Gibson Acquires Mesa/Boogie

[logdrum]

I am not worried at all. Even if they folded Mesa. Randy and co will get a good paycheck and they deserve it. They served so many Bay Area musicians and defined a tone palette for the electric guitar. Maybe no more tube amps moving forward and that is fine. I love what I have and had of their tube amps. I am actually getting back my Mark II back and all signed by Mike. I got to drop my Blue Angel in Petaluma, saw the office and facility. And Randy is a sax and flute player, so kindred spirit there.

 

[murph7489]

Does it look like this, like the current one on their web page?
View attachment 4118549
I believe that the sound is not so bad, but IMHO to charge for a mix of glue and wooden remains that looks like that, at such huge prices, is a shame.
Not to be misled, I love Gibson and also own a Les Paul Custom but from an earlier period, and luckily, mine is made of a real wood. The things they’ve been doing in recent years I really can’t understand

no, perhaps you can zoom in but mine is very nice looking

 

[StayLow]

Willing to bet 100% of the people complaining have never rocked a Gibson through a Boogie stack. Guitar OR bass.

Normally I'm more than a bit cycnical, but the more I think on this the more right it seems that two iconic American brands are teaming up.

Rock hard and stop whining for nothing! Live in the present. Life's short.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Anyone remember the 914?

Yes, the predecessor of the 924... always looks like it's going backwards to me. The appear on eBay here every now again.

 

[Doufuss]

A few years back, I was looking to upgrade from my LTD and looked at some Les Pauls. I was quite taken aback at the lack of quality overall and gave that up. 6 months ago, I walked into my local music store and they had a higher end LP hanging on the wall.

That thing was spectacular. Everything was top notch. Fit, finish and playability. It literally felt like it was alive. ('course, it was 8 grand...)

Today's Gibson is very different than yesterday's. So let's be patient.

 

[sleepingEB0]

Personally I think ripping off another companies design is unethical even if it’s legal. Generally speaking anyway. The heritage thing being an outlier.

Dean for example should bring its own design to the table rather than sell wal-mart Gibson.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Maybe they’ll start making Mesa guitars and basses.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Here's the difference:
1) Yamaha doesn't have a long track record of destroying acquisitions
2) Yamaha, across all of its product lines, has (probably) the best QC of any large company in the world

Trace Elliot and Steinberger are still in existence... Epiphone of course was also a Gibson cquisition and is going strong.

I concur on Yamaha quality though, I have their "silent" cello and classical guitar and they are both excellent.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Maybe they’ll start making Mesa guitars and basses.

As long as the basses look like they could easily be part of a Hummer or an F-18 I'll buy one.

 

[edro]

Trace Elliot and Steinberger are still in existence... Epiphone of course was also a Gibson cquisition and is going strong.

I concur on Yamaha quality though, I have their "silent" cello and classical guitar and they are both excellent.

I think HankieJ sold Trace Elliot name/IP 20+ years ago to Hartley... They have reinvented the name, limited to small rigs presently. Great Gib Kiss of Death on the original big iron Trace Elliots like others... Legend for one... Still have my pre-GGKoD Legend A30 oak and cane amp. (out of Syracuse) Great designs...

Steinberger is Epiphone. My XT-25 is an excellent bass, perfect build...

I've never seen a bad Yamaha anything... Great bang for the buck.... Have used a Yamaha analog board for years with not even a burp or scratchy... Looking at their digital TF series presently... Impressive design....

 

[India_Sierra]

Trace Elliot and Steinberger are still in existence... Epiphone of course was also a Gibson cquisition and is going strong.

Both still exist in spite of Gibson, not because of them. Trace Elliot were on top of the world when Gibson bought them. Years of chronic mismanagement later, they were sold to Peavey (who to their credit, did at least bring them back in a sense). Steinberger is an even more disappointing tale. Gibson own the man's name and everything they make is an insult to it. That is another classic case of buying up a company they don't really understand, with premium qualities they can't maintain, and slowly grinding it down into a joke. We are just lucky that guys like Jeff Babicz exist to make some authentic (but extremely expensive) recreations and refurbs of proper Steinberger guitars and basses.

Epiphone being a success is of little surprise, since they became the Gibson budget line. About the only thing that Gibson understand is their own guitar line, and sometimes I even doubt that.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Both still exist in spite of Gibson, not because of them. Trace Elliot were on top of the world when Gibson bought them. Years of chronic mismanagement later, they were sold to Peavey (who to their credit, did at least bring them back in a sense). Steinberger is an even more disappointing tale. Gibson own the man's name and everything they make is an insult to it. That is another classic case of buying up a company they don't really understand, with premium qualities they can't maintain, and slowly grinding it down into a joke. We are just lucky that guys like Jeff Babicz exist to make some authentic (but extremely expensive) recreations and refurbs of proper Steinberger guitars and basses.

Epiphone being a success is of little surprise, since they became the Gibson budget line. About the only thing that Gibson understand is their own guitar line, and sometimes I even doubt that.

Not sure if that makes sense to me... if Trace Elliot were on top of the world how come they were even for sale? And Ned Steinberger voluntarily sold his brand - including the brand name - then went on to create something far more unique, inventive and successful than anything that happened under that original Steinberger brand name. Those headless wedges were an 80s fad. As for Epiphone, a seminal brand in its own right but it was amusing to see them out-compete their owner for a while (no-one is immune to a little schadenfreude).

I guess the anti-Gibson brand tribalism continues

 

[agedhorse]

Both still exist in spite of Gibson, not because of them. Trace Elliot were on top of the world when Gibson bought them. Years of chronic mismanagement later, they were sold to Peavey (who to their credit, did at least bring them back in a sense).

I think if you were to have a better more accurate understanding of the history of Trace, you would quickly recognize that Gibson was the last in the chain of "downward trend" events (not counting Peavey, which IMO isn't really even related to Trace) starting with the sale to Kaman (KMC) in 1992 with the prospect of growing it into a bigger, better company (reliability was a costly struggle on some of the products). It was sold back to the Trace directors in about 1997 and continued to slide and VERY QUICKLY sold it to Gibson (about a year later). Let's keep the discussion factual please.

Not sure if that makes sense to me... if Trace Elliot were on top of the world how come they were even for sale?

I guess the anti-Gibson brand tribalism continues

Yes, you are perceiving this accurately IME.

 

[India_Sierra]

Pardon me for misremembering events. At least there is no dispute that Gibson bungled it and put the nail in the coffin for a company who had once been the hottest name in the amp world

 

[agedhorse]

Pardon me for misremembering events. At least there is no dispute that Gibson bungled it and put the nail in the coffin for a company who had once been the hottest name in the amp world

We have a saying in the horse world... when you buy a dying horse, hopes may be high but expectations are generally low that the horse will end up a winner. That would be the definition of a miracle.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

We have a saying in the horse world... when you buy a dying horse, hopes may be high but expectations are generally low that the horse will end up a winner. That would be the definition of a miracle.

 

[Jeff Scott]

We have a saying in the horse world... when you buy a dying horse, hopes may be high but expectations are generally low that the horse will end up a winner. That would be the definition of a miracle.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

My guitar player was trying to get a Mesa Amp a TC 50 (Triple Crown Black Taurus) that was in stock when he ordered it. But as soon as he put the order in, he gets notified the next day it is back-ordered. And no one can find one.
Guess the Pre-Gibson Mesa amps are going fast.
Now he is having to use a Mesa Lone Star for an upcoming gig. Sad.

Geeezzz Louise......

 

[chaosMK]

I was thinking more along the lines of an affordable amp.

Go used if you want one of the best amps ever made for less.

 

[murph7489]

no, perhaps you can zoom in but mine is very nice looking
View attachment 4119544

maybe this is a better picture with the Ampeg Vt60 tube amp I play it through...and as a bonus my fender rumble 100 that I used for bass. I play both guitar and bass in a three piece....