Guitar World deals of the week: save big on a Squier, get money off a Strymon pedal, plus the first Black Friday sales have arrived
Get your weekly roundup of the best guitar gear deals from all corners of the web
November has officially arrived and with it, the oncoming storm of Black Friday guitar deals. Get ready for more sales action than you can shake a hockey stick headstock at, because we're going to be keeping tabs on all the major manufacturer and retailer websites for the biggest savings on the best gear.
The first of the actual Black Friday sales to launch is happening over at Positive Grid, with huge discounts of up to 50% off a range of their ultra-popular smart amps. Titled 'Black November' there's money off Spark, Spark Mini, Spark Go, and more, but no discounts on Spark 2 yet.
Musician's Friend has begun their Black Friday offering with a massive up to 50% off Holiday Kickoff sale, just the thing to get you in the mood for some early Black Friday shopping. Admittedly it's many of the deals that we've already seen, but we spotted some fresh savings on acoustic guitars and acoustic bass guitars.
Guitar Center also has a pre-Black Friday sale, with up to 40% off a range of guitar gear. There are a lot of big brands involved with deals on Fender, Roland, Boss, Line 6, Universal Audio, and loads more. Great for those looking for a deal on electric guitars, pedals, and amps.
Over at Fender, there's a flash sale of 15% off Player Plus Meteora guitars. It covers the whole range, including the basses, and there's an array of interesting finishes available for these awesome offsets. Discounts are in the region of $150, so definitely not be sniffed at if you've been after one for a while.
It's early in November so that's your lot for now, but we're going to be seeing a lot more sales emerge now we're officially in the holiday season. For now, you can see some of our top picks below, but make sure to keep checking back here for all the best deals on guitar gear.
Editor's picks
Squier CV 70s Tele Thinline: $449.99, now $379.99
This Squier Classic Vibe 70s Telecaster Thinline has got a nice $70 discount in the Musician's Friend Holiday Kickoff sale. It looks absolutely stunning with its contrasting color scheme and block inlays, and we're big fans of the airy tone of a Thinline Tele. Guaranteed to turn heads if you rock up to band practice with one of these.
Boss RC-5: Was $199.99, now $169.99
We don't often see discounts on Boss gear, probably because they're so popular, but a cheeky $30 off the brilliant Boss RC-5 is a great deal over at Guitar Center. High-quality looping with huge capacity makes it a fan-favorite looper pedal, and we love how it inspired creativity in your playing.
Hercules GS523B: Was $79.99, now $64.34
Granted buying a guitar stand probably isn't as exciting as a new guitar, but storing your guitars in the right way is worth its weight in gold. Hercules are well known in the industry for their ultra-durable stands, and this 3-guitar multi-rack has got a decent $15.65, well worth the investment to keep your guitars in great condition.
Strymon DIG: Was $299, now $249
It's quite rare to see Strymon pedals on sale, such is their enduring popularity amongst guitarists. So we had to jump at the chance to bag the Strymon DIG with a $50 discount at Sweetwater. Packed full of gorgeous delay tones from 80s-inspired sounds to modern clean trails, it's an ultra-versatile and compact delay pedal for a lot less.
IK Multimedia Tonex One: Was $179.99, now $143.99
Bagging yourself a bargain on used gear is a great way to make your money go further, and this used IK Multimedia Tonex One is available with a $36 discount from the ProAudioStar store on Reverb. One of our favorite amp modelers of the past year, its tiny footprint makes it a powerful addition to your pedalboard with a huge selection of accurate amp captures.
Guitar sales to shop
- Amazon: Guitar gear deals
- Andertons: Save on guitars
- Fender Play: 50% off annual
- Fender store: 15% off Meteora
- Gear4Music: Clearance deals
- Guitar Center: Save up to 40%
- Guitar Tricks: One-year sub just $99
- IK Multimedia: $200 off Tonex Max
- Musician's Friend: Up to 50% off
- Plugin Boutique: Money off plugins
- Positive Grid: Save on Spark
- PMT: 2nd hand deals
- Reverb: Save on big brands
- Sweetwater: Enter the Deal Zone
- Thomann: 70th Anniversary sale
- Waves: Buy 2, get 2 free
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
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Matt is a Junior Deals Writer here at Guitar World. He regularly tests and reviews music gear with a focus on guitars, amps, pedals, modelers, and pretty much anything else guitar-related. Matt worked in music retail for 5 years at Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars and has written for various music sites including MusicRadar, Guitar Player, Guitar.com, Ultimate Guitar, and Thomann’s t.blog. A regularly gigging guitarist with over 20 years of experience playing live and writing and recording in bands, he's performed everything from jazz to djent, gigging all over the country in more dingy venues than you can shake a drop-tuned guitar at.
- Chris Barnes
- Daryl RobertsonSenior Deals Writer
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