# Best amp store in Calgary?



## pickslide (May 9, 2006)

Just wondering which store Calgarians think is the best for amps. New? Vintage? What do you think?


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

pickslide said:


> Just wondering which store Calgarians think is the best for amps. New? Vintage? What do you think?


Best variety is at L&M. Dr. Z, Fuchs, Marshall, Hiwatt, Fender, Star, Mesa


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## droptop88 (Aug 25, 2006)

Vintage Music has a cool selection of used amps of all shapes and sizes. Never know what may be in there on any given day. On 14th st. just north of 16th ave. N.W. - 

Peter


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

L&M also has Soldano... for variety and top end gear it's L&M but if you are like myself I like to support the "locally" owned stores... Music Centre Canada has a fair variety and selection.... Marshall, Randall, Peavey, Line 6, etc... and I hear they are getting Orange this spring. Guitar Works has Bad Cat and Matchless.
Kick Axe guitars has Rivera...

Khing


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

KHINGPYNN said:


> L&M also has Soldano... for variety and top end gear it's L&M but if you are like myself I like to support the "locally" owned stores... Music Centre Canada has a fair variety and selection.... Marshall, Randall, Peavey, Line 6, etc... and I hear they are getting Orange this spring. Guitar Works has Bad Cat and Matchless.
> Kick Axe guitars has Rivera...
> 
> Khing


Guitarworks doesn't do Bad Cat anymore.


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## evenon (Nov 13, 2006)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Guitarworks doesn't do Bad Cat anymore.


I wonder why ?


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## ENDITOL (Feb 5, 2006)

Guitar Connection carries Bogner, THD and I saw a Diezel in there before.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

ENDITOL said:


> Guitar Connection carries Bogner, THD and I saw a Diezel in there before.


What's the point if he won't let you try them, you might as well buy blind elsewhere and save thousands of dollars.


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## TimH (Feb 4, 2006)

evenon said:


> I wonder why ?


A Little birdie (who works for bad cat) told me it was because GW was supposed to be the Canadian distributor and so they were getting an extra 15% off of cost in exchange for finding more dealers across Canada. However, they weren't finding any other dealers and so Bad Cat was going to charge them the same as any other dealer for the amps and do the distribution themselves. At that point, GW couldn't take advantage of Bad Cat anymore so they dropped the line. In short, it was typically slimy dealings by Mark and his very shady buisness. 

On topic, since I worked at 3 different music retailers in Calgary over 5 years I'd say L&M is the best amp shop where you'll consistently get the best deal and probably get the best service.


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## evenon (Nov 13, 2006)

Hey Tim. I suspected there was a story there.

I agree with L&M. Most reputable store in town.


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## TimH (Feb 4, 2006)

evenon said:


> Hey Tim. I suspected there was a story there.
> 
> I agree with L&M. Most reputable store in town.



There always is when Mark is involved...anyone unfortunate enough to go back as far as the Mainly Music days will attest to that...some people never change.


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## pickslide (May 9, 2006)

Thank you all for the replies. I know all of these stores, but I was seeing if maybe there was a little store that was a well kept seret or something. 

Thanks again


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## aaron lowen (Feb 3, 2006)

I do like L&M, dealt with Steve at Vintage lots as well.


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

Jeff Flowerday said... Guitarworks doesn't do Bad Cat anymore.

Thats great as I refuse to do business with Mark.

TimH said...

... it was typically slimy dealings by Mark and his very shady buisness. 

There always is when Mark is involved...anyone unfortunate enough to go back as far as the Mainly Music days will attest to that...some people never change.

I could not agree more... I find Mark undesireableto do business with... from and insider... GW was also dropped by ESP. Axe is the only ESP dealer in town at the moment that I know of.


I do have a funny Mark story... my eldest daughter would come with me to the GW shops and run across the tops of the amps at age 3-4... she is much better behaved now... Mark would not say a word to me but afterwards he would rip a srtip off of Greg Kucheran... Greg told me only after he went back to MCC.
Here is another one... my wife is having a hair party... many women come by to get their hair done by Genarro... my gear is laying about... women are asking me questions about the gear... I tell them some stories... stories like I bought this Fender YJM Strat, this LTD, this Budda Phatman, this BR8, this Soldano, etc... from GW and the only thing that hurts is that Mark of GW got some of my money and the good thing is he never will again. I told the story taht Mark treated me very unfairly... I bought the then new BR8 and he did not like the price I was quoted and paid for it... he called me at home on a Sunday night to tell me I would never again get a deal like that and that he should charge me more for it eventhough it was already paid for.
Needless to say I ended my business relations with Mark.
Little did I know that Mark's girlfriend was attending the hair party and when I was told I simply said... I feel bad for her.

L&M have left a sour taste in my mouth aswell and Guitar Connection has poor customer service IMHO. I'll do business with Mother's and MCC for the most part and L&M after that... I wanted a 2006 YJM strat and the only way to get it locally was to get it thru mark... it pained me but I got him down an extra $250 due to a quote I got from Red Deer. For the record I do like Tom Walker... I know him from his Boogie days... great guy... I bought the YJM strat thru him.

Khing


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## evenon (Nov 13, 2006)

aaron lowen said:


> Glad i'm not the only one with a GW story....


Psst...I have one too....


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## Mr. David Severson (Feb 3, 2006)

Back in the day I had a chace to deal with GW and Mr. Mark...I had paid for my Line 6 AX212 up front and Mark said it would be in within a week....2months later I finally got it and that was only because I said I wanted a refund.

By the way I don't have my Line 6 anymore:banana:


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

MCC has been great with my PRSi. Beat L&M pricing on both, but that's the only time.

I'm pretty peticular with my gear and all the stores seem to sell crap in comparison to L&M. Larry treats me very well, and gets all my business because of it.

PS) Guitarworks once sold me a amp as new, I then went to L&M and they put the serial number in and found they had orginally sold and it had been traded in at Guitarworks.


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## temps (Feb 1, 2007)

I like L&M's sheer variety but often I find I don't get the time I need to really demo an amp and see if it is going to work for me. Its nice when you can get into the side practice room, but if you have to play it on the floor you usually can barely hear it. 

I've bought a bunch from Guitarworks now and so far all has been well, except for the tubes in my Mesa going bad after a month because it had been on their floor being played as a demo for like a year.


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