Good gear (not necessarily guitars) store in Bay Area?

Hey guys,

Can anybody recommend a good gear store in the Bay Area that usually has stuff in stock?

I'm going to be down there next month for a week and I have a list of rack stuff I'm looking for. I've only got two local dealers who can order in Alesis and their markups are crazy.

If you're talking about the SF Bay Area, Guitar Showcase in San Jose is great store. Here's their website...

http://www.guitarshowcase.com/

You may want to give a call and see if they stock what you are looking for. Dan is the manager and a great guy.

Brewski:

Aren't you going to recommend "Guitar Center" on Steven Creek?

Why? You don't like the parking where the other vehicle hits your door? :lol:
I haven't been there in ages. Gilroy opened GC and which is close to my place.

I too recommend Guitar Showcase as well as Redwood City's http://www.gelbmusic.com/ both Boogie dealer by the way CoG.

Maybe we should recommend "Pink Poodle" and "Brass Rails" among places. :lol: CoG did say "not necessarily guitars" didn't he?

I dunno about the Pink Poodle and Brass Rail. Those places sound like mostly ...digital... rack gear and I prefer the feel and warmth of, er, analog racks.

Yeah, I mean SF Bay, especially Berkeley/Oakland, and SF proper. I'm looking for someplace that will have lots of rack/digital gear in stock, esp. Alesis and Roland/Boss. Not so much concerned with a good guitar or amp selection. Anywhere that's "the" place to pick up used gear would be cool too.

Muchas gracias.

RR said:

Brewski:

Aren't you going to recommend "Guitar Center" on Steven Creek?

Why? You don't like the parking where the other vehicle hits your door? :lol:
I haven't been there in ages. Gilroy opened GC and which is close to my place.

I too recommend Guitar Showcase as well as Redwood City's http://www.gelbmusic.com/ both Boogie dealer by the way CoG.

Maybe we should recommend "Pink Poodle" and "Brass Rails" among places. :lol: CoG did say "not necessarily guitars" didn't he?

Click to expand...

HAHAHA! You just cracked me up RR you remembered that post! What can I say? I was havin' a moment. At least I attempted to add some humor to my rant, so there was some entertainment value.

I've been to Gelb Music, as well, and it seems to be a pretty decent store, however, I don't recall what they had in rack gear.

There's also Haight & Ashbury. One store is in Sunnyvale and the other is in the city. From what I remember, their prices seemed to be higher than some of the other stores mentioned.

Cog, The rack gear at the Poodle and the Rail will cost ya!

I hope that you have a good visit and that you find the gear that you're looking for.

Where's member MetalMatt, he is a East Bay Area guy.

=> San Rafael's "Banana at Large"
=> Subway Guitars bunch of used gear
=> Starving Musicians bunch of used gear
the first two I have yet to visit but I hear about these places.

Brewski said:

I've been to Gelb Music, as well, and it seems to be a pretty decent store, however, I don't recall what they had in rack gear.

Click to expand...

Well there actually more selling boutique gear like Tom Anderson Guitars, Bad Catz Amplifiers, Victoria Amplifiers, Terry McIntuff guitars, and most of the 19" rack gear are for Sound Reinforcement, Recording and they're in the other room.

Brewski said:

There's also Haight & Ashbury. One store is in Sunnyvale and the other is in the city. From what I remember, their prices seemed to be higher than some of the other stores mentioned.

Click to expand...

True, but I went there and was checking a PRS semi-hollow and the dealer asked me what did Guitar Center quoted me. ... and I did not even dropped by Guitar Center that afternoon so he assumed I was looking for the best prices.
The one in the city (San Francisco by the way CoG) is quite good. Nice "Mom and Pop" Shop enviroment.

Brewski said:

Cog, The rack gear at the Poodle and the Rail will cost ya!

Click to expand...

should we should enphaize "nice Racks"! Oh no, CoG is now Googling "San Jose's Pink Poodle" and Brass Rails in Sunnyvale.

Wait! did somebody say they needed some ones car door worked on? :lol:

Actually I'm a North Bay guy.
Try out Zone Music in Cotati thats where I got my RK, neat store and nice people.
http://www.zonemusic.com/aboutzone.htm

Bananas at Large is OK but they have a bunch of slackers there, and they can't ship or stock anything for sh!t. Worth a try.
http://www.bananas.com/

Oh there is Eguitars which is across the street from Bananas which sell old vintage amps and guitars, not sure about rack gear.

Holy crap, this is an old thread... but one worth revisiting since Mesa no longer deals with GC.

Anyway, I've lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years (mostly in the East Bay) and I hadn't ventured to Bananas At Large until today. I was very interested in checking out the Flux Drive pedal, and Bananas was the closest source. I was very pleasantly surprised when I got there. Yes, there are young slackers there (not much change in over 5 years, I guess), but they quickly/instantaneously referred me a to a veteran sales consultant (though he was young, too).

The consultant (Dana?... I can't remember) set me up with the pedal, amp, and the guitar of my choice, and (key point) left me alone to try it out. Nice!

I bought the pedal and some tubes, and I have to say that it was a great experience. Great store with lots of interesting stuff in stock and at least one very knowledgeable and affable sales consultant. It was a long drive for me, but I'll definitely go back there for major purchases.

Its great to live in or be near a big city. You get play your share of boutique gears from various stores.

Kind feel bad when a member lives far from the big cities and has to rely on others response when asking about a particular boutique product.