Chicago music stores ..

SCT1422 · #1 04-28-2012, 02:51 PM

Looks like I'm hitting Chicago next week, what are the cool stores to check out besides Bass Club ??

thehurlatron · #2 04-28-2012, 02:55 PM

You could spend enough time in bass club to keep you busy for 2 or 3 days. ;-)

Tat2dHeart · #3 04-28-2012, 03:15 PM

Agreed. Bass Club Chicago is THE place to go.

ms1369 · #4 04-28-2012, 03:23 PM

You could check out Luthiers Access Group website and see if
anything is of interest to you. If so, give Dan a call.

LuvMusic · #5 04-28-2012, 03:24 PM

Bass Club is the best bass-specific place in Chicago. If you have more time, other places that can be interesting are the Chicago Music Exchange for vintage gear and Guitar Center on Halsted (they have a pretty good selection of basses).

Road Bull · #6 04-28-2012, 04:23 PM

I went to Chicago last month. I only got to go to the Chicago Music Exchange, but it was AWESOME! Lots of vintage Fender Ps and Js. Some MM, current Fenders, Sandbergs, Gibson, Rics and whatnot. The staff there are really friendly too. You can just take the brown line train there and get off at the Paulina stop. It is about a half a block from that stop. Pretty easy even for an out of towner from Seattle. Make sure you give yourself enough time because it burns away when you walk through the door. It is a fun city.

P.S. I am not sure if you have any parallel interests besides bass, but the Chicago Music Exchange has a great selection of guitars and drums as well.

frankthetank727 · #7 04-28-2012, 05:14 PM

+1 on the Chicago Music Exchange, however, that store is VERY expensive. The staff is very nice, though. If you are a pedal freak, definitely go here because they have a ton (they have basically the whole ZVEX line of pedals among many more boutique and name brands). I've been to the Bass Club as well and that place is great for bass specific gear (and also expensive, but hey, its a boutique) so you probably should hit that up as well. There are three guitar centers you could always go to if you want also. Other than that, those are probably your best bets if you are going to be in Chicago for a few days.

ReBass · #8 04-28-2012, 05:21 PM

Make n Music on Hubbard is fantastic for guitar-related items, too. Not much at all for bass (Bass Club Chicago used to be housed in the same space but now is in its own store), but they have an amazing selection of boutique guitar stuff.

basspraiser · #9 04-28-2012, 05:48 PM

Chicago Music Exchange or Bass Club Chicago...

BCC has a GREAT selection of Laklands and other cool stuff.

CME has a lot of excellent vintage stuff to look at...if it is vintage and you want to play it it "should" be there...

have fun!

basspraiser · #10 04-28-2012, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReBass

Make n Music on Hubbard is fantastic for guitar-related items, too. Not much at all for bass (Bass Club Chicago used to be housed in the same space but now is in its own store), but they have an amazing selection of boutique guitar stuff.

BCC has moved.....

check out the address on their web site before going...

GregC · #11 04-28-2012, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basspraiser

Chicago Music Exchange or Bass Club Chicago...

BCC has a GREAT selection of Laklands and other cool stuff.

CME has a lot of excellent vintage stuff to look at...if it is vintage and you want to play it it "should" be there...

have fun!

+1 to this. Pretty different stores, but I would definitely hit both! They're probably 10 minutes from each other by car, too.

Also in the same area is the Lakland factory. Email or call them to see if you can come by, they're extremely cool.

Gecko 5 · #12 04-28-2012, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road Bull

I went to Chicago last month. I only got to go to the Chicago Music Exchange, but it was AWESOME! Lots of vintage Fender Ps and Js. Some MM, current Fenders, Sandbergs, Gibson, Rics and whatnot. The staff there are really friendly too. You can just take the brown line train there and get off at the Paulina stop. It is about a half a block from that stop. Pretty easy even for an out of towner from Seattle. Make sure you give yourself enough time because it burns away when you walk through the door. It is a fun city.

P.S. I am not sure if you have any parallel interests besides bass, but the Chicago Music Exchange has a great selection of guitars and drums as well.

+2

Dan Lenard · #13 04-29-2012, 06:27 AM

LuthiersAccessGroup

A bit of shameless self promotion

We have basses you will not find anywhere else, all as good or better than the common bass brands.

AND , your time here is private , focused, and relaxed.

lameaim · #14 04-29-2012, 11:35 PM

I was in Chicago last month as well... the spread at the Chicago Music Exchange was really some jaw-dropping **** for me. You gotta budget some time for that place, especially if you play guitar as well. Lots of options and they've got a room just for basses in the back of the store. I ended up bonding with a nice used Jazz bass (my first) and had it mailed home all the way in AK. Everything was very well packed and I even got a follow up email from the guy at the shop that helped me out. Very impressed. I'll be visiting them again if I ever make it back that way. Stuff is definitely pricy there, but they negotiate like anyone else.

I also managed to spend some time in the Bass Club, though not as much as I would have liked. Also a very nice place. Only place I've been to with Reverends on the rack. Definitely worth your time.

Bass Club Mark · #15 05-16-2012, 03:16 PM

Thanks once again for the kind words everybody. We're really trying to step up our game at the new Western Avenue location with a bigger selection, better demo facilities, and more youtube demos for those who can't make it into the store. WE ARE ALSO DOING LIVE GEAR DEMOS VIA SKYPE! Let us know what you'd like to see and hear, and we'll do a live demo of anything we have in stock! Thanks for your support!

SCT1422 · #16 05-16-2012, 03:22 PM

Bass Club Chicago was great.. Spent some time hanging with Jordan and another player whose name I forget, killer place.. Sorry I missed you on this trip Mark...

Spinal Tapper · #17 05-16-2012, 03:38 PM

+1 to all that has been mentioned above. Rock N Roll Vintage has a lot of cool gear...they're up in Lincoln Square. Just a mile or two North of Chicago Music Exchange.

I also like to go to Midwest Buy and Sell. It's more like a hole in the wall pawn shop or mix n match guitars, basses, amps, but you can talk 'em down in price and the guys there are pretty nice. I got my Ampeg V4B there, and they had like 4 to choose from. Some neat gear if you look around. Also quite a bit of junk...

Bass Club Mark · #18 05-30-2012, 03:45 PM

No worries SCT! We'll catch up next time!

khutch · #19 01-24-2013, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road Bull

I went to Chicago last month. I only got to go to the Chicago Music Exchange, but it was AWESOME! Lots of vintage Fender Ps and Js. Some MM, current Fenders, Sandbergs, Gibson, Rics and whatnot. The staff there are really friendly too. You can just take the brown line train there and get off at the Paulina stop. It is about a half a block from that stop. Pretty easy even for an out of towner from Seattle. Make sure you give yourself enough time because it burns away when you walk through the door. It is a fun city.

I live in the suburbs and had to go downtown for a meeting this morning. I spent the afternoon going to the Chicago Music Exchange and Bass Club Chicago. Both are as great for bass shopping as everyone says though I went to CME to see some Telecaster Baritones and hardly paid attention to their basses. They have some vintage models on the main floor but there is also a bass room at the back that I think another poster on one of these threads may have missed. BCC of course is just chock full o' basses! And amps and such.... If you have time to see only one the Bass Club is the best for basses but if you have more time I don't think you want to miss either one. As noted above CME is less than a quarter mile south of the Brown Line Paulina stop on Lincoln. BCC is just a few more stops north on the same train line, the Western Avenue stop. It is a bit more of a walk, about half a mile north on Western from the train stop. Neither one is remarkably well marked, I almost walked right past BCC and I did walk past CME, twice. Be sure to bring their addresses along or punch them into your GPS. It is pretty easy to get to both whether you are an out of towner visiting the Loop or a suburbanite who can take a train to avoid the Interstate nonsense. Brown Line trains are easily accessed from several stops in the Loop.

Both can be dangerous to visit though. I have to say the Telecaster Baritone at CME could work quite well for me and the Kingston Heir five at BCC plays better for me than any other fiver I have tried....

Ken

BassManPatsFan · #20 01-24-2013, 05:52 PM

I've lived in and visited many cities in this country and I'm quite positive that Chicago has the best selection of music stores out of all of them. Yep, even better than NYC and LA. Can't say I've explored Nashville's stores much.

My favorites in Chicago:

Chicago music exchange (my favorite--I'm a vintage guy)
Bass Club
Rock n Roll Vintage
Make n music
Tommy's (if for no other reason because you can get a burger there after you try out instruments)

...honestly that's probably enough to keep you busy for a week if you really wanted to.