BGM! Is it all that?

[Machines]

A long standing issue i've had is a disproportionate of reviews of high end gear. Anyone wiling to drop £1500+ on an instrument wouldn't do so from a review alone. There are some fairer price reviews carried out but I feel sometimes the reviewers are not too enthusiastic about doing so, i'd like to see a lot more midrange/budget reviews. Maybe a sub £500 fretless shoot off ? etc...

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1336412053' post='1645285']
A long standing issue i've had is a disproportionate of reviews of high end gear. Anyone wiling to drop £1500+ on an instrument wouldn't do so from a review alone. There are some fairer price reviews carried out but I feel sometimes the reviewers are not too enthusiastic about doing so, i'd like to see a lot more midrange/budget reviews. Maybe a sub £500 fretless shoot off ? etc...
[/quote]

I think the £1500+ instrument reviews is more about letting people know what is out there, than actually telling them everything there is to know about a bass. And as I said before pretty much everyone can find out about all the sub £500 basses with a trip to their local musical instrument emporium.

[Prime_BASS]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1336416419' post='1645368']
I think the £1500+ instrument reviews is more about letting people know what is out there, than actually telling them everything there is to know about a bass. And as I said before pretty much everyone can find out about all the sub £500 basses with a trip to their local musical instrument emporium.
[/quote]

You live in Nottingham right?

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1336459477' post='1645772']
You live in Nottingham right?
[/quote]

TBH I don't really look at what music shops have anymore since they are all too "vanilla" for my tastes, but last time I looked, between the 5 main retailers close to the city centre there seemed to be a reasonable cross section of sub £500 instruments to try.

And if there's nothing there that floats your boat you can always do what I did when I lived somewhere with no decent music shop which was to get on a bus or train and spend a day out somewhere that did.

[tauzero]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1336337112' post='1644258']
If you've followed any of my other posts you'll know that I am very keen on having the right instruments visually for a band, but I can't help thinking that if I was the person insisting on having a traditional look neither of these Avenger basses would make the grade. It's a good idea, but the execution is nowhere near right.
[/quote]

Rather off at a tangent, I wondered what the Avenger and Cannon looked like, and I must say that it's a triumph of website design that a google search on "enfield cannon avenger bass -royal -india" doesn't find either the Enfield site or even the Sims Guitars site.

[Geek99]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1336416419' post='1645368']


I think the £1500+ instrument reviews is more about letting people know what is out there, than actually telling them everything there is to know about a bass. And as I said before pretty much everyone can find out about all the sub £500 basses with a trip to their local musical instrument emporium.
[/quote]
Those of us who have one with a reasonable range , that is .... Sub £500 (new or used) is of interest to me. If it comes to me in the form of a magazine that helps me enormously as I have an active toddler and a disabled partner, going into a city isn't an option due to time constraints and those commitments. I don't particularly want to read reviews of £1500 basses as I will never buy one . I don't mind anyone else reading it tho. A good mix is what I would like to see, then I might restart my sub

Edited May 10, 2012 by Geek99

[jynxterstu]

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1336137756' post='1641465']
I've just received my final copy of Bass Guitar Magazine after subscribing for three years.
When I first started reading it, I found it really informative and interesting, now I just flick through it in about 30 minutes, and don't bother to pick it up again.
I love reading reviews of new basses etc, but I found that they seem to predominantly review basses, that are way out of the averages bass player's price range, so because of all these things I cancelled my subscription.
When the final copy dropped through my door yesterday, I thought to myself, am I going to regret not getting it any more? but when I started reading it, I knew that I had done the right thing.
Once again, it was totally uninteresting, virtually the same adverts in every single copy (I know they have to make money), but I think I have seen Geddy Lee sitting on those Orange amps far too many times now, and interviews with mainly unknown bassists from not-very-well-known bands talking about their playing styles, telling us if they use a pick, or play finger style, whether they do, or don't slap etc, Yawn!!! and of coarse, then there is the great bass guitar review for millionaires!

They had a nice [b]£5,200[/b] [i]GMR Flow Out 6[/i] on review in this edition, think I'll just nip out and get me one! or I could save a bit, and get one of the [i]Enfields[/i], as they were only [b]£2,650[/b], or the [i]Yamaha TRBJP2[/i] for [b]£2,999[/b], or the [i]Dingwall Afterburner III[/i] [b]£2,845.[/b]
Ok, they did also include a couple of [i]Fret-King[/i] basses at just [b]£599[/b] and [b]£629[/b].

This must be really off-putting for younger players out there, who buy the magazine for ideas and inspiration on what's on offer, only to read about high-end basses all the time. There are so many great basses below £500, but how are they to know how they play and sound, if all they get to read about, are reviews on basses that only the rich and famous can afford.

Sorry, rant over!

I just needed to get this off my chest, and just wondered if any other BC's have similar thoughts.

If not, I will just have to accept that I am just a [b]grumpy old man![/b]
[/quote]


I agree with you ! i cancelled my subscribtion 12 months ago for pretty much the same reasons. The other thing that drove me mad was they rarely put comments on photos which on many occations helps follow the review or story. Your comment on the Geddy Lee add made me LOL. Nice
Jynxter

[Dood]

I think what would be great is:-

* A free to read magazine.
* Free video reviews of gear that includes equipment that is in the reaches of the beginner as well as the pro
* Video interviews as well as text ones with relevant and current bass players
* The magazine isn't too long and just enough items to keep you going month to month - Pedals, amps and basses etc
* Maybe a reviewer you know that you can talk directly too? That'd be cool.
* Having all the back issues at your disposal (free) without having to take up room in your office / studio
* UK based but open to the world market so that any adverts aren't just UK specific, thus making readers aware of a wider range of products - but still, not swathes of advertising bile.

Hmmmm.. if *only* such a magazine existed ;o)

Check out issue 9 of Guitar Interactive Magazine for free (and all the back issues) over at [b]http://www.iGuitarMag.com[/b]. It has a GREAT bass section you can browse directly to and features this really nice guy you all know

Dood

[Dood]

It'll be in an iPad version soon too:

http://www.iguitarmag.com/the-app/

[Dood]

http://www.iguitarmag.com/the-mag/

[BigRedX]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1336649891' post='1648852']
I think what would be great is:-

* A free to read magazine.
* Free video reviews of gear that includes equipment that is in the reaches of the beginner as well as the pro
* Video interviews as well as text ones with relevant and current bass players
* The magazine isn't too long and just enough items to keep you going month to month - Pedals, amps and basses etc
* Maybe a reviewer you know that you can talk directly too? That'd be cool.
* Having all the back issues at your disposal (free) without having to take up room in your office / studio
* UK based but open to the world market so that any adverts aren't just UK specific, thus making readers aware of a wider range of products - but still, not swathes of advertising bile.

Hmmmm.. if *only* such a magazine existed ;o)

Check out issue 9 of Guitar Interactive Magazine for free (and all the back issues) over at [b][url="http://www.iGuitarMag.com"]http://www.iGuitarMag.com[/url][/b]. It has a GREAT bass section you can browse directly to and features this really nice guy you all know

Dood
[/quote]

Unfortunately the "magazine" still makes poor use of the available browser window area and is filled up with distracting and unnecessary animation, and obviously designed by people too deeply rooted in traditional printed magazines. If it was the on-line version of an actual ink on paper publication then these short-comings might be excusable, but for something that only exists in an on-line form it is poorly thought out in its execution and needs to make better use of the strengths of the on-line delivery medium and ditch those printed paper constraints that no longer apply.

And please less video interviews - or at least more editing (it's not live) - IME musicians are rarely eloquent enough to be heard without being filtered through a good written word journalist or video editor.

[Dood]

HEY BRX,

Can you show me some examples of the 'online delivery medium' you'd prefer as at the moment I can't really see what the problem is. - But hey, I'm only a reader and bass player, not a web designer!- I'd certainly welcome any improvements that I can pass on to the team. At the moment though, I'd totally disagree with your comment 'Poorly thought out'. I think that is a bit harsh.

As for the video interviews. Have you watched the ones in iGuitar? I think you'll be surprised. We've picked bass players who have interesting stories and experiences to share. All of the videos are edited down where necessary. Indeed I spent all morning talking to Doug Wimbish - simply not possible to include everything! ;o)


edit: I realise this discussion is actually going Off-Topic thus apologies - maybe better placed in a new topic about online publications.

Edited May 10, 2012 by dood
Going Off-Topic

[Geek99]

Maybe I'm being dumb but I couldnt find much bass content on that link apart from the spector/dingwall review and a bit about Doug Wimbish ? I'm a web programmer and I didnt think it was all that bad design-wise - perhaps a little too columnar. Id have liked to see it accessed via cascading menus to make it less busy.

Audio coming out of your browser is a big problem for those of us who are reading at lunchtimes at work. Disturbs the other sheep - perhaps your developers could fix this to mute by default?
@Dood

[BigRedX]

Dood,

Take a look at just about any daily newspaper website to see how to deliver a publication in a manner better suited to the web. You get the same information as in the printed edition, but one version has been laid out to work best on paper and the other designed to be viewed on-screen.

The delivery system used by iGuitarMag and every other musical instrument magazine that I've seen on-line are ones which have been created to allow publishers of printed magazines quickly and easily re-purpose them to deliver via the internet. However if your publication doesn't have a physical printed version then there's no reason to be constrained by things like fixed page size for instance when these things become irrelevant when there is no longer a physical page. Also once you stop using these types of delivery system and build your magazine using normal web standards you no longer have to worry about having to create a separate version for iPads etc.

I could go on more, but since working on stuff like this is part of how I make my living I don't want to give away all my knowledge for free. If IGuitarMag or any of the other on-line magazines want to pay me for my consultation and advice then they can PM me via this site.

[Dood]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1336656068' post='1648993']
Maybe I'm being dumb but I couldnt find much bass content on that link apart from the spector/dingwall review and a bit about Doug Wimbish ? I'm a web programmer and I didnt think it was all that bad design-wise - perhaps a little too columnar. Id have liked to see it accessed via cascading menus to make it less busy.

Audio coming out of your browser is a big problem for those of us who are reading at lunchtimes at work. Disturbs the other sheep - perhaps your developers could fix this to mute by default?
@Dood
[/quote]

Click the button that says 'Read It For Free' - you'll be taken to the full magazine! - There's plenty more to read. Don't forget to subscribe. As for sound - Most newer PC laptops and Macs have a mute button so you can choose for yourself ;o)

[Dood]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1336658431' post='1649042']
Dood,

Take a look at just about any daily newspaper website to see how to deliver a publication in a manner better suited to the web. You get the same information as in the printed edition, but one version has been laid out to work best on paper and the other designed to be viewed on-screen.

The delivery system used by iGuitarMag and every other musical instrument magazine that I've seen on-line are ones which have been created to allow publishers of printed magazines quickly and easily re-purpose them to deliver via the internet. However if your publication doesn't have a physical printed version then there's no reason to be constrained by things like fixed page size for instance when these things become irrelevant when there is no longer a physical page. Also once you stop using these types of delivery system and build your magazine using normal web standards you no longer have to worry about having to create a separate version for iPads etc.

I could go on more, but since working on stuff like this is part of how I make my living I don't want to give away all my knowledge for free. If IGuitarMag or any of the other on-line magazines want to pay me for my consultation and advice then they can PM me via this site.
[/quote]

I can only assume at this point that they haven't had too many complaints from the 100,000+ subscribers (not including those who read the mag but don't subscribe) - I can't answer that, but it's a format that certainly seems to work for those enjoying it, but I'll forward your comments if you wish ;o)

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1336662625' post='1649136']
, but I'll forward your comments if you wish
[/quote]

Well you could tell them its spelt Bass and not Base in the review box filter

[Dood]

Ha ha!! That's really funny! Bless 'em! - I don't want to derail the thread , so Dave, if you could send me a PM / screen print of the offending search box you mean then I will let them know!

When I say 'know' I mean berate them seriously for not knowing how to spell the name of the most important instrument on the planet ;o)

[dave_bass5]

PM'ed :-)