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Hello all! Great thread. I believe someone had mentioned Apple Music in Portland, OR. early in the thread which reminded me of a good story.
So several years ago (early 90's) I had it in my mind to upgrade my guitar rig and get myself a Mesa/Boogie Mark III. Now I normally avoided Apple Music like the plague, as the guys that worked there were generally asses, and it was well before GC got into town, but they were the only local place that sold Mesa. So in I go. I walk up to the guitar sales dude -
Me: "I am interested in trying out a Mesa Mark III. Do you have any?"
GSD: "Well, yea, I think so, dude. There pretty spendy though." Very arrogant mannerism as well.
Me: "Thats ok. I want to try one out. I am thinking about buying one."
GSD: "Cool"
So he leads me across the store to a rack set up with an ADA, poweramp, eq and effects
GSD: "You gotta try this though. The ADA is awesome"
Me: "That's not a Mesa though"
GSD: "Just listen to it"
Starts playing a riff
GSD: "Check out the low end on this. Isn't it great. There is no EQ or anything on this"
Me: "ummm...." as I look at the EQ input light flashing as he is playing
Me: "Thats ok, but I would really like to check out the Mark III"
GSD: "Oh. well Ok"
Walks across the aisle and plugs into a Marshall JMP-1
GSD "Ok but first you gotta listen to this"
Proceeds to play the JMP-1. I don't particularly like the Marshall sound to begin with. Now I am irritated
Me: "Look, I am not interested in trying these different amps. I want to try a Mark III!"
GSD: "Well, I don't think we have any in stock now. Are you sure you want a Mesa?"
Me: "Yea!"
GSD: "Well, OK"..walks to a rack in the middle of the store
GSD: "This is pretty new product. It is called the Triaxis."
Plugs in and plays. My jaw hits the floor. The tone I was looking for!!
Me: "That is awesone. Ok I want this!"
GSD: "Are you sure? Its pretty expensive"
Now I have cash in hand, but I am thinking there is no way I am buying from this guy, or this store. The sales dude then proceeds to grill me about what I plan to use for effects and a power amp (in his defense I was using Alesis...I know I know, but I was young). I tell the guy I will think about it.
I promptly drive home and I call Mesa to see if they will sell to me direct. Got a nice guy on the phone. He explains to me that they can't sell direct if there is a store within like 100 miles. I tell him there is a store, but I don't like it and proceed to tell him my experience and that I specifically asked for a Mesa product, and that the GSD showed me other products first. The Mesa guy said, "Really. Tell you what. I will take care of this and call you back."
He calls back like 20 minutes later and tells me that I can go in and pick the Triaxis up any time and everything is taken care of. I reluctantly agree and drive back to Apple Music the next day. Same GSD is there and recoginzes me, but now he is my very best friend and kissing my ass so hard and frequently my cheeks are numb! He goes on and on about how great my choice was. They proceed to try and find me a factory sealed unit in inventory but can't. The store owner then pops out and says I can take the display and they will order me a new one in the mean time. I ask if there is a manual that I can use as well, and they proceed to tear apart the store looking for one. The owner then finds in the searching, a factory sealed Triaxis that is on hold for another customer and gives it to me, saying the original customer could not pay for it all up front anyway.
I would have loved to have been in on the conversation from Mesa to Apple Music.
I went back to Apple Music one more time to get the Abacus foot controller, and they turned back to assholes, even charging me shipping to order one in, even though they normally carried it in stock.
Cheers!
Minor 7
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