m0jo said:
I have never read a review in a guitar mag which seemed truthful...
They probably aren't bought off directly.
But then there is the fact that manufacturers won't send stuff to be reviewed if you've written a bad review of their last product, and the amount of free crap they get sent.
I agree and it is one of the reasons I don't have a subscription to any mags anymore. I used to get Guitar Shop back in the early 90's. This was a cool idea and I wonder why it fell out of favor. At present time I just check out the free online version of Guitar Player. And if I "need" tabs, I just checkout tablibrary.com.
I agree they are not bought off directly. But knowing where the majority of the cash comes from, it isn't likely the editor is going to allow a bad review to go into print. It also makes me wonder how many of the reviews (amps & effects) are A/B'd with the original product it is modeled after or they claim sounds like. How many times have you heard it "nails" the original TS808, Tweed, Bassman, FuzzFace, etc, to be less than wow'd by the item when you got it.