Where to buy ....

[Keroleen]

Curious where do you guys recommend to buy keyboards in either Canada or America? In my province it seems I got only two big box music shops. I don’t wanna go through Amazon cuz returning such item is such a drag.
After looking through your advices and talking to guitarists I’ve been recommended either JunoDS or Novation controller. As well I’m not able to try to see or try the actual rig . I’m told everyone bought up affording range stuff to during the pandemic and stock won’t arrive till October.
Plenty of guitar shops....guess not as many people into synth playing.....boo

 

[happyrat1]

I'm located in Mississauga and I've had good experiences ordering online from a number of stores in the GTA as well as from BC and Alberta in the past.

Main stores I check online for comparison shopping include Moog Audio, Cosmo Music, LA Music, Long and McQuade, Steve's Music, Tom Lee Music out in BC and B&H photo in New Jersey (they ship to Canada using Purolator and Eat the Brokerage Fees) .

Also Best Buy has a professional music gear section online. They ship out of Alberta.

A lot of these vendors also act as resellers on Amazon.

They have varying policies on returns but usually I'm pretty sure of what I'm looking for and have only had to return a DOA item once.

As a rule, avoid ordering from the US these days if you can. Markup for an item after taxes and shipping can be over 100% in CDN dollars.

Plenty of good choices in Canada and some good deals to be had as well.

Also, don't overlook the used market. I've closed some very satisfying deals on Kijiji and Craigslist.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

There's also Steve's Music as well. Steve's, Moog Audio and L&M are also located in Both Toronto and Montreal.

Another one in Montreal is Archambault Music.

Gary

 

[Biggles]

I cannot see how given your requirements that you state in other posts you are at the stage of considering a Juno DS and a Novation.

These, especially the Novation are not necessarily going to meet your requirements.

 

[happyrat1]

First of all. Where in Canada are you located? What's the closest large city near you?

Secondly, no music store in this country stocks everything and has it on display.

Sometimes you just have to take your chances and hope for the best.

Quality control on these units is pretty tight and they rarely ship a defective or DOA instrument.

Amazon's return policy is excellent actually. 30 days to return and they eat the return shipping and no restocking fees.

None of the other companies I mentioned have comparable return policies.

Gary

 

[Keroleen]

I cannot see how given your requirements that you state in other posts you are at the stage of considering a Juno DS and a Novation.

These, especially the Novation are not necessarily going to meet your requirements.

yeh some idiotic sales person at Tom Lee music kept getting me to look at midi controllers even after I told them I got the Launchkey.
I’m at this point lightly looking around with potential purchase within the year. But I want to actually try and see the hardware first and do some research you know? And the shops literally are sold out of keyboards other than higher end ones.
I was also told Yamaha won’t have stock for months so yeh....

 

[Keroleen]

There's also Steve's Music as well. Steve's, Moog Audio and L&M are also located in Both Toronto and Montreal.

Another one in Montreal is Archambault Music.

Gary

Great thanks.... I’m in BC but I’ll be going back east on a trip soon so i was thinking of checking things out.... it’s just it’s not a cheap purchase (pushing on 1000$...so whatever I end up deciding on) and I’m frankly pissed off at the service and push towards styles I do not want. And here there are so many guitar shops here but ones that carry keyboards are limited. I used live in GTA and it seems there is more of everything there.
Maybe wait till pandemic over and people get bored and sell off what they bought to entertain themselves now lol

 

[happyrat1]

There used to be a major dealer in Edmonton called Axe Music. They got bought out by L&M about a year and a half ago. They still have a major warehouse in Edmonton though and if you wanted to see what's in stock that would be the place to go.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, if you want a better idea of what's available take a look at the video gear reviews thread here in the forums.

Keyboards and Gear - Video Reviews

I'm proposing we make this thread a sticky.... Just to give newbies an overview of what's out there... Fell free to post any youtube or personal reviews you might think would be helpful to others.... The begin... 3 Pianos under 400 UK Pounds.... Blindfold test.... And another blindfold...

www.keyboardforums.com

Gary