How many micros does your GC carry?

[Jim C]

Finally had some free time between work and kids activities today and went to GC even though it's a Saturday (Rockville MD; just outside of DC)
They had:
MB smaller amps (not interested in these at this time)
1 PF350
That's it for anything that could be considered small

The other amps in the bass area are:
Other MB amps (finally saw the TT800)
Ampeg 7 Pro + some other transistor Ampeg head
M3, M6, M9 - thought that was impressive
GK - 700 RB

Zero of:
MB500, MB800, or Fusion
Anything GB
Anything Aguilar
Anything Fender (other than some small Rumble practice amps)
Anything Orange (did have some guitar micros)
Any all tube bass amps

Maybe we are wrong here and that micro amps are not in demand

[KJung]

GC is not what it used to be. I assume their very sophisticated parent company does a VERY good job matching 'on the floor' models with the needs and wants of the customer that buys off the floor at GC (I assume, mostly kids at this point).

I would not, in ANY way, correlate what is on the floor at GC with overall sales trends.

Since Musician's Friend (same company) carries all this stuff, IMO if you are interested in a few of these heads, and have enough 'wiggle room' on your credit card, order two or three up. That way, you can try them with your cab and instrument at home and on the gig. As long as you don't damage them, there is a 30 day 'no questions asked' return policy, and you are only out shipping (which is trivial with these small amps).

I would only enter a Guitar Center at this point if it was the last building standing in a natural disaster or something

Edit: Regarding those Mesa heads, from being friends with a mom and pop Mesa distributor, dealers are required to keep a pretty broad line of Mesa products in stock and on the floor to continue their relationship with Mesa. So, that is a bit of a red herring also regarding sales levels or popularity. They also don't allow 'on line' purchasing as far as I know (i.e., you won't see Mesa on the Musician's Friend site (although I have seen a few products on Sweetwater's site... so not sure there). However, my point is, Mesa would be skewed toward a physical presence on the floor at GC.

[CL400Peavey]

Pretty similar to what my local gc has. The sales manager has pretty much said they don't invest anything into their bass section as they make most of their money on squire starter guitars.

[JimmyM]

Ampeg, Markbass.

[B-string]

2 1/2 to 4 hour drive one way for any GC for me

[micgtr71]

Lot of Markbass. 2 Ampeg 810s. 1 GKmb210, 1 TC 250 watt combo. small assortment of used cabs. Sad day for bassists wanting to try out new gear.

[socialleper]

I think they carry they Ampeg but that's it. They used to have the Markbass equipment but it seems like they are scaling back on that and GK. At the moment most of their stuff is Ampeg and Acoustic (whoever the hell that is.) My hope is that they are getting rid of old inventory so they can start ordering after the NAMM show.
When I was looking for a mini-rig of doom recently I discovered that the cabs and heads are super rare.

GC, and many other MI retailers, have decided that bassists don't exist. When I worked at GC in the late 90's they had Zon, Pedulla, SWR, Warwick, Bag End, Eden, Spector, cheap Alembics, all sorts of stuff you never see now. Even nice stand alone MI shops only have two or three brands, never venture into anything sexy, and carry one bass for every 10 guitars. It sucks.
Sam Ash tries a little harder, but still rarely carry anything over $1500. They have more brands and a better sales culture. If something is busted they actually do something about it.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by B-string

2 1/2 to 4 hour drive one way for any GC for me

It's an hour+ each way for me, haven't gone to one in at least a few years. When I did, I never once saw anything directly bass related that I'd actually want to buy.

[fdeck]

There's a reasonable array of GK at my local Guitar Center. I don't remember anything else.

[Stuff deleted, see Guy N. Cognito's post below]

If micro amps were a dead end, there wouldn't be second- and perhaps even third-generation amps coming out on the market. And most of them now have tubes, meaning that tubes still sell gear, but nothing sells expensive gear.

It says a lot that GK dropped the Backline 600 -- a very successful product -- when they came out with the MB200.

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by Jim C

Maybe we are wrong here and that micro amps are not in demand

Or maybe you went in between Christmas and NAMM, when they are still restocking from the holiday season.........

[B-string]

They replaced the BL600 with the re-issue of the 400RB IV. Not the same preamp, but the same poweramp in both. Guess they figured most bassists that wanted distortion would be pedal pushers?

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by fdeck

There's a reasonable array of GK at my local Guitar Center. I don't remember anything else.

http://www.musictrades.com/census.html

Granted, this page only talks about guitars, and is a teaser for a report that they sell....

....and it states that those are not the actual numbers......

[dukeisdog]

Originally Posted by B-string

They replaced the BL600 with the re-issue of the 400RB IV. Not the same preamp, but the same poweramp in both. Guess they figured most bassists that wanted distortion would be pedal pushers?

Man, what were they thinking? Why would they reissue the 400RB and not even run the same pre? Doesn't that take away from the GK400RB? Should've called it something else..

[inthevelvet]

Originally Posted by KJung

GC is not what it used to be. I assume their very sophisticated parent company does a VERY good job matching 'on the floor' models with the needs and wants of the customer that buys off the floor at GC (I assume, mostly kids at this point).

I would not, in ANY way, correlate what is on the floor at GC with overall sales trends.

I would tend to disagree, and even your 2 statements don't seem to agree with each other. As most likely the largest brick and mortar chain, I'd say their sales numbers likely do reflect overall sales trends. Which does not in any way mirror what is actually the best equipment. TB'ers quality requirements in general are way above the national trend, but we are in the minority.

as for the OP...
I've been to both Phoenix and Vegas GC's recently. Lots of Markbass was the trend. Quite a bit of "acoustic" as well. No small GK heads at all

[B-string]

Originally Posted by dukeisdog

Man, what were they thinking? Why would they reissue the 400RB and not even run the same pre? Doesn't that take away from the GK400RB? Should've called it something else..

The 400RB IV preamp is different from the BL600's preamp. They share the same power amp. The re-issue 400 RB IV uses the the same preamp it always did. Sorry if that confused anyone?

[jellymax]

not going there unless i have to. there is 1 in SF. they just opened a new GC, 10 min away from Gelb Music. Gelb Music is an awesome high end music store, lotsa killer basses.
more importantly, their staff has remained the same for many years. they have made
this a career & i wanna support that.

rant over

[AaronMB]

Mine usually has several - new and used. Haven't paid attention to models as I'm in and out, or looking at basses.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

....and it states that those are not the actual numbers......

Gah, I didn't notice that. Thanks for the heads up.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by inthevelvet

I would tend to disagree, and even your 2 statements don't seem to agree with each other. As most likely the largest brick and mortar chain, I'd say their sales numbers likely do reflect overall sales trends. Which does not in any way mirror what is actually the best equipment. TB'ers quality requirements in general are way above the national trend, but we are in the minority.

as for the OP...
I've been to both Phoenix and Vegas GC's recently. Lots of Markbass was the trend. Quite a bit of "acoustic" as well. No small GK heads at all

You missed my point. Yes, they are the largest brick and mortar, but that isn't saying much any more. My point was that 'brick and mortar' is not, in any way, driving sales volume any more in musical instrument sales. Check out the vast array of products immediately available from their sister companies website.

[Jim C]

I did forget to mention that there were a few Acoustic amps.
Now that I think about it, the 3 times I've been to this store over the last 18 months, I did not see any micros other than the Ampeg PF's.

Not a worry as my other local music store is Chuck Levin's Washington Music, which used to be the largest music store in the world in the 80's; something like $60M in yearly sales.
Chuck's is often times a circus and difficult to audition equipment in peace. My GC is now the same or worse.

So long GC!