me from being a total "amp corksniffer" but I I'm kinda close to it.
i've posted quite a few photos of the amps/cabs from the show here to try to placate the MM amp aficionados like myself - however the lighting was really weird on the day, consequently the autofocus on my Olympus Digi SLR was fighting me all along the way - so sorry if the pictures aren't as sharp as they should be.
My observations on the new MM amps ? They are so damn light!! I have an '81 RD50 112 combo and the new one is a fraction of it's weight. They looked very similar but there were some subtle differences between the old and the new:-
• The amp badges are made differently. The old ones were cast in one piece - the new ones seem to have a cast back piece with the MM logo relief achieved via stamped out metal piece.
• The top handles have different metal casting to the originals
• The back panels are completely different.
• The tolex appeared different?
• My perception was that the RD 50 looked a bit taller but I'm really not sure about that and will need to look at the dimensions in Markos spec sheet.
I didn't try one as there were sound restrictions at the venue, but heard the MM amps set up on stage - The Devil certainly sounded good using a Mooer Crunch as his distortion pedal.
To be continued
) but the one in the show was a limited edition celebrating Alberts birthday. Had a lacquered neck - once again, imo the oiled neck feels better.
