Welcome to MusicRadar’s Deals of the Week, your go-to roundup for the latest and greatest offers on top-rated music gear from around the web. Each week, we handpick a fresh selection of standout discounts, so make sure to check back regularly to stay on top of the hottest bargains and never miss a chance to upgrade your setup.
With Memorial Day Weekend drawing closer and the big day itself not landing until May 25th, there may not be any official sales just yet, but there is a surge of great deals worth shopping right now. While many of the biggest sales are still on the horizon, you don’t have to wait to score serious savings. If you’re keen to grab a bargain ahead of the holiday rush, there are plenty of impressive offers available right now.
Sweetwater has just kicked off a huge effects pedal sale, offering up to 35% off a wide variety of stompboxes. You’ll find $100 off Universal Audio UAFX pedals, plus major savings on brands such as Line 6, Digitech, Warm Audio, Electro-Harmonix, and many more. If you’re looking to refresh your pedalboard, this is the perfect time to explore what’s on offer.
For gigging musicians, Sweetwater is also running a Gig Essentials sale with up to 30% off strings, cables, and must-have accessories for a limited time.
After its recent relaunch as an outlet-style store, Musician’s Friend is serving up some major savings, with up to 60% off top brands. Right now, you can find up to 50% off electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, so if you’re in the market for a new instrument, it’s definitely worth a look.
Still going strong from last week, Guitar Center’s huge Live Sound sale continues, with up to 25% off leading brands like Yamaha, JBL, Alto, and Shure. Whether you’re shopping for new speakers, microphones, or other live sound essentials, these limited-time offers make upgrading your setup more affordable than ever.
Editor's picks
Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:
- Thomann: Shop hot deals
- Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
- IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
- Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
- Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
- Reverb: Save big on top brands
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.
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
