I rely on sweetwater reviews a lot when purchasing gear online. It doesn’t mean I always use sweetwater though. I know that anyone can purchase equipment or instruments that are lemons from anywhere. I see a bit of blemished Fender and Sire basses on zzounds being sold as used. Enough to make me wary of buying one. With sweetwater if I see a solid 5 star rating and there are say 15 positive reviews and no negative ones, it’s safe to say I feel confident buying it. Am I partially on to something? This isn’t my only deciding factor just part of it
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Sweetwater reviews when purchasing online
- Thread starter Cory rich40
- Start date
Anything I have doubts about, I would ask on here before I relied on any merchant's customer reviews.
Never hurts to have more information on-hand, as long as you're not putting too much weight into a single source. TB, Sweetwater, and even Reddit can have some good information on gear. Shoot, I even check out Amazon reviews if I'm really after a big sample size of info.
It also helps to put what is being reviewed into context. There are many variables and subjective points to a bass guitar, but something like headphones or a combo amp will have fewer places for variance. So I personally give more weight to someone's review on a combo amp than on a bass, which has a lot of subjectivity to its perceived quality.
It also helps to put what is being reviewed into context. There are many variables and subjective points to a bass guitar, but something like headphones or a combo amp will have fewer places for variance. So I personally give more weight to someone's review on a combo amp than on a bass, which has a lot of subjectivity to its perceived quality.
I basically give no credence to user reviews on Sweetwater, Amazon, etc. because I generally don't know whether the reviewers have any meaningful level of experience or expertise. To the extent I notice them it is mainly if they happen to mention features or specs that aren't shown in the listing or if they mention some defect or issue I might want to investigate further. Otherwise I am much more likely to look on forums where there is a back-and-forth discussion and everyone has at least met the initial barrier of being interested enough in gear to post on forums.
I wouldn't necessarily buy something that had lots of good reviews, but I would definitely avoid something that had lots of bad reviews.
One thing to consider: What gets Sweetwater more sales, lots of good reviews for their products or lots of bad reviews. 
If I don't do the research before a purchase, most the time I just end up having to turn around and sell it. The unfortunate thing about my buying habits is that I never seem to want something until after it has been discontinued. Lets say I want a new fuzz pedal and do all the research to ensure that I buy the exact one that will fit my needs.... 9/10 it was recently discontinued and I end up looking all over the internet to find one. It's real annoying.
Zzounds sent me someones returned Mesa D350 head with a switch that was totally broken off. Several bad experiences with them, damaged guitars, wrong items sent, ridiculously inappropriate packing etc . I buy strictly Sweetwater these days. They do need to improved the quality of the candy 
they incude though, my one gripe. 
they incude though, my one gripe. 
I often see negative reviews on Sweetwater, so they aren't fully filtered. Customer reviews there can be helpful. Choose those that are thoughtful and balanced, as opposed to simplistic/emotional rants or raves. The very same strategy applies to comments/reviews here at Talkbass, Reddit, etc*.
As noted by you and others, customer reviews are just one part of the equation. There are also reviews from "independent" websites and YouTubers. With these there can be concern about conflict of interest -- I still haven't forgiven Bass Player magazine for giving a positive review to an expensive boutique power cable, when that manufacturer happened to be one of their advertisers. But after awhile you can figure out which outlets present mostly positive "demos", and which provide thorough reviews featuring negatives as well as positives.
*I favor TalkBass to other social media outlets. I've been here for decades, and rely on quite a few users here (some of whom I consider friends) who have similar tone goals to me, and can be trusted to give impartial comments.
As noted by you and others, customer reviews are just one part of the equation. There are also reviews from "independent" websites and YouTubers. With these there can be concern about conflict of interest -- I still haven't forgiven Bass Player magazine for giving a positive review to an expensive boutique power cable, when that manufacturer happened to be one of their advertisers. But after awhile you can figure out which outlets present mostly positive "demos", and which provide thorough reviews featuring negatives as well as positives.
*I favor TalkBass to other social media outlets. I've been here for decades, and rely on quite a few users here (some of whom I consider friends) who have similar tone goals to me, and can be trusted to give impartial comments.
I actually prefer to read negative reviews over positive ones. There's no accounting for taste, so if someone likes it, it doesn't mean anything. But when you read the negative reviews, you can figure out who is a cork sniffer or village idiot. If all the negative reviews are from somebody who clearly doesn't understand what the product does ("I can't tow my boat with this mini van") or who is trying to boost their imaginary prestige (My lambo is way faster than this Kia"), it speaks well of the product. If they have legitimate quality complaints it is easier to evaluate. This goes for all products, not just music gear.
I'm another who reads negative reviews. It highlights potential areas of concern even if a lot of complaints are due to unrealistic expectations or misunderstandings (sometimes hilarious) on the part of the complainer.
Positive reviews are often too soon after delivery while they've still got that "new toy" buzz and haven't yet come across the gotchas, whereas an unhappy customer (justified or not) will find the energy to return weeks or months later to vent.
Positive reviews are often too soon after delivery while they've still got that "new toy" buzz and haven't yet come across the gotchas, whereas an unhappy customer (justified or not) will find the energy to return weeks or months later to vent.
Have you ever noticed a lot of gear reviews are positive. NOT ALL bust most on YouTube. Low end Lobster is one that’s honest. I’m pretty sure most of the YouTube videos are dealing with instruments being played in top prime condition at their best.(already set up,etc.) I’m aware most online instruments would need to be set up.
I'm a fan of the reviews. Don't care where they're from. I buy enough online that thare aren't many options. But if a product shows nothing but 5 stars, I'm skeptical.
I always go to the one- or two-star reviews first.
If they sound reasonable, I'll take them into consideration.
Most seem like rants about customer service.
To their credit, I recently posted some critical reviews of products on Sweetwater and they posted them.
I tried to be constructive in my critiques and to even provide suggestions on improvement.
If they sound reasonable, I'll take them into consideration.
Most seem like rants about customer service.
To their credit, I recently posted some critical reviews of products on Sweetwater and they posted them.
I tried to be constructive in my critiques and to even provide suggestions on improvement.
Sweetwater posts photos of the actual open box or demo instrument you will get, and they have a great return policy. I've boughten a few of both from them over the years and my expectations were always met, sometimes beaten. I recently got a great deal on a new Gibson Thunderbird from American Music Supply (I think the same as Zzounds?) and that was terribly disappointing. The bass was used, had finish crazing and scratches all over it, and the worst part was someone had changed the bridge at one point nicking up the paint where the screw posts were and then tightening the new bridge on too tight leaving an indention in the finish all around the original bridge. I suspect it was actually being sold as used without saying it, but was not at all what I expected when I opened the case. Return process was easy, no questions asked, but I really like Sweetwater's photos.
I do the same but I pay particular attention to the meh reviews and the bad reviews - sometimes they call out a product feature that I may not want and may be inescapable. Something I should have paid attention to more when shopping for USB interfaces was 2.0 or less compatibility. I ended up buying and returning a great product that just did NOT work with my machine because my laptop uses an older USB spec. 15 reviews and no negative reviews is kind of "ok this is an experiment" territory for me. 300 views averaging 4+ with a small number of negatives, it's worth scanning those negatives for the odd stuff, and buying it if nothing jumps out.
Many gear "reviews" are actually not reviews at all, they are demos of the positive aspects of a product. Main reason is that most of these reviewers receive compensation -- advertising, gear, even money -- from the manufacturers. So, it is not in these outlets' financial interest to tell the whole truth about a product's flaws. Manufacturers will favor outlets who are consistently positive and rarely (if ever) negative.
It's now common to see disclosures such as "the manufacturer gave me this product to own, but my opinions have not been influenced". I don't mean to say this is never true, but even so, it's a conflict of interest that could result in subtle, perhaps unintentional bias even when the reviewer wishes to be objective.
Unfortunately it's difficult for outlets to survive without such compensation. Publications such as Consumer Reports (who accept no commercial influence of any kind) are rare.
I read something once about 2 star and 4 star ratings being the most important reviews to read on a 5 star scale. 2 means they wanted to hate it but couldn’t justify giving it a 1 star because there was something redeeming about it. 4 stars are similar in that the reviewer might reveal quirks that keep it from being perfect. 1 star reviewers often just have a blanket dislike. 5 stars can be compensated reviewers or just overly thrilled about a new purchase that is nice.
I still look for reviews even though I realize I never write them. It makes me wonder who is writing the reviews and why. If I don’t write them, then why do I worry about what the review writers have to say? I don’t really “worry” but you catch my drift.
I still look for reviews even though I realize I never write them. It makes me wonder who is writing the reviews and why. If I don’t write them, then why do I worry about what the review writers have to say? I don’t really “worry” but you catch my drift.
