MusicRadar deals of the week: It's Black Friday week, and the offers are coming in thick and fast - save hundreds on Gibson, Shure, Yamaha and more
We've uncovered the very best offers on a range of music-making gear from the likes of PRS, Shure, Gibson, Alesis and more
Welcome to MusicRadar's deals of the week, where we'll share with you the very best offers from around the web on some of our best-rated musical equipment. As the name suggests, we'll bring you a new batch of exciting discounts every week, so be sure to check back regularly to see what we've uncovered and stay ahead of the game.
As we edge ever closer to the end of November, the Black Friday music deals are rolling in and at an alarming speed. Guitar Center is kicking things off with up to 50% off in their massive Black Friday Sale. This mega sale also includes up to 40% off Alesis and Simmons electronic drum sets, up to $800 off Roland products and 20% off Yamaha.
Meanwhile, Sweetwater's official sale features up to 80% off. There are currently over 14,000 deals available, and more are being added daily. Lastly, Thomann has just announced its Cyberweek sale, featuring massive reductions of up to 70% off big-name brands and popular products.
UK Editor's picks
The Gibson Explorer is arguably one of the most iconic guitar shapes of all time. Famous fans such as James Hetfield, The Edge, Dave Grohl, and Allen Collins have used one to devastating effect on countless beloved records, and it will go down in history as one of the coolest six-strings ever made. Right now, you can save 11% off the classic Gibson '70s Explorer at Thomann, meaning you can bag yourself a slice of guitar history for much less.
Yamaha's P-45 was most definitely one of the most popular beginner pianos on the market, and the latest iteration builds on the previous generation but manages to shrink the model to an even more compact size, making it more portable. This unit is still firmly new, so we are surprised to see it discount for Black Friday. Read our full Yamaha P-145 review.
Already excellent value at full price, this pair of studio monitors are stunning value thanks to a £48 discount taking them down to just £74 for a pair. If you're looking to get started making music, the PreSonus Eris 4.5 are a fantastic entry-level studio monitor to help improve the quality of your mixes.
US Editor's picks
The Shure SM7B, a legendary dynamic microphone, is now just $359 this Black Friday at Sweetwater - saving you $40! Renowned for its silky smooth tone, flat frequency response, and robust build, it’s perfect for studio vocals, podcasting, and even instruments. With built-in shock isolation and pop filtering, this mic delivers professional-grade clarity with ease.
Guitar Center is discounting select Fender Player Strats by up to $100, which makes these awesome guitars an incredibly good deal. Authentic Strat appointments, shared by all models, include a hand-shaped alder body, a five-way selector switch, alnico pickups, and a fast, comfortable maple neck. There’s the choice of a classic all-out single coil SSS configuration, or you can opt for versions loaded with a humbucker in the bridge.
The Alesis Strata Prime Expanded Electronic Drum Set is as extra as it sounds - ‘expanded’ relates to the additional tom and cymbal you get in the box. This version is a seven-piece kit with 6 cymbals (hi-hat inclusive), and a supremely powerful touchscreen module with an incredible library of BFD-derived sounds and kits. For us, this is the be-all end-all e-drumming solution, with I/O to die for. Usually $4,449, this premium piece of kit has a generous $300 discount over at Sweetwater right now.
Designed for musicians and hobbyists alike, the PX-S1100 delivers an enhanced concert grand piano sound in a sleek, lightweight package - and better yet, you can save $100.99 at Guitar Center right now.
Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:
- Thomann: Shop hot deals
- Andertons: Here's the very best offers
- Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
- Sweetwater: Latest deals at Sweetwater
- IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
- Musician's Friend: Up to 50% off
- Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
- Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
- Reverb: Save big on top brands
- Waves: All plugins $29.99
How we choose our deals of the week
Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.
Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.
For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.
Get the MusicRadar Newsletter
Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.
You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.
Why you can trust our choices
Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.
We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.
We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.
Where are the best places to shop?
Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.
What sort of deals should I look for?
Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:
- Single item - A single product with a great discount
- Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
- Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
- Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items
I'm a Senior Deals Writer at MusicRadar, and I'm responsible for writing and maintaining buyer's guides on the site - but that's not all I do. As part of my role, I also scour the internet for the best deals I can find on gear and get hands-on with the products for reviews. My gear reviews have been published in prominent publications, including Total Guitar and Future Music magazine, as well as Guitar World.com. I've also had the privilege of interviewing everyone from Slash to Yungblud, as well as members of Sum 41, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Fever 333 and many more.
I have a massive passion for anything that makes a sound, particularly guitars, pianos, and recording equipment. In a previous life, I worked in music retail, giving advice on all aspects of music creation and selling everything from digital pianos to electric guitars, entire PA systems, and ukuleles. I'm also a fully qualified sound engineer who holds a first-class Bachelor's degree in Creative Sound Production from the University of Abertay and I have plenty of experience working in various venues around Scotland.