Guitar World deals of the week: Save $600 on a Gibson Les Paul, get $250 off a Gretsch semi-hollow, plus a half-price Death By Audio pedal

Welcome back to another edition of deals of the week. It's fair to say that as guitarist we're being absolutely spoiled at the moment, thanks to four massive guitar-specific sales. I've been covering deals for the last few years and it's certainly unprecedented in my time. Let's get to it.

Guitar Center's Guitar-A-Thon launched just a couple of days ago, marking a welcome return for what's become a regular event in the guitar-gear calendar. Discounts reach up to 30% off, and I already spotted $900 off a Taylor acoustic and $500 off a Gibson Les Paul, so it's a great place to be for those looking for a reduction on a new guitar.

Sweetwater's Guitar Month sale was one of the first to launch at the beginning of September, and it's still going strong with thousands of discounts. If you've already browsed this one you should definitely head back, as I've noticed plenty of new deals emerging as well as price drops on existing discounts.

One for our UK and EU readers, over at Thomann you can bag some ginormous savings of up to 70% off in the Guitar Days sale. I covered it yesterday when it launched, and as I was writing some of the deals had already sold out, which gives you a good insight into how good they are. With over 500 discounts, it's well worth a browse for anyone who wants to pick up some cheap gear.

The Musician's Friend Guitar Fest sale has been running for a little while now, offering reductions of up to 40% off a range of guitars, pedals, and some amplifiers too. As it's been ongoing for some time now, I can't see this one hanging around for too much longer, so act fast if you see something you want.

It's a brilliant time for guitar players, and a lot of these sales will be running close to payday at the end of the month, so if you're looking for a bargain on guitar gear it's definitely a good time to buy. As usual, I've picked out some of my favorites for below, and I'll be back at the same time next week with some more great discounts for you.

My top deals

Deal of the Week

Save 23% ($600)

Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s: was $2,599 now $1,999 at Sweetwater Sound

Why I ❤️ this deal: It's a huge saving on a fast playing guitar.

The Gibson Les Paul needs little introduction, and this Standard 60s version is an awesome example of one of the all-time classic electric guitars. It's got a gigantic $600 reduction at Sweetwater at the moment, making it one of the biggest discounts around at the moment. I really love the slim neck on these guitars, which makes it a great mix of modern playability but with all the classic tones LPs are known for. There's no weight relief here, so if you're after a very classic styled Les Paul for less, this would be my top pick.

Read more▼

View Deal

Tried and Tested

Save 28% ($50)

Line 6 POD Express: was $179.99 now $129.99 at Musician's Friend

The Line 6 POD Express is incredibly good value for money even at normal price, giving you HX amp and effects sound for relatively little. But with a cool $50 reduction in the Musician's Friend Guitar Fest sale, it's well worth picking up if you're looking for a versatile practice companion or a great beginner pedal amp. Here's what my colleague Stu had to say about it in his four-star review:

"The POD Express has the added edge of being able to integrate into our existing rigs, and not everyone wants to get their hands dirty with the details. Ultimately, it’s an excellent all-rounder, even if it’s not quite a master in any single area."

If you don't want to mess around with companion apps and software, the Line 6 POD Express is well worth looking into.

Read more▼

View Deal

UK/EU Deal

Save 50% ($132)

Death by Audio Octave Clang: was $263 now $131 at Thomann

Death By Audio pedals do some pretty amazing things, and typically they're not all that cheap. So for my UK and EU readers this is an amazing deal in the Thomann Guitar Days sale. With 50% off the regular price you can pick up an octave fuzz that does all the classic sounds, but can get really experimental when you need it to. Lots of the DBA pedals that were on sale have already sold out, so move quick if you want to bag this one.

Read more▼

View Deal

Bargain Buy

Save 24% ($4.40)

Elixir Electric Guitar Strings: was $17.99 now $13.59 at Guitar Center

You're always going to need new strings, so whenever there's a discount on them it's a great time to stock up. Elixir strings aren't the cheapest, but they do last a very long time so as well as getting a discount with these, you're also delaying the time until you need to buy a set again. With a 24% discount over at Guitar Center, they're particularly good for those of us with large guitar collections, as it means you can keep yours freshly strung for longer.

Read more▼

View Deal

Exclusive Gear

Save 21% ($65)

Fender Engine Room LVL12: was $314.99 now $249.99 at Sweetwater Sound

If like me you've got a monster pedalboard, this Fender Engine Room LVL12 is a great buy with $65 knocked off the price in the Sweetwater sale. Normally found in a brighter silver, I love the look of this blacked-out version that's exclusive to Sweetwater, which means it will blend in a bit better with your 'board build. Isolated 500mA outputs are great for power-hungry digital pedals, and it's super quiet too.

Read more▼

View Deal

Used Deal

Save 55% ($120)

Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport: was $219 now $99 at Reverb

Purchasing used, or in this case, B-stock, is a great way to save heaps of cash. This Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport is available on the official EQD store on Reverb with a huge $120 discount. If you're looking for analog delay tones it's a brilliant choice, providing modulated delay tails in a highly customizable way. Whether you want classic Memory Man style tones, or you want to get weird with pitch stretching and time bending.

Read more▼

View Deal

Guitar sales to shop

Each week I search all the major retailers and manufacturers for the very best sales for guitar players. Here's a list of what's available and where this week.

• Amazon: Money off accessories
• Gear4Music: Clearance deals
• Guitar Center: Huge Guitar-A-Thon sale
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month just $1
• IK Multimedia: $200 off Tonex Max
• Musician's Friend: Up to 40% off
• Plugin Boutique: Money off plugins
• Positive Grid: Save on Spark
• Reverb: B-stock bargains
• Sweetwater: Guitar Month sale
• Thomann: Massive guitar sale
• TrueFire: Save 60% on lessons
• Waves: Buy two get one free

Upcoming sales

If you're not ready to shop just yet but are looking to save some cash for an upcoming sale, I've got the insider knowledge on which sales are coming up soon. Here's what you should be saving your money for:

• Amazon Prime Day 2 - while the exact date hasn't been announced just yet, Amazon typically has another Prime Day sale before the biggest sales of the year arrive during Black Friday. Last year, it was called Prime Big Deals Days and was a great place to grab savings on smaller items like strings, capos, picks, etc. Expect this sale to arrive in October.
• Black Friday 2025 - The biggest sale of the year will be here soon, falling on the last weekend of November. This year, the timing means that lots of people will be getting paid on Black Friday itself, which could make it the biggest one yet. It also means that there won't be many days between Black Friday and Christmas as there has been previously, making it essential to get your orders in early! We'll be keeping track of all the best deals on our Black Friday guitar deals page.

Top products

Part of my job is looking after all the buying guides here at Guitar World, which gives me a unique oversight as to which products are hot right now. Every week I look at what's getting the most clicks from our buying guides and list the top five products for you here.

Our clever widget sorts them by price and automatically picks up if there's a discount at a particular retailer, doing a lot of the hard work for me! If you're looking to see what other guitarists are interested in and get the cheapest possible price, then this is the place to start your search.

Why trust me?

You may be wondering, why should I trust what this random dude on the internet says? Well, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Matt McCracken and I've been playing guitar for well over twenty years. In that time I've gigged all over the UK, recorded in professional studios, bought and sold countless guitars, amps, and pedals, spent 5 years working in music retail for Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars, and now I handle all things gear for Guitar World.

I am a guitar player first and foremost, and the reason I do this job is that I genuinely love all things gear. When I'm not working my day job, you'll find me in the rehearsal room with my band, helming the desk at my local studio working with other musicians, or writing new songs and testing gear in my home studio.

The main focus of my job is to test and research gear for our buying guides and reviews here, whether it's demoing the latest pedal release with my band, diving into the technical side of audio interfaces, or putting guitar cables head-to-head in group tests to determine which is the best. It gives me a great overview on what gear is out there right now, and unlike a lot of content you find online, I've actually had my hands on the gear I write about.

I'm also responsible for finding the best possible deals on gear for our readers, covering all the major sales events of the year like Memorial Day, Prime Day, Labor Day, and of course, the Black Friday guitar deals. I track prices of all the most popular gear throughout the year, so I know straight away whether or not a saving is the real deal or a dishonest retailer trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

How I choose deals

To determine whether or not a deal is worthy of inclusion in deals of the week it has to pass a few different hurdles. I'll ask myself the following questions about any deal before I decide whether or not to include it:

- Is the product genuinely good value for money?
- Is the discount amount real or has the RRP been inflated?
- Would guitarists benefit from having this particular piece of gear in their rig?
- If I've not had hands on experience with the gear, do I have a recommendation from a fellow staff member or musician?

I have various tools I can use to check prices if I've not been tracking it, like camelcamelcamel which can track the price of a product on Amazon. Generally because I'm looking at this stuff every week, I already have a good overview of what the product should cost.

Shopping tips

1. Consider your music goals - What do you want to achieve with your music over the next 12 months or so? Do you want to gig more? Learn a new instrument? Or finally, record your songs? Now could be the time to invest in gear that helps you fulfil your musical aspirations.

2. Create a wishlist early - The most sensible way to take advantage of any gear deals is to know in advance what you’re looking for. This will make searching much easier, rather than having to trawl through loads of deals you don’t want to find the ones you do, or pondering things you don't need. To help you create your dream shopping list, take the time to explore our expert and up-to-date buying guides and reviews.

3. Work out what you actually need - Check out your favourite brands, see what you need and will genuinely use - don’t waste your cash and fill your basket with stuff that will never truly see any action.

4. Streamline your current gear - Something else you should consider ahead of time is whether you have enough space in your collection for new gear. Could you offload some gear you don't use to make room and generate funds for some new gear?

5. Sign up to mailing lists - In addition to bookmarking this page, we'd recommend signing up to mailing lists of your favourite retailers now to get the jump on the best deals when they do come around.

Over to you

Spotted a deal that I missed? Drop me a line in the comments below and if it's still live I'll drop the best ones deal into next week's Deals of the Week.