Best Memorial Day sales for musicians 2026: grab yourself a bargain up to 60% off with these early deals on music gear

One of the most popular electric guitars of the past few years. What makes it so popular, you ask? Well, one of the things we noted in our SE Silver Sky review was that the second-to-none build quality, especially considering the relatively low cost. The neck shape is super playable, and quite unique in its feel; it’s no Fender copy that’s for sure. Plug it in though, and you definitely get Strat vibes from the trio of single coil pickups with some super sweet sounds.

I've spied a humongous discount of $599 on a Gibson J-45 Studio, taking the price down to below the $1,800 mark. If you want a pro-level dreadnought acoustic with a huge voice, then I reckon this is one of the best deals going on an acoustic-electric guitar right now. The 24.75” scale length makes it ultra-playable, and the all-solid Sitka spruce and walnut tonewood combo delivers an epic voice, even when you strum it as hard as you can.

The Gibson Victory is a quirky offset double-cut design that was first produced and made available during a short period in the ’80s. It was, effectively, Gibson’s answer to the Superstrat hype that took hold during the decade. It's a bit of an oddball, but I love it. Especially right now with the price $500 lighter for Memorial Day.

It's hard to imagine a musical scenario where this SE wouldn't shine. Whether you're shredding solos, grooving with a wedding band, or strumming your heart out, this guitar will more than keep up, and thankfully, it has the stunning playability to match its gorgeous tones. Save $250 for Memorial Day at Musician's Friend.

The headline discount from the Fender Memorial Day sale is $600 off this Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster. Part acoustic and part electric, this hybrid instrument offers some genuinely unique tones, whilst retaining that classic Fender playability. We gave it four and half stars out of five in our American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster review, praising the expanded body size versus the Strat and Tele models (the Tele is also available in the sale) and the humbucker, which provides some sumptuous tones.

Fender has been courting a lot of controversy lately, and there were definitely those who felt stung when they took over Studio One and turned it into a more guitar-centric DAW. For guitarists, however, it’s great to have software more focused on our own instrument, and we gave it four and a half stars out of five in our Fender Studio Pro 8 review. With this bundle, you get the Fender Quantum LT 2 audio interface and six months of access to the full Fender Studio Pro software. With dual inputs, plenty of headroom, and an instrument designed specifically for guitars, this is a great way to record a DI alongside a mic’d guitar amp.

While a compressor pedal probably isn’t the most exciting purchase you’ll ever make, it can certainly have a large impact on your playing and tone. Used correctly, a compressor evens out the dynamics of your playing and can be used to subtly enhance your sound, or completely squash it for those spanky funk guitar tones. The blend control makes it super flexible, and this Fender The Bends Compressor has got a huge $75 off in the sale, meaning it’s sitting just above the $100 mark.

This Fender Limited Edition California Vintage King in Antigua is super value for money thanks to a massive $290 off. The all-solid construction makes it an absolute steal, with a solid Sitka spruce top and solid ovangkol back and sides. The ‘V’ profile neck offers excellent playability, and it’s got Fishman Presys VT Plus electronics so you can gig it. Just to sweeten the deal, it also comes with a hard case.

Fender’s The Pelt Fuzz has been around for a while, and we gave it a Gold Award when we reviewed it back in 2019. It’s still great today, and with $74 off, superb value for your money. It’s a square-wave silicon transistor fuzz pedal that offers loads of control thanks to some additional switches and knobs. The bloom knob allows you to control the attack of the fuzz, while the thick and mid switches offer extra tonal control, making this a very versatile fuzz pedal for the money.

Spring reverb is a hard one to get right, but the Catalinbread Topanga is one of my favorites. Arguably one of the finest spring reverb emulations full stop, it captures that splashy sound of an early 60s Fender spring reverb tank brilliantly, even with the dwell setting cranked. It can do subtle sounds and substantial ones equally well, and with a $33 discount at Sweetwater taking the price down to just $186.99, it’s my top pick if you’re after a spring reverb for your ‘board.

The stock of the UAFX amp modeling pedals has never been higher since The Edge admitted he’d been using them during U2’s Las Vegas Sphere residency. There are plenty of ‘Marshall-in-a-box’ type emulations out there, but little doubt the Universal Audio UAFX Lion is one of the best. The $100 reduction in the Sweetwater sale takes the price down to $299, far less than an actual ‘68 Super Lead and well, if it’s good enough for The Edge…

Probably one of the best deals we've seen around Memorial Day, a cool $50 off the Line 6 POD Express is sensational value for money if you're looking for a new practice tool. An entire rig in a tiny footprint, jam-packed with quality tones from the HX series, it can work as a travel rig, practice tool, or even for playing live. You can also use it as an audio interface, which for just north of $100 is an absolute steal. Read our Line 6 POD Express review.

Packing 67 bundles into one all-encompassing package, the Waves Platinum Bundle is the perfect place to start your producing journey. Bought individually at full price, they'd total a massive $1,999, but a ginormous 93% discount brings them back into reach of the majority of music makers out there.

Another Andrew Scheps signature model, the Scheps Parallel Particles plugin is a brilliant option for enhancing the vibe of a particular instrument that isn't quite cutting it in the mix. Based on Scheps' parallel processing tools, it's a fantastic quick fix for any instrument you like be it a synth bassline, a shaker, or a lead part that needs an extra push to the front. We found it incredibly easy to use thanks to the simple interface and it's one of our top choice saturation plugins.

We've used the Scheps Omni Channel on pretty much every instrument at some point, whether adding a light touch of vibe or totally transforming the properties of a track. It's a 5-module channel strip that features preamp, EQ, de-essing, compressor, and gating, making it a proper Swiss-army knife tool for your productions. There are loads of great presets built into it that make a good starting point for beginners, and if you know your stuff, plenty of options to tweak and shape your sounds.

More commonly known as R-Bass, Waves Renaissance Bass is an essential tool for any producer, and we, among many, many music producers have been using it for years. It may be old but its algorithm is still one of the best in the business for adding richness and punch to instruments in the low end. Whether you want your kick drum to stand out more or you want the bassline with some added rumble, R-Bass is a simple yet indispensable tool for music production.

If you're looking for a good quality low gain overdrive, we think the J. Rockett Blue Note OD is a hugely underrated option. It's got a massive $46 discount at Sweetwater at the moment, so whether you want to use a pedal to push an amp harder, or add something into your gain stack to really deliver some satisfying saturation, the Blue Note OD is an excellent choice.