The bass centre wapping!

[Stub Mandrel]

I used to go to the  Bass Centre in Birmingham.

Got this case there:

And this fine long-sleeve T. My little girl is at University now!

 

 

[mep]

Many years ago in the mid 90's I went to the Bass Centre as they had a sale on. I brought a lovely 2nd hand Aria Pro 2 SB600 for £150. I needed a gig bag to take it home so got a Bass Centre one of course. What a great day out.

[timhiggins]

I went to the Bass Centre way back in my distant yoof ,

Wapping back then seemed to be mostly falling down and

dust balls blew up the high street...

i'd never seen so many lovely bass's and i was keen on getting something that would make me sound like my favourite reggae players.

A helpful ozzie sounding fella with a very 80's barnet came to assist me ,and in true music shop fashion preceded to slap a warwick half to death for what seemed an age before finally letting me have a look,

by this time i'd had enough and had decided if that was how it sounded i wanted no part of it and headed for the station.

To be fair he could of been a great player but back then i only had ears for big fat dub lines and i weren't hearing none of that. 😀

[Fred Leicester]

I remember going there many, many years ago with my drummer mate for a musical day out in London. I didn’t buy anything as basically I couldn’t afford anything, but I remember being in awe of the sheer volume of bass porn on offer there! Always meant to go back when I was older and more financially secure (ie credit cards to rack up tons of musical debt with 😂) but alas it has already closed its doors. Shame.

[Soledad]

11 hours ago, timhiggins said:

Wapping back then seemed to be mostly falling down and

dust balls blew up the high street...

That was part of the magic - Wapping back then was like what I imagine Chernobyl is like now, like everyone had up and left. Then suddenly you walk into The Bass Centre and a parallel universe.
There was a rehearsal studio across the road in a riverside warehouse. Down some stairs into a very musty basement - I think that basement was below the water table. Used it a couple of times. They had an Acoustic 360/361 - that was just epic. That was mid 80s I think, when The Bass Centre seemed to be wall-to-wall Trace. Fine by me as I was and still am a Trace fan, but that Acoustic rig was legendary for very good reasons.
I digress, The Bass Centre remains the very best shop on the planet ever in my lifetime.

[Hobbayne]

I went there once in about 1985 as a skint student. Just to have a look around really.

I bought a packet of strings which I could barely afford just to have something to take home.

[police squad]

Good to see Martin from the bass centre contributing to this thread.

I went there in 1991. I had been to Fat Ricks to look at a Hamer Thunderbird that had been owned (wrecked) by the Quireboys. It was £450. It was all I had.

The bass was rubbish so I went off to Wapping.

Tried loads of basses and found a s/h Status 4000 in a sort of burnt orange at £595.

I explained to Martin I only had £450 and the only thing in the shop I liked was the status.

He let me have it for £450. I was stoked. 

Thanks Martin

[Stingray5]

'Course, being down in Wapping (i.e., and not in that there London), I could almost always find a place to park nearby.

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, police squad said:

Status 4000 in a sort of burnt orange

Not... brown?

[Russ]

3 hours ago, Stingray5 said:

'Course, being down in Wapping (i.e., and not in that there London), I could almost always find a place to park nearby.

You could always tell when the 'stars' were in town though based on the cars parked outside. I used to go over there on the Tube, and one day I remember seeing a big gold Rolls parked outside. Turned out the Rolls belonged to John Entwistle, and he was in there trying some stuff out. I was a bit starstruck and left him to it!

[Soledad]

11 hours ago, Russ said:

Turned out the Rolls belonged to John Entwistle, and he was in there trying some stuff out

There was always 'someone' in there. Made me feel like I belonged to a family, an exclusive family of bass players.
OK - fairly well down the pecking order, but I belonged to something and it was good.

[Heathy]

The Bass Centre was a fantastic place. I went to see a Billy Sheehan clinic there in the early 90's, and the amazing @neilmurraybass was stood behind me in the queue!

Pics below (Awww, look at his little face!):

 

[police squad]

17 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Not... brown?

no, a sort of burnt orangey reddy colour

[Stub Mandrel]

While waiting for our room at Pirate last night in the Corridor of Doom I noticed my case has not one but two Bass Centre stickers on it, if you count Elites.

[Soledad]

2 hours ago, Heathy said:

the amazing @neilmurraybass was stood behind me in the queue!

Crikes - I used to work alongside Neil's brother Andy at CBS in the '80s. I recall he went on to Stiff Records and fronted (?) the 'near-legendary' Stiff All-Stars, maybe at the time my late friend Hugh Attwool was on drums.
Well, I did say The Bass Centre was like a family 👍

[Soledad]

Nice archive thing - Hooky's Shergold 6, credited as played at the SF Filmore November '16. Check the stickers 👍 (sorry pic's appeared twice, can't seem to delete one!)

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by Soledad
pic disappeared

[scrumpymike]

Another Wapping 'lurker' checking in here!  Bought various bits and pieces including a wonderful Jaydee T-bird custom for £400 (I haggled the price down from £450).  The BC guys didn't know anything about it so I rang the man himself to see what he could tell me.  "Ah yes, I remember it!  One of a matched pair I made for Dave Mason when he joined Delaney and Bonnie."  Sold it later to a guy in New York for more than double what I paid for it! 😊