If you've been to this page before, you'll know I love to turn up an amplifier & wail the day away on the strat. When the amp has a problem with valves, this musical experience is rather buggered.
Blowing a valve is one of those things that happens & while it's frustrating, I can easily get over it. What does drive me friggen nuts is that the solution is simple, in heading out & purchasing new valves, & finding that no-one stocks
Fender authorised Groove Tubes!
Again, I can accept that the items are expensive, so stores may not wish to have them sitting on shelves.
What really does me in however, is when one of Adelaide's best known music retailers, refuses to give a stuff about a customer wanting to purchase an item they should be easily able to get their hands on in a day or so.
The business in question is
Derringers in Adelaide. My Fender Strat came from the store around eight years ago. Their reputation was fantastic & their prices always competitive.
However, times have changed & I've been to have a look around over the last few years without buying a single item. In fact, I doubt I ever will again, especially after today's demonstration. Their prices are no longer competitive with some items carrying prices above retail. Service is non-existant. The few times I have been interested in a product, they've taken my details & never returned calls.
In trying to purchase valves from Derringers, A conversation between staff had to first be finished, then when I asked about valves I was merely pointed in the direction of a cabinet without any interest in providing assistance. When the sales guy finally produced some valves, he tried to sell me a non-Fender set which would require alterations to the bias of my amp. When I asked about the Fender brand, I was told they didn't have any & this was the best they would do. No offer to order a set. I walked off in the end.
I hope to spread the word by letting Fender Australia know what's going on with this store since if they treat all customers the same, they won't be selling much. I may send a few messages to a few other brands that have their products sold through Derringers.
On the other side of the coin, I applaud Cecere's Music who don't stock Fender equipment but were quite willing to place an order & have the valves delivered. I'm highly impressed.
Further to this little episode, I'm in the market for an acoustic guitar. The model will be a
Maton EBG808 & after having a little play with a model in the same range, I was blown away by the sound quality. Compared with other brands with similar types of guitar, nothing comes close. It'll cost me a couple of grand, but it'll be a once off purchase that will last for decades. May I just say, that
John Mayer's "Neon" sounds pretty good on it too!
