Musician's Friend and Mics

[devilution]

This is a stupid question. But does anyone know why they don't carry the MXL v67 (even though they have a thousand other mxl mics) or the Studio Projects B1 or B3? I get the impression from reading these threads and FAQs that these mics are staples in home studios. Have these mics stopped being produced? Is there some secret understanding among "real" musicians that MF doesn't sell real equipment? Are they just diamond-in-the-rough mics that only homerecording.com people know about?

Thanks.

 

[crazydoc]

Manufacturers/distributors and vendors make deals to carry certain merchandise. Sam Ash, Zzsounds and others carry the mics you mentioned. MF doesn't, but carries others that no one else does, due to contractual arrangements, I imagine.

 

[kidvybes]

...think of Musician's Friend (GC's online site) as the "Walmart" of the musical instrument retailers...they have the enormous purchasing power to motivate vendors to "private label" product for them...
...the vendor repackages or modifies existing products to create exclusive items for MF so they are not constrained by the pricing structure that smaller retailers have to abide by...thus you have the MXL "900 Series" of mics which are most likely repackages versions of existing MXL mics...this allows MF to price them as they choose, since they are not "stepping on the toes" of the smaller retailers who sell the standard MXL line...
...this benefits the vendor (by limiting complaints from smaller retailers who can't compete with MF's pricing) and frees up MF to market these "exclusive" versions as they see fit...
...I've had a couple of the mics from this line of exclusives and they were quite decent (960 tube and 990)...
...here's an example of MF's promotions:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid (Stupid Deal on 6/6 - MXL 990 for $49)
...Groove Tubes is essentially doing the same thing for Guitar Center stores by repackaging their GT mics under the Sterling Audio brand...

 

[bubbagump]

Yeah, music retail is a lot like cars. You are a dealer for so many lines... you can't just sell anything you want. The manufacturer has to agree to let you sell their stuff. (There are some exceptions like Zildjian which sells direct to dealers AND through distributors, so anyone can sell Zildjian for instance. There are also lines that let anyone sell a limited set of their products and only selects a few full line dealers) The reason being is that it keeps prices in check (aka, high) so two music stores across the street from each other aren't in a race to the bottom as they have the same stuff but only compete on price. I worked music retail for 5 years and we had two stores. One store could deal Fender, but not Takamine and Ovation as they were too close to another Tak/Ova dealer. The other store couldn't deal Fender but we sold Tak/Ova. The one store had a big Tak dealer down the way that the reps didn't want to piss off as they were making their numbers. The other store had GC and Sam Ash within a few miles so no Fender... but the reps took a risk on us for Tak/Ova as I could sell the hell out of them (and train the other staff how to sell it) and our mom and pop store sold more than the Sam Ash and GC combined. So it is all strategy and politics as to who sells what.

 

[dgatwood]

Caveat emptor. Some manufacturers do special versions for MF that are cost-reduced versions with inferior parts. The Chinese Oktavas come to mind, and I also recall reading that some of the tube mic power supplies for some of their Chinese tube mics are also of reduced quality, but I could be wrong.