Sound Control is one of the biggest retailers of musical instruments and accessories in the UK and claims to be the largest online retailer in the sector. The group have around 25 music superstores in a number of  UK cities, including Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Milton Keynes and Southampton. 

I've actually bought from their Bristol store and from their website, so have experienced both sides of their retail business. Each time the purchase was price driven, because of the buy being a good deal, or the lowest I could find at the time.

Having been to several of their stores, I can tell you that Bristol is fairly typical of their retail outlets. Usually a deal of the month on display as you walk through the door making it difficult to miss and a very good sales ploy. The time I was in Bristol the display was of a stack of Line 6 combos ranging from single speaker 30W up to twin speaker 100W combos. I didn't really need an amp at the time, but was intrigued to try out a Line 6 Spider, so ended up walking out with one simply because the price was too good to resist. 

The displays throughout the rest of the store were very good with an extensive range of guitars and helpful staff, ready and willing to plug you in with your choice of model and leave you to decide whether it was what you wanted, or to recommend an alternative. A pal I was with was looking for a left-hander and here, like most stores, they could only offer a very limited choice, but were prepared to order in if they detected a strong possibility of a sale. They've also been known to throw in a few extras if you are a beginner, like strap, picks, lead and tuner- just make sure to tell them its your first guitar.

Overall the store purchase experience was very good and the knowledgable and helpful staff are to be commended. 

My other experience of Sound Control was buying from their website ( www.soundcontrol.co.uk ). Every January the website has a large selection of sale offers and special deals. Such was the case when  I was flirting with the idea of acquiring a Gibson SG. 

After Christmas things slow down for the retailers so good deals can be had and Sound Control is no different, except their prices are better than most. Well, I just happened to be looking at their site when a banner caught my eye advertising a deal on an SG Standard. Just £699 (over £200 off list price) for the guitar with hard case and a promised pack of accessories including quality lead, Gibson strap, polishing cloth, picks etc. The purchase process was easy and three days later the guitar arrived by courier.

When unpacked there was the guitar and case, but no goodies pack. Now it may only be a lead, strap,  cloth and picks, but I felt as a tight-fisted consumer I should complain. I rang up and was told the extras pack was a mistake on the website, but in order to preserve good faith they would mail it out within the next 48 hrs - it never arrived! Two emails reminding them, but no change and no pack. In the end I couldn't be bothered to chase them up any more.

So would I buy from Sound Control again? The answer is yes, though that goodies pack still rankles, because their stores and web service are generally very good and prices are amongst the best to be found. They also send out regular newsletters with their top deals which I find useful rather than a pain.