

They also have an Easy Payments plan that allows you to split the cost of an expensive guitar into several, smaller payments. Sweetwater offers its own credit card, often with no interest for the first 6 months. This allows you to get a nice discount on what is still essentially brand-new gear.īoth companies also offer a variety of different payment options.

They also regularly have deals on B-stock items that were used in demos. Sweetwater’s website doesn’t mention a price match guarantee, though they do generally offer the standard lowest price on most gear. They even guarantee this price match for up to 45 days after purchase if you see a lower price elsewhere. ZZounds offers a Lowest Price Guarantee, meaning that if you find an item at a lower price than is listed on their website, they will match it. While most music gear is priced the same regardless of the retailer, there can be differences due to sales or other factors.

PriceĪnother important factor to consider is price. Also, since Sweetwater is a larger retailer than zZounds, they are more likely to have more popular items in stock, though not necessarily. Sweetwater does offer some unique finish options on guitars that are exclusive to them, so that might be something to consider if you’re in the market for something different. If it’s new and from a well-known brand, odds are you will find it easily at either Sweetwater or zZounds. Comparing the two, there wasn’t anything I searched for that I couldn’t find on either site. ZZounds claims to have an inventory about 50 times bigger than the average musical instrument retail store, while Sweetwater claims to have a massive selection of a huge assortment of gear. They also carry some popular boutique gear like JHS Pedals and Earthquaker Devices. When it comes to selection, both Sweetwater and zZounds carry the majority of major brands including Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, PRS and many more. You’re going to want to shop somewhere that not only has what you’re looking for, but also has it in stock. When choosing an online retailer for music gear, or anything else, variety of selection is hugely important. Overall, zZounds’ website is good, but Sweetwater’s is better. While Sweetwater shows you similar items to what you are viewing, zZounds shows other random items that other users bought. All the details and specs are clearly available on one page for Sweetwater, while zZounds has you click to see more info. The product pages on Sweetwater’s site also seem a bit more organized than those on zZounds.
#Reason 6 sweetwater full#
There is no auto-fill function either, so you have to type out the full name of the product you’re looking for. zZounds search engine seems to be based on something else, because it brought up other words I searched for in the past that were unrelated to music gear. Sweetwater’s search engine is more helpful, too, with an auto-fill function that lets you find what you’re looking for often before you finish typing. The look of their site is much more modern and straight-forward, while the zZounds site looks a bit dated. However, the clear edge here has to go to Sweetwater. Since both of these brands have been online since the dawn of the Internet, they both have pretty user-friendly websites with good loading speeds. Loading speeds (especially on phones), search functions and easy checkout options are all things to consider. This includes a functional website that’s easy to navigate. If you’re going to be shopping for gear entirely online, the experience should be as easy as possible.
