Excellent customer service and fast turnaround time on repairs/etc. I recently picked up a used Schecter Hellraiser 7 string. I dropped it off at Sam Ash to have the tech do a string change and give the guitar a once over just to make sure everything was good to go. He did a great job. I will definitely be a repeat customer to this location.
If you are a pro drummer, please see Jose. He gave me a great deal on trade-in, plus a nice guy to deal with. I prefer Sam Ash to GC & they have a great selection.
Very helpful and friendly staff. Always a great experience going to this location
We went in here because we were told that they buy used music equipment. We sold them a bunch of stuff. The only drawback was that you had to constantly wait for a manager and he took forever. The guys that we dealt with were super friendly and very helpful. Ask for Robert the Dutch guy because he is extremely knowledgeable and very friendly. The guy that we worked with was also very friendly.
Was disappointed to get to the store and find out the item they had listed on the website was a pre-opened box that was missing a cotter pin for the mirrored ball. The price tag said 59.99, the website said 71.39, and two days after I had called about it and driven an hour to get there, the new price was 79.99. They did knock of the price a little due to the missing piece and condition of the packing went ahead and got it because the kids needed it for the upcoming disco quiz.
Salesman was excellent, however store does not have enough help to accommodate customers.
Called to see if i could pick up an A string for my cello, was told they had one in stock and that it’d be 15.99.
When i get there the cashier tells me they can’t sell it to me even though they just told me they could not 10 minutes before over the phone, and that they can only sell me the set for 69.99.
Waste of my time and efforts. Piss poor customer service to say the least. Maybe stop trying to tax people on a whole set of strings when they only need one, and you have a plethora of singles available. Sam ash is a scam 100%%
So, everytime i enter this store, they check package, today i walk behind a caucasian couple and kids, and they did not check there package, also I waited 20 minutes before anybody approached me and family. On my way out the store, my receipt was check and sign, again a caucasian young couple standing at the same counter was not. “And that’s all I have to said about that”
Went there today to sell some items with my boyfriend. We expected to be treated professionally but the sales person referred to my boyfriend as bro while simultaneously talking down to him. He used an embarrassingly low quality guitar while testing the head my boyfriend was trying to sell. He also had to google the value of the two items we were selling. At the same time, my boyfriend is a metal musician and has loved all of his equipment for decades. The salesman didn’t even understand why my boyfriend had purchased the head, and why it was ideal for a specific genre of music. We wil not be returning to this Sam Ash location. Hopefully if we ever go again, we will work with someone a little more knowledgable.
5. Unity Recordx
Address: 11900 N Nebraska Ave suite 10, Tampa, FL 33612 , Lake Magdalene , Florida , United States
Last bastion of DVDS Records and simply looking for physical media!
They are great. I have everything you’re looking for.
Soooo much variety. Awesome to see actual music stores still exist 🙂
Found a few vinyls I was looking for. Nice people
First time out to this store, pretty cool place with a large selection. I would have liked to see at least one BOSTON album on vinyl. I ask the guy there and he didn’t seem to know of the band?????? I got a generic reasponse if there’s no tab look in the b’s
Not really a problem but I just thought it was odd that there wasn’t anything there of Boston. 🙁
Great selection, great employees, but not enough of them sometimes.
I am sad to post this rating on a place I used to talk about all the time. I would go out of my way when I lived out of state to visit on my vacation and spend hours walking around and sifting through everything they had in the store. I walked in to a store with 3-5 people shopping and wasn’t greeted. Did a double take on where to start on this visit and started right in front of the counter at the bargain been. Not a word, went over to the games and had an employee walk from behind the counter passed me and not speak. Went through roughly 3 rows of dvds and blu-rays and still nothing. At this point I decided to leave. Barely got a nod on my way out. Felt heartbroken someplace I truly enjoy going I would have such a lackluster experience. I anticipate visiting the one in St Pete soon. Let’s hope they are on point at the y at least say hello. They’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of Nebraska!
Ok can I just say I Don’t mind spending premium $$ as long as I get premium service or product. That being said, Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably caught wind of the resurgence of Vinyl as the Connoisseurs choice of media playback. For the better part of the last 7 years I have continued to collect with much happiness. Today I encountered SNAKE OIL of the highest degree at SOUND EXCHANGE a chain of independent record stores located in Brandon, Pinellas Park, and Tampa. They charged me $5 just to look at 8 records and give me an evaluation in store: credit or cash. Well they Transferred THE WRONG record…so I decided to not trade my records..they insisted on the $5 when I did not purchase the record b/c THEY transferred the WRONG one, and did not have the one I wanted. Every other store in the area DOES NOT CHARGE to evaluate records and give you a cash price or the equivalent store credit. IN FACT every record store I have dealt with (Over 75 in 9 states) does not charge to evaluate…So PLEASE DO NOT BUY OR TRADE ANYTHING WITH SOUND EXCHANGE, they are a small independent business and can easily change their business processes, but they choose to take advantage of the consumer b/c of the current popularity of vinyl. Now in the Owners defense I DID sign a piece of paper when I traded which told about the 5$ charge..I did not read this so this is partly my fault BUT I would expect that since there was a mistake on their end (improperly identifying/labeling a record) that management could waive the charge so that we could continue to do business in good faith. They did not see this as an option hence my less than glowing review. It’s sad because a place like this could be so cool.
Went here to buy a turntable they had on there website. Talked to older guy behind counter asked about the turntable he said there all around the store. Couldn’t find it, then he said the high end ones are in the back. I said I’d look around till he finished whatever he was doing. (Not helping a customer) I waited while he didn’t even offer to show me, nor did he ask 1 of the other 2 clerks to help me. I guess he didn’t need the money $500 + I also found there prices high $5.00 for a used CD?
10. Guitar Lessons with Virgil Mandanici
Address: 1009 Briarwood Ave, Tampa, FL 33613 , Lake Magdalene , Florida , United States
For starters, I’m a 40 year old that never really learned how to play a
guitar properly. I had minimal skill, if you could even call it that. My goal
was to be able to play some songs for my friends and family.
While I understand practice is the key to getting good on the guitar, Virgil guides you in a way that is custom tailored to your situation. If you want him to take the lead, or you have your own idea of the direction you want to go, he will accommodate. I have learned things much quicker than I expected to, and it came as a pleasant surprise.
I highly recommend giving him a shot if you’re serious about learning.
After more years than I want to admit, almost 20, it took only two lessons/sessions with Virgil and my playing advanced in a couple of weeks more than it had in a couple of decades. He makes things fun and has great ways of learning and understanding the guitar. You will be jamming by the end of your first lesson. You’ll be playing a song in multiple ways (improvising) by your third, and all of a sudden he will say are you ready to solo and all the tricks, technique, and theory, then suddenly makes since and your like bamm guitar solo!
I have been taking guitar lessons with Virgil over 9 months. I’m lucky to have him as my guitar teacher and mentor. He is knowledgable, professional, and funny. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to learn guitar, even if you are far from his studio (he offers online classes through Zoom, which is also great from my personal experience).
11. DJ Bellino
Address: 802 E Fletcher Ave, Tampa, FL 33612 , Lake Magdalene , Florida , United States
I called in to get a instrument and they had it in stock ready to go .Paper work only took 5 minutes and payments were right in my budget . I Recommend this place to any beginning Musician to check out this place
Very nice and easy rental
Awesome place! Go see Kyle, he’s amazing! Super nice, patient guy who really knows how to teach!
Called to make sure they had an instrument, they said yes but it required I come in for a credit check then they ship it from Clearwater. Drove almost an hour to this place, filled out their form, gave them my social, unlocked my credit files and left only for them to call me 15 minutes later and say they never actually checked if the instrument was available and they had none to rent.
Daft staff told me an instrument was in stock and 30 minutes later when I arrived it was not
The quality of the song sounds and came out very beautifully. The engineer was excellent. Would definitely recommend using AV as your Go-To studio when you wanna make some bangers.
Not sure if it was the DJ engineer that I had or the studio itself but sound quality is trash. Engineer smoking cigarettes outside and on his phone while I recorded and didnt seem very knowledgeable about how to work equipment. Did no mix while in session. Afterwards wanted me to pay for a mixing session? when the basic mix is horrible. Sent me home with 2 records I wont release because it sounds like junk. Friendly staff doesnt make up for unprofessionalism and low quality. Better engineers and studios in Tampa for 10-15 more per hour. This was my first and last session.
I contacted Howard Piano Industries when all else failed. HPI came through to save the day!
So here’s the back story: on our 30 yo Young Chang spinet upright piano, middle C stopped working. Being the tinkerer that I am, I opened the top & bottom to figure out what was wrong. Saw that the hammer wasn’t fully hitting the string but didn’t understand why. Searched You Tube & found piano repair videos from this company. Upon closer inspection of my piano (thanks to their video), I discovered the spring for that key was broken & only half seated.
After failed attempts to contact both the piano manufacturer & the store where it was purchased, I phoned HPI & left a message. Chris got back to me right away (& this was around the Christmas holiday). After discussing what I had discovered, he requested photos (which I supplied). He determined the specific spring I needed & mailed some to me – at no charge (Merry Christmas)! Who does that anymore? This company did!
Needless to say, our piano now has all 88 keys functioning perfectly. All thanks to Chris & his fantastic help. 10 stars, A+++
PS – Although HPI is located in Florida, they are willing to service anyone (we’re in the Philadelphia area)!
Great selection of parts and supplies. They ship promptly and have an excellent informational and instructional YouTube channel. I always start here when reconditioning a piano.
Pleasant phone interaction, quick order processing and competitive pricing.
