Midbass’ Fifteenth Anniversary Bash
An absolutely enormous industry event took place at the National Motorcycle Museum on Monday 9th June. The Midbass Distribution company had the Mother of All Launch Parties.
What was going on was a dealer and press event to release new product in their established lines and to reveal an entirely new brand called EDGE.
All in all, some 87 new products and five new websites were made public all at once. Not to mention the three new demonstration cars and whole slew of new demo stands and trade incentives for the dealers.
The Vibe line is their top end kit and has the Space woofers and brand new 3D components as fitted to the desirable Vibe Audi R8 – as their star items. I hurt with wanting that car whenever I see it, and it makes me feel impoverished as it’s such a luxury item. The big new story was the weapons-grade Black Death woofer. The Peugeot 206 in matt black bears evidence of conversations with serious SPL competitors as the huge single square port and wall install are pure dB Drag heaven. It also raised around 153dB (and I can guess to within 2dB up to 157dB – at which point you are leaving. Slowly and synaptically impeded by the bass but it’s like a candle flame. You take your finger out.)
One by one, insane engineer Rob Gurney sat each press person in the car. ‘Slim’ Jules Truss from Fast Car was after me and was seen to convulse briefly as the bass hit. The Max Power Noob was next. Keen and full of happy ignorance, he didn’t really understand what the pressure was like. As it again blew his intestines against his spine his reaction was one of He Who Had Never Felt This Before. His eyes went like soup plates and as soon as it was finished he was gripped with hysterical laughter and then he tried to stand up and found he was all messed up by his vibration dose.
Their top international PR executive was there too and the perceptive woman sussed that this was a Life Changing Experience for the lad and realising her brand was now carved on his bass addled soul, was utterly delighted. (I also gather the car popped some other lasses’ bra strap.)
Another brand new demo car was the heavily grafixed Porsche Cayenne. It was the new Fli car and proved that the brand is no cheapie option, with an immensely potent install by the Midbass in-house craftsman and acoustic alchemist Rich Laker. It’s still affordable kit but has evolved so as not to sound out of place in the likes of the Big Pig.
This upgrade is also evidenced in the old Honda Civic Fli demo car that is now filled with the newer stuff and is ‘Stonking’ according to Adrian at Vibe. It’s a proper pavement shaker. Four fifteens do nearly what the two-weapons-grade ones do in the Black Death car and there’s loads of HF and mids so it’s all-pervading.
The newest Vibe speakers were installed in the VXR Astra, which was next to a sit-in demo ‘thing’ for shops. It was like one of those car-less cars for Ice. Crackle paint finished boxes and binnacles with speakers and kit and a pair of Recaros.
As dealers and press arrived at the marble floored Motorcycle Museum suites, they went into one area to get their goody bags right away and have a mingle before going through into the big room with all the cars and products laid out inside. The first bit also had all the new shop stands Midbass do and hot and cold running sales force on tap to get them to sign on the dotted line.
The fourth Space Gate made since the one created in the big old truck trailer we know so well was there too. It is one of my favourite things in the whole world. Thirty Six Space fifteens in big boxes built into an arch of bass. Big batteries, a bank of big amplifiers and one or two of the Audemex power supplies we used for Ian Pinder’s Astra van. They had fixed up a narrow-range FM transmitter and all the cars played the same tune.
Incidentally it was the second time in as many weeks that a venue had impressed acoustically. The moveable sound proof barrier walls between each room area were very effective and prevented any feedback, ringing or resonance and they were permitted to drop serious big bass indoors. Most excellent and good fun.
(Although I heard a rumour that a crystal from one of the moderne chandeliers had fractured and fallen to the carpet!)
After that it was through to the last room which was bedecked with naperied tables with floaty candles in bowls on tables set for a meal, a rock band stage and a mini Las Vegas style ‘The Edge Casino’ set up with prizes for the most winning Edge-dollar gamblers at the end of the evening. But first was the launch of the new Edge line, after a presentation by some opinionated, mouthy, chubby journalist character.(that’d be me.) The car and stand were unveiled by these dudes called TV Heads, blokes walking about robotically with attaché cases with TV screens in them and screens for faces, complete with the image of you as you look at them from their helmet cams that are mounted on Vader-esque whole-head masks. Bonkers but effective.
The Edge line is about filling the gap for good-but-affordable beneath the now evolved Fli and Vibe lines. Made in a regular and a ‘Loud’ type of product flavour, there are linen-surround woofers with ally inverted dust domes and ones with fat top roll surrounds too. The demo car was a Ford ASBO, also known as the Focus ST. (225bhp in a shopping trolley.) It was well received and you can expect to see this stuff in your shops soon and we’ll get hold of some to test in due course.
The event was ambitious on a slightly insane scale and while I was there early enough to help stuff leaflets and make the car drape from two lengths of the not-wide-enough cloth got in for the purpose, I can tell you that Midbass got away with looking all serene and pre-organised by the skin of their teeth.
But hey, ready is ready, even if it’s by 30 seconds! It was as big and posh as anything I have ever attended (with the exception of the Five Star hotel in Athens with Panasonic for the Strada launch) and was as well organised as anything I have ever been to as well.
Not bad for some kid who started making boxes in his garage fifteen years ago..
Find out more about the Midbass 2008 line-up at the official websites:
http://www.vibeaudio.co.uk