Odd Guitar Center experience(?)

[citizenchris099]

TLDR warning

Made my way into G.C. yesterday afternoon to kill some time. Found myself having a bit of fun w/a Sterling by Music Man StingRay. Was playing through a couple of the Guitar all Tube heads they had situated right near the bass section.
I forget the first one but the second was a Marshall Studio (I forget the specific model) I was not even close to playing at loud volumes. Several sales guys came up to say hi and see if I needed help etc.. I eventually asked if I could try out an Elite P Bass. Guy was nice and got it down for me no problem.
Right as I'm about to plug it into the Marshall I had been playing w/o issue for the past 15 minutes another guy swings by and comments on how nice the P Bass is. I guess he notices I was about to plug into the Marshall and...
Sales guy: "Umm you're going to plug into that?"
Me: "yeah it sounds great"
SG: "you know thats a guitar head right?"
Me: lol "yeah...like Lemmy you know...sounds great"
SG : "yeah...don't do that"
Me: "pardon?"
SG: "I said don't do that. Seriously"
Me: "umm...ok"

Hands the guy who got me the p bass ...the p bass right back and proceed towards the exit.
Me: "this a new sales technique I'm not aware of?"
SG: "Dude Lemmy was a rock star, you're not." he says to my back as I'm walking off
I just laugh and leave.

Maybe I deserved that? I dunno. Maybe that is S.O.P. It struck me as...really odd. I've played through guitar amps many times at much louder volumes w/o issue. I wasn't even remotely close to playing at volumes that would by anyone's imagination damage that speaker/cab.
Its perhaps some unspoken rule of Guitar shops not to plug a bass into a guitar amp...if so..ok. I can't help but feel that it could have been handled in a much better manner.

 

[petrus61]

Not for nothing, but I wouldn’t let anyone do what you were about to do either. I wouldn’t have been a dick about it like that guy was, but he can’t just assume everyone looking to plug a bass into an expensive guitar amp hooked up to an expensive cab has enough common sense not to damage the cab. Using that logic, any 12 year old kid can grab a Musicman 5 string off the wall, plug it into a 59 Tweed Bassman and crank the lows.

 

[DWBass]

Curious. Wondering why guitar amps were in the bass section?

 

[citizenchris099]

Not for nothing, but I wouldn’t let anyone do what you were about to do either. I wouldn’t have been a dick about it like that guy was, but he can’t just assume everyone looking to plug a bass into an expensive guitar amp hooked up to an expensive cab has enough common sense not to damage the cab. Using that logic, any 12 year old kid can grab a Musicman 5 string off the wall, plug it into a 59 Tweed Bassman and crank the lows.

I feel you and agree. I completely deserved to be treated that.

Curious. Wondering why guitar amps were in the bass section?

Its a small shop (for a GC). That said the did have an idordinant amount of guitar amps right next to the bass section and not a one bass amp to be found.
But clearly I broke some rule so my bad.

 

[Flamingo21]

they did have an inordinate amount of guitar amps right next to the bass section and not one bass amp to be found.

This. They were asking for trouble. At the very least you deserved an apology.

 

[Tekkers]

I wouldn’t maybe have went to plug a bass into a guitar amp in a shop without explanation, but that guy was way out of order.
It’s fair for him to have reservations about what you’re doing with gear if it looks like you might not have known, but that’s no justification for being a snugglemuffin. Stuff like this is why it’s easier to buy online.

I’ve put up with as many petty music shop sales tyrants as the next person on here doubtless has, but these days I have a very low tolerance for sales staff with poor attitudes and I’ll walk out (and have done) in situations where they’re being condescending or rude for no reason.

You weren’t in the wrong, that guy just had his head up his arse.

 

[mrcbass]

Yeah, there's a very real chance of damaging a guitar amp with a bass. The guy may have been a bit rude about it, but they gotta protect their gear.

 

[arbiterusa]

Its perhaps some unspoken rule of Guitar shops not to plug a bass into a guitar amp

SG handled it REALLY poorly but you're never supposed to plug a bass into a guitar amp. Easy to nuke those weak little speakers at conversational volume or even less. I'm a bit surprised they let you do it in the first place, anytime I worked in a music store I'd take the bass that the customer wanted to try out and plug it into a nice bass amp for them.

You wanna plug into a guitar amp, buy one, take it home, plug in your bass, rock out and learn the hard way why you're not supposed to do that.

 

[And I]

Taking a potshot at you as you walk out of the door is definitely odd / rude, but I can't blame them for protecting the gear and being firm that you not plug their bass into their guitar amp. If the speakers blow it probably comes out of someone on the floor's pocket...

 

[citizenchris099]

SG handled it REALLY poorly but you're never supposed to plug a bass into a guitar amp. Easy to nuke those weak little speakers at conversational volume or even less. I'm a bit surprised they let you do it in the first place, anytime I worked in a music store I'd take the bass that the customer wanted to try out and plug it into a nice bass amp for them.

You wanna plug into a guitar amp, buy one, take it home, plug in your bass, rock out and learn the hard way why you're not supposed to do that.

Taking a potshot at you as you walk out of the door is definitely odd / rude, but I can't blame them for protecting the gear and being firm that you not plug their bass into their guitar amp. If the speakers blow it probably comes out of someone on the floor's pocket...

Fair enough. I mostly just didn't like being treated that way. It felt pretty poopy. I didn't enjoy that experience and I won't be going back to GC ever again. There are too many independent options around here for me to even bother.

 

[And I]

Yeah I wouldn't go back to that store if they talked to me that way.

 

[EricMordus]

You are well within your rights to complain to management. OK, I can understand them maybe not wanting you to play bass through a guitar head, to a point. The way in which they approached you and the way that guy treated you, however, was inexcusable and most absolutely deserves a swift apology.

 

[pie_man_25]

Honestly, they were in the right to shut you down, the problem is how they did it. Blather on about politics correctness all you may want, but there are plenty of books older than the types to talk of that bollocks that would basically say what I'm about to say here: as a salesperson, they may very well have lost your sale, or any sale in future with how they mismanaged that situation.

People don't respond to "he's a rockstar, you're not". That sort of criticism really just rubs people the wrong way, and even if you're right in that assessment - they'll remember how you made them feel a lot longer than how you were "right".

For starters, plenty of old bass amps used to use the same kinds of drivers that guitar amps used - and plenty of them are still around and working as well. Can we get objectively cleaner sound at higher volumes today? Absolutely. But playing a bass through a guitar amp at a low volume isn't going to make the thing disintegrate. I've played a bass through a valve Junior and a cheap 8"speaker in an open back cab for years and that speaker doesn't show any signs of abuse at all (the difference here being the amp isn't pricey at all and I am not a salesman dealing with dudes). That being said, to my knowledge Lemmy does play through a Marshall super Bass and some cabs made for him by Marshall, probably using bass drivers.

At any rate, something more tactful like, "we like to provide our customers with good equipment to try in our store, unfortunately though, guitar amps really aren't made to handle the kind of frequencies bass guitars make. That sort of thing could lead to an amp being damaged if you're not careful, unfortunately. If you like we've got a few proper amps you could play through, however."

There's a time and a place for that kind of thing, but it's not normally when a guy is doing something sorta wrong when he doesn't know it. Anybody here could have made that mistake if the amp were hanging out right next to all of the basses and they didn't know any better.

 

[Picton]

You were snarky to him, too, with your “new sales technique” comment. He was only trying to protect his gear. HIS gear, not yours. When you’ve bought it, treat it however you want, but you hadn’t.

Look at it from his perspective. He’s accountable for the amp. He knows it’s unwise to plug basses into guitar heads. Why should he care what Lemmy used to do? And what do you think an employee thinks when a customer cites an icon in support of what he’s doing with their equipment?

It’s not okay to risk damage to the store’s gear just because that’s what Lemmy would do. Might as well start lighting their Strats on fire, because Jimi. I think that you even posting this here, feeling all aggrieved, suggests your skin is too thin by half, frankly.

I also find it hard to believe there wasn’t an available bass amp to plug into.

 

[citizenchris099]

You were snarky to him, too, with your “new sales technique” comment. He was only trying to protect his gear. HIS gear, not yours. When you’ve bought it, treat it however you want, but you hadn’t.

Look at it from his perspective. He’s accountable for the amp. He knows it’s unwise to plug basses into guitar heads. Why should he care what Lemmy used to do? And what do you think an employee thinks when a customer cites an icon in support of what he’s doing with their equipment?

It’s not okay to risk damage to the store’s gear just because that’s what Lemmy would do. Might as well start lighting their Strats on fire, because Jimi. I think that you even posting this here, feeling all aggrieved, suggests your skin is too thin by half, frankly.

I also find it hard to believe there wasn’t an available bass amp to plug into.

pretty spot on assessment. Probably was a little too butt hurt / thin skinned about it all.

 

[danesdad]

The saleman was right to protect the amp, but there was no need to be a jackass about it.

 

[callofcthulhu]

SG handled it REALLY poorly but you're never supposed to plug a bass into a guitar amp. Easy to nuke those weak little speakers at conversational volume or even less. I'm a bit surprised they let you do it in the first place, anytime I worked in a music store I'd take the bass that the customer wanted to try out and plug it into a nice bass amp for them.

You wanna plug into a guitar amp, buy one, take it home, plug in your bass, rock out and learn the hard way why you're not supposed to do that.

Lotta wrong answers in this thread, this one chief among them.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with plugging a bass into a guitar amp, regardless of what cabinet it's hooked up to. The amp can't reproduce the bass fundamentals - there's no risk of damage from something that isn't there.

The only thing that can get you in trouble is plugging a bass amp into a guitar cab and that's regardless of what the source instrument is.

 

[Paulabass]

Decades of music retail here- I've told lots of people not to plug basses into guitar amps. When they say they do it at home all the time, I suggest they only do it at their own home.
Yes, you can carry loose gravel in a Porsche, but only do it in YOUR Porsche.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The guy at our local music store had a similar reaction when I plugged a bass into a Vox hybrid amp.
He ran over to me & insisted that I not do that.
I was not playing loud at all.

 

[citizenchris099]

Lotta wrong answers in this thread, this one chief among them.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with plugging a bass into a guitar amp, regardless of what cabinet it's hooked up to. The amp can't reproduce the bass fundamentals - there's no risk of damage from something that isn't there.

The only thing that can get you in trouble is plugging a bass amp into a guitar cab and that's regardless of what the source instrument is.

this was my feeling. but ...the problem is ...it wasn't my call.

Decades of music retail here- I've told lots of people not to plug basses into guitar amps. When they say they do it at home all the time, I suggest they only do it at their own home.
Yes, you can carry loose gravel in a Porsche, but only do it in YOUR Porsche.

yep

The guy at our local music store had a similar reaction when I plugged a bass into a Vox hybrid amp.
He ran over to me & insisted that I not do that.
I was not playing loud at all.

agree.

my fundamental take away. avoid these stores. period. I have quite a few small independent shops that are cool. I'm not sure why I bothered w/GC but I never will again. Even though I can empathize with their situation...that does not mean I have to shop there.