GoodBuyGuys Blog

I don’t watch much television, and if I do, its usually “late night”. I’m always surprised to see how prominently musical equipment manufacturers logos are displayed when you see bands on programs like Late Night With David Letterman or The Tonight Show. While its true that some of these players have endorsement deals with the equipment makers, others don’t. More importantly, in most cases companies like Yamaha and Tama aren’t paying the networks directly for this tremendous exposure. Meanwhile companies like Ford and GM are paying millions for advertising on the same shows that might be nearly as effective.

Its a lot easier to get video exposure for your band than it was a few years ago. You Tube, cable and satellite TV, and other online channels mean that performers using musical equipment have tons of opportunities to be seen. If you are interested in the possibility of getting some sort of endorsement deal, try using a little well placed gaffers tape to cover up the logos of any equipment that might appear in your video.

You can be sure that if someone from Marshall or Fender sees you using their equipment with the logo obscured they will realize that they are missing an opportunity to put their name in front of lots of eyeballs. With a popular YouTube video getting millions of views, this type of exposure can rival that of a 3 minute performance by a popular artist on a network program.

Equipment manufacturers pay lots of money to popular performers to use and be seen with their gear. There’s no reason that you should miss out.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. We’ve got gaffers tape in 13 colors!

For the last couple of weeks we’ve seen a huge spike in microphone stand sales at buymicstand.com and our ebay store “buy mic stand“. We had no idea why. I should have asked my kids!

It seems the must-have item for this year’s Christmas is an XBox 360 game called Rock Band. Growing on the popularity of Guitar Hero, Harmonix has released a game that includes not only a guitar, but a drum set and a microphone as well. What it doesn’t include is a microphone stand.

Suddenly, every gadget and gift giving blog I come across talks about Rock Band and about the accessories you’ll need to play the game correctly. A mic stand is one of the accessories that the game maker doesn’t offer.

I hadn’t checked our Google search ratings lately, but currently we are number 1 for the search term “microphone stand” and number 2 for the term “mic stand“.

Maybe we’ll sell enough stands for me to be able to put Rock Band under our Christmas Tree.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Count on us to meet your mic stand needs.

My experience with using personal computers goes back to the early 1980’s, so I’ve had more than my share of opportunities to set up, take down, reconfigure, and generally wander around computer peripheral cabling. The more I handle this stuff, the more mystified I get.

I began my career as a an audio techncian, and spent many years building, setting up, configuring, and repairing concert sound systems. People who design computer peripheral wiring could learn a lot from the audio industry.

While the performance and compatibility of computer peripherals continues to improve, the interconnections between these devices never catches up. I can’t think of a single data-type connector that comes close to matching the performance of the lowly audio XLR connector, a design that is well into its second half-century of use.

I just spent 15 frustrating minutes trying to replace a computer monitor in the office, only to be reminded that there are at least three (if not more) different pin configurations for a D-sub connector, even though they all have the same physical shell. Maybe, it’s just me, but I almost always have to try to plug in a USB connector at least two times, as there is nothing visible on the outside of the connector to indicate which end is up. I guess there are savings involved in making ethernet connectors with with almost useless plastic locking pins, but the savings quickly evaporate when you spend a half-hour trying to pry one out of a computer port after the release tab snaps off. The list goes on and on.

Audio connectors, on the other hand, are designed to be patched in the dark, repaired (when necessary) in the field, and to be common to hundreds and hundreds of different manufacturers equipment. The Shure SM57 microphone ( probably the most popular and common in the world) uses the same connector now as when it came to market in 1965. A 40 year old SM57 works with a brand new Chinese-made microphone cable right out of the box.

We’re depending more and more on computer-based devices all the time, and the portability designed into these items means that they are constantly having to be cabled and uncabled. Hopefully, manufacturers will consider adopting some connector standards that are up to the task.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Count on us to meet your cable needs.

As the raw material in batteries continues to increase in price, we feel real pressure to try and save customers some money. We’ve steadily watched the cost of alkaline batteries increase, so I like to test non-name brand competition whenever I can.

I’m sitting and staring at two glowing flashlights on my desk as I write this blog-one flashlight is using a couple of Duracell Procell AA batteries and an identical light contains a fresh pair of AA from a company called Permalife.

Unfortunately,it looks like the “Permalife” is going to be considerably less than “Permanent”. It’s already starting to dim.

We were excited when we got pricing information about the Permalife brand, as these batteries had real potential to save our customers some money. The savings evaporate in a hurry if it takes three or four batteries to match the performance of one ProCell.

It’s bad when a flashlight fails in use, but you usually get some warning. It gradually fades out rather than failing all at once. A wireless microphone is very different. Once its voltage in the transmitter falls below a certain point, the receiver becomes vulnerable to all sorts of outside interference. This can be disasterous or funny. Usually the former. Rarely the latter.

As the sun sets on this blog, the Permalife-equpped flashlight fades to black and our quest for a good no name battery continues. If we ever find one, I’ll let you know.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. We’re your source for honest battery information.

When whoever invented the USB interface (Universal Serial Buss) they probably had no idea how universal this connection protocol could become. The USB connector is starting to show up on all sorts of devices to serve a function that is no longer limited to data transfer.

We spend a lot of time watching trends in rechargeable batteries, and the use of the USB interface as a port for charging a battery powered device is really starting to become common. IPODs and other MP3 players, cameras, recorders and lots of other devices with onboard rechargables now use the USB connection for battery charging. You can use the battery charger supplied with the device is you want to, but the real value in this set up is that it gives your computer (laptop or otherwise) the dual purpose of being a universal battery charger. Best of all, the battery can be charged while you use the computer for its intened purpose with no slowdown in its performance.

Travelers who are tired of having to carry a battery charger for every device in their bag (think Martha Stewart facing down the CEO of Sony) can now look forward to having one powerful multipurpose device charge batteries in the background. You can forget about which computer platform you use as well. A device that charges off a USB port doesn’t care if you are a PC or Mac user. “Universal” really does mean “universal”.

Anybody considering a battery powered gadet purchase for a Christmas present (particulary for a road warrior) ought to be sure that the device is equipped with a USB connector that serves the dual purpose of charging the battery.

Perhaps this really is the beginning of the end for a different charger for every device.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.
Look to us for all your battery needs.

I try spend part of every day visiting forums where there are discussions among hands-on users of the products we sell. You can get a lot of good information about how people use what we sell to solve problems and its possible to develop good theories about how trends will develop over the coming months and years.

Unfortunately, those who moderate these forums (a thankless task, I know) have become so concerned about members using their forums to sell products that they are denying their membership the chance to take advantage of some of the most expert opinions available in the marketplace.

We have a very large product user base of stagehands and theatre techs, and almost every problem they face is going to cost them something to solve. Why deny these hard working technicians access to information from those who know these problem solving products the best.

I tried for a while to post solutions and start legitimate discussion on some of these forums, but I was constantly being threatened with banishment because the moderators did not want any links in their forums to any commercial sites.

Here’s a couple of quick examples.:

A number of theatre techs were discussing how to best remove adhesive residue from cables. I’ve done a lot of this and we sell a product that does the job really well. A link to this product on one of our web sites might have saved somebody a lot of time. Not Allowed!

I came across a post from a church sound technician who was concerned about poor battery life in her wireless microphones. It turns out that the church was using old-style carbon batteries in an attempt to save money. A simple link to buybattery.com where we sell the most highly regarded wireless mic battery around at very competitive prices might have been of real use to this person. Not allowed!

I understand the need to control spam and prevent postings from people who are selling something completely irrelevant to the discussion, but as long as these forum moderators attempt to block information from those who have the most to offer, they are not serving their members the best they could.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

If you carry a cell phone, you know how easy it is to receive calls, no matter where you are. Your phone number works all over the country. Folks who use VOIP phone services like Skype and Vonage can plug their internet phones in almost anywhere in the world and get calls on their local phone number.

Justin Timberlake’s Future Sex/Loveshow has taken the concept of staying connected to a new level. As reported in the July 2007 edition of PLSN magazine, the Timberlake summer tour is saving thousand of dollars on telco costs by carrying its own internet based phone system.

WANetics LLC is providing the hardware and technical expertise that lets the Future Sex/Loveshow skip the costs of having the venue provide expensive temporary phone service and hardware. Not only do they not incur local telecommunications expenses, but details like phone and fax number remain unchanged, regardless of where the tour is performing.

Each of the tours five departments (promoter, production, accounting, crew and tour management) has its own dedicated road case that accomodates phones, cables, a fax machine, batteries, wifi and an ethernet switch. All voice and data services are provided through a broadband internet connection and then distributed on a frequency that will travel well throughout the production area of the venue and will not interfere with WIFI frequencies.

According to the PLSN article, the tour reported that voice quality was excellent and that overall service was good even in venues where internet quality was less than perfect. Best of all, the whole system worked no matter what part of the world they were in. The system even provided special phone capabilities like voicemail and conferencing.

Personally, after having paid lots of these telco bills myself while working as a promoters rep, I’m not shedding any tears for the local phone companies that will lose this revenue stream. They consistently overcharged and underperformed.

Look for this service to become the standard for large touring organizations of all sorts in the near future.

Want to know more about WANetics tour support? Here’s the link!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. All the supplies a major entertainment tour needs.

I’ve never been a big sports fan, but I began to follow some major sports when we had a chance to supply some very high profile events like the Super Bowl, NFL Playoffs, and The Kentucky Derby, etc. Knowing that we might have gaffers tape on the goal posts or batteries in the referee’s wireless mic has made me more interested.

Along with this interest comes an interest in reading the sports page. Some of the best writers for our local newspaper, The News and Oberver (Raleigh, NC) appear in the sports section and I have found myself drawn there every day. That may be about to change.

Yesterday’s front page of the sports section was really incredible. Out of six lead stories on the first page, only one was really about playing the game, whatever that game might be. Every other story was about some level of corruption in yet another major sport. The dog fighting scandal involving Michael Vick, Barry Bonds steriod use, doping allegations in the Tour de France, and gambling by an NBA referee all stole space from scores, trades and activity by local teams. It was more like reading a tabloid than a major newspaper sports page.

I grew up idolizing big league athletes, but my children have little interest in big time sports. This may or may not be related to the level of scandal, but, regardless, it means that they, and lots of their friends, won’t be buying tickets and purchasing merchandise.

We’ll continue to work with our customers who are involved in supporting major league sports, but if things don’t improve dramatically on the front page of the sports section, this is an industry heading for a major fall.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Look to us first to meet your microphone accessory and battery needs.

After working on it for almost a year, last summer we were finally able to get a dealership for MagLites. I have enjoyed using these flashlights for years (every stagehand has one) and I was confident that the would be a big seller. I assumed (obviously incorrectly) that lots of our customers would be familiar with this line of flashlights and if our prices were competitive and our selection was good, they would sell.

We registered the web site, buymaglite.com, built a good e-commerce and information site, linked to goodbuyguys.com and waited for the orders to roll in.

Nothing!

We can’t give them away. Our offer on flashlights is always “batteries included“, we were never “out of stock” (I wish!), and the other sites affiliated with goodbuyguys.com were generating lots of traffic and lots of sales.

The quality of a Maglite has never been in dispute and the company does lots of national advertising to support the brand. These flashlights are durable, bright, and have a great warranty.

After several months of working on the web site, it scores well with major search engines, so it seems that buymaglite.com should be easy to find if someone actually wanted to “buy a Maglite”.

We’ll keep working on the site, but this problem is a real mystery to me.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Look to us first to meet your flashlight and battery needs.