Guitar World deals of the week: half-price UAFX pedals, $300 off a Schecter, plus all the week's best deals on gear
We’re back for some more deals action, and despite the apparent lack of major sales we’ve managed to pull some super deals out of the bag for you. Make sure you stick around for some of our top picks, but for now, here are all the major sales you can check out right now.
Musician’s Friend has launched their summer sale already, offering huge savings of up to 40% off gear. Evidently, some gear is even more heavily discounted than the headline suggests, as we spotted a massive 50% off select Universal Audio stompboxes. You can also get up to 80% off software if you’re looking to up your recording game, and a tasty 25% discount on select Epiphone guitars.
Over at Plugin Boutique, there are some seriously good deals on software, with some low-cost plugins that will significantly improve the quality of your guitar recording. With up to 94% off a ginormous selection of software, we’ve spotted Universal Audio, Softube, Korg, D16 Group, and many more with some significant discounts.
As we’ve been reporting for the last few weeks there are multiple guitar sales still running over at the official Fender shop. The latest of which is their builder’s sale with 20% off a range of parts and upgrades. If you’ve got a Fender guitar it’s a great way to get a little more mileage out of yours, with new necks, pickups, tuners, and bridges all available for less.
At Sweetwater there’s a back-to-school sale running with up to 40% off, which could prove fruitful for beginners or those with children. There are various travel and beginner acoustic guitars, audio interface bundles, headphones, software, and loads more on offer, so well worth a browse if you’re looking for some low-price gear.
That’s it for sales action this week. While there’s not as much as we’d usually see from the major retailers, we expect that more will start launching summer sales over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for those. As usual, you’ll find some handpicked deals from us below, with some big savings on guitar pedals this week. Catch you next time!
Editor’s picks
UAFX Orion Tape Echo: Was $199, now $99There’s nothing quite as tempting to a guitarist as half price pedals, which exactly what you’ll get if you head over to the Musician’s Friend summer sale. This Universal Audio Orion Tape Echo is one of a few select pedals that’s currently half price, giving you ultra-realistic tape delays for a crazy good price. We love how accurate it sounds, and you can use the preamp as a tone booster too, making it ultra versatile.
Schecter Banshee GT FR: Was $1,099, now $799If you’re looking for a great metal guitar, the Schecter Banshee GT FR has got a huge $300 discount over at Guitar Center. Packing two EMGs, a locking tremolo, plus a very distinctive look, it’s a proper shred and chug machine that plays ridiculously fast and always stays in tune once you’ve got the locking trem setup properly.
Keeley Compressor Plus: Was $149, now $126.65A great choice for an ‘always-on’ compressor, the Keeley Compressor Plus has got a nice discount at Sweetwater at the moment. With a $22.35 reduction, it’s not loads of money off, but it’s definitely the cheapest we’ve seen it going for a brand-new model this week. It’ll fatten up the sound of your guitar and add sustain depending on how you use it, making it a great choice for a tone improvement without drastically altering your core sound.
Fender Strat Pickguard: Was $299.99, now $239.99If you’re not comfortable with wiring but want to upgrade your pickups, a pre-wired pickguard is a good option. This Fender Pre-Wired Strat Pickguard features Original ’57/’62 Strat pickups for classic Strat tones, and has a cool $60 discount at the official Fender shop. If you want to fit it yourself you will need to solder the input jack and ground wires, but the rest is already sorted for you.
Hudson Broadcast: Was $285, now $228If you’re looking for something a little less usual from your overdrive pedals, the Hudson Broadcast could be just the thing. Part clean boost, part overdrive pedal, it’s got its own unique sound and can go from low gain to almost fuzz-type tones. Over at Reverb, it’s got a nice $57 discount at the moment, making it a great opportunity to get a more boutique pedal on your ‘board for less.
Guitar sales to shop
- Amazon: Today’s top guitar deals
- Andertons: Huge summer sale
- Fender Shop: 20% off Squier
- Gear 4 Music: Huge clearance deals
- IK Multimedia: Save big on software
- Musician’s Friend: Up to 40% off
- Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
- PMT: Up to 60% off sale
- Positive Grid: Save on Spark
- Reverb: Big savings on top brands
- Sweetwater: Back to school sale
- Thomann: 70th anniversary sale
How we choose our deals of the week
Here at Guitar World, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything guitar related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products we recommend.
First and foremost, we are guitarists, and we want to match other players with the right products for them, at the best prices.
For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers where you will have a positive shopping experience.
Why you can trust our choices
We spend a lot of our time scouring guitar retailers for fantastic deals on our favorite gear. Not only is it our job to research and recommend the best gear in our buyer’s guides, but we’re also dedicated to helping players get the best deals for the gear they need, too. After all, the only thing better than new gear day is a hearty discount.
We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view on which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.
Where are the best places to shop?
Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.
What sort of deals should I look for?
Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:
- Single item – A single product with a great discount
- Site-wide discounts – A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
- Discount codes – Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
- Added value deals – These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items
November has arrived and with it a flurry of early Black Friday deals have landed in our inboxes. We were expecting an influx but this year has already surpassed the expectations of the writing team here at Guitar World, with pretty much every retailer and many manufacturers either going all-in on their Black Friday sale or tempting us with some sweet early savings.
First up, Sweetwater’s early Black Friday sale has landed offering massive savings of up to 70% off gear. Big hitters like Mesa/Boogie, Taylor Guitars, and Universal Audio all feature
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