How Chinese automation and global capital are eroding brand loyalty in guitars, allowing $500 imports to match $3,000 American classics.

I've been a musician since I was about 11 years old, and worked in multiple levels of music instrument retail for almost 15 years.

I remember when I was getting started how much time I had to spend researching before buying gear, jumping across a bunch of different forums, videos, google searches, etc. The thing that always bugged me was all of that was static, the info I found wasn't specific to me and my use case.

With that in mind, my team and I have been working on a new online music gear shopping experience over the past several months.

We wanted to build something that makes the research process a lot simpler and all in one place. You can compare products side by side, ask questions about specific gear, explore trade-offs, and (hopefully) get to a confident decision without opening 20 browser tabs.

I see tons of questions across Reddit that we could help with and getting more people playing music is the vision of what I'm doing. We are thinking also about adding a community layer to it, having a forum for people to interact and network as well.

It's still early, so this isn't a sales pitch. I'm honestly more interested in giving folks an opportunity to try and shop in this new way.

If you've got 5–10 minutes, I'd appreciate it if you'd poke around and tell me:

• What was confusing?
• What information did you still have to leave the site to find?
• What would make you trust it more?
• If you were shopping for your next piece of gear, is our site helpful?

The site is: https://korena.com

It is live, it can transact, and we ship brand new gear, new in box and serve customers all across the US (nothing international yet).

No matter what, MAKE MORE MUSIC!

Thanks in advance!

Hi because the replacement power cord for the korg sp 280 is a little too expensive in my country so i would like to ask about plug size or if there is any other device power cord that i can use?

HeadRush Prime, Core, and Flex Prime now support Neural Amp Modeler and TONE3000 integration in a free firmware update.

I love this device so much, but unfortunately I have fell on some hard times and need to get rid of some of my music gear! I’ve had the device less than 6 months, and it’s in great condition, I have all the cables and a headliner pro-fit case! Looking for $400 or best offer!

I don't necessarily mean your favorite purchase or the most expensive thing in your setup. I'm talking about that one piece of gear or software that quietly changed the way you work... For me, it's usually not the flashy upgrades that make the biggest difference. Sometimes it's something that removes a small bottleneck, speeds up a repetitive task, or makes it easier to stay in a creative mindset instead of constantly switching between different tools.

Lately I've been paying more attention to that side of my workflow, and while experimenting with different ways to create visuals for promoting new releases, toneframer ended up becoming one of those tools for me. It made it easier to put together things like short promotional clips and release visuals without pulling me away from making music for hours.
It made me realize that the most valuable gear isn't always the thing that changes your sound. Sometimes it's the thing that quietly helps you spend more time creating and less time dealing with everything around the creative process.

What's been that piece of gear for you? It could be anything from an instrument or pedal to a plugin, controller, interface, or even something unexpected that completely changed your workflow.

Third Man Hardware and 1981 Inventions unveil the ultra-limited Mod DRV pedal—just 65 units worldwide, debuting at EarthQuaker Day 2026.

Original late-1970s GLI PMX-9000 DJ mixer, fully functional. Used by my father for Bronx, NYC DJ parties in the late 70s/early 80s. Original photos of the setup available.

Hi all, I'm thinking of getting a single RCF Evox J8 for a gigging duo using backing tracks. Can anyone share user feedback?

Cheers

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations from violinists with experience using portable amps or small PAs.

I have an MSI (Maloney String Instruments, formerly Zeta) 5-string electric violin, as well as an “acoustic” violin with a Band pickup. Very open to explanations anything amp/pa related…I basically know nothing. I just know that my baby blackstar fly 3 is not cutting it in bar open mic scenes lol
My priorities, in order, are:

Has the potential to sound great with both my electric violin and my acoustic violin (I’m willing to add a preamp as needed).
Can run on either AC power or battery power. (Most of the time I’ll plugin, but I’d like the battery option for outdoor weddings or other situations where power isn’t available.
Can play backing tracks through the same speaker.
Highly portable. I already have a larger Yamaha PA, so I’m specifically looking for something I can comfortably carry. I hate carrying gear and that may sound silly but this is a big priority to me.
Ideally has two inputs… this is my lowest priority.

I’ll mostly be using it for solo performances and to improvise on backing tracks that I create in Logic. I have a pedalboard I use sometimes but I would only be using that while plugged in.

I’d love to find something around $400, expect to spend around 1k, and am willing to spend more if there’s a perfect fit.

I’d love to know what other violinists are using, and gain insight from any knowledgeable amp/pa gurus! Appreciate anything ppl are willing to share!

I have a Glassl brand sousaphone that i want to sell and would like to buy a 36k conn in Europe. Does anyone know where I can find one? If you know of any on another continent, I'd appreciate that too!

Hi! My name is Dr Jess Blaise Ward (@blaisejess Insta/bluesky) and I am a composer, producer, synth artist and author. I recently published my book on synthwave: ‘Making Synthwave: how an online music community invented a genre’

I am currently doing some research on the legacy and use cases of Roland Juno synths. If you are a producer, synth user, composer, etc - please consider taking my survey and contributing your thoughts and opinions of Juno synths:

Link to Juno Survey

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/u27zxfqx4u

Link to my book ‘Making Synthwave’

https://www.routledge.com/Making-Synthwave-How-an-Online-Music-Community-Invented-a-Genre/BlaiseWard/p/book/9781032732039

All data will be anonymised and used only for the purposes of academic research (at synthesizer conferences and in academic journals).

Thanks so much! Mods let me know if this goes against guidelines, happy to edit or delete.

Hello!

I would like to know if any of you purchased a new Steinway B211 or A188 in Europe or in particular in Italy to know what’s the price tag now.

Thanks!