Anyone remember MusicMart?

IvisonGuitars

Just found some old copies at my folks place. Great magazine I thought.

Wazmeister

I do mate, and it probably started the initial GAS pangs...

lasermonkey

Yeah, I got a couple of bargains through the ads in MM. First was my Ric 330/12 which I got from Peter Cooks, cheap. It has some severe lacquer checking, but they were doing it for £595, so I didn't care that much!

Second was a Roland SH-09 synth which i bought for £99 at a time when you would normally be paying three times that.

You really could get some bargains back then!

Skipped

Some of us can remember International Musician.
Before International Musician there was Nothing.

No. I am fibbing. There was Beat Instrumental. But International Musician changed the game.
Next time you see the owner of the Daily Express (Richard Desmond) being attacked for his er......top shelf publications.....I want you to remember that the young Richard Desmond had an idea for a music magazine that would fill a huge gap in the maket. And he then brought us the very first edition of International Musician. I think I still have the free Fender Picks sealed in the plastic somewhere.

KKJale

I remember Music Mart. How long was it published for?

I used to buy stacks of International Musician back issues for 10p apiece from my local shop in the late '70s. Ah, Stephen Delft guitar reviews... then Guitarist came along around '84, and funnily enough TGM (Guitar & Bass) first appeared as a supplement inside International Musician. 

There was Musicians Only, too. 

guitars4you

I recall Musicmart - did it not have a hi-tech based side kick

What was the free magazine called you picked up from your local store - tabloid sized

Skipped said:

Some of us can remember International Musician.
Before International Musician there was Nothing.

No. I am fibbing. There was Beat Instrumental. But International Musician changed the game.
Next time you see the owner of the Daily Express (Richard Desmond) being attacked for his er......top shelf publications.....I want you to remember that the young Richard Desmond had an idea for a music magazine that would fill a huge gap in the maket. And he then brought us the very first edition of International Musician. I think I still have the free Fender Picks sealed in the plastic somewhere.

I'm with you on this one - I have over a 100 copies inc many early ones - need to get them out - Ditto for many early copies of Guitarist

Did Richard Desmond not have a music store somewhere South - maybe M25ish - I think Gavin from PRS started his career there back in the late 70's before IM

Skipped

guitars4you said:

Did Richard Desmond not have a music store somewhere South - maybe M25ish - I think Gavin from PRS started his career there back in the late 70's before IM

I didn't know that but RD was a Drummer.
It is hard for many to imagine how little information there was before we shared knowledge online. Beat Instrumental was a special order from WH Smiths. I would pop in once a month to pick it up. And one month the guy looked up at me and said: "This might interest you. International Musician." And then......I saw the Fender Medium Picks........stuck to the cover......

:-O

Beat Instrumental did a few gear reviews of Marshalls or whatever but it read like something your Grandma might have pitched to Readers Digest.

pintspiller

i preferred international musician to musicmart for reading. 

olafgarten

Magazines, I remember those. Haven't seen one in a while apart from at the Dentists.

lasermonkey

International Musician was my favourite magazine of all time. I still have a few stashed away somewhere.

Philly_Q

Can anyone remember a music magazine, I guess it was early '80s, the days of HH and Alligator amps.  The distinguishing feature was that it was a smaller format, A5 or thereabouts.  Gary Cooper (not the bloke from High Noon) did some of the reviews, I think.  I just can't remember the title.

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

Can anyone remember a music magazine, I guess it was early '80s, the days of HH and Alligator amps.  The distinguishing feature was that it was a smaller format, A5 or thereabouts.  Gary Cooper (not the bloke from High Noon) did some of the reviews, I think.  I just can't remember the title.

was it Music UK and when it failed it became In Tune ????? - fading memory bank on this 

Can anyone remember Making Music

57Deluxe

/\ Alligator Amps... remember looking at them in Kingfisher Music in the 80s and being told they were superior to the Mesas next to them on the floor... I believed them! What did I know? - only that Making Music rated them too...

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Philly_Q said:

Can anyone remember a music magazine, I guess it was early '80s, the days of HH and Alligator amps.  The distinguishing feature was that it was a smaller format, A5 or thereabouts.  Gary Cooper (not the bloke from High Noon) did some of the reviews, I think.  I just can't remember the title.

was it Music UK and when it failed it became In Tune ????? - fading memory bank on this 

Music UK!  You may be right Mark.  

Still can't find it on Google.

I think, somewhere, I have a copy I kept for a review of the Sessionette 75 which I subsequently bought.  It was probably a toss-up between that and an Alligator.

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

guitars4you said:

Philly_Q said:

Can anyone remember a music magazine, I guess it was early '80s, the days of HH and Alligator amps.  The distinguishing feature was that it was a smaller format, A5 or thereabouts.  Gary Cooper (not the bloke from High Noon) did some of the reviews, I think.  I just can't remember the title.

was it Music UK and when it failed it became In Tune ????? - fading memory bank on this 

Music UK!  You may be right Mark.  

Still can't find it on Google.

I think, somewhere, I have a copy I kept for a review of the Sessionette 75 which I subsequently bought.  It was probably a toss-up between that and an Alligator.

Those Sessionette 75's along with the Tech 21 Trademark combo are probably the best compact tranny combos - good little gigging portable combo - still have credibility today - Those Alligator amps were good for 'scales' but not chords

I could not find Music UK on google either

ESBlonde

lasermonkey said:

International Musician was my favourite magazine of all time. I still have a few stashed away somewhere.

Ditto,

The articals all seemed relevent to what I was doing or wanted to do. Even the stuff about other lesser instruments like drums and keyboards were interesting. And reviews on PA equipment by technically qualified unbiased people. They did a big supplement about sundry venues in the UK with contact details, addresses, capacities, stage size, power availability and also garage/service stations with late night or even the rare 24 hour fuel stops and cafes. In the back a directory of services for PA/Lighting/transport and local music shops for urgent supplies. It was not totally comprehensive but at the time it was the best available (I got mine bound so it could survive the rigours of the road). In pre interwebs days it was just about the bible. Interviews with both current and established guitarists was the norm and there would be tracks in several styles to improve your playing skills.

I must admit the depth of knowledge available in the internet is much greater but you have to wade through a lot of crap to get to the meat.

ESBlonde

57Deluxe said:

/\ Alligator Amps... remember looking at them in Kingfisher Music in the 80s and being told they were superior to the Mesas next to them on the floor... I believed them! What did I know? - only that Making Music rated them too...

Oh now the dust is rising in the swede, weren't they associated with M&M amps/mixers in some way or was that Redmere? That M&M was the behringer/budget busting gear of it's day that made some of us feel we could hang with the big boys, we were wrong of course but at that age we had dreams.

guitars4you

ESBlonde said:

57Deluxe said:

/\ Alligator Amps... remember looking at them in Kingfisher Music in the 80s and being told they were superior to the Mesas next to them on the floor... I believed them! What did I know? - only that Making Music rated them too...

Oh now the dust is rising in the swede, weren't they associated with M&M amps/mixers in some way or was that Redmere? That M&M was the behringer/budget busting gear of it's day that made some of us feel we could hang with the big boys, we were wrong of course but at that age we had dreams.

Redmere was the link with MM - did they not do some supa dupa style 3 channel combo - Redmere Soloist I recall - maybe late 7's or early 80's - At the time it was expensive

And now I am getting to the depth of my memory bank but did Pete Tullet, ex Aria, not have something to do with Alligator - or was it Peterson or both - Alligator amps certainly sat below the quality of Carlsbro and Peavey - Maybe more along the lines of Custom Sound - Maybe we should start a new blog around all our yesterdays - forgotten treasures

Jalapeno

IIRC all International Musician did was bang on about Hagstrom Swedes being better than LPs.

Philly_Q

I don't know about the connections between those different amp companies, but another name I'm remembering from those days is Burman - I think they were valve amps, though, not transistor models?

I still have my Sessionette 75, it gave up the ghost a long time ago but it's probably something that could be repaired.

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

I don't know about the connections between those different amp companies, but another name I'm remembering from those days is Burman - I think they were valve amps, though, not transistor models?

I still have my Sessionette 75, it gave up the ghost a long time ago but it's probably something that could be repaired.

I had a Burman because I could not afford a Boogie - Burman's connection was with White Amps - Which connected with Bill Whites Stores in the N East - Rock City and White Sound ( I think that was the name) - sadly all went tits up