Randall Smith Gone From Mesa Boogie/Gibson?

[KingsXJJ]

New rack stuff or would you want to see them reissue older gear?

Both ideally. I’d love to see an updated Triaxis and Studio Preamp with IR tech.

 

[EOengineer]

Fryette and Synergy are making true stereo power amps, and you have the Fryette Power Station mono amps too. I'd love to see Mesa come out with a new preamp, hopefully an update from the Triaxis.

I was handwringing at an Olympic level trying to decide between the 2:90 or Fryette LXII. I really didn’t want a stereo amp so the LXII was attractive with support for bridged operation, but I have concerns about heat/reliability and even larger concerns about Fryette’s service if I need it fixed.

Ultimately I really wanted simul class Mesa tone to pair with the studio preamp, so that really limited options. I also know I’ve wanted to get a Triaxis/2:90 rig back together since selling my first one 20+ years ago to help prepare for school…so 2:90 it is.

I’d totally be into Mesa innovating in the rack gear space though. The Triaxis/2:90 was decades ahead of its time.

 

[Desertdweller]

I was handwringing at an Olympic level trying to decide between the 2:90 or Fryette LXII. I really didn’t want a stereo amp so the LXII was attractive with support for bridged operation, but I have concerns about heat/reliability and even larger concerns about Fryette’s service if I need it fixed.

Ultimately I really wanted simul class Mesa tone to pair with the studio preamp, so that really limited options. I also know I’ve wanted to get a Triaxis/2:90 rig back together since selling my first one 20+ years ago to help prepare for school…so 2:90 it is.

I’d totally be into Mesa innovating in the rack gear space though. The Triaxis/2:90 was decades ahead of its time.

if it helps at all I had a Syn5050 and found heat / reliability to not really be any problem, but the fan in it revs quite loudly to cool the tubes. The manual also says not to rack it, so there's that too. Rackmount, but don't rack it because it gets hot

The LXII's placement of the depth/presence knobs being recessed, accessible only with a screwdriver, and on top of the amp make it a silly choice IMO. It's a great amp, but that was a design decision that stopped me from buying one. I like messing with depth and presence all the time, I don't want to have to take a rack apart just to tweak my amp sounds.

The LXII might sound a little better, but the placement of the depth & presence on the Syn5050 put it a step up in my book.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Link to Jack Beard site?

Fluff is the one with the webpage (put up in 2021)

It is a nice and concise well laid out guide

https://www.rectifierguide.com/


As far as I can tell most of the info is from Jack Beard who has numerous posts on the boogie board and elsewhere long predating fluff, and it kind of seems like Fluff just summarized and cleaned up Jack’s info in a nice looking package

 

[LCW]

Fluff is the one with the webpage (put up in 2021)

It is a nice and concise well laid out guide

https://www.rectifierguide.com/


As far as I can tell most of the info is from Jack Beard who has numerous posts on the boogie board and elsewhere long predating fluff, and it kind of seems like Fluff just summarized and cleaned up Jack’s info in a nice looking package

Ah ok. I had Fluff’s site but thought this Jack Beard fellow had something similar but more extensive. When I’m bored I’ll peruse the boogie boards.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Except it wasn't "rumors." Fluff knew the truth, which has since come out exactly as Fluff described. Also, it would only be "disrespectful" to Randall if the rumor was that he was fired for incompetence, which is not what happened. Nobody in the entire guitar community thinks Randall Smith, the literal inventor of preamp gain, is incompetent.

Fluff put the word out that Gibson fired Randall out of loyalty to Randall, because he wanted the world to know what was unjustly done to him. That was Fluff's thinking.

Also, he wasn't "click farming." If he was, he would have made a video about it. He didn't do that, he just made a comment in a comment section. That's not how you farm for clicks.

And finally, there is a concept called a "middle ground" you know. Gibson also didn't have to go full excommunication forever with Fluff, they could have suspended the relationship for a specific duration, there's a lot of stuff they could have done. But nope, just straight to "you're done forever for telling the truth about what we did, despite possibly decades of loyalty. Fuck you, don't let the door hit you on the way out."

The whole thing says WAY more about how awful Gibson's people are than it does about Fluff, and they did it to themselves.

I dunno, I just don’t see it as a “justice for Randall” type of move, especially since he deleted everything after Gibson asked him to. If he was really taking some sort of honorable stand he should have left it up or doubled down. Again, by his own words he didn’t have an inside scoop aside from skeptical Mesa employees.

If he does have more information and he’s “loyal to Randall” since he’s “telling all” now you’d think we’d have some more details from him

I’d really like to here more from the man himself, now that he dropped the “f word” himself. Hopefully he decides to actually settle the story at some point.

And it IS disrespectful, Fluff robbed the entire scenario of any semblance of dignity for Randall Smith moving on from something so legendary. Bottom line is kind of the fact that Randall DID sell his company, chose Gibson to sell it to, and regardless of how the relationship ended stayed on for much longer than most do/would in this kind of sale

 

[norminal]

Moral of the story?

Don’t gossip.

 

[[Nathan]]

Really this "controversy" is more about the opinions people have on certain YT guys more than anything else. Fluff is a nice guy I'm sure. And your video was good @[Nathan] (not sure why I can't tag) but once you start talking about "Mount Rushmore of gear tubers"; um...I'm pretty much out at that point

I had to build context to the situation. I guess I could have said I’ve been watching fluff and Ola forever instead. I’m not carving their faces into a mountain just yet

 

[[Nathan]]

I wanna know where that proto Recto clip of younger Randy is from? Would love to see the whole thing.

0:57

I dug through the Mesa channel to find some old gold like this, some pretty good vids in there to see the workshop.

 

[LCW]

I dug through the Mesa channel to find some old gold like this, some pretty good vids in there to see the workshop.

Sweet! Thanks!

 

[JiveTurkey]

I had to build context to the situation. I guess I could have said I’ve been watching fluff and Ola forever instead. I’m not carving their faces into a mountain just yet

Ola; absolutely! Fluff?

 

[norminal]

Just to add to my post:

I had to build context to the situation. I guess I could have said I’ve been watching fluff and Ola forever instead. I’m not carving their faces into a mountain just yet

Where’s all the A.I. picture guys when you need them?

 

[Desertdweller]

Ola; absolutely! Fluff?

They are both dudes that found a niche for themselves and are making a living based on playing guitar and talking gear. More power to both of them IMO.

 

[Jarick]

Thanks for the video, this is a good summary!

IMO this is collateral damage from Gibson doing an absolute shit job at PR. If Gibson made the decision to fire Randall, then own the decision. Drag out Mark Agnesi to try and back talk out of this next mess. Fluff probably sold a lot of amps for Mesa by virtue of his demos and videos, and it's short sighted to tank that.

Fluff seems like he's owning his mistake and it is what it is. It's absolutely Gibson's right to cut him as an artist or partner or whatever, but it's just a foolish move IMO.

And if I'm Fender, I swoop in and get him an EVH deal. Fender is 10 steps ahead of Gibson anyway from a PR standpoint.

 

[DrewJD82]

I heard some rumblings of Randall being fired before the Fluff post, but it certainly blew up with the Fluff post. I didn't put much bearing behind it until I heard Randall say it himself because....I've read a lot of shit on the internet in the 30 years I've been using it.

I'm not surprised in the least bit Gibson cut any ties with him, even if it weren't a shitty move I wouldn't have been surprised. There's a million non-nefarious things a business might do that will only displease a segment of customers that can't/won't/don't understand the decision, even if it benefits them. With so much of my job based around logistics of multiple trades, I'm regularly navigating those kinds of things daily with our tenants. Fluff showed what he's willing to publicly disclose. And in the case of it being of nefarious nature, of course they're going to cut ties.

I also don't believe for a second that Fluff didn't expect that. Quite possible he didn't give a shit due to the firing.

Hahahahaha, it'd be pretty funny if Randall went and started a new amp company and a bunch of the Mesa employees went with him. They could partner with Heritage.

 

[spawnofthesith]

If Randall started a new company I would be very very surprised, and honestly I feel like it wouldn’t be the best look

Considering… ya know he willingly sold out with a grin to a company to who many consider to be Satan like 5 years ago

For better or worse…. he happily left his life’s work in the hands of Gibson

 

[spawnofthesith]

I’ve sold plenty of things in my life that I later regretted, but trying to victimize myself after the fact would be…. Pretty stupid to say the least


Im also not convinced that RS feels victimized either. His own comment was fairly vague and didn’t seem to have animosity or sour grapes going along with it. And it also kinda sucks that people craving salacious drama have made sure that the actually story/point Randall was trying to tell will be forgotten and left by the wayside.

 

[spawnofthesith]

If one was to actually take in the full context of even part of what RS was saying I feel like it should instill confidence in the future of Mesa….

He literally said his brain was downloaded into John Marshall… who is still one of the multiple OG folks steering the ship at Mesa

 

[spawnofthesith]

My big hope is that once Mike B. Finally decided to fully retire his legacy doesn’t also get retcon’d by internet drama queens. He’s already only been kinda part time for quite a while now so I’m sure it’s coming soon. But my faith in humanity isn’t at particularly high levels

 

[Tanax]

Are people actually that hung up about Randall? I honestly couldn't give a flying F.

As long as Mesa releases good products, I don't care who designs them. If they start releasing crappy products due to him not being there, obviously those products wouldn't be interesting. But so far, Mesa has been doing the exact right thing and released two of the amp revisions that people have been shouting about most - both of which has generated a lot of (pre-) sales and buzz. The reviews seem to be amazing as well.

So far, it doesn't seem that Mesa has hurt in any way by Randall not being there.

As for Fluff, well.. he had a partnership with Mesa. They had a partnership with him because he would generate sales for them, and he most likely got well compensated for it. The moment he stops generating sales, or even worse, discouraging sales, of course they drop him. Any company would stop using a marketing tool that would be WORSE for sales compared to if they didn't use that tool. In this case, that tool just so happen to be a person but the principle is the same.