Bass Review Magazine: Is it a scam?

[Mr Joshua]

Bass Review Magazine

Anyone know whether this is a real magazine or not?

I signed up in February, have been billed 3 months in a row and not received a single magazine. Have reached out to them via the only means I can find published which is a email address and gotten zero response from it.

I'm at the point where I would have to call my bank and have them block the charge going forward to even do anything about it because I cant even find way to manage the subscription I signed up for.

Anyone else signed up for these and if so have you received anything?

 

[J-Bass RMR]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If not, it doesn't sound like it's too "reliable"....

Bass Review Magazine

 

[Mr Joshua]

Ya know...it's not like it's a ton of money but still it makes me angry. I grow so tired of the constant navigation of scams and shady business and the defense tactics and measures surrounding it. Just be a decent person. Run a honest business. Do right by people. Why is that so difficult?

End rant.

 

[Danny O Danny]

It's a relatively new magazine, published in the U.K. Out of curiousity I searched on basschat.co.uk and there are a few discussions about it. Apparently it is legit but they've been spotty about getting issues out. I don't think it's a scam, but I suspect it's a case of someone having good intentions and then struggling to bring it to fruition.

Bass review mag

Hi guys, has anyone of you bassist heard about what's happened to the bass review magazine? Haven't seen one for a couple of months, is it still being printed?

www.basschat.co.uk

Bass Review Magazine

I was thinking about subscribing to the new Bass Review Magazine. I had looked at the website at the weekend and was sure that the subscription for a paper copy delivered to your door was £5.99. When I went back to the website today I notice the price is £6.99. My ageing memory may be failing me ...

www.basschat.co.uk

 

[Mr Joshua]

It's a relatively new magazine, published in the U.K. Out of curiousity I searched on basschat.co.uk and there are a few discussions about it. Apparently it is legit but they've been spotty about getting issues out. I don't think it's a scam, but I suspect it's a case of someone having good intentions and then struggling to bring it to fruition.

Bass review mag

Hi guys, has anyone of you bassist heard about what's happened to the bass review magazine? Haven't seen one for a couple of months, is it still being printed?

www.basschat.co.uk

Bass Review Magazine

I was thinking about subscribing to the new Bass Review Magazine. I had looked at the website at the weekend and was sure that the subscription for a paper copy delivered to your door was £5.99. When I went back to the website today I notice the price is £6.99. My ageing memory may be failing me ...

www.basschat.co.uk

yeah seems like for those that actually received the magazine don't have favorable things to say about it anyway. uncredited (AI written?) "articles" and such. Seems more and more like a sad attempt to make easy money from bass players and musicians seeking some physical content pertaining the things they're interested in.

Oh well. My fault for not doing more research.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

When you get nothing for your money, it is a 'scam'.

I'd get my payment back via the credit card company.

 

[CryingBass]

Kids don't get ethics teaching anymore...

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I signed up via PayPal so I canceled their ability to bill me through PayPal. Not intended as a scam, but they found themselves incapable of delivering.

 

[Water buffalo]

Bass Review Magazine

Anyone know whether this is a real magazine or not?

I signed up in February, have been billed 3 months in a row and not received a single magazine. Have reached out to them via the only means I can find published which is a email address and gotten zero response from it.

I'm at the point where I would have to call my bank and have them block the charge going forward to even do anything about it because I cant even find way to manage the subscription I signed up for.

Anyone else signed up for these and if so have you received anything?

It is a real thing. I have been receiving the printed magazine for close to a year. For the U.S, it's $9.99 (USD) a month.

Honestly, I am going to terminate my subscription. I'm all about supporting printed publishing, but this magazine is more fluff, than content. The printed magazine is top quality. heavy paper, gloss pics, etc... But, the content is all about those companies that are paying for advertising.

IMHO.

 

[Dominic D]

I got the first 6 or so issues before I stopped it. It was super disappointing. Everything got perfect or near-perfect ratings and the reviews read more like ad copy than real reviews. Mostly fluff and not much useful info. I'm convinced they're all paid reviews.

 

[Mr Joshua]

Too bad.

Are there any other bass-centric magazines that are worth subscribing to and have a print offering?

 

[Mr Joshua]

I got the first 6 or so issues before I stopped it. It was super disappointing. Everything got perfect or near-perfect ratings and the reviews read more like ad copy than real reviews. Mostly fluff and not much useful info. I'm convinced they're all paid reviews.

this is pretty much everything these days. Youtube is full of people all too happy and willing to shill for a brand just for a free pedal or kickback on an affiliate link all while assuring you their review is unbiased and uninfluenced by these things. Please.

as much as I like Gregor of BTW, that whole channel is just a commercial now. The Bass Channel has never impressed me and I find their reviews uninformative and like no one there actually knows anything. Maybe Jaime. But thats about it.

I have a background in commercial printing and prepress. Granted, not magazines, but I have half a mind to start my own damn magazine with worthwhile content and no AI articles or ads disguised as articles.

Imagine if the ScubaDuba compressor series was a monthly write up, or the tube preamp reviews? Maybe a supplementary podcast to go along with the magazine for audio stuff to get spliced in.

Ugh. Seems so easy in my mind. I'm sure it's all very difficult and thus the reason it's not being done.

 

[bobba66]

So, just send money to some random guy on the internet? What could go wrong?

 

[Mr Joshua]

So, just send money to some random guy on the internet? What could go wrong?

Didn’t seem random. They have a website and we’ve determined they have been at least partially legit at some point.

I don’t make a habit of just throwing money at randos on the web.

 

[KenSmithFan]

this is pretty much everything these days. Youtube is full of people all too happy and willing to shill for a brand just for a free pedal or kickback on an affiliate link all while assuring you their review is unbiased and uninfluenced by these things. Please.

as much as I like Gregor of BTW, that whole channel is just a commercial now. The Bass Channel has never impressed me and I find their reviews uninformative and like no one there actually knows anything. Maybe Jaime. But thats about it.

I have a background in commercial printing and prepress. Granted, not magazines, but I have half a mind to start my own damn magazine with worthwhile content and no AI articles or ads disguised as articles.

Imagine if the ScubaDuba compressor series was a monthly write up, or the tube preamp reviews? Maybe a supplementary podcast to go along with the magazine for audio stuff to get spliced in.

Ugh. Seems so easy in my mind. I'm sure it's all very difficult and thus the reason it's not being done.

It’s been like that for a long time. I used to occasionally subscribe to a handful of magazines in the 80’s and 90’s, Guitar Player, Guitar World, Bass Player, and a few others I can’t remember. I can’t ever remember a negative review of anything. Eventually the positive reviews turned into total BS - guitars, pedals, amps, CDs. You can’t objectively review the guy who is paying you.

 

[Pirate Captain]

Kids don't get ethics teaching anymore...

i don't think ethics has been taught in about 250 years

 

[Mr Joshua]

i don't think ethics has been taught in about 250 years

If you take the path to law school they do. But otherwise not so much.

 

[Mr Joshua]

It’s been like that for a long time. I used to occasionally subscribe to a handful of magazines in the 80’s and 90’s, Guitar Player, Guitar World, Bass Player, and a few others I can’t remember. I can’t ever remember a negative review of anything. Eventually the positive reviews turned into total BS - guitars, pedals, amps, CDs. You can’t objectively review the guy who is paying you.

In the 80/90s there were Lot of “zines”. Small run magazines usually run by an individual or very small group of people for a very niche area of music and then printed on printer paper and distributed for free or small fee via mail.

Seems scalable and easier to do something like today on your own without money from anywhere but the people interested in reading it.

 

[Joebone]

www.bassgearmag.com is the real deal.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

www.bassgearmag.com is the real deal.

It was cool when they had a print magazine. I find their website kinda kludgy and rarely go there. I usually get their stuff on YouTube.