# AMS or ZZounds?



## Nonservium (Jul 20, 2012)

Which do you guy's prefer to use? I've never ordered from either but both have the amp I'm looking for while my preferred stores do not. Any input?


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 20, 2012)

Same company, same products, same policys, slightly different payment options. It's like the difference between MF and GC.....there really isn't any.


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## fassaction (Jul 20, 2012)

I prefer sweetwater.com...I have a lady who is my "sales rep" that calls me about every 6 months. Shes actually really nice, hilarious, and every time I call she asks me how xyz gear is doing....typical sales person stuff. But shes genuine about it, and not pushy.

She asks if there is anything I am looking at purchasing, and if I have anything in mind, she almost always gives me a lower price on what I am interested in.

For instance, a few years ago I had bought a desktop Pod X3, liked it but decided I wanted a floor unit instead. When she called I told her i no longer had the X3 and was interested in the RP1000.....she ended up knocking 50 bucks off the sale price they had, and added in 2 day free shipping. 

They do things a little differently there, good company. I wish they had more gear in their inventory though, that is the only thing I dont like about them. They do not carry a lot of stuff that I would be interested in.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 20, 2012)

For a company of thier size, Sweetwater probably has the best personal/hands on customer service. Though, like you said, their stock can be limited at time. They do stock most of the bigger brands though and get a lot of unique/custom/high-end pieces in, more so than MF/GC for instance. They have a great selection of PRS Private Stock, Fender CS, and Gibson CS, not to mention they get in some gorgeous custom shop Mesa/Boogie stuff. 

At OP, if you're looking at places with payment plans, which are AMS and zZound's specialty, Sweetwater does offer a 3-pay system.


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## Nonservium (Jul 20, 2012)

I was not aware that ZZ and AMS were the same, thanks Max. I've never done business with Sweetwater either but you're not the only person to talk that highly of them to me, Fassaction.

I'm more concerned with availability, Sweetwater doesn't have what I want and neither does GC/MF or Nick at the AP. I'm paying cash outright so the payment plan, while awesome, isn't necessary. Thanks for the input!


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 20, 2012)

Worth mentioning is that AMS and zZounds are part of GC/MF.


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## troyguitar (Jul 20, 2012)

Yep, all of the big ones except for Sweetwater are the same but for whatever reason have slightly different products, prices, payment policies. I have bought from all of them (and Sweetwater) at one time or another and really never had a bad experience. The service level at all of them is very high, though Sweetwater is noticeably higher.


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## Mordacain (Jul 20, 2012)

I've had good experience with both ZZ & AMS. In fact, my 2012 American Standard Strat is with ZZ on their 12-month payment plan, which makes things nice and easy if you can get approved. If you buy smaller things fairly regularly using the 4 month plan they apparently that into consideration for the larger payment plans in the approval process (or so said one of their employees when I asked about the process)


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## eaeolian (Jul 20, 2012)

I'll plug Sweetwater simply because the customer service is ridiculously good, but I've never had an issue with AMS/Zzounds - the one time there was a problem with a shipment, they handled it quickly and smoothly.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 20, 2012)

troyguitar said:


> for whatever reason have slightly different products, prices, payment policies


 
What better way to give folks the illusion of choice? 

How many times have you seen folks pissed at a retailer and say "I'm never ordering from "x" again!", and then turn around and order from the same comapny, just with a different name? They do this for a reason.


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## Nonservium (Jul 20, 2012)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Worth mentioning is that AMS and zZounds are part of GC/MF.



Mind = blown. That's crazy. I guess I should've been tipped off since they all seem to be selling some NI gear at the same sale price lol.


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## kerska (Jul 20, 2012)

Yeah they're the same. But whenever you order something what you do is order, then call later and say you want to cancel your order. They'll usually drop the price on stuff for you. I ordered a guitar before from AMS and got a bit of buyer's remorse so I called and they gave me like $100 off the guitar. You just gotta make sure you do it before they ship it out.


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## TRENCHLORD (Jul 20, 2012)

kerska said:


> Yeah they're the same. But whenever you order something what you do is order, then call later and say you want to cancel your order. They'll usually drop the price on stuff for you. I ordered a guitar before from AMS and got a bit of buyer's remorse so I called and they gave me like $100 off the guitar. You just gotta make sure you do it before they ship it out.


 
That's some tricky shit, man.  They're sure glad that they all aren't like that. 

They (MF) did ship me an axe with cosmetic flaw without disclosing or saying b-stock/scratch-dent, but I did what you said and got price from $699 down to $559.
Was very happy in the end.


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## The Buttmonkey (Jul 20, 2012)

I used zzounds to buy my red RG7321FM and I've got nothing but good to say about it. The red Rg7321 was like 50$ more or something everywhere I could find it but then I found a random sketchy website with the lowest price that I didn't want to order from, so I emailed ZZounds and they beat the price by like 20$ or so. So I got a pretty red RG7321 for close to the price of a not particularly pretty black one.

Of course it has the old style bridge on it and everytime I go to guitar center they have a black RG7321 for like 250$ with the newer (I consider better) bridge.


BLAH!


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## god-of-thunder (Jul 20, 2012)

For what it&#8217;s worth, I can definitively tell you that AMS is NOT affiliated with Musician&#8217;s Friend or Guitar Center.


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## Chickenhawk (Jul 20, 2012)

> American Musical, zZounds and Same Day Music are three independently owned companies sharing inventory. But MF, Music123, and Woodwind & Brasswind are wholly owned by Guitar Center.



Some unverified information I found online. I take zero credit for it's legitimacy, but it sounds right.


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## Eric Christian (Jul 20, 2012)

I've always been happy with my online & in-store purchases from Guitar Center. They are a seriously legit company and have never did me wrong plus went totally out of their way to fix small problems. After several good experiences a couple years ago I wrote a letter to the CEO and he sent me a personal letter back. This is a completely transparent company staffed with very cool people who really care about customer satisfaction.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 20, 2012)

god-of-thunder said:


> For what its worth, I can definitively tell you that AMS is NOT affiliated with Musicians Friend or Guitar Center.



I did some research and you're correct. It seems I mistook AMS' parent company's buyout by GC/MF and later separation as them being taken under the GC umbrella, my mistake.


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## GuitaristOfHell (Jul 20, 2012)

Sweetwater is the best. They still call me and I'll actually chat with Brian about gear sometimes.


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## tacotiklah (Jul 21, 2012)

MaxOfMetal said:


> I did some research and you're correct. It seems I mistook AMS' parent company's buyout by GC/MF and later separation as them being taken under the GC umbrella, my mistake.



Oh thank god because AMS is pretty much my favorite place to buy gear. Their 3 payment plan is pretty badass too because unlike with zzounds you don't need a credit check for it, AND you can use just a regular walmart prepaid debit card vs. a bank card. (for those that don't have a checking account)


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## Handbanana (Jul 24, 2012)

ZZounds is awesome, my credit isnt even that great and i've been approved for their payment plans. They seem a little more flexible than GC/MF. On top of that, the last time I ordered monitors, they threw in some free stands without even notifying me. Needless to say, I was a happy camper when those boxes arrived.


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## Ericjutsu (Feb 25, 2014)

I have been approved for zzounds payment plan numerous times but I can't get approved for sweetwater's. They do a credit check for sweetwater. I don't believe they do for zzounds unless it has recently changed.


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## TRENCHLORD (Feb 25, 2014)

Ericjutsu said:


> I have been approved for zzounds payment plan numerous times but I can't get approved for sweetwater's. They do a credit check for sweetwater. I don't believe they do for zzounds unless it has recently changed.


 
Bigger company can afford a higher level of risk I suppose.


Congrats on some soon to be new gear .


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