More Nostalgia - Guitarist Magazine and Dec 1984

hollywoodrox

scrumhalf said:

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.

There’s a red clone too called a nobels sound studio 

Strat54

I had a V amp and a Rockbox.....I guess we all did back then. Bought a little Roland DAC amp too. Only thing I have from that era is a Scholz Rockman, never tried it for years and years though. I started buying Guitarist mag at Issue 3.....

grappagreen

I still have my TS Rockman...

Philly_Q

hollywoodrox said:

scrumhalf said:

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.

There’s a red clone too called a nobels sound studio 

They came along a lot later, but there was also the Korg Pandora.  I think I've got the first 3, or maybe 4, versions of it.  The later ones had little rhythm patterns to play along with.

Some of the presets sounded really good.  There was one called "Schenk" (hmm, what could that mean?) which was a distorted, fixed wah sound, it was amazing with an SG and a 498T pickup!

Redlester

I’m surprised sometimes at how well some things from the 80s have aged. Def Leppard’s Hysteria is one. All of their guitar sounds from that era are another. 

The Synthaxe has aged badly. 

Fashion notes from this thread: Neville’s mullet is awful. I’m afraid that Phil Collins look always looked bad on Phil, so for someone to copy it? Nah. And a pink shirt with red pumps?! Neville, daaahhhling, what were you thinking? 

jeztone2

My brother bought a Custom Sound Cub 60 from a neighbours catalog. It was actually quite pokey but the hessian covering was a magnet for cat hair. I had a JHS Rockbox at 17. 80’s tastic it was. 

SteveRobinson

guitars4you said:

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

Also played with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel I think?

markv

I must have bought Guitarist for the first time around the time of this issue, I remember the Synthaxe's being new at the time. Those Westone Jets looked awesome. I ended up with a Westone Spectrum as my first electric about a year later, I think. I still have the guitar but although I kept them for ages, the magazines have been disposed of sadly!

Redlester

jeztone2 said:

My brother bought a Custom Sound Cub 60 from a neighbours catalog. It was actually quite pokey but the hessian covering was a magnet for cat hair. I had a JHS Rockbox at 17. 80’s tastic it was. 

@jeztone2 I that catalogue as in Kays or Grattan? I remember Kays selling music gear- Marlin guitars and Sound City amps (not the revered 60s type, but later models with that name- sort of a red logo). 

Ahh, them were the days,.

Philly_Q

SteveRobinson said:

guitars4you said:

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

Also played with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel I think?

Yeah, I remember he did an article about building himself a doubleneck guitar for a tour with Steve Harley.  Because he needed it in a hurry he used some kind on Ronseal rub-on wood finish.  I guess oil finishes weren't really a thing in those days.

Redlester

Philly_Q said:

SteveRobinson said:

guitars4you said:

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

Also played with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel I think?

Yeah, I remember he did an article about building himself a doubleneck guitar for a tour with Steve Harley.  Because he needed it in a hurry he used some kind on Ronseal rub-on wood finish.  I guess oil finishes weren't really a thing in those days.

Philly_Q said:

SteveRobinson said:

guitars4you said:

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

Also played with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel I think?

Yeah, I remember he did an article about building himself a doubleneck guitar for a tour with Steve Harley.  Because he needed it in a hurry he used some kind on Ronseal rub-on wood finish.  I guess oil finishes weren't really a thing in those days.

@Philly_Q I remember that article as well. I seem to recall it had active electronics or a piezo system or some such. Either way it was an elaborate way around the issue of reducing the no of guitars he had to take, and pretty enterprising. 

That whole Dr Robert column wasn’t bad. I seem to recall the caveat of ‘take it to a reputable luthier if you don‘t know what you’re doing’ appearing in it somewhere every month, although that may just be memory playing tricks on me. 

Philly_Q

Redlester said:

That whole Dr Robert column wasn’t bad. I seem to recall the caveat of ‘take it to a reputable luthier if you don‘t know what you’re doing’ appearing in it somewhere every month, although that may just be memory playing tricks on me. 

The DIY advice he gave was fine, but it always pissed me off that he was never up to date on pickups and, especially, new hardware on the market.  He was always on about Gibson pickups, I don't think DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan had ever crossed his horizon.