So found an early copy of Guitarist - #7 edition and back to Dec 1984 so the mag is not even 1 year old - N Kershaw on the front cover - 80p - Yes 80p - Less than 70 pages and that includes only 1 page of classified ads at the rear of the mag
Interesting looking at the ads - All telephone numbers still 0335 etc and not 01335 - London still 01 - can't remember when all this changed
So what do we have : -
Full page ad for Westone Jets - Basically a Thunder model in all black, inc hardware - Sealth style
V Amps - I recall these and it looks like that at around 1984 they were new to the scene
Ad and editorial for the new JHS Rockbox and £99 - Like a Tom Scholz Rockman if you don't know - Like a Sony Walkman if you don't know that - If you still don't know ask your dad
New ad and editorial for the Synth Axe -
@HarrySeven owns most of them now
Remember Arlen Roth Hot Licks - tape, yes tape tutorial lessons - No Youtube then
Custom Sound Cub - small combo - Custard Sound we use to call them - A poor mans Carlsbro, Peavey or HH etc
Wal Fretless Bass - review and only £740 - Wished I brought 4 at that price - what are they worth today ?
London 2x12 combo and £199 - similar to Custom Sound in that a poor mans HH, Carlsbro or Peavey
Dealers who I think are no longer with us : -
Cambridge Rock Shop
Sounds Plus from the SE area
Alan Gordons - Use to recall them with big ads for speakers and maybe other hardware
Coventry Music
Jeavons in the NE
Peter Cooks
Some might remember this - The 1982 Dan Smith Strat - can you recall Soho Soundhouse kept back a host of them in the original un-opened factory boxes - They ran such ads for many many years - Well they were offering these for £550 in Dec 1984 - Remember Johnny Arbiter ran Soho Soundhouse - His dad was Ivor Arbiter who at the time ran the distribution arm for Fender, so there was a tie in between Fender and their 2 companies - But this un-opened box theme ran for many years - I'll have to find a later copy of Guitarist and see how much they went up by - Did anyone buy such a package ?
Comments
Remember showing the Soho Soundhouse Dan Smith ‘82 Strat ad to my dad! £550 seemed like being all the money in the world back then... I recall asking at the same dealer in 1989 or 1990 or so if they had any Strats left from that batch and they had a couple but the price had ballooned to £2000!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqdVQ9VdoAg
Publisher was Terry Day - I recall he had a tasty daughter
Geoff Twigg Editor
Paul White Technical editor
Consultants included - Paul Day, Peter Driver, Robbie Gladwell, Kevin Harding, Adrian Ingram (I still see Adrian at various shows) - No N Marten at all then
HarrySeven - Intangible Asset Appraiser & Wrecker of Civilisation. Searching for weird guitars - so you don't have to.
Forum feedback thread. | G&B interview #1 & #2 | https://www.instagram.com/_harry_seven_/
For a relatively small shop, Cambridge Rock was pretty good. I must have spent loads of money in there.
I said maybe.....
Apparently Brian Ferry used to hang out there.
https://st33.wordpress.com/record-shops/closed/jeavons-newcastle/
lasermonkey said:
Orion Hot Watt as well - Think Tokai did one as well - @HarrySeven might help on this but did someone do such a version with a tape player in it as well to jam along with
The Tokai one was called the Magical Box, or Magicalbox. I can't find much about it, it really seems to have vanished into history, but I did find a review from Home Studio Recording:
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/tokai-sfx1-magicalbox/8323
I had the exact same unit, but it wasn't Tokai branded, it had some other name (beginning with O, I think, something like Onkyo, but that was a hi-fi brand). It sounded pretty bad, but better than the JHS Rockbox.
A lot worse than I remembered Bloody awful thing.
This time it really did get binned.
I do have a jhs rockbox though . 10 x AA batteries . It’s pretty cool though I’m quite a Leppard
altogether.