Recommend guitar stores that have a good bass selection

[skyline_01]

Four hour drive to www.basspluckers.com in Wilmington NC
Greg’s the best and what a selection of basses
He’s always getting new stuff in tooView attachment 4633676View attachment 4633677View attachment 4633678View attachment 4633679

If I'm not mistaken, I spy the elusive OLP Tony Levin signature 5 in the second pic. I haven't seen one of those in ages! I wanted one back in the day, and mostly for the peach color.

 

[lfmn16]

I Would check out Atomic Music in Beltsville and Chuck Levin’s in Silver Springs.

And Bills Music in Catonsville, MD.

Those three would give the OP a great selection of basses to try.

 

[BobDeRosa]

I really want to play a Yamaha BBP34 in Tobacco burst. I have a BB234 and it’s great. But all the attention to detail on the high end ones keep screaming BUY ME!! But I’d like to play one before dropping that kind of $$$ on a bass. I’d also like to play stuff I may have never considered. See if I find something I immediately bond with.

If you have some patience, I think you just answered your own question. Don't go anywhere, which, with the price of gas today, will help you save money. Just wait for a used BBP34 to come up somewhere in the classifieds. I found mine on Reverb for $900, in almost-new condition, and it came with a bunch of really nice extras because the seller was quitting bass. Every day, check TB, Reverb, and the Yamaha bass and general bass guitar groups on Facebook. I'll bet by summer you'll find one. Good luck.

 

[groovaholic]

Four hour drive to www.basspluckers.com in Wilmington NC
Greg’s the best and what a selection of basses
He’s always getting new stuff in tooView attachment 4633676View attachment 4633677View attachment 4633678View attachment 4633679

That place is EXACTLY what I like in a store - cool, interesting gear at fair prices.
Thanks for sharing a good "fishin spot"!

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I really want to play a Yamaha BBP34 in Tobacco burst. I have a BB234 and it’s great. But all the attention to detail on the high end ones keep screaming BUY ME!! But I’d like to play one before dropping that kind of $$$ on a bass. I’d also like to play stuff I may have never considered. See if I find something I immediately bond with.

I can't help you with recommending a store but I can say this:

The BBP34 is an AMAZING instrument, definitely a step up from the Indonesian BBs. It's my favourite bass and I own LOTS of basses (all the "usual suspects" and quite a few that cost significantly more than the BBP34). The craftsmanship is boutique level, the tone is amazing and the the whole instrument feels "tighter" than any Fender P I've played. I can dig in HARD and it still stays articulate and never "chokes".

One thing to be aware of though: When I got my BBP34 the tone control acted pretty much like an on/off switch. I can only assume they must have used a linear pot (the pot was a brand I'm not familiar with and did not have any codes I could make sense of). I replaced the tone pot with a logarithmic 250k CTS to make it behave more like a classic P-bass. BBs are slightly brighter than Fender P-basses and I needed to be able to roll off a little highs without going straight from slap to Motown. With the new pot it now works perfectly and I've never been more impressed with a bass in my 30 years of playing and after owning around 50 basses.

I have no idea if all BBP34s are like this or if they put the wrong tone pot in mine...?

 

[NikosP75]

If New York City is within 5-6 hour drive of SE VA you'd probably like the selection at Sam Ash on West 34th Street. And if you're going to NYC you might as well also check out the selection at Rudy's in Soho, although tbh I doubt they have much in stock that's below $2k.

Sam Ash in NYC is pretty empty right now. Looks like they have a very hard time securing merchandise. I visit regularly since I live 30 minutes away. Guitar Center on the other hand has a nice selection lately. I visited both the Manhattan and the Queens stores and it seems like the managed to get lots of new instruments. I am hunting for a lefty P-bass so I am visiting local stores in NY / NJ area a lot lately

 

[Bob_Ross]

^^^Good point, I actually haven’t been in any music stores since the pandemic started 2years ago so I have no idea what their current offerings are like.