I’m about to place an order with thomannmusic but I’ve never ordered from them before, I thought they were a European distributor but they have a U.S. site and everything is in USD etc, I checked the shipping cost and it was something like $58 so it can’t be going intercontinental.
Their prices are much better than other places like Sweetwater etc
Has anyone in the states ordered from them before?
I noticed that a lot of pics of the gear shows euro power plugs, is that just because they’re using the same pics. Will they know I need the US plugs since I’m ordering in the states?
Anyone have any thoughts on their experience ordering with them?
When I was in NYC, I ordered some of their Roadworx stands. They did come from Germany.
I don’t have any experience ordering gear with power leads to the US from them, but I’d be surprised if they would swap them out for you. You can use an adapter or, if the lead has a standard end going into a power brick, those are available from electronics retailers. [Edit: this is just my opinion, you should definitely check with them.]
I looked into it once, they have a specific US customer service hotline but it’s still part of their European main branch, basically if you need help you have to get a hold of that team specifically. I don’t think they ship from within the US, though I’d bet they do know the difference and if it isn’t a device with multiple plugs (like how some arturia devices have slip on adapters for most countries included with the same main psu) they’ll send you the correct psu based on order location.
I’d verify the power adapter aspect before ordering though… just my 2 cents.
I bought a Launchpad Pro Mk3 with decksaver from Thomann.
Another thing to watch out for is that they don’t seem to be a “real” e-commerce site. Password changes and order updates only happen during EU business hours, so I assume their “backend” is just an email queue. There are advantages and disadvantages to this, but my main takeaway is not to expect anything to happen quickly.
Most of the big brands control regional distribution: Thomann isn’t allowed to sell Roland/Korg/Yamaha to the US at EU prices.
Waldorf stuff is much cheaper from Thomann, but based on the hardware failures people have described here I would not buy Waldorf stuff from Thomann.
Side note, this may be changing. Waldorf just switched their US distributor.
In making your decision also consider warranty coverage, which often ( not always ) gets handled through the retailer. Plus compare length of warranty. I know for instance Sweetwater extends all shorter warranty products to their standardized longer warranty. Check the Thomann warranty policy.
I bought a behringer thing from them in 2022 when exchange rates were favorable and it came with a European power adapter. The wall wart is compatible with voltages from 110-220 so I was able to use a cheap plug converter instead of buying an expensive step-down transformer.
You could check with their CS team but I would be surprised if they’re keeping a separate stock of items specifically to accommodate US customers
Just make sure your order total isn’t above $800, and that none of the products are labeled as being manufactured in China.
There are some similar threads on here with experiences ordering from Thomann, plus is you still get their 3 year warranty, downside is the item would likely need to go back to them should you need to claim on it
yea the made in china stuff u get dinged on bad… i thought I could be cheeky ordering my mpc X SE from thomann but it ended up being basically the same price and without local warranty.
had a friend order his MPC X SE from nyc and he barely got hit with much over just state tax, lucky! saved over 15% compared to local price
Alot of other stuff is fine… but ymmv
i bought my iridium from thomann… much cheaper than local
same with doepfer cases and modules, decksavers (all made in europe)
a bit cheaper on neumann headphones
i’ve ordered all my 19" racks and jaspers racks from thomann as well, those modulracks are absolutely class and beat anything out here in every regard if you dont mind the plain black finish
elysia stuff is considerably cheaper from thomann, blackmagic and manfrotto video/lighting/camera gear too
SSL fusion and BUS+ are like drastically cheaper compared to over here in north america. They are made in china but even after fees i think on certain modules it’s still cheaper. I’ve tried to get prices closer and some of my NA retailers just say its impossible to compete with Thomann’s prices on certain gears.
Rupert Neve, API basically all the made in usa stuff is cheaper to buy locally here than get from thomann
regarding power plugs, all the stuff that has fixed voltage supplies it will give a warning saying that it only works on european mains
typically alot of units have switches and Thomann will actually provide an extra IEC cable free of charge for the North American plug so you’re all good
Interesting, I’m not sure exactly what’s considered made in China and what’s not since most things are at least pre-manufactured in China.
What do you guys thing the situation would be if I order some Behringer synths from them?
Most Behringer gear is manufactured at Music Tribe City in China, so very good chance of getting stung with the Chinese origin import tax.
Behringer gear is usually about the same price on Amazon/Alto Music as it is on the Thomann store, ordering from Thomann you’d have to pay a shipping fee too, so imo it probably wouldn’t be worth it.
For boutique European made stuff that isn’t made in large enough quantities to stock US distributors are usually the best things to.buy from Thomann, like Bastl, Twisted Electrons, Polyend etc…
Thomann is an excellent place to purchase from for US buyers with a couple caveats (already listed above).
I got my Syntakt from them a month after it released for under $800. Just had to swap out the cable on the elektron psu.
If the shipping seems high, reach out to them. They halved the shipping for the NI Kontrol mk3 I just bought after inquiring.
Yeah, Thomann is legit. I’ve ordered a bunch of stuff from them and their shipments often arrives faster than items ordered from US shops! The $800 limit for import fees is somewhat mysterious – sometimes I’ve had to pay it and other times not.
I bought a bunch of stuff from them… and all the concerns and issues is all listed above.
Just make sure you get the gear that has dual voltage for the states, which most are now.
And I didn’t have to pay import tax on the Prophet 6, but did have to pay import for something else… maybe the syntakt? not sure. BUt the import taxed one was also delayed in customs for some reason.
No! it was the second dfam or matriarch I bought off them… one of those got held up and I got charged…
Musikhaus Thomann has opened a Harley Benton store in the USA. Harley Benton is a store brand of acoustic and electric guitars and guitar equipment only at Thomann. The store is on-line only with the warehouse in Connecticut, and is run through Reverb at the moment, so it’s much more familiar and “local” for US buyers.
They carry a very large selection of the Harley Benton guitar line. They unfortunately for me don’t carry the entire line, the specific acoustic guitar i seek they don’t carry; i wrote them to see if i could get that specific guitar, and they said, “No, order it from Germany.”
I won’t.
Hopefully this gets expanded. For instance i don’t think there is a US Store for Roth & Junius, Millenium, Startone, or other store brands – let alone a full out US Thomann branch.
When I got my Syntakt e25 I ordered from Thomann. I believe at the time, most places had them listed at $1150 and I paid about $1000 with $50 shipping. I did get hit later for import duties at about $58 (I believe). So I saved about $40 total over purchasing from a US distributor.
After ordering, I asked about the EU power lead and Thomann told me it comes with an EU plug - so they threw in a good quality plug adapter for free which I’ve been using with it ever since. In general the customer service was excellent and the shipping was fast.
