El_JimBob Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='bassket_case' post='240201' date='Jul 15 2008, 04:51 PM']It's always been that way. It wouldn't surprise me if the thing was funding by Vintage (or whoever the parent company is)[/quote] Correct sir, it's the John Hornby Skewes 'ad mag' - seems to get everywhere these days - hasn't helped sales of Spongebob ukuleles tho.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Clayton Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='silddx' post='240342' date='Jul 15 2008, 08:11 PM']Thanks Stu. Two comments. The page layout decisions of the BGM designer are sometimes very odd. There is sometimes a loss of continuity because of the decision to make some of the text appear as though it is in a boxout. The general design concept is a little confused and slightly different every month. There are clearly some ideas that have been appropriated from Guitar Buyer but BGM just doesn't look "slick", it looks more like a car owner's club quarterly. I can live with that but the poor spelling and grammar are unforgivable. Sorry to sound harsh. Number two, I think bass a growing and popular market, most bands with guitarists also have bassists.[/quote] Replies to your two comments: 1) I will pass your comments on to the designers. There was a time, I agree, when the layout and general design seemed to alter from month to month, but I felt that recently the magazine had found more of an identity. Criticism of poor spelling and grammer is not harsh, it's more than fair - it shouldn't happen. It bothers me immensely when I see bad typos in the magazine, mainly since I am absolutely baffled as to how they get there - we all have spellcheckers after all! I often wish I were involved in the production of the magazine at the proofing stage, as I firmly believe that the more people that can look at something the better. 2) I agree, the bass market is growing, and as the owner of a publishing company that deals almost exclusively with bass guitar books, I count on it! A brief disclaimer: I am not a mouthpiece on this forum for the magazine. I write for the magazine, and happen to like using this forum, and therefore feel justifed in commenting on issues that need commenting on. If anyone has specific comments/complaints, or dare I say it, praise for what we do, please email the editor on [email protected]. Everything that is mentioned on this and other forums is always taken on board. Believe it or not, we do try to keep the people that buy the magazine happy, but as we all know only too well, you can't please everyone! Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesus Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='El_JimBob' post='240361' date='Jul 15 2008, 08:30 PM']Correct sir, it's the John Hornby Skewes 'ad mag' - seems to get everywhere these days - hasn't helped sales of Spongebob ukuleles tho....[/quote] Haha... Yeh i forgot to mention the great ads for everything spongebob! So now am i to believe the Vintage Advance range is half decent or not? Trevor Wilkinson knows what he's doing does he not? I've also been wondering whether his Italia Modulus Bass is any good with 4pickups, one for each string? Its certainly unique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-ic Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Hey Stu! has someone won the Hellborg rig already then????? Blimey, that was quick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Clayton Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='240385' date='Jul 15 2008, 09:10 PM']Hey Stu! has someone won the Hellborg rig already then????? Blimey, that was quick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote] No, I don't know if it's been won already. I would think the winner will announced in the next issue. Believe me, whoever wins that is going to be a very happy customer! Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-ic Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='Stuart Clayton' post='240387' date='Jul 15 2008, 08:14 PM']No, I don't know if it's been won already. I would think the winner will announced in the next issue. Believe me, whoever wins that is going to be a very happy customer! Stu[/quote] Am laughing! Sorry mate, your grammer checker aint workin' either! No offense meant. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Clayton Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='240389' date='Jul 15 2008, 09:16 PM']Am laughing! Sorry mate, your grammer checker aint workin' either! No offense meant. Matt[/quote] I'm tired! Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-ic Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 On a brighter note, i have never seen the US mag on sale anywhere! So i have only ever bought BGM, which i have to say as a complete beginner, is pretty informative. However, depite Guy Pratt doing his thing this last month, it does cater for those who have already started rather than those who havent started yet. For instance, beginner basses, i didnt really know if i wanted to spend £200-£300 on a new bass, and in the end i didnt, so a reveiw of the 'opening class would have been good. Having said that, it might have been well covered in back issues, but not in the last 10 or so mags. As i said,it seems pretty good to me. Was this months issue shorter? it didnt last very long! The punk issue was brilliant. Where in Bristol sells the US version, mind you, if the mag is anything like their climbing mags, it,ll be a bit full on , but with some great gear reveiws. Give me a longer read please BGM. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 On the competition - I hope not the closing date isn't supposed to be until the 1st of September. On the subject of bass guitar publications... What I like is equipment reviews. Few musicians have very much interesting to say about themselves (you all know the Zappa quote), and I'm of an age where if I wanted to play a song I hadn't written it meant sitting down with the record and playing it over and over again until I had something that sounded right. So for me the best magazine would simply be full of great reviews of interesting equipment. To this end Bass Player has the edge because the US musical instrument market is bigger and therefore supports more varied products. I would say that this year BGM has slowly been catching up. What I'm not very interested in is lots of reviews of Fenders, Warwicks, Ibanez and Yamaha instruments. These are all easily accessible, if I want to find about them I can go to any number of music shops, pull one off the wall and find out what they're like for myself, and so can everyone else. While I don't expect to see the offerings of every luthier from my [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5525"]Weird and Wonderful thread[/url] covered (although I'd be an avid reader of that!) how about looking at some of the less well-known but respected by those in the know makes? Bacchus and Tune from Japan, Bassline, Basslab and Manne from Europe and Henman Bevilacqua, Dingwall and Knuckle Guitarworks from the US would be a good starting point. Or if you wanted to be really controversial what about a home-grown vs Asian-licensed shoot out. How much more do you get for your money when you buy a US Lakland as opposed to a Skyline? Sadowsky NYC vs Metro, how does the Fretking Blue Label Esprit 4 compare with the Green Label Europa IV? Go on I dare you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 (edited) [quote name='BigRedX' post='240437' date='Jul 15 2008, 10:37 PM']On the competition - I hope not the closing date isn't supposed to be until the 1st of September. On the subject of bass guitar publications... What I like is equipment reviews. Few musicians have very much interesting to say about themselves (you all know the Zappa quote), and I'm of an age where if I wanted to play a song I hadn't written it meant sitting down with the record and playing it over and over again until I had something that sounded right. So for me the best magazine would simply be full of great reviews of interesting equipment. To this end Bass Player has the edge because the US musical instrument market is bigger and therefore supports more varied products. I would say that this year BGM has slowly been catching up. What I'm not very interested in is lots of reviews of Fenders, Warwicks, Ibanez and Yamaha instruments. These are all easily accessible, if I want to find about them I can go to any number of music shops, pull one off the wall and find out what they're like for myself, and so can everyone else. While I don't expect to see the offerings of every luthier from my [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5525"]Weird and Wonderful thread[/url] covered (although I'd be an avid reader of that!) how about looking at some of the less well-known but respected by those in the know makes? Bacchus and Tune from Japan, Bassline, Basslab and Manne from Europe and Henman Bevilacqua, Dingwall and Knuckle Guitarworks from the US would be a good starting point. Or if you wanted to be really controversial what about a home-grown vs Asian-licensed shoot out. How much more do you get for your money when you buy a US Lakland as opposed to a Skyline? Sadowsky NYC vs Metro, how does the Fretking Blue Label Esprit 4 compare with the Green Label Europa IV? Go on I dare you...[/quote] Some great ideas there. Another thought is, with all the Jazz bass clones out there, how about a big shoot out with Fender vs the likes of Alleva Coppolo, Sadowsky, Lakland, Bacchus, Clover, even say brands like SX... the list goes on (if you can hold of brands like that) - and see if you really are paying for the Fender name, or the exclusivity of a more boutique brand. Edited July 16, 2008 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='240712' date='Jul 16 2008, 11:09 AM']Some great ideas there. Another thought is, with all the Jazz bass clones out there, how about a big shoot out with Fender vs the likes of Alleva Coppolo, Sadowsky, Lakland, Bacchus, Clover, even say brands like SX... the list goes on (if you can hold of brands like that) - and see if you really are paying for the Fender name, or the exclusivity of a more boutique brand.[/quote] How about it blind ... ie all identfying labeling and headstock shapes hidden Now that might be very interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 [quote name='OldGit' post='240913' date='Jul 16 2008, 02:58 PM']How about it blind ... ie all identfying labeling and headstock shapes hidden Now that might be very interesting [/quote] Now that would be very interesting. A load of jazz basses with bin bags wrapped around the headstocks! Come on Stuart, that's a great feature article! (Hiding a Lakland bridge could be quite difficult though!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinbass7750 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 [quote name='steve-soar' post='235421' date='Jul 9 2008, 12:27 AM']I think it is great that the UK has its own dedicated bass guitar magazine. I subscribe to it and found last months the best so far. It is changing all the time, with interviews with Peter Hook and Charlotte Cooper, who I think is an excellent, dynamic bassist, like JJ Burnel. Good rag and a good selection of gear.[/quote] When you say last months, do you mean april/may? I haven't received June/July yet and I need something to read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balcro Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Well, if you're missing something, so am I. As a real newbie to this game I've managed to avoid MAS (Magazine Aquisition Syndrome). Years of addiction to computer mags and the subsequent weaning-off process stood me in good stead, as I've managed to keep the copies of Bass Player down to 3 copies in 10 months. Buying BP was not a deliberate choice, it was the only bass mag I could find in Smiths at the time. The local town centre shop seems to only keep one copy of BGM in stock and maybe 4 of BP. I've nevertheless looked at them all when I found one on the shelf. Yes BP is very american and full of adverts, including those awful adverts that look like they belong in New Musical Express or something similar. I guess they have to appeal to the teenies. Buy our gear, put some lead in your pencil!! BGM would probably prefer to be filled with more adverts. That's the unfortunate commercial reality. Anyway we need the adverts to give us the sources. The main star interviews are OK, no complaints. I'm more interested in their approach to playing, not their gear. After all. most of the big guys are being gifted the stuff. Occasional features on working man's bass playing? Why not? Alex C, please step forward. To echo another contributor - let's see something about upright/double basses. I don't play one and probably never will, but lets see and hear something about these beautiful instruments. Jazzers probably feel very left out. Detail needed. How; why; technical problems. Stuff. BUT Oh!! The gear reviews. [Permission to type in bold] - internet protocol for shouting. THEY COME ACROSS AS HALF ARTICLE, HALF PRESS RELEASE! WHEN WILL SOMEBODY [b][u]TEST[/u][/b] THE B$*zy THINGS. DOES NOBODY EVER OPEN A BOX AND LOOK INSIDE; TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE INSIDES? (See EBS..'s relevant post earlier in this topic). HAS ANYBODY EVER UNSCREWED AN EFFECTS PEDAL? WHAT'S INSIDE? IS THE WIRING DANGEROUS? DOES NOBODY EVER CARRY OUT A SOUND LEVEL TEST AND PRODUCE A FREQUENCY RESPONSE GRAPH? Hi-fi magazines were doing this over 30 years ago. I know it will cost money, but start small and work up to something bigger. EVEN A COMPETENT AMATEUR COULD DO THE PHOTOGRAPHY, after all it's only still life photography. CALming DOwn now. If the mags worked like "CAR", "Autocar", Computer or Hi-fi mags etc., then we could all see what was going on. See the measurements. I know they are not the be all & end all, but they fill out the picture. Yea, I think we're all missing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccabe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='Prosebass' post='235408' date='Jul 9 2008, 12:14 AM']I think some of the articles / interviews are good in Bass Player but don't like it's "Americaness" compared with the very British attitude of BGM Maybe I just have an anti USA attitude......to most things.....except Jaco and the Fender Jazz, V8 engines, Saturn 5 ...... no must be the mag...[/quote] I have to say I agree. I heard good things about Bass Player and, given that it's cheap compared to BGM, I thought I'd give it a go but I have found too much americanness in it (it's understandable really, but...). Actually, one of the other things I don't like about it is that it has a lot of articles on double bass players as well. To be honest, I haven't the slightest interest in double bass. As for BGM - I subscribed to that for a couple of years then got bored with it. There wasn't enough gear reviews in it (or the ones they did were mainly way out of my budget range) and they had loads of articles on bands I'd never heard of (and I suspect lots of people had also never heard of). When my Bass Player subscription expires I won't be renewing it, but I might go back to BGM if it still exists by next February :-) John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccabe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='silddx' post='235560' date='Jul 9 2008, 10:53 AM']What I never understand is how BGM manage to let so many typos and spelling errors creep in to the copy. I know some folks don't give a toss but to me it looks very unprofessional, they wouldn't spell Fender incorrectly, so why spell focused incorrectly?[/quote] That was one of my gripes with BGM actually, it didn't look like anyone proof-read it. I emailed them a couple of times about glaring errors in speelig and grammar but they appeared to be ignored. One thing that really, seriously annoys me in print is mistaking "bought" for "brought", e.g. "I brought a new guitar" when it should be "I bought a new guitar". Saying that, it's a very common occurrence these days; it's a pity journalists these days don't appear to need to know anything about English! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccabe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='235724' date='Jul 9 2008, 02:17 PM']I do like being exposed to bass players I've never heard of if they have touched the walls, but Charlotte who????[/quote] So you don't read Bass Player then.... [url="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/subways-charlotte-cooper/feb-06/17272"]http://www.bassplayer.com/article/subways-...er/feb-06/17272[/url] :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccabe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='Zach' post='235882' date='Jul 9 2008, 04:57 PM']I dont bother with proper bass magazines, I do read www.bass-musician-magazine.com though[/quote] Looks like it might be interesting, but surely we don't need to be bombarded with Marcus Miller and Esperanza Spaulding ALL the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 All I'm going to say - as a contributor to past issues of BGM - is that I agree with most of the cirticisms of the mag in this thread - I was VERY dissapointed with the overall standard of the last issue - I'm actually too busy to contribute on a regular basis now - but I think the whole thing is a massively missed opportunity... the time, money and effort spent creating such a dissapointing magazine really frustrates me. I don't know the way forward as there are loads of issues highlighted in this thread - that despite being made by general readers, not a bunch of publishing experts - are 100% spot on. I appreciate Stuart's comments but I personally think the whole thing needs an overhaul. I'm happy to discuss any ideas with Stuart or others on the editorial team - not here but via email or phone - but I don't think my opinion seems to be that valued. Oh well... Urb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccabe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='bassket_case' post='239012' date='Jul 14 2008, 11:20 AM']Just a comment about the mag - could we see an upright bass section soon.. or a shootout of electric upright basses?[/quote] Isn't the clue in the title - Bas GUITAR Magazine :-) FWIW - If there's an upright section added on a regular basis I won't be re-subscribing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah5string Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I don't read them.... only because I'm banned after the last one I read featured the Little giant amps and now hubby isn't impressed as I want one sooooooooooooooooo bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccabe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='BigRedX' post='240437' date='Jul 15 2008, 10:37 PM']Or if you wanted to be really controversial what about a home-grown vs Asian-licensed shoot out. How much more do you get for your money when you buy a US Lakland as opposed to a Skyline? Sadowsky NYC vs Metro, how does the Fretking Blue Label Esprit 4 compare with the Green Label Europa IV? Go on I dare you...[/quote] First of all, I haven't read BGM for about 5 issues now, but the things I liked most when I did read it were the comparison reviews; i.e. get a load of similar gear and compare them. That's probably the most useful thing (I would have thought) for us. There are very few shops where you can just go in and find numerous decent amps in the same price/power range because most shops can't afford to stock 'redundant' gear. Also, as you mentioned, reviews of more rare but not necessarily high end equipment would be good. When I was looking for a decent 5 string bass it was practically impossible to find the sort of thing I wanted unless it was a Fender or Ibanez, so get a few mid-range basses together and compare them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 [quote name='jmccabe' post='242414' date='Jul 18 2008, 09:47 AM']That was one of my gripes with BGM actually, it didn't look like anyone proof-read it. I emailed them a couple of times about glaring errors in [b]speelig[/b] and grammar but they appeared to be ignored.[/quote] Classic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 (edited) [quote name='jmccabe' post='242444' date='Jul 18 2008, 10:10 AM']Isn't the clue in the title - [b]Bas[/b] GUITAR Magazine :-)[/quote] Classic. Edited July 18, 2008 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-bass Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Hello Bass-chatters, Thank you for airing BGM in your forums. It's virtually impossible for me to respond to each and every item of comment and will be difficult to even follow up from this mail as I'm now in the final stages of the next issue production. As most of my time is spent with the magazine you'll only find me dropping in occasionally - no offence meant if I don't reply to a post! I do read the forums and many others that take the magazine as a topic. There are so many issues raised that I think I will have to pencil in the next available Bass Bash to say hello and take on board what's been raised. Communicating one-to one or one to many (!) often reaps greater reward than a misinterpreted post in my opinion. It's impossible to please every bass player all the time but we do strive to reach as many players as possible and if Bass Chatters feel opportunities are being missed I always try to put those matters right. There are however some commercial realities that sometimes tie our hands and to be compared to other publications that have publishing budgets running in the millions is something I can't do a great deal about. I'd love BGM to look like Autocar but we'd need a lot more money! No other UK mag feels a bass specialist mag is worth it. Even the US Bass Guitar Magazine has pulled the plug for low-enders last year. We are celebrating our 6th year and want many more! I hope you'll find our next issue exciting and refreshing. There's some product exclusive reviews, a MEGA stomp box feature and much more. The cover artist will of course inspire debate... So Guildford it is - schedule permitting - and I guess I'll have to bring a bass or two... Adrian Ashton Editor Bass Guitar Magazine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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