This is a fair question, and one that I get asked quite a lot, so I thought I’d try to take a few minutes and address this question, here. My original plan was for this magazine to come out quarterly, but after some discussion, we opted to shoot for a bi-monthly publication schedule. However, a venture such as this must go through its growing pains, and we certainly have experienced our fair share. As such, we have failed to hit our mark of six issues per year. The reasons have been multiple and varied. We have tweaked our bench tests and upgraded our testing equipment. I could have pushed forward and put out more issues, but when I realized that we really needed to have a full-on Audio Precision system to do some of the tests we wanted to do, I put the brakes on and focused on obtaining such a system. My thoughts were that I’d rather delay the next issue than crank out more tests that would just have to be redone later on.

But then, once we got our testing equipment up to speed, we found that our Publisher didn’t have enough free time in his increasingly schedule to crank out Bass Gear Magazine (and Bass Gear Weekly) as quickly as we had hoped. This set the stage for another paradigm shift, and following issue #4, we have been working on migrating to another graphics layout person. I am happy to say that he is now getting up to speed, and we hope to have issue #5 out as soon as possible. Most of the content is done, it’s just a matter of getting the graphics all set up. We have already done a good chunk of the work for issue #6, already, and as we clear each hurdle, I see us getting closer and closer to our bi-monthly pace.

I have taken over the task of putting out the Bass Gear Weekly for now, and my goal is to get something out each week (go figure!). Topics for the Weekly will include show reports (like our recent Summer NAMM coverage), new product announcements, industry news, mini-reviews, and anything else that seems like it might be interesting to bass players. I’m open to suggestions, by the way!

For those of you with paid print subscriptions, please note the subscription price covers you for six issues, not for one year. So you will get all six issues, and we will certainly try our best to get those to you sooner, as opposed to later. I am very excited about the future of Bass Gear Magazine. It has been a real joy to be working with Ed Friedland again, and Tom Lees is doing amazing things with his technical reviews. And of course, the gear that is getting sent our way keeps getting better and better! If you ask me, it’s a great time to be a bass player!

Thank you again for your support, and your patience!!

Tom Bowlus
Editor-in-Chief