TNfootballfan62

There is a lot of misinformation on this forum, but forum members aren't getting paid to help people out. They do it of boredom/niceness/whatever. You're right about most things being subjective, but I think it's reasonable to at least expect people who are there to help potential customers as their job to be at least generally knowledgeable. Just my $0.02.

And I like supporting my local shop, too.

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Feel free to call me Kyle.

papersun87

There's no GC in my town, only Russo's Guitars. Those guys are AWESOME. Any one of them will know almost everything about any product in the store, demo it for you, and get out of your hair when you want to play it for yourself.

I can't imagine buying from some GC hack, given the dozens of facepalm-worthy stories I've heard about their service and their Wal-Mart method of doing business.

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[Pedalboard Thread Native #26: The Grumpy Old Man]

tsukihimeblood

<3 Russo's. Never had a bad experience with them.

al112987

I was told that groove tubes bias themselves.

Austin_Scharosc

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Gearz:
Squier classic vibe 50's strat, modded.
Dunlop 535q
Korg Pitchblack
Carvin X100B

David_Bowie=GOD

This spider III is one of the best practice amps around...

I was a beginner and bought it, thankfully it was only 15w so it was only 100 bucks wasted.

I do love the spider valves though, Line 6 modeling is good. Sure, it may not be the best sounding tube amp for the price, but its a step up from SS and it sounds miles better than the Spider IIIs.

I also once asked what pickups would they recommend for my epi sg(eventually I will put better pickups in)for playing alternative, grunge, modern rock, and classic rock. He told me about EMGs.

Other than the salesmen who force spider IIIs on you, my GC isn't that bad, most of the salesmen are good and helpful. They aren't overly pushy like the people at the Sam Ash next door.

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^Fail^

gregs1020

"You kids get away from those magazines, you make the pages stick together!"







Or maybe that was at my dad's barber shop, can't remember.

Dizma

So when I was a beginner I go in there wanting to buy the Marshall solid state half stack and he goes, " dude, you should get this Raven half stack. It's way better cuz it can go from clean to metal so not knowing anything about amps, I bought it... That was the biggest waste of money! But now I have a Mesa so who cares anymore...

papersun87

This is not necessarily bad advice.

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[Pedalboard Thread Native #26: The Grumpy Old Man]

TMF128

I am lucky, the guys at the Guitar Center near me know what they are talking about.

When I was buying my second amp after my first one died, they said that the Spider III is a good amp, which it IS for a beginner. It may not suit tonefreaks tastes, but for a beginner, the 15 watt is a good amp to start out on. Anything bigger is a waste of money, and shouldn't be used on stage. Don't get me wrong, I am not a Spider supporter, I prefer tube amps by a mile, but the Spider III was a good amp to start out on.

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Dizma

My friend got a bunch of money on a gift certificate to GC so he went there to get a new snare and they said that his card hasn't been authorized. They wanted us to buy a new gift card and then spend it and we were like, "dude thats a fraud and were gonna call the cops." and then finally they gave us what we wanted...

David_Bowie=GOD

Ive played a guitar with EMGs in it before though, the pickups didn't really seem to fit me. Theyre great for some of the heavier stuff I play like AiC and Soundgarden, but they still don't fit a good amount of what I play.

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^Fail^

Jak-666

me: im looking for a GOOD guitar
GCE: ok, try this B.C Rich
me: goodbye

Dragonis

Completely true. I can tell you this much, I'm never going to guitar center again, the one by me is full of jackass's and a bunch of kids that don't know anything. Not saying that I'm full of knowledge myself, but you know what I mean.

Anyways so I finally returned Spider, I can tell the guy was pissed off I was returning it too cause It was the same guy that sold it to me. I told him that after two weeks of having it I had buyers remorse and I wasn't diggin it. I could just see in his face that he was mad, I probably screwed with his sales goals for the day. Jackass. I used to work in retail so I understand his pain, but **** man that things a piece of crap.

I need to find a local shop, the only music shops I know of around me are GuitarCenter and SamAsh. I think I'll be going to sam ash from now on.


On a kind of side note, the GC near me also sucks because although there are bunch of people workin, there is NEVER anyone around to help you out right away. I mean **** man its not THAT big of a place. No lie the last 3 times I was in there took me at least 20 mins of standing at the counter to get someone to help me, everyone just dissapeared or walked by me like i wasn't there. Learn some ****ing customer service for christ sakes

There is only one guy I know that works at that place who is cool, but only because I happen to have known him my whole life. Everyone else there is a jackass.

They just lost a customer.

lbj273

The guys at the GC I go to know I know my stuff now (thanks to UG) and don't try to sell me stupid stuff anymore

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Call me Dom

{Pedalboard Thread Native: The Muffin Man}

Unskathed

Rep, "What ya need?"
Me, "Oh, I have like 300 to spend on accessories and pedals or whatever."
Rep, "What kind of amp are you playing out of?"
Me, "An Engl Fireball."
Rep, "Never heard of it. I could get you an awesome amp for 300. Ever hear of Line 6?"

Same day, different guy:

I walk into the high-end amp loud room.
Rep, "Hey man, what you play through?"
Me, "An Engl Fireball."
Rep, "Do you play like death metal stuff?"
Me, "Yeah."
Rep, "Wow, I can't believe you didn't get a Dual Rectifier. That's the only good amp out there for death metal."
Me, "What about this VHT Deliverance?"
Rep, "That amp doesn't do high gain."

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al112987

Here is the worst part, telling someone something like that can actually be detrimental to their equipment. I even asked him if they have returns for defective tubes (which is certainly not out of the question seeing that GC doesn't burn them in or test them or anything), and they do not, which makes me feel terrible for the kid who goes into that store and buys $100 worth of tubes and have them red plate on him within 5 minutes.

Even still, I told him what amp I had and he was like "yeah, those old Marshalls didn't have features like biasing, it's only something you see on modern amps."

splamron

When I was looking for a guitar in the $500AUD range:
"Man, your too good for that, you should be looking at this" *gives me an rr5*
me: "Umm, its really awesome, but it's wayy to expensive"
guy: "on dw dude, just get a paper run and soon enough you'll have enough money for that and a decent amp, like this *Shows me a spider*

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Call me Cam

gregs1020

I honestly can't stand going on there anymore. I've heard more fail in 30 minutes than I can relay. SamAsh is better by me - but that probably varies by location.