Really good deal (today only) on a GREAT microphone preamp.

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:49 am

I just literally got a really good deal at GC. They are selling today only (Labor Day 2006) the Blue Robbie Microphone Preamp for $399.00 plus tax. It's normal list is $1299 and GC and everyone else has been selling it for $999.00. I auditioned one of these about 2.5 years ago and really fell in love with the sound but did not like the price. It is all Class A and balanced from the microphone input to the output. I do a lot of radio production and have really been looking for a good preamp for my Rode NTK and this combo sounds GREAT!

I was in the store this morning for their Labor Day Sale and saw it and could not believe the price. Not every store has one but there still are a lot of them around.

FWIW

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 10:23 am

Oh...they also have the GT Brick for $199 and the Event ASP 8s for $600 for the pair! UNFRIGGINBELIEVABLE!!!!

J.

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:59 am

It was a good sale. I got an M-audio Delta 1010lt soundcard.

Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:58 pm

DAMN! I saw this thread at 2 and high tailed it to the closest GC. They didn't have the robbie. Went 30 miles in the opposite direction, and they didn't have one. I had them check the computer and the closest store that did have one was in South Carolina. I didn't think I'd make it there from South Florida in time.

OH well.

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:04 am

whats the next holiday where GC will have amazing sales? black friday?

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:43 am

pr0gr4m wrote:

DAMN! I saw this thread at 2 and high tailed it to the closest GC. They didn't have the robbie. Went 30 miles in the opposite direction, and they didn't have one. I had them check the computer and the closest store that did have one was in South Carolina. I didn't think I'd make it there from South Florida in time.

OH well.

If they don't have it in stock they can order it from another store at the sale price or so I have been told.

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:33 am

My GC told me that they had none of the pre's (GT and BLUE), and were not interested in a "raincheck" or aquiring either 1 from another store.
I hope that somebody got the deal they were advertising. Otherwise, I smell "bait 'n'switch".

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:52 am

I would talk to a manager and not to a salesmen since they are making diddly on the sale and are probably NOT interested in doing any work for very little if any commission.

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:53 pm

I got the same kind of brush off Moonbaby. They said, the sale only applies to what the store has on hand and in stock.

What I would like to know is what the Robbie actually costs. I know they weren't flying off of the shelves so maybe that's why they decided to blow them out at such a cheap price. But do you think they were actually selling those at a loss or do they really have a $600 markup?

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:53 pm

I had a business license a few years ago to vendor some innane home made products a local festival and decided to put it to actual use and get some price quotes and information about a few different pieces of audio equipment, pretending to be interested in starting a music store in my area. I'm not going to mention any names, but 300 percent markup seemed to be average over business owner price for the various instruments, effects, and amplifiers I recieved quotes on. That's why I prefer Carvin basses. You get what you pay for, really.

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:00 am

I don't know what equipment you were going to buy and resell but most retailers today are hard pressed to get a 10% markup on name brand audio equipment and 20% on accessories. The 300% that you quote is urban legend and may have been the case way back in the 1950s or 1960's ( I have no real knowledge of that time period since I was not in the business) but it certainly is not that way anymore. When I first got into pro audio in the early 70's most retail electronic equipment had a 40% markup ( I worked in a retail electronic shop and saw the invoices from the manufactures) The INTERNET and box retailers have pared that down to about A 110 to 20% markup. The box stores like GC make their money from volume and not from individual sales. The more expensive the equipment the less markup it has. If you get into the really expensive audio equipment sometimes there is only a 5 to 7% markup. There are, of course, additional truck load sale prices and if you pay your invoices within 30 days you can usually deduct an additional 2% but nothing like 300% even exists anywhere in the pro audio world. Now maybe in musical instruments there is a larger margin but I kind of doubt it since everyone wants a good deal and the dealers have shaved their retail prices to the bone. I have never sold instruments so I have no knowledge of their marketing policies.

The Robbie that I bought was sitting in the microphone case at my GC store for 2.5 years and they probably wanted to get rid of all of them that they had in stock hence the very low price which I was told was way below their cost. ( I have to assume that the cost of the Robbie is about $800.00 but GC may have gotten a really good deal on them when the started selling the whole Blue line) There was only one of the Robbies in stock at each of the Guitar Center stores or so my salesman told me.

<Carvin equipment is made for a price point. It is not bad equipment but it is also not the best. I have looked at some of their "professional" audio equipment and it is at best acceptable and at its worse passable but it is sold for a good price and will do what it says it will do - the question is how long will it do it? As in all of history BUYER BEWARE>

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:00 am

I was in the music retail and "pro audio" business for several years. I got out because the "profit-to-hassle" ratio was so miserable. Where else do you have a business where somebody walks in with an ad or a mail-order catalog listing the stuff you're selling at 10% below your COST?
As to the Carvin statement, I own a couple of their Bolt kit guitars and have found them to be very versatile to customize, and quite a decent value, as well. But their catalog has done more to promote that "urban legend" about 300% mark-ups than anything else out there. Simply not true. And the PA gear they market does not compete with the other stuff on the market at their claimed "list price".
I had a hard time believing that GC was really trying to sell off The Brick at that ridiculously low price. The Robbie is another matter. A product on the market that carries a "list price" of $1299.00 and "streets" for $999.00
probably costs the dealer between $600-800. If the uniit is a 'B' (40%)mark-up, it would cost $779.00. A 'C' mark-up would be a 30% mark-up ($909.00). Most 'pro audio' hardware is no 'A' (50% discount to the dealer-$650.00). And like others have posted, the competition out there is so fierce that "list price" means absolutely nothing. Stores are forced to make their profit on the accessories-cables, stands, etc. and use the big items as "traffic-leaders".

Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:23 am

moonbaby wrote:

I was in the music retail and "pro audio" business for several years. I got out because the "profit-to-hassle" ratio was so miserable. Where else do you have a business where somebody walks in with an ad or a mail-order catalog listing the stuff you're selling at 10% below your COST?
As to the Carvin statement, I own a couple of their Bolt kit guitars and have found them to be very versatile to customize, and quite a decent value, as well. But their catalog has done more to promote that "urban legend" about 300% mark-ups than anything else out there. Simply not true. And the PA gear they market does not compete with the other stuff on the market at their claimed "list price".
I had a hard time believing that GC was really trying to sell off The Brick at that ridiculously low price. The Robbie is another matter. A product on the market that carries a "list price" of $1299.00 and "streets" for $999.00
probably costs the dealer between $600-800. If the uniit is a 'B' (40%)mark-up, it would cost $779.00. A 'C' mark-up would be a 30% mark-up ($909.00). Most 'pro audio' hardware is no 'A' (50% discount to the dealer-$650.00). And like others have posted, the competition out there is so fierce that "list price" means absolutely nothing. Stores are forced to make their profit on the accessories-cables, stands, etc. and use the big items as "traffic-leaders".

Just to be clear,It was meant to be 30 percent and not 300, friggin typo madness. Also, I only was referring to the carvin basses, and I was exaggerating the average cost of the pricing I recieved, I looked 2 of the price lists I kept to show friends and they were closer to the smaller margins the first guy replied with, the instruments were ridiculously low margin until you started buying very large lots of. The thing that I guess stuck in my mind was the price of effects pedals and a few other effects units that were so outrageously over priced compared to dealer pricing that I made that post. I'll use the lame excuse that it was late, and was operating on a 5 year memory span. Not trying to falsify information here. What's weird about the carvin basses, and I've had a few, as well as a pile of fenders, peavey's, and other factory instruments, is their great quality verses the similar pricing of the american made factory instruments. I'm not talking about the quality of any of their speaker cabinets, electronic units, or whatnot as I A. Don't have a clue, and B. Everything I've read points towards their non-instrument gear to be not very high quality. One thing that does suck about the Instruments is the terrible resale. I've been lucky to get a little over half of what I payed on 2 of the carvin instruments I've sold, a XB76P and a BB75P and only that because I had them with all the options I could get and woods. Compared to my american p and j basses I've sold, that sucks.

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