Guitar Center

Ray Salamon · Post by **Ray Salamon** » Wednesday Jan 14, 2009

Anyone else tempted to head to Guitar Center?
The Ampeg SVT-6PRO for $495 is calling me for no real reason.

Bloodsong · Post by **Bloodsong** » Wednesday Jan 14, 2009

i like GC, but i LOVE Pianos n Stuff!!! have you ever been there, Ray? awesome store...

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Wednesday Jan 14, 2009

Bloodsong wrote:i like GC, but i LOVE Pianos n Stuff!!! have you ever been there, Ray? awesome store...

agreed, the best store ever is Atomic Music in D.C. though. Chuck Levin's is also rad.

sunsetbass · Post by **sunsetbass** » Wednesday Jan 14, 2009

chuck's is very cool. i bought alot of my pa there.

Plastered Bastards · Post by **Plastered Bastards** » Thursday Jan 15, 2009

My band and I totally LOVE Piano's and Stuff.
The best music store in the Burgh.
The March Madness Sale is AWESOME.

moxham123 · Post by **moxham123** » Thursday Jan 15, 2009

I was at the Guitar Center in Monroeville a couple weeks ago and it was great. If you are looking at Ampeg bass heads, check out the brand new Acoustic B600H bass head. I have had my eye on an Ampeg lately until I tried out the Acoustic. It not only sounded fantastic, it was less money than the Ampeg heads.

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Thursday Jan 15, 2009

I bought my old Gibson Flying V at Pianos n Stuff. I kinda like it better than GC.
Monroeville is usually the GC that I go to when I'm out that way.
Music go Round is another good one, but it's mostly used or "pre-owned" gear.

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Friday Jan 16, 2009

Dales Drum Shop owns all! Drummers Rule!

PanzerFaust · Post by **PanzerFaust** » Friday Jan 16, 2009

Musicians Friend all the way !!

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Friday Jan 16, 2009

Its not official, but word on the street is that Guitar Center is just about bankrupt. You may want to wait for some liquidation sales.

moxham123 · Post by **moxham123** » Friday Jan 16, 2009

lonewolf wrote:Its not official, but word on the street is that Guitar Center is just about bankrupt. You may want to wait for some liquidation sales.

Please keep us posted if you hear anything. I have my eyes on a new bass amp there.

orangekick · Post by **orangekick** » Friday Jan 16, 2009

Plastered Bastards wrote:The March Madness Sale is AWESOME.

So true. I end up buying something every year.

slackin@dabass · Post by **slackin@dabass** » Saturday Jan 17, 2009

speaking of large names in the music equipment industry going bankrupt...

i read on another forum (

) called talkbass that loud industries, the parent company of Ampeg bass amps is going under as well...

i'm sure most of you could care less, but i thought it might be interesting to some to note that the longest lasting name in bass amplification could possibly be no more.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Saturday Jan 17, 2009

slackin@dabass wrote:the longest lasting name in bass amplification

I find that pretty much impossible to believe. I'm too lazy to look up the facts now, but you think ampeg has been building bass amps longer than fender? who's first bass amp debuted simultaneously with the first bass guitar?

nickisrb · Post by **nickisrb** » Saturday Jan 17, 2009

lonewolf wrote:Its not official, but word on the street is that Guitar Center is just about bankrupt. You may want to wait for some liquidation sales.

Dammit! I just Got A New Les Paul A Couple Months Ago.

moxham123 · Post by **moxham123** » Saturday Jan 17, 2009

If Guitar Center goes under, what happens to Musician's Friend?

Guitar Center owns Musician's Friend

IPO's PDA's DAT's & RAP
You could say that in the 90's Guitar Center underwent monumental changes that impacted both the company and a nation of musicians, and earned G.C. the phrase, "The largest Musical Instrument retailer in the world."

By this time, Larry Thomas had assumed the position of Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, while in 1996 Marty Albertson became President and Co-Chief Executive officer. The company's growth in this time period surpassed any other Musical Instrument retailer in the world, with the opening of nearly 70 stores during the decade. With a clear-cut vision of where they wanted to go, G.C. opened stores in smaller markets, helping cultivate the Musical Instrument Market. Grand openings were taking place at a rate of 1 to 2 stores a month. A Guitar Center grand opening is not your typical store opening. These events draw hundreds of kids and adults, local news media, and sometimes major networks like MTV, VH1 & CNN.

1997 marked the year G.C. went public. Soon after, they purchased the catalog company, Musician's Friend, and have seen solid revenue growth with the acquisition.

Capt. Grammar · Post by **Capt. Grammar** » Saturday Jan 17, 2009

moxham123 wrote: IPO's PDA's DAT's & RAP
You could say that in the 90's Guitar Center underwent monumental changes that impacted both the company and a nation of musicians, and earned G.C. the phrase, "The largest Musical Instrument retailer in the world."

By this time, Larry Thomas had assumed the position of Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, while in 1996 Marty Albertson became President and Co-Chief Executive officer. The company's growth in this time period surpassed any other Musical Instrument retailer in the world, with the opening of nearly 70 stores during the decade. With a clear-cut vision of where they wanted to go, G.C. opened stores in smaller markets, helping cultivate the Musical Instrument Market. Grand openings were taking place at a rate of 1 to 2 stores a month. A Guitar Center grand opening is not your typical store opening. These events draw hundreds of kids and adults, local news media, and sometimes major networks like MTV, VH1 & CNN.

1997 marked the year G.C. went public. Soon after, they purchased the catalog company, Musician's Friend, and have seen solid revenue growth with the acquisition.

I would like to point out that by improperly citing other's written work, you are in violation of plagiarism. I would suggest using American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), or Chicago style to give proper credit to your sources.

You’re welcome.

slackin@dabass · Post by **slackin@dabass** » Saturday Jan 17, 2009

MeYatch wrote:
slackin@dabass wrote:the longest lasting name in bass amplification
I find that pretty much impossible to believe. I'm too lazy to look up the facts now, but you think ampeg has been building bass amps longer than fender? who's first bass amp debuted simultaneously with the first bass guitar?

but when someone mentions fender the first thing that usually pops into people's mind is strat... when you mention ampeg, people think SVT... i know, maybe not the longest lasting, but definatly the most recognized.

i don't know if Loud industries (parent company of ampeg) plans on selling ampeg off, but they are reducing production.

here's a link to the other forum... to whom it may concern... i'm sure any bass player that already has an ampeg could care less!

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthrea ... industries

i just thought it was interesting

Eldorado · Post by **Eldorado** » Sunday Jan 18, 2009

Supporting our local music stores makes more sense to me. In the middle of this economic shit storm I'm trying to spend what little money I do have locally. Not to mention I get in trouble for drooling on the inventory every time I walk around Guitar Center.

tonefight · Post by **tonefight** » Sunday Jan 18, 2009

Guitar Center and Musicansfriend can both suck my balls, I hope they go bankrupt. Musiciansfriend completely screwed me last Christmas and they had no remorse at all. I could go into detail but I'll get all worked up and its not worth it. It wasn't the first time they screwed up with no appologies but it was christmas and i had a bass ordered for my boy they didn't send it because the cable I ordered with it was on backorder !!!! Guitar center has the worst salespeople, they must get minimum wage cause they just don't give a shit at all.

I really hope this is true, I despise them both. I bought from musicansfriend for years and they just really went downhill.

Did I mention I hope this is true and I hate them both ?

DrumAndDestroy · Post by **DrumAndDestroy** » Monday Jan 19, 2009

musician's friend is pretty good i think. i've never had a problem with them.

that really sucks, tonefight...though i'm not surprised since they're a big company.

moxham123 · Post by **moxham123** » Monday Jan 19, 2009

Tonefight,

I had a similar horrible experience with Music123 a few years ago. I ordered a guitar, amp, and accessories for my son for Christmas and they sent everything except the guitar. They gave me so much grief and lies for 8 months that I had to make a formal complaint and they ended up giving me the amp for free. My son opened an empty guitar case for Christmas and did not get the guitar until the end of June the following year. It would not have been so bad if he wanted to change to another guitar, but I promised him the exact one he wanted and no music store locally sold what he wanted or I would have bought it here.

Merge · Post by **Merge** » Tuesday Jan 20, 2009

I went to the GC in Allentown yesterday. I needed 2 input jacks, one for a Les Paul and one for a Schecter. They didn't have either, and then the employees shadowed us for the next 20 minutes while we looked at some things. It's like they thought we were going to walk out with that $99 Strat knock-off.