Guitar Center stories good and bad

heylow · Post by **heylow** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:59 pm

inverseroom wrote:
i am monster face wrote:ME: Well, we're running three HD systems and have a pair of Studer A-800 tape machines.
SALESGUY: Still using tape huh? You should check out the firepod. Get into the digital world.
AWESOME!!!!!

+1

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:11 pm

i've told this one before but...

i'm in pro audio in the boston store, i see they have an old ensoniq dp2. ask how much. salesguy checks, says 'actually that doesn't have a power supply so i can sell it to you for cost, $100.'

now, i would like to meet the person who sold a used effects box without the proprietary power supply to guitar center. this person is obviously a genius.

but, as it happens, i have a toasted dp2 at home, this no power supply business is no problem, so i say great, i'll take it. salesguy then spends a good 15 minutes trying to find a screwdriver to take it out of the rack. which normally would drive me insane, but they have an acoustic guitar sitting there so i entertain myself with a bevy of hot licks and bitchin solos.

finally he gets it outta the rack. brings to counter. says 'oh because it's at cost i just have to clear it with my manager' and gets on the phone. then tells me his manager says they have to make some money on it so it's gonna be $110. i say '1. you just told me $100, and 2. as far as you guys are concerned it's a useless black box, you should be thankful someone's actually buying it at all...'

salesguy is apologetic and says 'i know, i agree, but my manager...' and since i am in fact a multimillionaire who trails twenties down the street behind me, i say 'fine' and agree to $110.

salesguy gets back on the phone with manager, then turns to me and says "you know all sales are final, right?" and i just laughed at him and said "it says RIGHT ON THE RECEIPT that i have 30 days to return it. come ON man." and then he sheepishly says "oh...yeah...ok you can return it."

and then he proceeds to ring me up, finally, all the while being all buddy buddy and asking me about my studio...and i'm just totally amused, thinking 'you just lied to my face 30 seconds ago and now you're talking to me like we're tight bros from way back.....'

you'll be relieved to know the box works fine, used it to destroy the drums on the song i should be mixing right now instead of blathering on the interwebs.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:47 pm

Here is a recording that was already present on the flash drive of a Korg PXR-4 from the Roseville, MN GC in summer 2002:

http://www.esnips.com/doc/774fcfd6-0c4d ... ees-0205xx

It gives us a rare unadulterated glimpse into the minds of these fascinating specimens known as GC Sales Associates. Note that their instinctive response to a recording device is to 'cut ass' into the built-in microphone.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:53 pm

wrenhunter wrote:I bought a used Martin from the Boston store, and got a good deal from a cool guy who was playing out with Papas Fritas alumni. I played this fine guitar today.

PAPAS FRITAS ALERT - are they up to something? I live in perpetual hope/delusion/??? that they will reunite and pick up where they left off in the late 1990s. BEST BAND EVER

Okay, sorry. Back to GC.

wrenhunter · Post by **wrenhunter** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:08 pm

Tatertot wrote:
PAPAS FRITAS ALERT - are they up to something? I live in perpetual hope/delusion/??? that they will reunite and pick up where they left off in the late 1990s. BEST BAND EVER

Not only do I agree that they are the best band ever, and not only did I see them open for Urge Overkill thus allowing me to die happy, but I so want to marry the drummer. Twice.

A-Barr · Post by **A-Barr** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:55 pm

I was in the Albany store the other day checking out some guitars. There were basically 2 good amps in the store - a blackface Deluxe Reverb and a tweed Pro. I plug into the Deluxe and it doesn't power up, the sales guy (who as it turns out is the store manager) mentions the tubes are frequently stolen out of this amp, I check - no tubes.

OK, I plug into a newer Marshall half-stack, it works, not my cup of tea, but I get an idea of what the guitar would sound like run through a cranked old tube amp. So after messing with that a bit, I reach up to warm up the tweed pro - ZZAAAPPP - I get hit with a nice dose of 120VAC, running from my right hand,through my chest and out my left hand to the PRS.

I shakily put the PRS back on the rack and tell the next sales guy I see how the old tweeder will electrocute the next innocent who comes near it and that they need to take it off the floor and repair/upgrade it right away. Sales guy makes dumb jokes that make NO SENSE about how it's GC's new policy to kill off as many guitarists as possible in order to garner more profits.

I went and checked out acoustic guitars for a while.

After about 3 hours of educating myself on what good and bad Martins, Taylors and Gibsons sounded like, I walked back into the amp room, the death-cap-laden tweed is still there, the Deluxe is still without tubes.

...woe unto the next guy who wants to play a vintage Fender!

??????? · Post by **???????** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:15 am

thats what you get for trying a PRS!

Someone upstairs was lookin out for ya!

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:56 am

A-Barr wrote: ...woe unto the next guy who wants to play a vintage Fender!

And woe to GC Albany if that guy is a lawyer.

mikeyc · Post by **mikeyc** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:02 am

I think the last thing I bought at GC was a ProCo selector box designed to let you plug in 2 mics and hook into 12 pres to demo the gear. ProCo lists these things at $1100. It was in a box of cables in the sidewalk sale at the Grand Rapids, MI GC with no power supply for the HP amp and one bad switch (out of 13).
Dude says "You interested in that?"
Me: I don't know. Do you have the power supply?
Dude: We can get a power supply. Make us an offer.
Me: $20.
Dude: Let me check with my manager... How about $60.
Me: No thanks.
Dude: OK, $20.
(rings me up)
Me: What about the power supply?
Dude: Oh, here you go (hands me a brand new $20 Boss power supply--not the right supply for the unit.
Me: Thanks.

I tried to sell the thing at first, but after a couple months I took the hp amp out and put it in the case of an old Behringer DI that died a few years ago and powered it with a supply from an old cordless phone. I like it. I also used 4 of the 29 TRS jacks on the back of the unit to make a mult box and I'm still waiting for surther inspiration. I still haven't used the Boss power supply... As good a deal as I got, I was still mad that the jerk gave me the wrong power supply.

My wife hates it when I go to GC because I usually just leave pissed off.

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:19 am

I like the Albany store when they have the trampy 13-year olds at the front counter, like on sale days, tons of make-up, giggling like they pump nitrous up through the floor.

nacho459 · Post by **nacho459** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:53 am

About 3 months ago I walk into a local GC that usually has good used gear. In the pro audio section they have a fairly beat up Dolby 323 NR unit marked down from $4999 to $29 I ask the kid at the counter if the price was right, he told me yes so I told him I'd buy it. Near the dolby unit was an old Sony PCM-800 that I asked about, he said it was $99 so I bought it too. Pretty much the whole time the kid is helping me he is just talking about how I must be a pro because I realize what good gear is and what a good deal I'm getting, yadda yadda yadda. So the kid helps me cary the PCM machine to my car and says "You gotta let me hear some of the mixes you do on these." "Man these are gonna sound great together!"

0xeneye · Post by **0xeneye** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:39 pm

My good story is simple : A 1950's Oahu amp laying in the back marked 'Vintage!, Cool $45' Somebody had replaced the speaker with a Weber too. I dumped it on Ebay for $270 the next week.

Bad story: A pair of Octava MC-012s in the display case for $40. I checked them, they sounded real nice. I said sold, the guy was just about to ring me up, some other salesperson looked over his shoulder, and said

"Uh we can't sell that."
I said "Why not?, It was right there in the display case."

He said, we've got to hold on to that for a month, health considerations...."
I said : "What?"
He said, "Yep, we have to wait thirty days for this to pass health inspection."
I said: "Like, someone thinks there's a virus living on these mics?"
He looked at me and said : "Hey I don't make the rules."
I said, "OK, I'll buy them now, and pick them up in a month OK"
He said, "Nope, we can;t sell them for thirty days."
I said, "Then why are they for sale in the display case? I'll need to see the manager."

I spent twenty minutes arguing with the manager about this all over again, he finally decided he had to sell them to me. I walked to the cashier to check out, and said "You know what, these may have germs on them, I think I've changed my mind....." And I walked out.

augusthour · Post by **augusthour** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:01 pm

I called the local GC asking about a GZ34 rectifier tube. They said they didn't have any. So, I went in to see what they DID have. I asked the guy to show me all the tubes they have. He pulled out a box with four 12AX7s in it. Then he said "well, I have THESE. But they say 5AR4?????? "

*sigh* "you guys really need a tube conversion book. I'll take it."

So he argues with me and tells me it won't work in my amp.

Then I started asking him about a replacement pickup for my Am. Std P-Bass. Asked him what he thought of the Quarter Pounder. He said he'd never used it. Asked me why I wanted a new p-bass pickup. I said I was having problems with the one in my P-bass and that it might be defective.

He said I should get a BBE sonic maximizer pedal and I wouldn't have any more problems with my P-Bass. I told him, "yeah, but wouldn't that MAXIMIZE the problems I'm already having? Do you have a Sonic Minimizer?"

Bought the 5AR4s and not the P-Bass pickup.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:47 pm

joelpatterson wrote:I like the Albany store when they have the trampy 13-year olds at the front counter, like on sale days, tons of make-up, giggling like they pump nitrous up through the floor.

they do pump nitrous up through the floor, tho.

at least the GC in Arlington, TX does.

Shane Michael Rose · Post by **Shane Michael Rose** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:10 pm

the outboard compressor comment is classic. i have gotten that one in the boston store more than once.

me: i need four 10' balanced (duh) trs cables.

gc idiot: comes out with four monster instrument cables.

me: no thats not what i need, and explain what i do need.

gc idiot: same thing... im not going back to look for anything else.

i was amazed.

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