PMT

[Stub Mandrel]

9 hours ago, RichT said:

 

I sort of thought the opposite to that, in that as I became more in the market for spending a bit more money on instruments, I lost interest in going to PMT in recent years when the instruments in stock were reduced to nothing but cheaper end Fender/Squier, Sterling Subs, lower end Ibanez and Cort related stuff. 

 

If you're in that mid to higher market, it's preferable to have the opportunity to go into a physical shop and spend time trying things out to find that mythical one that feels just right before laying down well over a grand (or more), but PMT took the option of selling only the cheap mass produced identikit far eastern stuff that you can easily buy literally everywhere else online, giving them no USP. 

 

I'm sure they used to have interesting higher end stuff. When I properly got back into playing and thought I should buy myself a new bass for the first time in 30 years, I went to PMT Cardiff in early 2019, tried a few basses and spent £600 on a nice enough Ibanez. I remember the guy next to me at the till was buying a £2K EBMM Stingray. I also remember admiring all the USA made Les Pauls and PRS hanging on the wall.

 

All that higher end stuff completely went out the window in recent years (or they never ever had it in the Cardiff branch at least, nor the couple of times I visited the Bristol and Portsmouth shops), leaving them competing with the likes of Amazon in terms of what was actually available to buy in store, and you can obviously never outcompete Amazon in shifting huge volumes of cheap mass produced gear, you shouldn't even try. 

 

 

edit:  tl;dr - If they hadn't decided to purge their in-store stock of anything vaguely interesting or higher spec in a race to the bottom which they could never win, they might still be in business. 

 

They usually had one high end bass in that would take ages to sell. I tried out a lovely looking dolphin grey aerodyne Jazz bass. It was so badly set up that instead of buying, I completely lost any desire to own an aerodyne. 

[Geek99]

On 19/06/2025 at 16:02, chris667 said:

I bet he dines out on that!

 

I really like Hobgoblin, but I have also been a bit disappointed the last couple of times I've been in one. I just felt a bit unwelcome.

 

Massive shout out to Foulds in Derby. Great shop.

There’s a music shop in derby ?

[Mrbigstuff]

9 hours ago, RichT said:

 

I sort of thought the opposite to that, in that as I became more in the market for spending a bit more money on instruments, I lost interest in going to PMT in recent years when the instruments in stock were reduced to nothing but cheaper end Fender/Squier, Sterling Subs, lower end Ibanez and Cort related stuff. 

By the time I was playing gear costing £1k plus I had discovered bass chat and was able to trade my way through some fairly nice gear. I might have saved a little money had shops stocked similar instruments to try first but there’s just so much choice out there even the likes of bass direct, bass bros and the bass gallery can’t stock it all.

 

I did try a very nice Dakota custom shop jazz bass in a PMT once. It was a thing of beauty but the £2.5k price tag was a little heavy, and I do wonder how many of those high margin/ high cost items they tended to sell in stores vs online.

[Geek99]

On 11/06/2025 at 17:13, snorkie635 said:

That's a shame.

I have fond memories of trying a red classic 50s p bass in pmt Leeds and slightly less fond memories of having to decline buying it. Partner told me to go back and buy it but like a total muppet I felt I could not justify it financially 

Edited 4 hours ago by Geek99

[snorkie635]

8 hours ago, Geek99 said:

There’s a music shop in derby ?

Yep, Chas. Foulds, down Irongate.

[Len_derby]

2 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

Yep, Chas. Foulds, down Irongate.

Now relocated in the Strand Arcade,  off Sadler Gate, as Foulds Guitars. There is also Hippo Guitars on Osmaston Road who buy and sell pre-owned guitars and basses exclusively. Worth a trip @Geek99.

[Stub Mandrel]

18 hours ago, Geek99 said:

There’s a music shop in derby ?

 

I used to go to Rattle & Drum on Osmaston Road.

[snorkie635]

2 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I used to go to Rattle & Drum on Osmaston Road.

That name reminds me of Allstrum and Bangit, another vanished emporium methinks?

[Len_derby]

22 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I used to go to Rattle & Drum on Osmaston Road.

They are still there, and have scaled back to concentrate solely on drums and percussion. Part of the former shop space has now gone over to the above mentioned Hippo Guitars. I didn’t know you had a Derby connection, Stub.

[Mrbigstuff]

11 hours ago, snorkie635 said:

Yep, Chas. Foulds, down Irongate.

Used to enjoy Foulds. Very nearly (and should have) bought one of the original SUB USA EBMM stingrays from them. Stupidly I thought a fully fledged 3EQ would be better, if not as good - it wasn’t.

 

Souncontrol in Derby used to be good too. Bought a few bits from them many moons ago.

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, Len_derby said:

They are still there, and have scaled back to concentrate solely on drums and percussion. Part of the former shop space has now gone over to the above mentioned Hippo Guitars. I didn’t know you had a Derby connection, Stub.

 

I lived backing on to Branston Water Park from 2022 to 2020. My daughter was born in the QE Hospital in Burton, but we lived in Tamworth in those days.

Edited 26 minutes ago by Stub Mandrel

[Dad3353]

5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

... from 2022 to 2020...

 

You are Dr Who and I claim my £5. 

 

...