More Nostalgia - Guitarist Magazine and Dec 1984

guitars4you

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 ?

Moleman

Pretty sure that I still have this copy of Guitarist. I’ll have to dig it out and leaf through it as in many ways I preferred how it was back then, a guitar mag written by guitarists for guitarists - low (or more accurately, period production quality - e.g. crappy black and white half tone photos and all). 

Even as a penniless teenager, I remember thinking that London 2x2 combo looked like being a load of crap!

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!!!!

KKJale

Ah, Westone Jets, Arlen Roth, jumpers for goalposts, isn't it. Had forgotten about the Dan Smiths...

Guess this was when Guitarist was in Cambridge, before their move to Ely. Out of interst, who was on the editorial team? 

Should probably leave this here... future editor Neville's very smooth Synthaxe video, probably made about this time  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqdVQ9VdoAg

guitars4you

KKJale said:

Ah, Westone Jets, Arlen Roth, jumpers for goalposts, isn't it. Had forgotten about the Dan Smiths...

Guess this was when Guitarist was in Cambridge, before their move to Ely. Out of interst, who was on the editorial team? 

Should probably leave this here... future editor Neville's very smooth Synthaxe video, probably made about this time  

Yes still at Cambridge
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

guitars4you

Moleman said:

Pretty sure that I still have this copy of Guitarist. I’ll have to dig it out and leaf through it as in many ways I preferred how it was back then, a guitar mag written by guitarists for guitarists - low (or more accurately, period production quality - e.g. crappy black and white half tone photos and all). 

Even as a penniless teenager, I remember thinking that London 2x2 combo looked like being a load of crap!

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!!!!

Yes I can recall them at over 2K - Think one was offered for sale a few months ago at Gardiner Houlgate - Will have to try and find out what it acquired - So if we ever buy one and open the box, a) what will we find and b) how much do we devalue it by

HarrySeven

Love these threads, Mark - keep ‘Em up!

lasermonkey

I bought my first guitar from the Cambridge Rock shop. It ended up becoming Music Village, then Digital Village and eventually DV247.

For a relatively small shop, Cambridge Rock was pretty good. I must have spent loads of money in there.

Kittyfrisk

guitars4you said:

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 ?

Jeavons, Percy St. Newcastle, next door to the ever so cool Marcus Price clothes shop.
Apparently Brian Ferry used to hang out there.
https://st33.wordpress.com/record-shops/closed/jeavons-newcastle/

KKJale

guitars4you said:

Publisher was Terry Day
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

Thanks for that. Terry Day... quite the character, to say the least. Robbie Gladwell I think was previously at Rosetti with Mr. Marten. Glad to know Adrian is still out there. Paul White now edits Sound On Sound.

I never knew Geoff Twigg but just looked him up and very sadly it seems he passed away in 2018.

lasermonkey said:

I bought my first guitar from the Cambridge Rock shop. It ended up becoming Music Village, then Digital Village and eventually DV247.

For a relatively small shop, Cambridge Rock was pretty good. I must have spent loads of money in there.

Me too! They had plenty of used amps and a wall of secondhand guitars. My beloved JV Precision came from there.  

Philly_Q

I've got this issue, but I don't particularly remember any of those ads or reviews and the front cover isn't springing to mind.... I think I still have a JHS Rockbox somewhere, it didn't sound very good even by the standards of the time!

guitars4you

KKJale said:

guitars4you said:

Publisher was Terry Day
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

Thanks for that. Terry Day... quite the character, to say the least. Robbie Gladwell I think was previously at Rosetti with Mr. Marten. Glad to know Adrian is still out there. Paul White now edits Sound On Sound.

I never knew Geoff Twigg but just looked him up and very sadly it seems he passed away in 2018.

Robbie Gladwell - Yes he worked as a tech at Rosetti - Was he not touring for a while with Suzi Quattro 

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

I've got this issue, but I don't particularly remember any of those ads or reviews and the front cover isn't springing to mind.... I think I still have a JHS Rockbox somewhere, it didn't sound very good even by the standards of the time!

I recall playing thru' a Tom Scholz Rockman for a few years and liking it - Not played one for many years now so would be interesting going back to one to see if I still like the sound 

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 

maltingsaudio

Hi Mark, if you have Guitarist from June 1998 in your collection, this is how the Carvin on page 100 ended up https://imgur.com/gallery/8PgfcOH

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Philly_Q said:

I've got this issue, but I don't particularly remember any of those ads or reviews and the front cover isn't springing to mind.... I think I still have a JHS Rockbox somewhere, it didn't sound very good even by the standards of the time!

I recall playing thru' a Tom Scholz Rockman for a few years and liking it - Not played one for many years now so would be interesting going back to one to see if I still like the sound 

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.

Jimbro66

I bought a JHS Rockbox back then as a poor man’s TS Rockman. It was a lot cheaper but nowhere near the quality of the Rockman. I thought I’d binned it years ago but during a loft clear out during lockdown I found it in a sealed box of old guitar bits and pieces complete with power supply. One knob missing and very scratchy sliders but I got it sorted and plugged a guitar in. I was surprised to find that it was actually......

A lot worse than I remembered  Bloody awful thing.

This time it really did get binned.

Philly_Q

Jimbro66 said:

I bought a JHS Rockbox back then as a poor man’s TS Rockman. It was a lot cheaper but nowhere near the quality of the Rockman. I thought I’d binned it years ago but during a loft clear out during lockdown I found it in a sealed box of old guitar bits and pieces complete with power supply. One knob missing and very scratchy sliders but I got it sorted and plugged a guitar in. I was surprised to find that it was actually......

A lot worse than I remembered  Bloody awful thing.

This time it really did get binned.

If I ever get round to tidying up my house I'll dig out my Rockbox, and the Tokai thing.  They should still work, unless I left batteries in the latter, in which case they'll have leaked and destroyed it.

hollywoodrox

I thought I had this but I’ve got August 84 , most of mine are around 85 86 87 88.

  I do have a jhs rockbox though . 10 x AA batteries . It’s pretty cool though  I’m quite a Leppard

 Fan and they did use it on hysteria . I think it was Sav who actually put down the main theme on it , string by string with mutt in the studio. 

Got some interviews on my iPad with engineer Nigel green.

When Mutt finally arrived on the Hysteria album he didnʼt want to go through that again so we decided to go for processed guitar sounds using something called a Rock Box. Other times we would us a Rockman, made by Tom Scholz. The Rock Box had similar settings to the Rockman: a clean sound and a distorted sound. The difference was you could turn off the chorus and effects on the Rock Box allowing you to use your own effects.

So the plan was we were pretty much going to use either the Rockman, or Rock Box for everything guitar wise. If the sound was not right after we added EQ or some outboard gear then weʼd maybe change to a different guitar or add some kind of effects pedal. Sometimes I would blend a Roland studio flanger in to beef some of the power chord sounds. We pretty much would try anything to make it work, but in the end if it wasnʼt cutting it Mutt and the band would change the guitar part
altogether.

We were recording the guitar verse jangle for the song, Hysteria. Sav was playing the part and the problem we were having was the Rock Box clean sound was so compressed you could hear every finger fret movement almost louder than the guitar sound itself. We liked the sound of the jangle but there was no way we could allow this scratching fret noise between chord changes to be part of the recorded sound. So what to do?

“Phil recording in Paris”

We decided to punch in each chord change separately. Sav would be playing the next chord while the first chord was playing back from the multi track and when the time came weʼd just punch in the next chord, eliminating the fret noise completely and giving us a clean smooth jangle sound. Recording like this and trying to get the feel right at the same time could literally take days. We had to double track each part plus add embellishments later on in the song. So we came up with the idea of recording all the parts we needed for the song on a single 8 bar section of music, say the verse. Then weʼd do another 8 bars for the bridge. And the same for the chorus. Weʼd record everything we needed… background vocals, the lot. The idea was to create a whole recorded song on the second multi track machine by offsetting and transferring 8 bars at time from the original multi track machine.

It was revolutionary at the time but something you can do in 5 minutes in Pro Tools now. All we had then though was two Studer A800 analog 24 track tape machines synced together by a synchronizer called the Q lock and an AMS digital delay.

guitars4you

maltingsaudio said:

Hi Mark, if you have Guitarist from June 1998 in your collection, this is how the Carvin on page 100 ended up https://imgur.com/gallery/8PgfcOH

I need to get all my mags in order, both date and publucation - All a mixed pile for now, but will be sorted soon - So will look at it shortly - Didn't Nevada or another dealer near that neck of the wood have an exclusive arrangement with selling Carvin into the UK ?

maltingsaudio

guitars4you said:

maltingsaudio said:

Hi Mark, if you have Guitarist from June 1998 in your collection, this is how the Carvin on page 100 ended up https://imgur.com/gallery/8PgfcOH

I need to get all my mags in order, both date and publucation - All a mixed pile for now, but will be sorted soon - So will look at it shortly - Didn't Nevada or another dealer near that neck of the wood have an exclusive arrangement with selling Carvin into the UK ?

ABC music had the distribution deal, when they went bust Chris Walker who I worked with at ABC took it on as West Coast Wire and Wood . I bought the guitar as a kit from Chris to help him out

guitars4you

maltingsaudio said:

guitars4you said:

maltingsaudio said:

Hi Mark, if you have Guitarist from June 1998 in your collection, this is how the Carvin on page 100 ended up https://imgur.com/gallery/8PgfcOH

I need to get all my mags in order, both date and publucation - All a mixed pile for now, but will be sorted soon - So will look at it shortly - Didn't Nevada or another dealer near that neck of the wood have an exclusive arrangement with selling Carvin into the UK ?

ABC music had the distribution deal, when they went bust Chris Walker who I worked with at ABC took it on as West Coast Wire and Wood . I bought the guitar as a kit from Chris to help him out

Thanks for the update - I can't recall that - Sometime in the past I still have a thought of something nagging away at the back of my grey matter about Nevada selling them ?

scrumhalf

I think I had the JHS Rockbox and gave it to my nephew.

I've just had a dig and found another version of a Rockman, the Arion Hotwatt. I might try and fire it up this afternoon.