Gift guides and buying guides, picked from our rankings with real prices.
Guides · Nov 6, 2026
Thomann lists 126 analog mixers with a median of $268 and 87 digital mixers with a median of $2,241. The number of channels sets the price, and the step from analog to digital is cheaper than the medians suggest: a 32-channel digital rack costs less than a 32-channel analog desk.
Guides · Nov 6, 2026
Thomann lists 190 wireless handheld microphone systems, and the middle one costs $728. Digital systems cost about twice as much as analog ones. One thing surprises first-time buyers: the same system is sold in up to 28 versions, one for each frequency range.
Guides · Nov 6, 2026
A trumpet, a cornet and a flugelhorn all play in B flat, cover the same range and use the same three valves and fingerings. What changes is how the tube is wrapped and how wide it gets, and with it the sound: bright, rounder, or dark and soft. They aren't priced the same either.
Guides · Nov 6, 2026
Thomann has 1,714 single effect pedals in stock, and the middle one costs $201. Delay and reverb cost the most, chorus the least, and the brand moves the price far more than the type of effect: the same idea costs $34 from one maker and $400 from another.
Guides · Nov 5, 2026
A first synth can be three quite different things: a monosynth that plays one note and teaches you how sound is built, a polysynth that plays chords, or a groovebox that makes whole loops on its own. At Thomann they sit at very different prices, and only one of them needs nothing else.
Guides · Nov 5, 2026
A five-string bass adds a low B below the E. At Thomann, 97 basses come in both versions, and the fifth string costs a median 8% more, about $94. The bigger difference is in your left hand: the neck gets around 6 mm wider at the nut.
Guides · Nov 5, 2026
Thomann lists 145 studio headphones, from $10 to $3,811, and half cost less than $185. The biggest price line isn't the brand but the back of the ear cup: open-back models cost three times as much as closed ones in the middle of the range.
Guides · Nov 4, 2026
Scale length is the distance from the nut to the bridge saddle. Three quarters of an inch between a Les Paul and a Strat changes string tension, fret spacing and tone. We counted the scale of 3,832 electric guitars at Thomann: 59% are 25.5 inches.
Guides · Nov 4, 2026
A good turntable costs from about $300 for a plug-and-play record player to $1,100 for a Technics. The middle of Thomann's 50 turntables is $668. What you pay for is the motor, the tonearm and whether the turntable is built to listen or to DJ.
Guides · Nov 4, 2026
A passive pickup is a magnet and a coil. An active one adds a small preamp that runs on a battery. At Thomann, about one electric guitar in ten is active, mostly metal guitars with EMG or Fishman Fluence pickups, but more than half of the basses are. Here's what you hear, and what you have to remember.
Guides · Nov 4, 2026
A column PA is a subwoofer and a tall, thin speaker array that sets up in two minutes and spreads sound evenly. A pair of 12-inch speakers on stands costs less per decibel and scales up with subs. Which one fits depends on the room and on how loud you play.
Guides · Nov 3, 2026
A full-size classical guitar at Thomann starts at $56, and the middle of 469 models is $613. The price follows the wood: a solid top roughly doubles it, solid back and sides on top of that quadruple it, and master guitars start above $4,000.
