London bass shops

[Graham]

I should be on London for a bit this afternoon and thought perusing a couple of bass shops would be a good way to use the time.

I've not been instrument shipping in London for a few years, so where's good? Denmark Street and The Gallery still the places to go? 

I need to stay fairly central, but will be getting a travel card so can move around on the Tube

[Happy Jack]

There's less of Denmark Street than there used to be (Crossrail construction works) but yes, plus Macaris down Charing Cross Road about 200 yards.

Haven't been to The Gallery in years, but I imagine it hasn't changed much.

 

[Mudpup]

The Gallery, Wunjos and if you go to the Gallery you may as well pop into Guitar Guitar on Camden as its a 10 minute walk away. 

[Graham]

So I visited Wunjo's first, after stepping out of Tottenham Court Road and feeling nostalgic and missing The Astoria. There I tried a Stingray Special 5 and a Sandberg California TM5. 

The Stingray had a very nice neck albeit thinner than I am used to; shorter too - I've been playin 35" basses for the last three years. The tone was strong and authoritative and the build quality exemplary.

I liked the Sandbeg too, more variety in tone with the J/M pickups, but overall I think I preferred the Stingray. The amp at Wunjo's - a Fender Bassman - is quite different to the EBS I'm used to, which didn't help, trying to get a flat basline tone out of it wasn't obvious.

I then headed over to Camden and to Guitar Guitar, there I tried a Sadowsky Metro Express RV5, another Stingray and a Digwall NG3

This time the amp was a Markbass Littlemark III, so more in my ballpark.

I liked the Sadowsky the most, but was baffled by the controls until I googled what they were, once I understood what did what, I really liked it. Jazz 5s are definitely me, and it had the neck I enjoyed the most.

The Stingray was nice again and I enjoyed it more through the Markbass than I did through the Fender at Wunjo's.

I didn't like the Dingwall, I struggled to find a tone I liked from it and despite the 37" scale, found the low B certainly no better than the other basses I'd played and I think weaker than the Stingray and Sadowsky.

The main takeaway though was whilst I liked the Sadowsky, I found nothing I liked more than my Lakland DJ5 and despite really, really needing a new set of strings, I'm very happy with my bass.

I'm now enjoying a Thai crab dinner in Islington before pottering along to the Union Chapel for The Lounge Kittens penultimate performance.