zZounds vs Sweetwater

[VOODOO U]

I am looking at getting a MIDI controller and the thing I don't like about Sweetwater is they sell used gear and, well, call me paranoid but I don't see what would be difficult for them to sell me something used even if I order something new considering it's easy to package a used product (and repair it) to appear new.
So it's either them or zZounds and I haven't heard much about the latter as far as service.
Between the two which do you prefer (and no way am I going with Amazon. Been there done that - f**k them).

[pekbro]

I cant imagine them trying to pass something used as new without letting the customer know. Not sure that would be legal for them. Anyway, I never got any thing that was not new from them myself.

I never ordered anything from Zzounds, thought about it, but they are too far from me and
shipping is a problem. Sweetwater will ship anything to me for free, even tho I'm in Hawaii.

between Sw and Amazon, that's about it for me when it comes to anything over a lb or two.

That's the thing about sweetwater, once you establish things with your rep, they can do stuff
for you, like you can tell them you only want unopened stuff.

Mine was able to arrange free shipping and whatnot for me all the way out in Hawaii, e.g. 2nd day air on a large item at no cost to me...

[VOODOO U]

That's the thing about sweetwater, once you establish things with your rep, they can do stuff
for you, like you can tell them you only want unopened stuff.

How did you get established with a rep? Via email or do they have live chat at the site?

Mine was able to arrange free shipping and whatnot for me all the way out in Hawaii, e.g. 2nd day air on a large item at no cost to me...

That's what reels me in with zZounds, they have free shipping. With Sweetwater free shipping has to be arranged (if at all possible in my case).

[pekbro]

That's the thing about sweetwater, once you establish things with your rep, they can do stuff
for you, like you can tell them you only want unopened stuff.

How did you get established with a rep? Via email or do they have live chat at the site?

Mine was able to arrange free shipping and whatnot for me all the way out in Hawaii, e.g. 2nd day air on a large item at no cost to me...

That's what reels me in with zZounds, they have free shipping. With Sweetwater free shipping has to be arranged (if at all possible in my case).

Just email them, they will hook you up with someone.
https://www.sweetwater.com/about/sales-engineers/

[VOODOO U]

Just email them, they will hook you up with someone.
https://www.sweetwater.com/about/sales-engineers/

Hey thanks! Appreciate the info.

[Hewitt Huntwork]

Sweetwater advertises and discounts Open Box items, so unless it says otherwise, what you are buying is new. They will open guitars for a warehouse inspection, but a midi controller should be new in a sealed box. Been a customer since 2005 and couldn't be happier. I always get free shipping. Buy with confidence.

[VOODOO U]

Been a customer since 2005 and couldn't be happier. I always get free shipping. Buy with confidence.

Excellent! Thats good news. If I can get the free shipping then I'd lean towards Sweetwater. And yes, I would expect a sealed box (one tape) unopened.

[Watchful]

I've purchased quite a bit from both. Zzounds only when an item is out of stock everywhere else (Zzounds often has a few remaining!), but otherwise love Sweetwater's outstanding customer service. They're superb when things go right and absolutely wonderful when things go wrong. Consistently great company.

[zerocrossing]

I've purchased quite a bit from both. Zzounds only when an item is out of stock everywhere else (Zzounds often has a few remaining!), but otherwise love Sweetwater's outstanding customer service. They're superb when things go right and absolutely wonderful when things go wrong. Consistently great company.

Right, if all goes fine, you’d never know why Sweetwater is great, but whenI had a bad voice card on my PolyBrute, they were great at getting me a replacement.

[harryupbabble]

i was just browsing the sweetwater site.
i had browsed amazon a lot.

it seems that amazon has a lot of catching up to do.
i mean amazon doesn't even sell the roland integra 7.
and sweetwater does.

amazon does sell the novation mininova for 640 dollars.
but at sweetwater it's 450 dollars.

so yeah, i guess f**k amazon in terms of music gear.

[harryupbabble]

at zzounds, the mininova is also 450 dollars.

[harryupbabble]

but wowee...
at long and mcquade, the mininova was 375 canadian dollars.
and no shipping cost.
just go there and pick it up.

it's not in stock though but if there is demand they can restock it?
and 450 american dollars = 615 canadian dollars.

[seangm]

There are other sites besides Zzounds and Sweetwater. B&H Photo and Thomann have some good deals, Musician's Friend, Amazon and some smaller stores that are good also. Most offer free shipping if you spend over a certain amount.

[funky lime]

My brother works at sweetwater. From what he tells me, their warehouse has better gear (particularly guitars), as their standards of inspection and whatnot are very rigorous so if anything isn't perfect, their warehouse gets rid of it, and that piece of gear likely ends up with another reseller with a bit lower standards such as Zzounds. I don't know how much of that applies to other instruments like synths, but sweetwater takes their quality control very seriously from what I'm told. A lot of famous artists and their road crews, even international acts, shop at sweetwater because of their reputation for being a cut above the rest.

[alexfalcao]

I buy from both Zzounds and Sweetwater since 2006, they are both great in my opinion. But Sweetwater is bigger. One example of Sweetwater high quality service when buying a guitar on Sweetwater is that you can see the guitar picture you're buying, with serial number and all the details of the guitar, I've never seen this on other sellers and if the equipment arrives damaged they will replace at not cost, happened to me that an headphone came damaged and after I called my Rep, he sent the same day a replacement with a return label to ship back the damaged box.