Uncle Balsamic Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 I'm going to Newcastle soon and was wondering if there are any decent music shops for bass stuff. Sorry if this is the wrong forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 [quote name='Uncle Balsamic' post='532498' date='Jul 4 2009, 04:18 PM']I'm going to Newcastle soon and was wondering if there are any decent music shops for bass stuff.[/quote] I haven't been over to the Toon in opening hours for what feels like an age, so some of this info might be duff. There's nothing bass-specific these days, but you've got [url="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB%3a%6ffficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=sounds+live+newcastle&fb=1&split=1&gl=uk&cid=0,0,6769513436418076538&ei=AHdPSo_oB-WfjAebw-zJBQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1"]Sounds Live[/url] and Air Guitars (where Sound Control used to be) within spitting distance of each other. Then there's [url="http://guitarguitar.co.uk/newcastle_shop.asp"]GuitarGuitar[/url], which has moved recently, and [url="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB%3a%6ffficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=jg+windows+newcastle&fb=1&split=1&gl=uk&cid=0,0,16094910386831182199&ei=zXdPSu_2ENqgjAfG_cW-BQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1"]JG Windows[/url]. I can't guarantee that any will have anything of interest, but chances are there might be a little gem tucked away. And someone will hopefully come along soon and chip in with something more useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 (edited) The new Guitar Guitar (on Granger Street) has a pretty good selection of bass guitars to fiddle with. If you want a hidden gem and have a car, then apparently (not called in yet) Jake's in High Spen is one of the few in the UK to stock Trabens. Edited July 4, 2009 by Eight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 [quote name='Eight' post='532523' date='Jul 4 2009, 05:08 PM']Jake's in High Spen is one of the few in the UK to stock Trabens.[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Guitar Guitar have just got a batch of Sadowsky Metro's in Nice....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Lol. ^ Yes. [url="http://www.jakesguitars.com/traben-bass-169-c.asp"]http://www.jakesguitars.com/traben-bass-169-c.asp[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 [quote name='Eight' post='532530' date='Jul 4 2009, 05:14 PM'][url="http://www.jakesguitars.com/traben-bass-169-c.asp"]http://www.jakesguitars.com/traben-bass-169-c.asp[/url][/quote] Oh my giddy aunt, have you seen their opening times? Insane, but [i]very[/i] useful, and only just down the road from me (Corbridge). How come I've never heard of this place before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 [quote name='BottomEndian' post='532532' date='Jul 4 2009, 05:18 PM']How come I've never heard of this place before?[/quote] Mad innit. I have relatives in High Spen. So I'm driving to see them one day a few months back and notice a guitar shop as I'm passing. Checked interweb when I got home and lo and behold... Meant to call in yesterday but didn't have time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 The bass shop market in Newcastle has really went down the pan sadly... Air Guitar never have much of interest when it comes to basses, and what they do have is IME poorly set up and not helped by the fact that the place seems to have developed a damp problem since Sound Control went under. Windows usually have a pretty dull stock of lower end basses in, again usually pretty badly setup. You can usually wager on them giving you a rubbish amp to play through and their prices are ridiculously high. Sounds Live have some good staff in and often have interesting items coming in (Rickenbackers when they were rare, Spectors etc etc). It's always worth going in there because you'll always get a good welcome and they're not afraid to let you play through a decent amp either. IMO the stock isn't as good as it used to be but these days you just can't afford to stock really interesting stuff, you just have to buy in what sells. Guitar Guitar often has an interesting item in too, but it seems to be going even more pear shaped than usual around there at the moment. Apparently a lot of their stock has disappeared, probably gone back to the supplier. They would often have a couple of interesting basses in though. I was never that taken by the Sadowsky Metro basses, they never wowed me like everyone said they would, especially when A/b'd against a decent Fender! That said, I've played a couple of nice items there but I'd be wary about shopping there again. Despite the fact that between us, my brother and I have spent over £2000 there, I'm still subject to the same lazy customer service everyone seems to receive. Lazy, arrogant staff who don't really know what they're selling coupled with high prices. It is, however, or at least it was, a good place to try out gear that you can buy cheaper elsewhere. Wish Howard's Bass Place was still open.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 I have to say Chris..... not my experience with Guitar Guitar, they do move stock between their 3 branches (common sense) and have always (IMO) carried a decent range of Bass gear for a non bass specialist retailer. Steve the Manager is a knowledgable and friendly guy who knows the industry and the Bass scene really well for a Guitardist as for his Staff George (ex Manager of Sound control) is his Asst Mgr now and i've always found him really helpfull in both stores. ATB Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 I gave up on shops a while ago, when Howard the Bass Doc closed his place. Everything else was dull stock for far too much money. As for 'what came first.. the chicken or the egg?' - I have no idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoe_BillySheehan Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 GuitarGuitar is a really good shop. the people are work in there are really nice too Z x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 [quote name='Marcus' post='532636' date='Jul 4 2009, 09:06 PM']I have to say Chris..... not my experience with Guitar Guitar, they do move stock between their 3 branches (common sense) and have always (IMO) carried a decent range of Bass gear for a non bass specialist retailer. Steve the Manager is a knowledgable and friendly guy who knows the industry and the Bass scene really well for a Guitardist as for his Staff George (ex Manager of Sound control) is his Asst Mgr now and i've always found him really helpfull in both stores. ATB Mark[/quote] I liked their stock of Sandberg stuff when they first got it in, but aside from that I never thought that their bass stock could match up with their guitar stuff, when they were getting really cool Ibanez and Caparison guitars in. The best bass stuff was always used gear that they got in. I remember an emerald green Spector Euro that they got in that belonged to a bloke (I think his name was Mike) who used to play gigs at a hotel I used to work at. That was a canny bass (I played it through the owners EA rig along with his Pedulla Pentabuzz once). But overall impression of the store was that it was never as good as it should have been, and sadly the staff were rather rude. I recall a friend of mine walking in there with £2000 to spend on a guitar and pretty much walking straight out after being given 5 minutes to demo the guitar he was thinking of buying! He never even asked for an extended test drive, I guess he thought better of it! I haven't seen George in there, but if he was the bloke from SC with the beard, bald head and Dimebag fixation then he was a decent bloke. I see Nick from SC works in Sounds Live now too! I still long for another shop like Howard's to open up though. After it stopped being so smokey it was great! But even before the refurb, it was an excellent place to go. Howard and Pete never moaned if you sat and played for a good while, and they really knew their stuff. Both cracking players too! I used to have a four hour lunch break on fridays when I was at Northumbria Uni and I used to often spend them in Howard's playing bass and chatting away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD1 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Another face to a name! Its not Mike, its John - and I wish I still had that Green Spector. It was an NS5CR, solid flame maple and sounded great. For what it's worth I've always found the guys in Guitar Guitar fine to deal with and the stock of bass gear (incl amps) is usually pretty good - at least for a non-specialist local shop. As Marcus said, Steve seems to know his stuff. Sounds Live very good too and its good to see Tommy (and John?) are still in business. They only have limited space in there for bass stuff but I'm sure they would be able to get stuff in from their warehouse to try if required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Ah, good to hear from you again John! Yeah, the guys at Sounds Live have been pretty open to shipping stock in in the past when people have wanted to try it. I nearly ended up buying a Marcus Miller jazz bass from them a few years ago, and they were more than happy to ship one in for me to try out. In the end I never bought it because I ended up with something else (can't remember what now though!). Last time I spoke to you John, your Pedulla had gotten knackered on a flight to Prague or something like that, I just remember you describing the horrific damage to me! I hope it's all fixed up! It was awesome hearing your band warm up with a little bit of Birdland that one time, the bands we used to get in there were mostly cack, so it was always a treat when I spotted that Soldano amp on the stage, I knew you lot were in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD1 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Yes that was a pain. I had to get it repaired by Chris and the guys at Overwater. They had it months and I have to say they did an absolutely fantastic job on it. (Dave still has the Soldano). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 My Mum's family are (were!) all from that area and we used to travel up to see my Grandparents in South Shields in the 70s & 80s. I used to LOVE JG Windows (got my first instrument there in 1988). The shops were all great and I see a lot of online companies are from that area. As a personal view Newcastle is the rock n roll capital of Great Britain. Forget Tin Pan Alley & it's over-priced attitude - this place is the real deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Yeah, I hear that Windows really used to be something special. If you're after a Roland Synthesizer they are worth checking out but I wouldn't go there looking for great guitars and basses. I remember them having a copies of John Patitucci's VHS tution tapes on the shelves for £30 each! I see they have also taken over the music store in the Yellow mall of the Metro Centre (I think it used to be a Dolphin Music store, where my dad got me my first bass guitar from!). But yeah, Newcastle is the rock and roll capital of the UK IMO (alongside London). Not a huge number of bands but the attitude is spot on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
far0n Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Sod the bass shops.... just make sure you wear one of these bonny lad !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of the Wear Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 What a good idea - remind the locals what a premiership football strip looks like...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 [quote name='Son of the Wear' post='533135' date='Jul 5 2009, 04:52 PM']What a good idea - remind the locals what a premiership football strip looks like...... [/quote] Here we go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rslaing Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 (edited) You could travel to Sunderland to have a look - it's only 9 miles from Newcastle. Problem is, most of the area doesn't have an electricity supply yet, and there aren't any decent shops (music or otherwise). But there is a zoo. It's called "The Bridges" and it is a shopping centre. Edited July 5, 2009 by rslaing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Sunderland is also of great historical importance too, it shows what England was like in the middle ages! Though do be wary of catching cholera if you drink from one of the street wells! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
far0n Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Here fishy fishy fishy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 [quote name='Eight' post='532523' date='Jul 4 2009, 05:08 PM']The new Guitar Guitar (on Granger Street) has a pretty good selection of bass guitars to fiddle with. If you want a hidden gem and have a car, then apparently (not called in yet) Jake's in High Spen is one of the few in the UK to stock Trabens.[/quote] Found myself with an afternoon to spare yesterday, and I was passing through High Spen, so I called in to Jake's Guitars... and they're on holiday until Sunday. Still, I had a peek through the window, and it looks like it has the potential to be a little bit interesting, especially to a budget bassist like me. So I trundled on my way into Newcastle, and ended up spending about 40 minutes in GuitarGuitar plodding around on a few basses. I got that strange mixture of surly-yet-helpful that seems unique to guitar shop staff, so it took some persuading for them to even let me try out a ZVex Mastotron fuzz with a bass. They had 7 or 8 Sadowskys in there, a Hamer Chaparral 12-string bass, and then a multitude of the usual bass suspects. Got to try out my first ever Warwick, albeit a slightly knackered-up second-hand FNA Jazzman with what seems to be a burgeoning neck problem. I'd recommend GuitarGuitar, at least when it's quiet. They were quite happy to let me sit in the corner whacking basses, even though I clearly had no intention of buying one that day. That's the sort of thing that makes me want to go back there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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