Mesa/Boogie joins Gibson

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

Sad news. 2021 is starting off like last year with news like this. I was always hopeful PRS would acquire Mesa. That would have been magic in a bottle. This merger with Gibson makes it like old syrupy turpentine in a rusty tin can! Well! No more Mesa for me.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Well that news got you out from under your rock

Im crawling back under with my MkIV and 50 cal+

 

[El Fenix]

I'm a big Mesa/Boogie fan. I have a Express Plus 50 and a TC-50. Both are great amps. Not sure how I feel about this. Lot of unknowns. Will the "corporate" people try to change how Boogie does things? Wouldn't really make sense to do that considering how successful Boogie has been, but "corporate" people don't always do the sensible thing.

True. I work with a bunch of them.

 

[Lister]

Well I hope PRSh doesn't sell PRS Guitars to Gibson when he turns 75.

That's actually a great point that begs discussion. Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug at Taylor Guitars are one of the few companies that are public with their plan of succession, Andy Powers has been taking on a bigger role for years now.
Now none of us want to think about this even though it's inevitable, but is there a plan like that at PRS? I'll admit I've never paid that close of attention before, so who would be PRS's Andy Powers?

 

[Deli6505]

After seeing the madness in Washington DC today, I didn't think this new year could have started out so badly.
I was wrong.

 

[Black Plaid]

Happy for Randal, I hope he's set for life, he's worked hard for many years and truly deserves it.

Bad news long term for us, I guess the mk 5:25 i have will be my last new Mesa. Makes it make even more sense to get that Quad Cortex now. ... or maybe a PRS amp with a dragon on it ...

 

[alantig]

Well I hope PRSh doesn't sell PRS Guitars to Gibson when he turns 75.

He won’t. Unless he’s in a smoky bar and mistakes them for someone else.

 

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

That's actually a great point that begs discussion. Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug at Taylor Guitars are one of the few companies that are public with their plan of succession, Andy Powers has been taking on a bigger role for years now.
Now none of us want to think about this even though it's inevitable, but is there a plan like that at PRS? I'll admit I've never paid that close of attention before, so who would be PRS's Andy Powers?

Ol' Andy is now a 1/3 owner of Taylor, which is good because he is now losing 1/3 of his own money as he tanks that company with his nefarious acoustic escapades. So I hope PRS has a plan, but not an Andy Powers plan. That said, no one loves baby like momma loves baby. I can't see anyone other than Paul with his passion and his matrix of analytics for the guitar run his company the way he does.

 

[vchizzle]

Good for Randall Smith, glad I don’t horse in the Mesa race.

edit: I admit I cringed and had a little sick feeling when I read that when it was still a rumor. Lots of parallels to PRS. American companies that started from the passion and drive of great minds.

 

[Mattldm]

What I don’t understand is how come one minute they’re going bankrupt, the next they buy out Mesa

Gibson didn’t buy Mesa, KKR did. The Gibson merger thing is just a positive spin on the the acquisition of a capital investment company. Mesa was likely in trouble or would be soon so it makes sense that Randall would cash out while he can.

 

[Herr Squid]

It's impressive indeed to witness how badly Gibson has soiled its reputation. Darn near everyone (including me) thinks this is bad for Mesa's future...

 

[Mike Duncan]

Well, great! Now my Mesa's headstock is gonna snap.

 

[bodia]

F@ck.

RIP

Hey, I know you!

 

[DogPhishHead]

Wow, a whole lotta hate and speculation going on here... I somewhat understand it from an emotional standpoint (Gibson being the arch-enemy to many of us dedicated PRS fans), but from a pure business standpoint, Randall Smith probably saw the writing on the wall. Aside from retiring and cashing out, the next 50 years of amp development and innovation is not going to be tube-based, and M/B are not positioned currently to deal with that. I think many of us see the close parallels of the MESA/Boogie and PRS companies - PRS just happened to have an astute business team that was able to keep producing the U.S.-made elite-level instruments, and come up with lower end lines made in Asia - but with great success. M/B apparently did not want to go that route. My guess is that for now, we will start to see an Asian-made line of M/B amps, along with the high-end U.S. amps. As much as I'm not a fan of the Gibson company, I do think they now have a dedicated executive team now whose hearts and minds are in the right place. Time will tell I guess.

That dedicated executive team of which none have a musical background (Levi Strauss ex-President and investment world execs), have no clue what to do with a guitar or amp........yeah, that will turn out JUST FINE !

 

[TheDoktor]

I'm more of a Marshall guy, but Mesa has made some killer amps. That said, the "Gibson Brands" track record is... yeah. This does somewhat lessen my chances of buying a (new) Mesa down the road- I have a personal policy of not buying Gibson simply because I dislike their business practices so much.

Guess we should wait a couple of years and see if Randy Smith leaves and starts "Randall Smith Amplification," a la Michael Tobias after Gibson destroyed his brand's reputation.

 

[TheDoktor]

R-2C+
R-III
R-IV
R-V

Buy one, gut it, and fill it with NOS/Vintage Boogie parts! Then there will be some “makeover” shops popping up.
The next trend! Match your R-LP!

And, of course, the chorus of “They don’t sound like the old ones”!

To be fair, a lot of people would love to see a reissue of the Mark II C+. That amp is legendary.

But I also have absolute faith in Gibson's ability to screw it up.

 

[Stephen J.]

Regardless of the future outlook of a company like Mesa, there are only so many companies that have the capacity to take it over. Having the perfect match was probably pretty low odds. I can think of worse scenarios for the future of Mesa.
I have only owned one of their amps, an F30. I was considering another, but went with the Two Channel Custom 50 instead. I might have gotten into another at some point, but I haven’t lived closer to a dealer in quite a while, so they haven’t been accessible. Gibson might change the level of distribution. If they can maintain quality, well. . .

 

[PRSfanboy46]

According to Trogly's guitars, he heard from an ex Gibson employee that Gibson as a whole were going to try to revamp their amp line since they also made amps and most likely needed a company to help them with that. Mesa boogie is already expensive, can't imagine what prices are gonna be on pre Gibson MB's. If they can run it properly and not run into the ground like they have with other times they have taken over a company, I could see some nice amps in the future from Gibson, and the same Mesa Boogies we love! Watch the used market inflate the prices of pre Gibson dual rec's and all the other MB amps! I guess Gibson has been a bit better under Cesar, not a fan of the play authentic thing at all but hey Gibson will be Gibson, they only see us as the consumer. https://reverb.com/p/mesa-boogie-du...-channel-100-watt-guitar-amp-head#price-guide look at that jump!

 

[WEDGE]

My local Facebook Marketplace already has an ad for a pre-Gibson Mark IV....

 

[dkilpatrick]

I’m happy with my current Mesa amps, I haven’t had amp GAS for years. I probably will not buy Mesa branded tubes going forward unless they are NOS.