Heading to America soon...looking to buy some equipment

Arctic89

I'm heading over to Florida later this week and was hoping to pick up a few pedals and maybe a interface for my laptop (perhaps even a new guitar if something catches my eye:D) while over there. Was just wondering if anyone has bought over there before and can give me any advice on bringing the stuff home, whats cheaper and what not to buy over there.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Voodu Child

Arctic89 wrote: »

can give me any advice on bringing the stuff home

Down with this sort of thing..

There is to be NO discussion of how to avoid paying import duty whether your instrument is being delivered or you're bringing it back to the country. This is a bannable offence!

Vim Fuego

I can recommend this place:

http://www.mae-music.com/

Dord

I guess buy whatever you want to. You might find some deals on some odd guitars you never knew existed.

But really the only thing you might save is a bit of money on shipping costs compared to buying it from America and having it sent over. As for customs, I can't help you there, if you have to pay - you have to pay. You should factor this in to any large purchases you make over there. Around 25% of the cost should be close enough.

Arctic89

Thanks for the help so far. Was just wondering, in relation to buying electric equipment over there (pedals, interfaces) would simply buying an adaptor for US to EU plugs be ok? (Thats what i do with my german bought amp.) Or would i need to buy a completely new power source over here because of the difference in voltage?

Voodu Child

Arctic89 wrote: »

Thanks for the help so far. Was just wondering, in relation to buying electric equipment over there (pedals, interfaces) would simply buying an adaptor for US to EU plugs be ok? (Thats what i do with my german bought amp.) Or would i need to buy a completely new power source over here because of the difference in voltage?

No, you can only plug a US adaptor into an Irish socket if it specifically says it is multi-voltage. Things like laptop adaptors usually are, and i have a few small US 9V adaptors that are multi-voltage too.

If the adaptor isn't multi-voltage, the simplest thing to do is get rid of it, and buy an Irish/UK adaptor. So for example, if you bought a POD in the US, you would just buy a UK Pod adaptor, or equivalent.

If the item has a built in power chord (instead of a separate PSU brick), it usually means you need to buy a step-down converter. There's some exceptions (TC electronic stuff for example is multi-voltage) but they're quite rare.

If you buy something and are in any way confused about it, ask for advice before plugging it in.

Demeyes

voodoo_child wrote: »

If the item has a built in power chord (instead of a separate PSU brick), it usually means you need to buy a step-down converter. There's some exceptions (TC electronic stuff for example is multi-voltage) but they're quite rare.

If you buy something and are in any way confused about it, ask for advice before plugging it in.

Quick mention here that anything that has a kettle lead, the standard power leads you see, will not work without a separate transformer. You can buy them here but you will have to plug into that when using the amp