I used to read BP a lot back in the day.  In fact, the first issue I bought had a glowing review of the 20th anniversary Alembic.  I'm sympathetic to the ad overkill and putting flavour-of-the-month rock stars on the covers and in the pages - it's how they pay the bills.  Very, very few magazines and newspapers could possibly survive on subscription and newsstand sales alone.  And I also remember in one of those earlier editions, they did a critical review of the Hartke Transporter 4x10, saying it had too much vibration and lacked the tonal definition of traditional Hartkes.  This despite the fact that Hartke was a huge advertiser in the mag.
 
I stopped buying it because I grew out of bassist/celebrity worship, and now have all the gear that I care to own.  I'll leaf through it at the newsstand a couple of times a year just to see if there's anything of real pedagogic value.