bobpalt Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Is it me, or do the review and the photos not seem to be of the same bass? The reviewer mentions the bass as having a quilted maple top, 3 knobs, passive electronics and having soap bar pickups. The photos are of an ash bodied (no maple top), active, non soap bar pickuped and more knobbed bass. He also says that the graphite neck contains "wood", and whilst I am no chemist, I wouldnt have thought that this was likely (I know the phenolic fingerboard is different). If I were Mansons who had lent them the bass to review, I would be mightily miffed with what they produced. I have owned 4 or 5 Zons and they are wonderful basses, deserving of a lot more care from a prestigious magazine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 [quote name='bobpalt' timestamp='1375009146' post='2155629'] Is it me, or do the review and the photos not seem to be of the same bass? The reviewer mentions the bass as having a quilted maple top, 3 knobs, passive electronics and having soap bar pickups. The photos are of an ash bodied (no maple top), active, non soap bar pickuped and more knobbed bass. He also says that the graphite neck contains "wood", and whilst I am no chemist, I wouldnt have thought that this was likely (I know the phenolic fingerboard is different). If I were Mansons who had lent them the bass to review, I would be mightily miffed with what they produced. I have owned 4 or 5 Zons and they are wonderful basses, deserving of a lot more care from a prestigious magazine. [/quote] I haven't seen it, I gave up on BGM last year. Despite all the rhetoric from the 'new' experienced editor on his thread here, it's clear nothing has changed, just the same substandard editing and proofing there's always been, not to mention the next to useless reviews. Mike Flynn's been the only ray of hope for BGM for a couple of years but the hope has faded. We do two world class things in the UK, music and whisky, the rest is mostly mediocrity and poor quality. I have never understood why BGM don't give a sh*t about quality and rising above mediocrity, such a depressing waste of opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybertect Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Maybe not the whisky for much longer... :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 (edited) [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1375009603' post='2155638'] I haven't seen it, I gave up on BGM last year. Despite all the rhetoric from the 'new' experienced editor on his thread here, it's clear nothing has changed, just the same substandard editing and proofing there's always been, not to mention the next to useless reviews. Mike Flynn's been the only ray of hope for BGM for a couple of years but the hope has faded. We do two world class things in the UK, music and whisky, the rest is mostly mediocrity and poor quality. I have never understood why BGM don't give a sh*t about quality and rising above mediocrity, such a depressing waste of opportunity. [/quote] Don't get me started. Such a wasted opportunity. Most of the time it feels like its a school magazine. I've long since given up buying it but I shall buy it on the odd occasion that something in it sparks my interest. Last time was for the Larry Graham interview - cheers Mike B, appreciated it. What made me laugh though are the terrible reviews. How can they get these areas so wrong? My current gripe is the 'cons' section. I mean. WTF. Take that issue alone. The AV Guitars is a PJ Precision clone. The con? For this price tag it could have been made more aesthetically pleasing. What? It's a clone?! If you changed the look of it, you are changing the market to who you have pitched the product at. Are you expecting a coffee table top or something... a feature that most PJ players wouldn't be interested in anyway? The Nate Mendel Precision? Superfluous 'damage' to body work. Well... I guess the people that are buying this bass are doing so because of the signature not because of it looks. Anybody wanting a mint P bass will buy one and do a few mods if need be. It's like saying the Jaco signature should have a scratchplate... and oh, some frets would make it easier to play in tune. The violin bass one made me head palm the most though. Nowhere near versatile enough when compared with the current crop of similarly-priced basses on the market. Jeez. You buy that bass because of the one sound that it does. No bass yet can do it all. It's as ridiculous as saying that my P bass with flat wounds can't nail that Level 42 sound. Well guess what, all those other basses at similar prices can't sound like that violin bass. It's as though the writers have to really scratch their heads to come up with a minus point. Utter tripe journalism at its best. Edited July 28, 2013 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 I thought that too. Stock photo perhaps. Unprofessional and lazy. It could, and should, have been a great mag. But I wouldn't let my cat sh*t on it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 (edited) [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1375015221' post='2155739'] Don't get me started. Such a wasted opportunity. Most of the time it feels like its a school magazine. I've long since given up buying it but I shall buy it on the odd occasion that something in it sparks my interest. Last time was for the Larry Graham interview - cheers Mike B, appreciated it. What made me laugh though are the terrible reviews. How can they get these areas so wrong? My current gripe is the 'cons' section. I mean. WTF. Take that issue alone. The AV Guitars is a PJ Precision clone. The con? For this price tag it could have been made more aesthetically pleasing. What? It's a clone?! If you changed the look of it, you are changing the market to who you have pitched the product at. Are you expecting a coffee table top or something... a feature that most PJ players wouldn't be interested in anyway? The Nate Mendel Precision? Superfluous 'damage' to body work. Well... I guess the people that are buying this bass are doing so because of the signature not because of it looks. Anybody wanting a mint P bass will buy one and do a few mods if need be. It's like saying the Jaco signature should have a scratchplate... and oh, some frets would make it easier to play in tune. The violin bass one made me head palm the most though. Nowhere near versatile enough when compared with the current crop of similarly-priced basses on the market. Jeez. You buy that bass because of the one sound that it does. No bass yet can do it all. It's as ridiculous as saying that my P bass with flat wounds can't nail that Level 42 sound. Well guess what, all those other basses at similar prices can't sound like that violin bass. It's as though the writers have to really scratch their heads to come up with a minus point. Utter tripe journalism at its best. [/quote] they've forgotten why they write reviews. They can't possibly be proud of the mag so it's just another sh*t day job, no heart in it. They should probably just give up trying. It's the waste of opportunity that pisses me off the most, pathetic. Edited July 28, 2013 by xilddx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingus Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 All these bass magazines are having major difficulty competing with the wealth of information and entertainment out there on the internet . I think that well- produced video magazines are inevitably the way of the future . If you look at how amateur videos on You Tube can equal and often better the output from professional television productions , I bet a video bass magazine made by a forum like Basschat or Talkbass could easily rival any of the existing publications , both in terms of style and content . . If we could manage it without falling out . Which we couldn't . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 I haven't read any of these bass publications for years. I don't tend to bother, they're usually worthless - I can't remember the last time something got a bad review (though I accept the quality of gear these days means not much is truly 'bad', just suited to different tastes). That said, I did once own a Zon Sonus bass and it's one of the few instruments I dream of at night... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 [quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1375023199' post='2155856'] That said, I did once own a Zon Sonus bass and it's one of the few instruments I dream of at night... [/quote] So why don't you own it any more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Oh dear. I still enjoy the BGM despite it all. Spoke to the editor about 3 years ago and he promised a Percy Jones interview...never happened, but cest la vie. Adore Zon basses btw. Outstanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Brooks Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Cheers for the thumbs up for the interview Russ. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 [quote name='Mike Brooks' timestamp='1375027711' post='2155915'] Cheers for the thumbs up for the interview Russ. Mike [/quote] No probs - best bit of the mag! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 That was a good interview, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Brooks Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Cheers Pete, appreciate it. Tried to steer away from the usual questions. Came out well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 I noticed that, Mike. Must be a difficult job interviewing legends that have heard every question under the sun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magcom1977 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 To offer some defence to BGM, in this particular case I think Mansons are partly to blame as they're listing this bass as a Sonus 4/2 with internal midrange control when I believe it's actually a Sonus 4 with external midrange control - http://www.zonguitars.com/zonguitars/sonus4.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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