We have just had news that Soundcontrol, the nations biggest chain of music shops has had to go into receivership. This means that stores across the country were unexpectedly closed this morning and staff asked to leave, followed by the locks being changed.
This is a major shock to the UK musical instrument industry and of course a major shock to those people who shopped or visited in their local Soundcontrol music shop.
We offer our sincere condolences to all of the staff and customers who are affected by this development. Hopefully the receivers will resolve everything quickly and satisfactorily.
Please note that PlayRecord.Net is in no way affiliated or related to Soundcontrol.
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If I was to guess the price of this bass I would say around the £400 mark. However it retails for £299 though it is available for £239. Which is very reasonable considering that this bass is definitely not a bottom midrange bass as the price suggests. It is definitely a lot of bang for your buck!
Organiser Emily Eavis commented on the “interesting undercurrent” to some of the blogs and public statements objecting to Jay-Z’s place on the lineup. “I’m not sure what to call it,” she says, “at least not in public, but this is something that causes me some disquiet.”
So should the Glasto lineup be dominated by Guitar acts, or is it time that the lineup had a shakeup?
There’s lots of guitar packages on the market, so there’s plenty of choice for the beginner. The Encore Blaster pack is currently one of the most affordable kits out there, and also one of the best value.
Available for only £149.99 down from £196, this pack is available in cherry sunburst, black or left handed black variations. Included in the pack is the Encore E99, B.B blaster amplifier, tuner, carry bag, stand, lead, strap, spare set of strings and a plectrum. Also included is an instructional DVD and a Tutor listing to get your rock star career started.
So, out of the box you can expect the guitar to be out of tune, nothing untoward there. The paintwork is great for a guitar in its price range and the overall build quality is rather pleasing. As with most guitars a quick set-up would not go a miss, though probably not immediately necessary.
The remaining items in the pack are the amp and the smaller accessories that sort of speak for themselves. The amplifier is basic and suitable for practice only. At 10 watts the B.B blaster amp will not offend your elderly neighbours, and if it turns out that they have super-sensitive spy-sattalite style hearing, then there’s a jack plug for your headphones to stick into (head phones not provided). Other features on the amp include an overdrive switch marked as “zap”, you also get “beef” (bass) “tweak” (treble) and most importantly “enjoy” (volume).
Other accessories include the carry bag,strings, stand and lead. The stand and carry bag are both Kinsman brand. Kinsman are a well reputed brand and whilst the bag provided does not have the padding you may want it is certainly durable.
Overall, this is a splendid pack that is reliable, affordable and has a good standard of build quality. The pack is bundled with all the extra’s you need to keep you going for a good while. A great package for anyone interested in starting out the guitar.
There is something for everyone ranging from electricguitarstarterpacks right through to very tasty Fenders, Ibanez and the like.
We are sure you are going to see something you like, but don’t hang around as this is a sale - not an ongoing offer and these prices will only last for a few days.
For many years now the Stagg S300 has been the staple diet of the beginners guitar market and for as little as £64.99 you can see why.
Having played the guitar for quite some time and given it a thorough checking over there is actually nothing to complain about considering the entire guitar is cheaper than a Seymour Duncan pickup.
First impressions on plugging in are, it’s a very Stratty tone, very sharp high ends, just not as rounded as an actual strat. The neck pickup setting delivers an organic hollow sound with a smooth low end, the middle delivers an almost acoustic tone and the neck gives us a piercing high end not for the faint hearted. The combination settings of neck and middle pickup and bridge and middle pickup give exactly what you’d expect from a Strat, that very sweet sounding Jazzy twang.
Starting at the top, the headstock is recognisably Stratish with sharp curves instead of rounded. The machineheads are sealed with a smooth action and do a good job of staying in tune.
The fret board is one of the best features of this guitar, the frets are seated well, edges well finished and the fret wire itself is highly polished and makes for very smooth playing on a neck with a nicely rounded D shape.
The solid alder body has a good weight and provides a good amount of tone, with a wide sweep of choice available from the tone controls and the tremolo bridge provides all the dive bombing opportunities you need with a highly polished and tidy finish.
For £64.99 this guitar certainly ticks all the boxes.