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I will be heading to Baltimore later this year, and was hoping a local was on this forum that could give me some recommendations of store to go to in town that primarily would have interesting used gear not at astronomical prices. Looks like there is a Music Go Round in Cockeyville outside of the area to the north, but anything in town that would good to pop into?

Catonsville used to be the spot for used gear. There was 4-5 spots on a quick stretch of frederick road, with Bill's Music being the mecca of gear in baltimore. Be sure to head down the block and grab a slice at Pinocchio's.

BMore always had a decent pawn shop scene as well, and don't be surprised if you find something interesting in the thrift stores in Fell's Point, Hampden, and SoWeBo. If you're in Hampden, hit Food Market and order the pretzels - hell, order anything. And make sure you get a pit beef while you're in town - I'm partial to Chaps (at the club!), Jakes up on Falls road, and Pioneer in Hoodlawn.

Bills Music is pretty blah. Everything sits around there for ages and tends to be very overpriced. $499 for a beat to shit Sunn 2x15 that has been there for years for example.

Music Go Round in Cockeyville is fine but everything is priced at highish Reverb levels so you're not really going to find a deal on anything unless its generally undesirable.

Appalachian Bluegrass is the best acoustic shop around if that appeals to you and is also on Frederick Rd in Catonsville just outside the Baltimore beltway.

If you want to go to one of the best used gear shops in the country you'll want to drive about 45 minutes south to Beltsville and go to Atomic Music. Its 1000% worth the effort. Huge shop and everything is used. Constantly revolving inventory and easily a place you can spend a few hours sorting through gear. If you like digging through literal piles of gear and pedals, which is not an experience I have had anywhere else in the US, you have to go to Atomic. Also they negotiate prices on everything so the price on the tag is rarely the price you pay in the end.

Pawn shops in the city are more miss than hit and I wouldn't really recommend them to a tourist. They're scattered around and you're not likely to find anything good.

Brothers Music and Ryan Fowlers are the small shops in the region. Maybe check their websites to see if anything looks good to you before going. There are also multiple GCs in the area if you want to check their used inventory before coming through.

tl;dr - Just go to Atomic and don't put any effort into the other places. Its a bit of a trek but you'll not see anything like it elsewhere and you'll probably leave with something awesome.

Feel free to hit me up when you're coming through if you want to grab a beer and a snack. And don't go to Food Market if you're in Hampden. Go to Dylan's Oyster Cellar.

This makes me old but Bill's used to be ok. All the other stores around there either went out of business or internet-only which removed their incentive to pretend to be grudgingly customer friendly anymore. I live 10 minutes away and haven't been there in 10 years. I doubt I'll ever go back. I play with a guitarist who shops there and uses their tech and I think to myself, he's out of touch.

+1 on Atomic.

sears wrote:This makes me old but Bill's used to be ok. All the other stores around there either went out of business or internet-only which removed their incentive to pretend to be grudgingly customer friendly anymore. I live 10 minutes away and haven't been there in 10 years. I doubt I'll ever go back. I play with a guitarist who shops there and uses their tech and I think to myself, he's out of touch.

+1 on Atomic.

Bills used to have two shops, one of which was full of used gear. But it was almost all student level junky stuff and not in a good way. The one reason to go to Bills is if you want to play a Rick which they have a bunch of. Guitar Exchange across the street is actually kinda cool but its a very high end gear shop with prices to match. I've walked in there once or twice and seen $85K Dumble amps but you're certainly never going to get to play anything they have.

I forget the name of the vintage shop that used to be on Frederick Rd that sold Orange and had a ton of cool stuff. I think they went up to PA somewhere and downsized. The dude that owned that place was super cool but later had a staff of assholes working for him and he wasn't in the shop.

The best gear outlet in Baltimore City is probably Craigslist. The internet ran everyone else out of town.

Atomic all the way... totally worth the drive, even if you don't end up buying anything (though you likely will)...

Very cool, I will definitely just plan to hit Atomic... thanks very much! I will bump the thread when it gets closer to September to see if I need any other recommendations. Aside from the Orioles game, Aquarium, and Poe Cemetery I think we are wide open for other experiences. Airbnb scene in that Camden Yard to Harbor area typically ok? Likely need a place with parking as driving out might be way cheaper

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15881164?s ... 8b3a1873b3

Stayed here my last trip. Not perfect - couldn’t get all of the TVs working, could’ve used a couple more trash cans on the second floor - but one of the nicer places we’ve used and far better than I expected. Walking distance to the Charles, some nice eats, John waters new theatre etc.

Most importantly there’s parking. A private garage plus room for 1-2 more cars in the alley.

Don’t know if it’s more space that you need, budget etc, but worth putting on your radar.

In general I’ve had good luck with Airbnb in Baltimore. There’s a couple of nice pockets near the yard, harbor east, etc but parking can be a hassle.