TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Somebody put up a thread on TGP asking how long it will take Gibson to screw up Mesa, and after a few baffling "it doesn't matter, who cares" posts (because, in case it isn't obvious, it does matter and you should care), the thread was deleted.
Here's a screencap of the thread title, poll, and first few posts:
It's an interesting discussion so I'd like to continue it here. I'll start with what I was going to post to one of the first replies.
What the hell are you talking about? The people who should care would happen to be "literally anybody who likes Mesa Boogie" or for for that matter... "literally anybody who cares about the concept of 'innovation' in the world of guitar tube amps."
Let me ask you, when is the last time the other big players (namely, Marshall and Fender) have produced any new circuit that people have been excited about? As for Marshall, a few years ago, they did 20w versions of amps that were made famous 40 years ago. Then, before that it was the JVM series, their truely "newest" latest major amp line release, which came out 15 years ago. The latest thing Fender has done is... digital modeling combo amps that don't sound nearly as good as their tube counterparts, that themselves were made famous 60 years ago.
Now let's look at the major new releases Mesa has brought to market since Marshall has released anything new:
2011 - TransAtlantic TA-30
2016 - Triple Crown
2018 - Filmore
2019 - California Tweed
2020 - Badlander
Literally everyone who cares at all about where guitar amps are going needs to care about Mesa, because they're one of the only big name companies left that's actually doing anything to advance big iron tube amps. There are smaller companies that are innovating, like Suhr and Fryette, but it's a short list, and those companies, as much as we all love them, aren't quite as large or as well known as we'd like them to be.
Everybody needs to be concerned about what happens to Mesa Boogie. Even if you don't personally love Mesa's amps. If Mesa were to go under, like say for example if Gibson were to offload a huge amount of their debt onto them and then declare them bankrupt to improve Gibson's HUGE financial deficits, then the entire industry's momentum forward would take a huge hit.
As for me, I'd say I'm cautiously pessimistic. Gibson is just about the last company I'd trust to make managerial decisions and Mesa, and every corporate merger I've ever seen or been a part of (which has been more than a few) goes similarly. At first, the larger, purchasing company says there will be no changes. Then a year or two later comes the rebranding (even if it's not hugely egregious), think "Mesa Boogie by Gibson" or whatever. Then a year or two after that comes total corporate absorption and real changes. We haven't seen what Gibson is planning for Mesa, and we might not for several more years. But change is coming. We just don't know how bad it's going to be.
Here's a screencap of the thread title, poll, and first few posts:
It's an interesting discussion so I'd like to continue it here. I'll start with what I was going to post to one of the first replies.
What the hell are you talking about? The people who should care would happen to be "literally anybody who likes Mesa Boogie" or for for that matter... "literally anybody who cares about the concept of 'innovation' in the world of guitar tube amps."
Let me ask you, when is the last time the other big players (namely, Marshall and Fender) have produced any new circuit that people have been excited about? As for Marshall, a few years ago, they did 20w versions of amps that were made famous 40 years ago. Then, before that it was the JVM series, their truely "newest" latest major amp line release, which came out 15 years ago. The latest thing Fender has done is... digital modeling combo amps that don't sound nearly as good as their tube counterparts, that themselves were made famous 60 years ago.
Now let's look at the major new releases Mesa has brought to market since Marshall has released anything new:
2011 - TransAtlantic TA-30
2016 - Triple Crown
2018 - Filmore
2019 - California Tweed
2020 - Badlander
Literally everyone who cares at all about where guitar amps are going needs to care about Mesa, because they're one of the only big name companies left that's actually doing anything to advance big iron tube amps. There are smaller companies that are innovating, like Suhr and Fryette, but it's a short list, and those companies, as much as we all love them, aren't quite as large or as well known as we'd like them to be.
Everybody needs to be concerned about what happens to Mesa Boogie. Even if you don't personally love Mesa's amps. If Mesa were to go under, like say for example if Gibson were to offload a huge amount of their debt onto them and then declare them bankrupt to improve Gibson's HUGE financial deficits, then the entire industry's momentum forward would take a huge hit.
As for me, I'd say I'm cautiously pessimistic. Gibson is just about the last company I'd trust to make managerial decisions and Mesa, and every corporate merger I've ever seen or been a part of (which has been more than a few) goes similarly. At first, the larger, purchasing company says there will be no changes. Then a year or two later comes the rebranding (even if it's not hugely egregious), think "Mesa Boogie by Gibson" or whatever. Then a year or two after that comes total corporate absorption and real changes. We haven't seen what Gibson is planning for Mesa, and we might not for several more years. But change is coming. We just don't know how bad it's going to be.
Last edited:
