So I went to Music Store...

unclebill98

Well,

After using them for many many years I finally decided, well the wife did that I needed to pay them an actually visit. So off she went and organsied the trip with one of there sales reps. They helped with picking the Hotel and organising flights etc. So on a cold January day we set off to Dublin airport armed with a list of things to do in Koln!

Firstly, we do/did alot of talking about stores in Ireland taking on the might of these German stores and after giving X-Music a mixed review I feel I needed to give a good feedback on, well its rival I suppose.

Ok, Luftansa are a fab airline, Frankfurt Airport is a bloody nightmere and not for the faint hearted or those who get easily stressed out!!

The hotel chosen by MS was Hotel Senats, its actually on the same block as MS and I could see the Bass/Drum/PA room from my hotel window! We got the MS staff discount on the room rates too.

What can I say about the shop that the website does not cover. It has everything you could want from a Store. All the stuff in the shop you can try out. There is an organised system to getting served, not this grab someone who looks free thing we do here. All the staff bar 1 or 2 I talked to speak fluent English and after the initial I don't talk German they are more than happy to help you out.

From dedicated Mic/pre amp rooms to over 70 pairs of studio monitors all there to listen too. Its just a pleasure to go around. Almost everything on the floor can be lifted, tweeked and played with. None of this sorry I'm not plugging that in unless your buying it talk i've put up with here.

I've been in the shop about 5 times over the week and at different times, 10am, lunch, 4pm, 6pm. Every time the place was jammed. There is no sale on, its just always packed. Saturday was mental. There where q's at the tills, i ****e you not!

So, over all its got everything you could want. The guitar/Bass/Drums/Keys & Acoustic section would blow your head off. In the PA room, all the FOH stuff was linked to a A&H iLive desk, so a simple flick of a button and you can hear them, all of this in turn was mirrored with the Lights, one large desk controlling them all.

There is nothing worse than talking about all this gear on boards or looking at it on the net or asking has someone tried this and that, its great to actually go somewhere and they have right there in front of you and the people there to answer any questions you may have.

Now, the down sides.

1, its in Germany.

2, the language thing was off putting sometimes, cause the aul Irish Accent ain't well understood. So i can imagine some issues if your getting into fine detail about certain gear. This is for me one of the main reasons why shopping in Ireland can be easier.

3, the place is flooded with that ****e Fame gear, not Behringer as some would have you believe. I mean its everywhere. The bass section has over 200 Fame Basses in it and this mass production of gear spreads its self to all the areas. From talking to the sales person you kind of gotta say there pushy about the Fame brand as a whole, I'd say they may well believe its the bomb or there mark up is better, but once you kind of stamp out that your not interested in it they leave it alone.

So, there you have it. Its as good in person as on there site. They've got the plans for the new bigger store in the shop and feck me its massive. So i'd be going back to see that. Its nice to try out stuff that Irish stores simple will not stock or can't stock cause there is no SOR on goods here.

Prices in Ireland are now the same or if not better than MS. With MS your getting the deal and the advice if you go over, but you lack the aftercare if your buying something big that may need it. MS have a great aftercare service and mass amount of people to help you out, fine if you live there, but we don't.

Apart from MS, Koln is a great city and that Kolsch beer is simple great and cheap!

My advice, pay it a visit.

sei046

Was in there a few times myself. Great place!

PaulBrewer

unclebill98 wrote: »

There is nothing worse than talking about all this gear on boards or looking at it on the net or asking has someone tried this and that, its great to actually go somewhere and they have right there in front of you .

Better again if you get to try it at home first I'd say?;)

unclebill98

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Better again if you get to try it at home first I'd say?;)

Really, and what crazy shop allows that i wonder

PaulBrewer

There can be only one ...

I actually have access to a demo Duality now!