Anyone Else Disenchanted with Bass Player Magazine?

[JimK]

I'm still happy when Bass Player is in my mailbox every month.

Me, too...but it's waning. I'm a BP subscription lifer & that almost pains me to admit that.

Re-reading an issue from the late '90s; a letter to the Editor was complaining about the downsizing of the issues...and that particular issue was double the size/content/meat compared to what we're seeing nowadaze.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Finally! Someone has taken notice about BP magazine, I was totally thinking I was alone, I always bought my issue every month at six bucks a pop. And it took a minute until I saw that nothing was of interest. Every issue I got nothing stood out. Just to mention one of my all time greats, when he was among us helping with holding down the bottom end. From the time he passed, there was never a credit issue after his death, others I've seen and have old issues of. But not of the late and to me one of the greats that paved a way with skills in his short but super life. ( The great Wayman Tisdale). So now I'm keeping an extra six bucks in my pocket every month now, and saving to go towards my bass needs. To you the thread poster. Super Post!

I love Bass Player. I love the full song transcriptions. It's funny to me that they make a magazine especially for people who are into bass...and those very people complain about it.

 

[Dominic D]

I love Bass Player. I love the full song transcriptions. It's funny to me that they make a magazine especially for people who are into bass...and those very people complain about it.

Of course. We're their customers. Who else would be complaining about it? Drummers?

 

[Lonnybass]

I remember some really cool articles from BP over the years...what's disappointing is what sticks out in my mind is stuff like the 5 string shootout (1997 or 1998?) or the effects pedal roundup (2002 or 2003?). Having to go back at least 10years for the "goodies" is disappointing.

And ironically, I've had WAY better luck with gear advice coming off of TB than I had in the BP reviews. I look at stuff I've gotten rid of in the last 10 years or so and it's all stuff that BP listed as:

"Cons: None."


Lonnybass

 

[BluesMan845]

I remember some really cool articles from BP over the years...what's disappointing is what sticks out in my mind is stuff like the 5 string shootout (1997 or 1998?) or the effects pedal roundup (2002 or 2003?). Having to go back at least 10years for the "goodies" is disappointing.

And ironically, I've had WAY better luck with gear advice coming off of TB than I had in the BP reviews. I look at stuff I've gotten rid of in the last 10 years or so and it's all stuff that BP listed as:

"Cons: None."


Lonnybass

One example of my blindly following a BP review is the purchase of my Carvin LB70... Absolutely the best purchase I have ever made and it's still my main bass probably 20 years after that review was posted..

An opposite experience was my purchase of the GK 2000RB.. Best sounding but most unreliable POS I ever owned. To be fair, there is no way they could predict something like reliability during a review so if you remove that from the equation, it was another spot-on review.

Again, I'm sure you find better reviews from real users that have a history with gear.. an article in a mag is not going to have that kind of history so you have to consider that but if people expect to see a product get slammed to make them happy I don't think you will find that in pages of Bassplayer, or any mag. I know that is not what you were saying but this point is brought up so many times as a complaint I'm not sure if that isn't what some readers want to see.

Let's also not forget that a review in an article is basically ONE person's hopefully objective OPINION - it's not fact or gospel and if you ask 10 more people what they would write you could end up with 10 completely different reviews.. Using an article as a reason to purchase gear is rolling the dice unless you know that person writing the article has all the same likes/dislikes as you do.

I Haven't seen an issue of the UK Bass Player mag in a year or more but their reviews certainly do come off as more hard-hitting than USA BP's and therefore more reliable if you are using it to influence a purchase of gear you won't demo ahead of time. It's still rolling the dice though

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Of course. We're their customers. Who else would be complaining about it? Drummers?

I liken it to biting the hand that feeds you.

 

[Pacman]

I liken it to biting the hand that feeds you.

They're not exactly publishing BP out of the kindness of their hearts.

 

[ArtechnikA]

I liken it to biting the hand that feeds you.

They're not exactly publishing BP out of the kindness of their hearts.

Exactly - we are paying them for the privilege. As in all such transactions, there is a value proposition. It's either worth it or it's not.

If we as paying customers start to see the value slip away, we might as well tell them what we do and do not like. If, guided by our feedback, they continue to do what they want anyway, it becomes clear they do not want their customers.

I recognise they're in a tight spot if their existing customer base rejects the transition to lifestyle products. I don't mind the advertising commensurate with quality editorial content. I like to believe and act as if I'm a bass player, so I don't mind being made aware of products to facilitate that.

But I have bought all the basses and amps and cabs I'm going to need for a good long while, and I just don't buy that many strings. And frankly the guys endorsing stuff aren't making sounds I aspire to so even the big-name full page ads don't influence me much.

(Or they could just change the name to Metal Bass Player and I'd know right away I'm not interested...)

 

[jerry]

Back in the day before bass specific magazines I used to buy Guitar Player because they might cover a bassist once every couple issues or so, so that might be why I'm still a little more stoked every month that a bass magazine even still exists, and cut them some slack.

 

[The Owl]

All Geddy Lee, the latest "shred bassist" and same one or two bassists all the time, lost interest quite some time ago. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Dominic D]

I liken it to biting the hand that feeds you.

So, if Fender decides to replace the bridges on their American P-basses with plastic ones, we should just except it because they are making instruments for us bass players? It doesn't work that way. You'd have point if this was a free magazine like Bass Gear Mag. BP puts out a product that we have to pay for the privilege to use. If we feel like the quality has been slipping and it's no longer worth the price they charge, we have the right to complain.

 

[JimK]

Back in the day before bass specific magazines I used to buy Guitar Player because they might cover a bassist once every couple issues or so, so that might be why I'm still a little more stoked every month that a bass magazine even still exists, and cut them some slack.

...just say I would get more than excited when Guitar Player did an article on a bassist. An early highlight for me was the Chuck Rainey interview (Sept. 1976/Merle Travis cover).
http://www.jklutherie.com/magazine_big/M.GP1976-09.jpg

If Guitar Player put a bassist on its cover...look out!

I just posted on an Anthony Jackson thread-
One of the best things Guitar Player ever put out was their Anthony Jackson inetrview/article (June 1986/Robert Fripp cover). An absolute classic, IMO...should be 'the model' for Bass Player.

 

[nozkcb]

Lots of threads on this over the years. Yes, the era of a monthly magazine if pretty much over. I would guess their readership is getting smaller and smaller and older and older, resulting in less money, and hence less to work with.

I still get the magazine. It takes me about 5 minutes to go through Hard to compete with the immediate reviews and info on Talkbass. I view my subscription cost as kind of 'charity' at this point as part of the bass community helping keep this classic mag afloat, even though it is pretty much irrelevant at this point. IMO.

100% agree and consider my subscription as a form of charity or a due of some sort.

The content of the magazine itself seems less interesting and relevant to me every month. I suspect that the ceaseless turnover with the editorial staff and resulting defections in direction is a big part of the problem too.

Whatever the reason, it's clear that the magazine is heading to the magazine graveyard soon. While the page is wider, the number of pages (a good indicator of the advertisements/revenue) has diminished substantially! Lately, the number of pages in each issue ranks up there with a nice pamphlet.

 

[mcm]

Yes it blows. The uk Mags are where it's at.

 

[Baird6869]

Let's also not forget that a review in an article is basically ONE person's hopefully objective OPINION

What really bugs me is that they NEVER say a bass or amp is garbage or a POS. most negative review I have ever seen? "It arrived unplayable but after a quick setup and re-soldering a cable, it sang" (or something as stupid). So they completely set up a new guitar that was shipped to them just to be reviewed, fixed faulty electronics and didn't say QC was crap?

Also, the 4-6+ pages of ads from the bass company being reviewed is a given.

Grow a set, I say. I would LOVE to see a $6000 boutique reviewed terribly and the reviewer say his/her Squier Affinity is a better bass!

 

[MCS4]

What really bugs me is that they NEVER say a bass or amp is garbage or a POS. most negative review I have ever seen? "It arrived unplayable but after a quick setup and re-soldering a cable, it sang" (or something as stupid). So they completely set up a new guitar that was shipped to them just to be reviewed, fixed faulty electronics and didn't say QC was crap?

Also, the 4-6+ pages of ads from the bass company being reviewed is a given.

Grow a set, I say. I would LOVE to see a $6000 boutique reviewed terribly and the reviewer say his/her Squier Affinity is a better bass!

I think that would be fun to see as well. However, and you might not be aware of this, but most of the writers and reviewers for BP are gigging bassists (including the editors), and they generally don't review gear until they've run it through a number of practices, gigs, and other playing situations. If a reviewer has 10 potential basses to review, and one of them clearly has issues, then odds are he's not going to waste his time lugging it around to a handful of gigs -- much less devote hours to writing up the review -- when he has other better options right at hand.

 

[aproud1]

I let my BP mag subscription lapse a few years ago because of the many reasons listed here. I did renew after they harassed me and I got a year for some ridiculously cheap price. After receiving the print version of Bass Gear magazine, comparing the two and just generally being angry after reading Bass player. I did not renew my subscription. 3 months ago I should have received my last copy, but they just keep coming! I did enjoy the interview this month with Geezer.

I know I can get Bass Gear for free online but really like the print version. I also like to revisit some of the articles and especially the technical data. It is the only magazine I read anymore and very much look forward to seeing it in the mail.

Bass Player pretty much generates a sigh each time I open it.

 

[zon6c-f]

I have been a subscriber to GP since 1976 and since it's inception.

Both publications have grown and changed..sometimes for the better.

Now I have to find a larger magazine storage holder because BP is larger.

I like them both ; GP & BP, better these days although some issues seem marginal.

Obviously, I like talkbass.com and if I was younger, perhaps I would prefer digital, but most folks my age and older still prefer a tangible magazine, book or other publication.

 

[zon6c-f]

For clarity...correction..

I have been a subscriber to BP since its' inception...

 

[Road Hat]

This thread made me look at my older editions of GP and BP and see the evolution of how bass players are portrayed in print and the bass magazine market in general -

GP
May 1980
Stanley Clarke - First bass player on GP cover
138 pages
$1.50
$1.75 Canadian
90p UK

GP
August 1984
Jaco cover
RUSH inset (Geddy-ish)
122 pages
US $2.50
Canada $3.25
UK 1.65 (pounds sterling?)

GP
December 1986
Billy Sheehan cover
170 pages
US $2.95
Canada $3.95
UK 2.35

"Bass Player - For the electric and string bass musician"
Nov/Dec '88
One-off Collectors' Edition
Geddy Lee cover
A Tribute to Jaco (photo inset)
Features
Stanley Clarke
Tine Weymouth
Bass String Guide
66 pages
US$3.95
Canada $3.75
UK 2.35


BP - A GPI Special Edition
Sep/Oct 1989
Cover Photo Insets
Victor Bailey
Doug Wimbish
Steve Swallow
Avery Sharpe
Marc Johnson
Mark Egan
Tim Bogert
Steve Rodby
Features
Solo Transcriptions from Jaco, Paul Chambers, and John Paul Jones
Reviewed
Pedulla Series II Bass, Clevinger Electric Upright Bass, Ampeg SVT II Tube Amp, Trace Elliot VA 350 Tube Amp
82 pages
$3.95
Can. $4.25
UK 2.50

BP - Premiere Issue
Spring '90
Billy Sheehan cover
82 pages
Features
James Jamerson: Interview With A Ghost
Anthony Jackson
In Color: Vintage Fenders
How To Buy A Bass
Sheehan Bass Giveaway!
Reviewed
Spector NS-2A
Peavey DataBass Amp
Boss BE-5B Multi-effects
Alembic 20th Anniversary Bass
US $3.95
Can. $4.25
U.K. 2.50


Current BP: "Same as it ever was..."