Photo Credit: Sweetwater
Sweetwater’s Guitar Month celebrates new additions to the massive music store’s amazing guitar line-up. This year some of the new arrivals include guitars made by The Loar, Warwick, Recording King, Larrivee, Sterling by Music Man, Alvarez, Empress Effects, and Beetronics.
The following was created in collaboration with Sweetwater, a company DMN is proud to be partnered with.
Each of these guitar brands has something unique and exciting to offer, depending on what you want from an instrument. Sweetwater has also revolutionized the process of buying an instrument online with its 55-point inspection (more on that below). So what’s newly available for guitar enthusiasts anywhere in the United States?
Love to slap the bass?
Bass players will love the addition of Warwick. They’re German made instruments that deliver bright tones with tons of clarity and definition. The bass nut can easily be adjusted to raise or lower the action without the need to remove the strings. Warwick delivers a premium instrument that offers a masterclass in precision.
Going for a classic blues or jazz sound?
Sweetwater recommends The Loar for their guitars with designs from the early 20th century. The sound is much more versatile than true instruments from that era.
Need a great ‘first guitar’ option for a new player?
Recording King offers a great value option. These guitars are usually under $1,000 and are considered workhorses. They offer traditional wood acoustic guitars and resonators. Their resonators are either all metal or a metal/wood hybrid. A resonator can add a lot of texture to mixes and the Sweetwater showroom is a great place to hear that sound.
In addition to each of these brands, Sweetwater now also carries Larrivee–the ultra premium acoustic guitar manufacturer. These guitars come in a variety of tonewoods, but each of them sounds beautiful when played. Check out this quick demo video of one of Larrivee’s mahogany guitars being played. There’s a strong mid-range on display, without overpowering the highs and lows.
Are you an effects/pedals fan?
Sweetwater’s Guitar Month also celebrates all of the accessories that make guitars sound amazing. Two new brands worthy of attention are Empress and Beetronics.
Empress offers high-end pedals and the sound they produce is second to none. You’ll find they offer a great deal of control over the effects–not always the case. Players are given a considerable amount of control over how the phaser pedal modulates the sound of the instrument. Nebulous is another stand-out pedal for chorus, vibrato, and flanger. They can be used independently or together and much like the phaser, you get a tap expression button.
Beetronics is aimed at offering versatility with its pedal offerings. The Zzombee pedal gives players fuzz, swells, tremolo, cross tremolo, filter, randomized filter, wah, LFO, overdrive, and low-octave–all in one pedal. Meanwhile, the Royal Jelly pedal gives players both fuzz and overdrive from one pedal either/or, or as a blend.
What about ordering an instrument online?
Sweetwater has revolutionized the way musicians can order instruments online. Each guitar on sale is playable in the Sweetwater guitar gallery, but if you can’t make it there you can trust the company’s 55-point inspection process. Guitars can be expensive and you should be guaranteed an instrument that has passed a rigorous inspection before it arrives at your door. Each instrument is professionally set up and the guitar you see on the Sweetwater website is the one you will be sent.
Sweetwater 55-Point Inspection
Want a full overview of everything the professionals at Sweetwater check on their instruments? Everything including the handling, electronics, cosmetic and construction, playability, hardware, tune and polish, and finally the packing is tested before any guitar valued $299 or more is sold.
Packing is given painstaking care with a professional repack for shipping and storage in a climate-controlled warehouse. So how is Sweetwater’s 55-point inspection different than a ‘setup?’ Sweetwater’s inspection ensures that the instrument meets manufacturer tolerances – setups tailor the guitar to a musician’s preferences.
Why It Matters
Sweetwater makes sure that shopping for a guitar or bass on their site is as exciting and reassuring as it is in person. That’s why the team goes to great lengths to carefully inspect, play test, individually photograph, and weigh stringed instruments priced above $299.
The experienced team at Sweetwater has trained eyes and hands inspect hundreds of guitars and basses every day. They do this because it’s the right thing to do. Delivering factory-fresh guitars and instruments that are ready-to-play is how you make buying a guitar online as painless as possible.
Each instrument ships with its own individually signed certificate of inspection, giving it Sweetwater’s personal seal of approval that the instrument meets or exceeds factory standards.