Dumbest thing ever said at Guitar Center

I want to go to GC one day with a sack full of bricks and challenge anybody there to prove that they are smarter than said sack.

Well,,, have you?

I've been waiting and hoping for this thread!!!

My friend wants to sing through guitar amps, and she wanted a transformer impedance/level adapter. We got into a technical discussion with some clerks who didn't know what a transformer was, I tried to explain. After 20 minutes of hemming and hawing, talking in circles, and random suggestions, I said,

"Why don't we just go over and look at the adapters?" And sure enough the bal to unbal transformer adapter was sitting right there on the rack plain to see and grab.

It felt a little silly. But I have also met someone there who is a Master's degree level classical flute player, which is pretty impressive to me.

Overall the local GC people are very pleasant and helpful, so I can't really complain. The selection they have is ridiculous, it's like a toy store for musicians.

They're like, "Don't you want to try the $10,000 Martin?" and I'm like ehh.... I don't even want to breathe on it, let alone put my fingers all over it, keep that thing away from me!!  But you have to appreciate the generosity of the offer.

ME: How do you like those mic iso shields?

GC: They're good, it's like using an EQ

Years ago walked into the demo room as a guy is demoing a AT4047 between 2 monitors through a Ramsa digital console and a pair of of Genelec 1030s it was muffled and feeding back I tell the guy cut it at 250 he isn't listening so I say it 3 more times finally the customer Grabs the EQ sweeps it to 253

Latter GC guy comes out
" I figured it out the feedback was a harmonic at 253!"
Look at him astonished
"OK I'm an engineer not a musician, but harmonics are a multiple above the fundamental not below,
Feedback is a function of the resonant s and peeks of the speaker and mic, if your going to demo a cardioid, do it like a wedge put it right in front of a mono speaker in the cardioid notch, oh and it really helps if you point the front of a cardioid AT THE SOURCE NOT THE SPEAKER!"

Now this GC guy was not the store pro audio guy.


HE WAS THE THE PRO AUDIO DISTRICT MANAGER!

GC' s problem is the same problem almost every Bain retail chain has and what Sears has learned Realestate ain't cheap!
Many others get the same Terms!s and price, but when you have one giant warehouse it's a lot cheaper and you can pay real wages !

I used to work at Rat Shack when I was in college.  I loved when the "Pro DJ's" came in to buy gear, and talked down to you like you didn't know a TRS from a coax.  Well most of the staff didn't, but I had been DJing parties since I was 13, so I was very familiar with what the Shack sold and how to use it.  I don't know how many times I had to explain the difference between balanced and unbalanced connectors, and why you can't plug in a mic to a line input on the mixer, to these so-called pro's.  Fast forward almost 20 years, and the Shack staff couldn't even point me in the direction of the right resistor values in a recent visit.

Yep. At one time, you could usually find at least one person working at a 'Shack who knew about what they were selling.

The shack is where i'd go to waste some gas in a last ditch effort to find something i'd inevitably have to order lol

Eric's assessment is brutal. And seems very factual. Time will tell, as it always does.

You (MF) just had a great fire sale on used and discontinued. A few large lots too.