Best music store in europe

[James-Doolan]

Hi i am looking for your recomendations for one of the best music stores in europe primarely for guitars and amps.

I want something thats stocks all makes of amps and cabs so me and the other guitarist can try them all Looking for krank engl bogner vht laney orange mesa framus marshall peavey koch laboga ect ect ect you get the point.

We live in ireland and well you cant realy try any quality amps like that over here you buy before you try which is kinda gay. we are thinking of going over for a few days and having some serious fun with all those amps (we are gear SLUTS)

What immediatley pops into my mind are the stores of thomman and music store but i was hopeing you guys might have some other recomendations. Oh and keep in mind its kinda of holiday and we are irish so somewhere with other stuff to do at night time where we can have a bit of craic would be cool also

 

[R-Stuur]

Thomann (I think they do have a store but the large portion of their sales are webbased, judging on their reponse times) , Music Store, Musik Produktiv has quite the guitar collection too

 

[HeadCrusher]

Köln (Cologne) should be a nice city and the Music Store is there. You could go and check out the gear you want and order from Thomann afterwards if they have cheaper prices (but those at Music Store are good anyway).

 

[Phoncible]

well, there is a few in London youknow

 

[James-Doolan]

yea cologne is top of the list at the mo i think there is two pretty huge stores at least music store and guitar centre maybe more and looks like a cool city lodon would be cool also but damm man sterling kills me and london is expensive place. Although i should mention its not the price of gear i am referring to just living costs and what not the gear will be bought at a later date at the best price possible its just to try out all the gear and have a smile from ear to ear ha ha

 

[Downtime]

Thomann is way the best (imho).

I think they do have a store

They have, and how they do! Esp. the guitar-department is amazing!

The Musicstore in Cologne has the worst service I ever had in a musicstore in Germany. It´s really hard to test the tone of guitars and amps their, because you often get few minutes, together with about five dudes that play "Somke on the Water" really loud.
The people @ thomann are really friendly, they have many amps and maaaany guitars you can test right away, and if you want to combine it with a bit city-watching: Nuremberg isn´t too far away from the shop.

 

[demeyed]

Have you tried instrumental up in dublin? they don't have loads but they've some very good amps they're they'll let ya try- no need to buy off them just get em online later when you know what you want.
also i recommend testing in london and buying online off thomann when you know what you want- there's a whole street and then some again in london devoted to musicshops- denmark street is it? not sure but i went there to try out stuff when i went over to a gig there

 

[Deus.exe]

As a Cologne resident I recommend Guitar Center. Music store is flooded with cheap Behringer crap, it's always full as fuck (bad for testing amps) and the "Consultants" there don't know shit.

Guitar Center on the other hand has a huge selection of GOOD guitars (Caparison, etc) and they let you test amps for as long and as LOUD as you want. The service there is also quite a bit friendlier there too.

My two cents......

 

[R-Stuur]

I'm a follower of Tomann by heart though. All I've dealt with them sofar was excellent. Good packaging, great products and nice staff. Best (online) store in Europe by a milestone!

 

[James-Doolan]

Have you tried instrumental up in dublin? they don't have loads but they've some very good amps they're they'll let ya try- no need to buy off them just get em online later when you know what you want.
also i recommend testing in london and buying online off thomann when you know what you want- there's a whole street and then some again in london devoted to musicshops- denmark street is it? not sure but i went there to try out stuff when i went over to a gig there

All you can try in dublin is mesa marshall engl ( but not the models i want to try) and a couple of other brands havent checked in a while though lodon would be nice but sterling is a rip off for me even just for a visit i need to keep the trip cheap enough so i still have money for gear

 

[James-Doolan]

Hmm maybe i could do like a video diary of all the amps we try save other people the trip or would the quality of a camcorder suck to much to make this worthwhile???

 

[sparkyness]

I've lived in Dublin now for a couple of years and haven't found any stores in town that I dig. Most of them don't stock what I'm interested in for a start, so you're either gambling and buying stuff online that you haven't tried or you have to make the trip over the pond. Part and parcel of living in Ireland, I'm afraid.

I'm usually in Britain or the US every couple of months and make an effort to check out gear that way, but usually end up buying online from Thomann in the end. No problems experienced when ordering from them in the past.

 

[James-Doolan]

Yea i agree Thomann RULE as does ebay i havent bought anything bar strings/cables in a store in ireland since my first guitar a vintage brand acustic that was like 6 years ago in john palmers in waterford i laugh every time i go into that shop now the prices the shops here charge in comparison to thomann is like 20% in the difference. Suffice to say Thomann has got a fair slice of my (and the rest of the bands) paycheck last few years. If i order from them on a monday i generaly have the item by thursday which is sweet.

 

[Deus.exe]

Oh and keep in mind its kinda of holiday and we are irish so somewhere with other stuff to do at night time where we can have a bit of craic would be cool also

Cologne has the highest concentration of pubs and bars of any German city. In other words a shitload of places to get off your tits!

 

[James-Doolan]

Cologne has the highest concentration of pubs and bars of any German city. In other words a shitload of places to get off your tits!

awsome we'el be drinking the heads off ourselfes for sure especialy as we both will have just finished fucking repeats which are ruining our lives at the moment

 

[Deus.exe]

what are repeats?

 

[James-Doolan]

what are repeats?

Its when you are a lazy git in college and you fail summer (or any) exams (in my case thesis) and have to repeat the exam in augest in order to get into the next year ( in my case finish) its not fun

 

[Deus.exe]

Shoot me a PM when you know when your going to get here. I could be your Metal tour guide.

 

[demeyed]

All you can try in dublin is mesa marshall engl ( but not the models i want to try) and a couple of other brands havent checked in a while though lodon would be nice but sterling is a rip off for me even just for a visit i need to keep the trip cheap enough so i still have money for gear

well flights to the uk are cheaper than anywhere else and when we went over we went early in the day, spent it in london, went back to the airport and hung around and slept until the flight very early the next morning. it doesn't cost to spent time in the city, bring some food if you want to eat for free and there you have it- pretty much just flights and the bus to and from the airport, cheap as chips, cost less for me going limerick to london by plane and back than if I got a return train to Dublin.

I did that and it worked out great, we had a great chat with one of the guys in one of the smaller shops who told us the guys in the larger ones work on commission so if you tell them you've alot to spend you can pretty much try what you want till your happy. Then buy online instead.

its your call but if i were to go gear trying again and wanted to go cheap that'd be how i'd go.