Randall Smith Gone From Mesa Boogie/Gibson?

Signs everywhere…Was driving yesterday in my neighborhood and seen this
IMG_0601.jpeg
 
EOengineer said:
My apologies, I must be mistaken. It seemed like for quite a while there was a ton of chatter about Mesa’s overseas pricing.

I made no such comment. Different user.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't read who made the post!

The Mesa pricing in Europe IS expensive, I mean.. the JP2C is like $5000 almost. That's including tax though, so it's like $4000 excl. tax. While it's expensive, it's not a MASSIVE markup over the US price.

The second hand market is f*cked up though. Like I mentioned, someone tried to sell a JP2C for $6000. Why would you buy that when you could buy it NEW for $5000? Because Mesa stock in Europe is also crap. There's currently a wait list on top European music store, Thomann.

But even amps that are out of production, like a Roadster is right now listed for almost $5400 (plus $150 in shipping). Or a Mark V is listed for $3200. I don't know about other people but I'd much rather pay a bit more (or in the case of the Roadster, less) to get a NEW Mesa reissue (or even their modern offerings).

GuitarBilly74 said:
That's the current situation with Marshall in the US..
Click to expand...

Ah really? It seems amp companies, on both sides of the pond, are having difficulties filling up their stocks :/
 
Tanax said:
Sorry, I didn't read who made the post!

The Mesa pricing in Europe IS expensive, I mean.. the JP2C is like $5000 almost. That's including tax though, so it's like $4000 excl. tax. While it's expensive, it's not a MASSIVE markup over the US price.

The second hand market is f*cked up though. Like I mentioned, someone tried to sell a JP2C for $6000. Why would you buy that when you could buy it NEW for $5000? Because Mesa stock in Europe is also crap. There's currently a wait list on top European music store, Thomann.

But even amps that are out of production, like a Roadster is right now listed for almost $5400 (plus $150 in shipping). Or a Mark V is listed for $3200. I don't know about other people but I'd much rather pay a bit more (or in the case of the Roadster, less) to get a NEW Mesa reissue (or even their modern offerings).



Ah really? It seems amp companies, on both sides of the pond, are having difficulties filling up their stocks :/
Click to expand...
Interesting - so is it just general lack of supply that’s driving up the used market like that?
 
VAT was the source of some sticker shock when my wife and I vacationed in Ireland. I imagine on bigger purchases like guitars and amps it’s even more so.
 
Tanax said:
Sorry, I didn't read who made the post!

The Mesa pricing in Europe IS expensive, I mean.. the JP2C is like $5000 almost. That's including tax though, so it's like $4000 excl. tax. While it's expensive, it's not a MASSIVE markup over the US price.

The second hand market is f*cked up though. Like I mentioned, someone tried to sell a JP2C for $6000. Why would you buy that when you could buy it NEW for $5000? Because Mesa stock in Europe is also crap. There's currently a wait list on top European music store, Thomann.

But even amps that are out of production, like a Roadster is right now listed for almost $5400 (plus $150 in shipping). Or a Mark V is listed for $3200. I don't know about other people but I'd much rather pay a bit more (or in the case of the Roadster, less) to get a NEW Mesa reissue (or even their modern offerings).



Ah really? It seems amp companies, on both sides of the pond, are having difficulties filling up their stocks :/
Click to expand...
I don't see this high prices for used Mesas here in Finland. Atm I see one Mark V:90 for 3200 €, which is way too high, but another at 2300 € which is high, but acceptable (and made me consider buying one).

I see a couple of Rev E Dual Rectifiers for around 1000-1200 €, Mark IV head for 2000 €, Triple Crown 100 for 2600 € (too high IMO)...

There will always be a few people trying to sell their amps for high prices, and they can be up for sale for years.

Mesa amps used to be hideously expensive in Europe until they changed distributors. I once calculated I could buy a plane ticket from Finland to New York, go buy a JP2C, fly back and buy a step-down transformer for less money than buying one locally.

I honestly don't know who is willing to spend about 4500 € on a new Mark VII or JP2C head over here.
 
EOengineer said:
Interesting - so is it just general lack of supply that’s driving up the used market like that?
Click to expand...

Most likely, yes.

greatmutah said:
VAT was the source of some sticker shock when my wife and I vacationed in Ireland. I imagine on bigger purchases like guitars and amps it’s even more so.
Click to expand...

Not really. All amp companies have VAT added to their products. Taxes are part of life and most Europeans don't mind paying taxes. The issue is that US brands design their products for a non-taxed price point. Compare it against European brands, they would design their products for a taxed price point. Compare for instance the $800 Marshall ST20H vs the $1800 Friedman Little Sister. That's an insane markup. The Friedman of course has some more bells and whistles, but not more than DOUBLE the price.

laxu said:
I don't see this high prices for used Mesas here in Finland. Atm I see one Mark V:90 for 3200 €, which is way too high, but another at 2300 € which is high, but acceptable (and made me consider buying one).

I see a couple of Rev E Dual Rectifiers for around 1000-1200 €, Mark IV head for 2000 €, Triple Crown 100 for 2600 € (too high IMO)...

There will always be a few people trying to sell their amps for high prices, and they can be up for sale for years.

Mesa amps used to be hideously expensive in Europe until they changed distributors. I once calculated I could buy a plane ticket from Finland to New York, go buy a JP2C, fly back and buy a step-down transformer for less money than buying one locally.

I honestly don't know who is willing to spend about 4500 € on a new Mark VII or JP2C head over here.
Click to expand...

I just did a search on Reverb. Not sure if I'm allowed to post links to specific listings without my post being tagged as a sale post, but you should be able to find them there as well, it's a Roadster from Portugal and a Mark V from Greece.

Not sure what market site you use in Finland. In Sweden we have Blocket which doesn't have too many Mesas..

Well, now you know one. I would gladly pay €4500 for a Mark IIC+ RI, or slightly less for the Dual Rec RI, rather than paying for a second hand option. But I also dislike buying second hand for pretty much anything. I like having 3 year warranty. I like that it's not worn out and in good quality. If something is not good, you can return it for 14 days. Electronic things will be up to current standards. Etc.

Rev E for 1000 is pretty good, but like I said, I'm really not keen on second hand amps. Especially older amps.
 
In my contract for my job, I have a clause in there that basically says I cannot badmouth or reflect badly on the company.

I'm really not surprised that Gibson/Mesa decided to end their relationship with Fluff. It sucks, but it is what it is.

Just don't buy new Mesa gear. Buy it used. Or buy a Revv. I quite like the cut of Revv's jib actually - a Revv Generator MKIII is in my future, for sure.

I don't think I'll ever buy a "proper" Gibson at the moment. Just coz the company really gives me the shits.
 
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