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Best and Worst Bass Shops


bassatnight
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Apologies if their is forum already set up for this stuff but try as I might I couldn't locate one!

I have spent that last few day's trawling the web to try and locate a Lakland 44-01 bass despite finding a few sites that offered to sell me one none had any in stock, in fact the only place that could get me one quick wanted me to cough up nearly £800 for one when GAK for example could get me one for £669 but couldn't guarantee a delivery date - do these guys not check each others prices out!?

I have found one at a shop called MB music, anyone had any positive/negatice dealings with them?

Cheers,

Steve.

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Best - Soundslive.co.uk

Still to be rated - Bass Merchant, great comms so far but the cab I ordered is still floating about in customs - not Darren's fault!

Worst - Bass Cellar. I've often been in there with cash (or credit card) in pocket and their attitude sent me running for the hills.

Cheers,
James

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[quote name='Bay Splayer' post='590783' date='Sep 5 2009, 04:29 PM']great! :rolleyes:

just ordered geddy lee jazz bass from them 10 minutes ago, wish i read this first :)[/quote]

With something popular like a Fender it shouldn't be a problem. My friend bought a T-bird which arrived in 3 days. I bought an Ibanez 6 string guitar and it took about 2 weeks, and the friend who bought a T-bird also bought a GK combo which took about a month!

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[quote name='fatgoogle' post='590785' date='Sep 5 2009, 04:33 PM']The best music shop i have been too in England is the Bass cellar, i still dont see what you are complaining about , great service, really nice people, let me play anything and for as long as i wanted. I was very pleased. I havent been to mnay over there but that was easily the best.[/quote]

Are you sure that wasn't the Bass Centre, which was in a basement near Spittalfields/Liverpool St. (and prior to that, down in Wapping) as opposed to the Bass Cellar, which is not in a cellar and is located on Denmark Street.

There has been confusion about that in the past. your experience sounds to me like the old Bass Centre, when they were very good - now gone completely I think? Or at least don't have a physical shop anymore.

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[quote name='Gwilym' post='590814' date='Sep 5 2009, 05:16 PM']Are you sure that wasn't the Bass Centre, which was in a basement near Spittalfields/Liverpool St. (and prior to that, down in Wapping) as opposed to the Bass Cellar, which is not in a cellar and is located on Denmark Street.

There has been confusion about that in the past. your experience sounds to me like the old Bass Centre, when they were very good - now gone completely I think? Or at least don't have a physical shop anymore.[/quote]

Yes, The Bass Centre shop has gone. I'd like to think that their lousy customer service had something to do with it too. They always talked a good game, and you could often find a famous face in there, but I made the mistake of paying up front to place an order for my USA Jazz, which was promised for delivery within a week or two. Six weeks later, it finally arrived after I'd caused a fuss. Their response? Two free sets of strings.

Also had a problem with my Ashdown amp delivery from them......

Their repair service left a lot to be desired too.

Apart from that .........

JJ

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  • 3 months later...

I had a pretty poor experience in Music Room in Lincoln last week. First bass I played was a MIM Precision with a visibly high action, but I kinda had to play it just to verify if it was as unplayable as it looked. I expressed my concerns to the assistant, who tried to upsell me by using the old "you can't get a low action with those, try this MIA over here" trick.

Second bass I tried was a Vigier Excess which didn't really do the price tag justice, IMO.

The thing is, I'd already expressed an interest in the Vigier before I picked up the Precision, so I think that the salesman was trying to steer me away from the £425 Fender and towards the £1400 Vigier, to make sure that I didn't walk out of the shop with the cheaper item. Well, he certainly ensured that.

S.P.

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[quote name='funkygreega' post='706747' date='Jan 9 2010, 05:01 PM']Best - Bass Gallery

Worst (and by a clear mile) - GAK[/quote]
You see I would have put GAK as best because that's my experience. So I'm not sure what we are really going to learn from this thread except that most places (if not all) can mess up at least sometimes so that someone is going to put them as worst because that was the experience they had.

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[quote name='Moos3h' post='590752' date='Sep 5 2009, 02:54 PM']Best - Soundslive.co.uk

Still to be rated - Bass Merchant, great comms so far but the cab I ordered is still floating about in customs - not Darren's fault!

Worst - Bass Cellar. I've often been in there with cash (or credit card) in pocket and their attitude sent me running for the hills.

Cheers,
James[/quote]
soundslive great service a big thumbs up :)

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I've said it before and I'll say it again now. Rockbox in Northallerton. A bit off the beaten track but superb service, I can't big those guys up enough. To the point where I'll travel 2 and a half hours up there if I want something. :rolleyes:

Worst? Anywhere in Lincoln or Boston......utter rubbish :)

Edited by Tinman
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Not really a Bass shop, Soundpad in Barnstaple (n.devon). very off the beaten. Quite competitive on price, used to have a rep for being expensive.
Very good so far - but I'll tell you if they fall down if the replacement battery compartment box, for my Ibby, doesn't turn up in the next 10 days! Fingers crossed

Used Gear4Music a couple of times and had good experiences, so far.

Never really had the cash to buy loads of gear so never really had an awful experience so far.

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Hi there. Wes here from GAK, Brighton. We currently have a 44-01 in stock. I can't remember which colour at the moment as I'm at home but give either me or mark a call tomorrow if you are interested. delivery time is next day although because of the snow it's roughly 2 days at the moment.

wes

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I'm going to put a word in for guitar guitar in Glasgow. Always friendly and always let me try stuff out, even if I was only there to buy strings and accessories. I think this was on the basis that they knew that I would eventually find something and buy it. After trying out an Overwater. a Warwick Thumb, a Rickenbacker, 2 Sandbergs and on one occassion a Wal Mk I (was a close call!) over a two year period I eventually bought a Sadowsky Metro. They must be relieved!

I'd also put in a word for CC Music, who now stock Markbass stuff, as well as Ampeg, Eden and Trace Elliot amps and have some cool second hand stuff. Bass selection is really good but a bit limited compared to the bass amps on offer (Fender and Sandberg, with the odd second hand of something else).

I must say that my experience in Denmark Street this summer was pretty underwhelming in terms of choice and customer service. I'm sure some retailers hear a Scottish accent and assume that this means that it is pointless of showing them any expensive gear, as 'Scottish people don't like spending money'!.

I did get to the Gallery but it was just to buy an EBS Valvedrive, which you can't seem to find in many places unless you order it. I didn't really have the time to really consider anything else! Seemed really good for choice though and customer service was good after they realised I wasn't there to waste their time.

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Don't know a best bass shop as I usually buy off mates, ebay or the last time, from the States.

Worst? (don't think it's fair to name them) but it's in a sleepy little Norflok town. The boss makes a point of playing every bass the punters would like to try and proceeds to slap at a zillion miles an hour, thus putting off "novices and some intermediates" with his "see what I can do" attitude.

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[quote name='thodrik' post='706866' date='Jan 9 2010, 06:36 PM']I'm going to put a word in for guitar guitar in Glasgow. Always friendly and always let me try stuff out, even if I was only there to buy strings and accessories. I think this was on the basis that they knew that I would eventually find something and buy it. After trying out an Overwater. a Warwick Thumb, a Rickenbacker, 2 Sandbergs and on one occassion a Wal Mk I (was a close call!) over a two year period I eventually bought a Sadowsky Metro. They must be relieved!

I'd also put in a word for CC Music, who now stock Markbass stuff, as well as Ampeg, Eden and Trace Elliot amps and have some cool second hand stuff. Bass selection is really good but a bit limited compared to the bass amps on offer (Fender and Sandberg, with the odd second hand of something else).

I must say that my experience in Denmark Street this summer was pretty underwhelming in terms of choice and customer service. I'm sure some retailers hear a Scottish accent and assume that this means that it is pointless of showing them any expensive gear, as 'Scottish people don't like spending money'!.

I did get to the Gallery but it was just to buy an EBS Valvedrive, which you can't seem to find in many places unless you order it. I didn't really have the time to really consider anything else! Seemed really good for choice though and customer service was good after they realised I wasn't there to waste their time.[/quote]

+1ish i used thme for mail order (newcastle maybe) last year. excellent service, good people. and when things went wrong (no fault of theres) they did everything to make it right.

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With working in a shop I never get chance to visit any specialist bass stores. However, I can vouch for Mark at Bass Direct. Always helpful, even if you're discussing something you've bought from somewhere else. Personally, I wouldn't use anyone else.

For other smaller items I've used Strings Direct. Excellent customer service.

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Soundslive are brilliant IME and that's where I go first. I've always had great service from Electromusic in Doncaster and PMT in Brum are good too. The worst I've experienced was Sound Control - Oxford Road Manchester, they tried to pass off a truly battered LMII as brand new - I think it's still up his ar5e.

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