How is it that they can only stock the most expensive XLRs and cables. It's all like "yeah man, that mic is like half off!" then there they grab a cable and all of a sudden you are spending more on the cables than the mic!!!
Because, the mic is not half off. They make you think it's cheap and boost the price on accessories. The trick with Guitar Center is to walk in there with cash for what you want and only have that amount. When you see the pair of monitors for $750, go in with $600 cash or less and ask what kind of deal they can give you. When they say "let me talk to my manager" they'll come back with some b.s. Then you say, well I've got $600 in cash right. If I can walk out the door for $600 even I'll take them. They may put up a fuss, but then you just start to leave and they'll be like "wait, let's see if i can make this work."
Same thing with World of Stereo on Market in SF. I went in there to ask about some cartridges. Nothing is priced. They told me a price and we kind of laughed and then said "no thanks" as we were leaving. By the time we reached the door the price was at least 1/3 of that.
music equipment at places like that is marked way up. you can haggle.
I ordered a brand new 16 channel mixer from Musician's Friend and when it showed up it had no original box and was only wrapped in light newsprint and was placed into a box twice the size of the mixer. It basically flopped around loose in a UPS truck. A bunch of faders were bent. I sent it back and made sure they gave me a factory sealed one.
At csl, they don't have much in stock as far as equipment, but they can order it for you, meaning you can't fuck with the equipment anyways... Professional sound and music is cool, but it's small and caters more to musicians than dj/producer types i.e they don't have dj equipment out or samplers set up(well maybe some keyboard joints). Their repair service is great and it's what I go there most for. I might want to drive up to sam ash just to browse around. I don't have any probs with guitar center you just have to know what you want and be willing to probably not have a chance to demo it in store. Whenever they discount mixers, I usually get em. Got a urei 1601s for 299.00 last year. Got a pioneer 707 for the same price a year before that.
i wanted to buy some speakers at guitar center and basically just lied and said i went to sam ash and they had them at a cheaper price along with something i knew that guitar center didn't have. i told them that i wanted to buy stuff at sam ash since i could get all the stuff in one place but that if i could get a good deal on the speakers that i would buy it at guitar center. worked like a charm.
Yes. In order to win at guitar center you must abuse the fact that all their employees are desperate to make a sale. You can bullshit them to no end if you go in with your game face on.
If you live in the Bay Area though, there's no reason you should go to Guitar Center. Leo's Pro Audio in Oakland will hook you up and tell you what's really real.
sweet water is pretty expensive on a lot of stuff. this doesnt mean shit to any of you guys but i hustled free shipping on a 70 pound order from http://www.wwbw.com and price matched saving at least 250 bucks altogether
Comments
offered 600 in trade... he could have easily got 800-1000 on the bay, seems a little off... maybe I'm wrong..
Because, the mic is not half off. They make you think it's cheap and boost the price on accessories.
The trick with Guitar Center is to walk in there with cash for what you want and only have that amount. When you see the pair of monitors for $750, go in with $600 cash or less and ask what kind of deal they can give you. When they say "let me talk to my manager" they'll come back with some b.s. Then you say, well I've got $600 in cash right. If I can walk out the door for $600 even I'll take them. They may put up a fuss, but then you just start to leave and they'll be like "wait, let's see if i can make this work."
Same thing with World of Stereo on Market in SF. I went in there to ask about some cartridges. Nothing is priced. They told me a price and we kind of laughed and then said "no thanks" as we were leaving. By the time we reached the door the price was at least 1/3 of that.
music equipment at places like that is marked way up. you can haggle.
I ordered a brand new 16 channel mixer from Musician's Friend and when it showed up it had no original box and was only wrapped in light newsprint and was placed into a box twice the size of the mixer. It basically flopped around loose in a UPS truck. A bunch of faders were bent. I sent it back and made sure they gave me a factory sealed one.
If you live in the Bay Area though, there's no reason you should go to Guitar Center. Leo's Pro Audio in Oakland will hook you up and tell you what's really real.