Mike Bendinelli at MESA/Boogie No Longer Doing Mods **UPDATE**

S

Six Stringer

Active member
So I just got, yesterday, a Boogie and called MESA today only to find that Mike B. is no longer doing mods, just maintenance. I wished I had known beforehand. So I sent it in or a maintenance check and recapping. They also said he might start doing them again but who knows.
 
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C+ owners are rejoicing as the value of their Gibson amplifiers just went through the roof. No more conversions I guess.

I just hope Gibson doesn’t run Mesa into the ground like everything else they’ve “acquired”, but it looks like they’re on the right track to do the same thing. Let’s just hope they don’t attempt an amp equivalent circuit design of a reverse Flying V.
 
Mike still is servicing them and there's no reason to think some else there won't continue to service them after Mike retires.

The amps are frustrating complex. I gave up on sorting a Mark III and he just fixed it up. I should have it back next week I think.
 
Honestly..all I can say is..a bit of a odd feeling.
But....never turning my back to either.
Better yet?
F-YOU internet dude's.
There will be that new perfect match of Gibbie & Mesa in some random year and me & the brethren, we'll be all about it.
Btw, I'll play anything if it sounds good, feels right & creates a vehicle to get to the source with flow.
I don't give af**💥
FUGAZI.
 
acalaf said:
you sold you mark iv because Mike B is no longer doing mods? How does the Gibson acquisition change the sound of your amp?
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Not quite.
I have 4 Engineers in town. My go to guys, known them for years.
Nobody would do a cap job here on my MK IV.
Matter of fact nobody would touch it with a 10 foot pole.
And i knew not a question of if but when it would need work.
I didn't want to "hafta" send it to Petaluma but that was my choice.
Plus i have other amps and traded the MK IV for a Les Paul.
Ive seen that amp sell 2 other times the last year.
It gets around. And MK IV prices keep going up.
As for Gibson i wouldn't let Gibson change a set of strings if someone paid me let alone farm out amp work.
 
Samhain said:
I have 4 Engineers in town. My go to guys, known them for years.
Nobody would do a cap job here on my MK IV.
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Look at your gut picture again. Changing those large caps is not hard if you know what you're doing.
You don't have to remove the PCB or anything. I recently did my III. Again, you have to have some
soldering chops but nothing too serious.

guts.jpg
 
Mike B decided to take a hiatus from accepting mods back in December, before the Gibson deal was announced. I would not ascribe this having anything to do with Gibson. He had been slammed since early last year, and, needed time to breathe. AFAIK, he’s still been working through the backlog that had accumulated prior to January. While he is still maintenance servicing amps, my understanding is that no mods are being accepted for the time being. He may get back to it (hopefully) in the future. His mods are done on his time-clock, not Mesa’s, so he probably needs to re-charge his batteries. He’s a great guy, completely customer-centric and deserves a respite.
 
Samhain said:
wp3784081.jpg

Not quite.
I have 4 Engineers in town. My go to guys, known them for years.
Nobody would do a cap job here on my MK IV.
Matter of fact nobody would touch it with a 10 foot pole.
And i knew not a question of if but when it would need work.
I didn't want to "hafta" send it to Petaluma but that was my choice.
Plus i have other amps and traded the MK IV for a Les Paul.
Ive seen that amp sell 2 other times the last year.
It gets around. And MK IV prices keep going up.
As for Gibson i wouldn't let Gibson change a set of strings if someone paid me let alone farm out amp work.
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Yikes. Those “engineers” sound like rookies. Cap job is pretty simple. Nick, dawnofadream, posted here how easy it was to do. 🤷
 
IIBornotIIB said:
Mike B decided to take a hiatus from accepting mods back in December, before the Gibson deal was announced. I would not ascribe this having anything to do with Gibson. He had been slammed since early last year, and, needed time to breathe. AFAIK, he’s still been working through the backlog that had accumulated prior to January. While he is still maintenance servicing amps, my understanding is that no mods are being accepted for the time being. He may get back to it (hopefully) in the future. His mods are done on his time-clock, not Mesa’s, so he probably needs to re-charge his batteries. He’s a great guy, completely customer-centric and deserves a respite.
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Friedman does that all the time and others to get caught up.
 
I didn't think there was the same need to replace those that there is with the larger high voltage ones???
 
IIBornotIIB said:
Mike B decided to take a hiatus from accepting mods back in December, before the Gibson deal was announced. I would not ascribe this having anything to do with Gibson. He had been slammed since early last year, and, needed time to breathe. AFAIK, he’s still been working through the backlog that had accumulated prior to January. While he is still maintenance servicing amps, my understanding is that no mods are being accepted for the time being. He may get back to it (hopefully) in the future. His mods are done on his time-clock, not Mesa’s, so he probably needs to re-charge his batteries. He’s a great guy, completely customer-centric and deserves a respite.
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I've sent 3 amps to Mike...my first 2C SRG, turned into a +. Then, a 2B Coli loop modded...finally the 2B Coliseum turned into a C+ Coliseum swapping preamp boards. The shortest conversation I've had with Mike was maybe 35 minutes...he is such a nice cool guy to talk to, you get into a conversation and the next thing you know a half hour's gone by and you didn't even know it...fun talking to him. When you think about all the rock stars he's dealt with, and is on a first name basis with yet he still treats average dudes like me like any valued customer...he's a great guy that we are all lucky to have dealt with. Whatever break he needs, he gets. Well deserved.
 
Samhain said:


yeah i knew that was coming once Gibson bought Mesa.
God help us Mesa owners now. Thats why i sold my MK IV.
Mikes had a good run, time to enjoy other things.
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"that's why I sold my Mk IV"?... "time to enjoy other things"?... damn man... You're letting internet idiocy mess up the tool box used to express yourself. Take a deep breath...
 
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Don't cry or anything its just a fucking amp.
Millions of them Bro.
 
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My guess is like stop doing the IIC+ mods for the Mark series and then in like a year do a “heritage” or “classic” series which has a flagship model in a IIC+ with all the goodies for like $4k+ new, fancy headshell, COA, etc etc etc - have Metallica & Petrucci play it and boom they’ll sell a shit ton. I’m honestly amazed that Mesa hasn’t done anything like that yet
 
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