Sweetwater Review: The Best Online Music Gear Store?

As a musician, it can oftentimes be a frustrating experience when trying to find a reliable source for high-quality music equipment at an affordable price. Even more so when you accidentally buy some cables that aren’t compatible with the equipment you already have.

Fortunately, we now have online stores that allow us to browse through thousands of items at a time. Even ones that offer easy ways to find specific products and provide useful customer support. Today we will be discussing a company known as Sweetwater and how they can help enhance your experience as a musician.

What is Sweetwater?

Sweetwater is an online music store that provides a wide array of musical equipment. Their main goal is for their customers to be 100% satisfied with their visit. Sweetwater was founded in 1979 by CEO Chuck Surack who had originally started out as a musician.

When he had first started his business, he was running a studio out of the back of his Volkswagen bus. His reasoning for starting Sweetwater was that he couldn’t find any other business that could satisfy his needs as a musician. During this time he was selling sounds that he had designed himself to artists within the industry.

It just so happened to be that those same clients were also in need of a reliable retailer that provided high-quality equipment which fueled him even more to create Sweetwater.

What Will I Find Here?

Studio and Recording Equipment

Sweetwater offers a broad selection of equipment designed for your studio and recording session. Products that you will find here are audio interfaces, microphones, studio monitors, studio mixers, preamps, and much more.

This section can be helpful to you when building your first studio, upgrading your current studio, and even enhancing your video productions.

Live Sound and Lighting Equipment

They also offer a variety of equipment geared towards live events and lighting. Some of the equipment you’ll be able to find here are microphones, wireless systems, PA speakers, live sound monitoring, power amplifiers, and much more.

This can be helpful to you when organizing, adding special effects, and customizing your touring experience.

Software and Plug-ins

You will also find that they have a good selection of software and plug-ins for you to incorporate into your music production. Some of the products that you’ll find within this category are DAWs, virtual instruments, virtual processors, notation software, mixing software, and much more.

This can be of benefit when expanding your arsenal of sounds, improving the quality of your music, and when performing as a DJ.

Guitars

Sweetwater also holds a hefty catalog of guitars for you to choose from. Some of the instruments you will be able to find here are electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, ukuleles, guitar amps, and more.

The information for each individual piece of equipment pertaining to guitars can be found in their guitar gallery.

Bass

Stemming off of their guitar selection is their bass section. Products that you will find here are bass guitars, bass guitar amps, bass guitar pedals and effects, bass guitar accessories, bass guitar strings, and guitar wireless systems.

You can view these items here.

Keyboards and Synthesizers

You will also be able to find a good amount of equipment when it comes to keyboards and synthesizers. Some of the products that they have listed are synthesizers, eurorack and modular synthesizers, pianos, electric organs, portable keyboards, and much more.

You will also be able to find keyboard accessories that will expand functionalities within these items.

Drums and Percussion

Sweetwater also provides a full selection of drums and percussion instruments. Some of the equipment you will find here are acoustic drums, electronic drums, drum hardware, cymbals, hand drums, world percussion, stomp boxes, and accessories.

You can view these items here.

Microphones

When browsing through Sweetwater you’ll find that they have a plethora of microphones to choose from. Some of the variations that you will find here are condenser microphones, dynamic microphones, wireless systems, ribbon microphones, drum microphone bundles, and much more.

These can be helpful when performing, recording vocals, and collecting sounds to use within your music production.

DJ Equipment

Another large portion of their catalog is one that holds all of their equipment for DJing. Some of the products that you will find here are DJ controllers, DJ mixers, DJ media players, turntables, accessories, and much more.

They also offer more equipment for producing electronic music in this category.

Accessories

Lastly, you will find their large collection of accessories that can really bring your setup together. Some of the items that are listed here are cables, snakes, stands, cases, guitar accessories, and much more.

Sweetwater also holds a good amount of merch, containers, and collectibles within this category.

Giveaways

Sweetwater also gives their customers the opportunity to win big on equipment. Each month they will host a giveaway where you will be given a chance to earn thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

The equipment that you may find in these giveaways are interfaces, microphones, studio monitors, software, cables, accessories, and more. In order to enter into their giveaway, you will be required to submit your email in which you will be notified if you are a winner.

How Can I Get Started?

Shopping with Sweetwater doesn’t require you to create an account but it will definitely help when vising their store in the future. To create your account, click on the account tab in the upper right corner of the page.

Doing so will redirect you to a page where you will be asked to log in or create an account. Once you are here, click register now. You will then be prompted to fill out their form with your first name, last name, email address, and password along with a security question.

Once finished, you will then need to provide a payment method. After you’ve completed this you will be able to quickly check out and create your own wish lists within their website.

Why Should I Shop With Sweetwater?

DealZone

Sweetwater also has a section that is dedicated solely to finding good deals. In their DealZone, you will be able to find B-stocks, bundles, demos, price drops, rebates, promos, call-in savings, and used equipment.

This section provides over 6,000 products to choose from. This can be beneficial to you as there are sales in nine different categories of equipment

News and Research

They also offer tons of information in their news and research section. Here you will find buying guides, comparisons, history, tutorials and more. This can be helpful for both beginners and experienced musicians.

Product Finders

Guitar Gallery

When shopping with Sweetwater, you will find that they have the tools to aid you when looking for a product that fits your needs, with the first one being their guitar gallery. With this, you will be introduced to some of the categories that they have provided to help you find what you want.

One of the categories listed are their “hottest guitar deals” which showcases the top guitars, effects, and accessories that will save you the most money. The next category that they provide is their ” what’s new in guitars” section which showcases all of the newly released equipment that they have to offer.

Lastly, they have a “trending in guitars section” which showcases all of the top-selling products in one place. This will be helpful for beginners when searching for equipment that is up to date while on a budget. Underneath these categories are also informative descriptions of all of the equipment and accessories pertaining to guitars.

Cable Finder

They also provide a cable finder which will take you through three simple steps to find the right cable you’re looking for. The first step will introduce you to a list of cable variants along with an image of them. Once you select one, you will move on to step two and three in which you will decide on what type of connector you will need.

These also provide images for reference. After you’ve made a selection here, they will provide you with a list of cables along with their prices and length. These can be sorted by popularity, length, brand, and price.

Case Finder

Next, they have a case finder which will also provide you with a selection of equipment along with images. After choosing one they will provide you with a list of manufacturers to match with the equipment you have.

Once you’ve done this you can select the exact product which will reveal a list of cases that are compatible with your piece of equipment.

Mesa/Boogie Amp Customizer

Sweetwater also offers a “Build your Boogie” feature where you will be able to build a Mesa/Boogie amp that is personalized just for you. To get started, you will be choosing from a list of models that consist of combo amps, amp heads, and cabinets.

After this, you will have the ability to choose the material, grille, piping, and handle of the amp.

Westone in-ear Customizer

They also offer a feature where you can customize your own personal earphones. Just like their cable finder, this involves three steps. In the first step, you will customize them by selecting the model, colors, and other features of the earphones.

Next, there will be a sales engineer who will contact you to provide more important information. Finally, you will need to go to an audiologist to make an ear impression. If you want, Sweetwater will recommend one for you.

Sales Engineers

Purchasing equipment can oftentimes come with some questions and its best that those don’t go unanswered. If you ever run into an issue when browsing, Sweetwater has sales engineers that you can contact at zero cost.

They are well educated on the many details within their products and are willing to give you advice.

55-point Guitar Inspection

All instruments that are priced at $299 or above are carefully inspected by technicians, luthiers, and inspectors at Sweetwater. They follow a hefty list of 55 points in order to make sure that you receive exactly what you expected.

Some of the key points that they follow during this process are handling, cosmetic and construction inspections, hardware checks, electronic testing, playability, tuning, polishing, and packing. If you would like to learn more about this process, click here.

Free Shipping

Many of the products that Sweetwater has to offer are eligible for free shipping. This can be identified by the symbol of a delivery truck next to the product.

When eligible, you will not have to meet a minimum checkout amount which can be helpful when purchasing accessories and other items at a low price.

Tech Support

Sweetwater also offers tech support for whenever your equipment isn’t quite working properly or for things such as compatibility issues. This service is active 24/7 in which you will be able to speak with their audio experts.

They also offer in-house repairs so that you won’t have to wait for your item to get repaired and shipped back to you.

Special Financing

Sweetwater has a Sweetwater card that will allow you to make equal payments for 6 to 48 months. You can also use their easy payments feature when checking out to make payments with a credit card.

Other payment methods that they accept are PayPal, PayPal Credit, and Apple Pay.

Pros

• Save More – They hold more than 6,000 items with various ongoing sales.
• Customer Service 24/7 – They provide both sales engineers and tech support at any time.
• Navigation Aids – There are tools that will help you find the right product that you’re looking for.

Cons

• Non-returnable Items – They have a list of products that are ineligible for returns.
• Limited International Shipping – There are many restrictions that prevent items from being shipped internationally.
• 6-Month Minimum Payment Plan – You cannot set a payment plan for less than six months.

Should I Shop With Sweetwater?

Whether you’re an experienced musician or are just starting out, Sweetwater can be a good company to shop with. They offer plenty of tools so that you can spend less time looking for the right products as well as a team of sales engineers and tech support.

Sweetwater also has plenty of experts that will make sure you receive what you ordered with minimal errors. If you are interested in expanding your musical arsenal through Sweetwater, click here to get started.