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Mesa clearance at Guitar Center

#21
pablomigraine said:
To say Fender failed to IPO because of a GC "debt"
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Not at all what I said, just brought it up because the figures were linked. GC's debt to fender was $11M at the time Invalid Link Removed and they have been Invalid Link Removedover the last few years with Invalid Link Removed. I'm sure many retailers are having trouble, but we were discussing Guitar Center and Mesa Boogie. If Mesa says they were sick of GC's business, I can certainly see that being true.
 
#23
pablomigraine said:
:p



Not sure.... best thing to do would be to call the 800 number?



Yeah I can't see that being true. Sounds like marketing not fact reporting.

Imagine for a minute you manufacture tires. You have 151 dealers who buy those tires. The 151st dealer accounts for roughly 35% of your total manufactured volume. The tire business is the least profitable it has been in maybe 30 years and times are tough... Would you cancel the dealer who buys 35% of everything you make and hope the remaining dealers could take up the slack? Could you afford to cancel even a 12% dealer voluntarily right now for anything less than some incredibly egregious offense? No.... no one could.

If mesa cancelled guitar center, and not the other way around, I'll eat my shorts. I'd love to hear this rep you speak of explain why they'd voluntarily cancel their largest dealer.... I know it's cool to bash GC and all...
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Get ready for a meal! ;)

Seriously though - we weren't satisfied with the way they represented the product or the way customers were often handled. When it came time to renew the contract we chose not to. Although they may have been a big dealer, that doesn't always translate to sales. The cool thing has been seeing Mom & Pop shops becoming dealers again to fill the void left behind.

If you understand Pro-Net pricing, you would understand that any dealer can sell our products for whatever price they choose. We don't prescribe to the nebulous game of retail pricing, meaning applying an over-inflated "suggested retail price" with the intent of giving our shared customers the false impression that they are getting some sort of "individually" special deal that is dependent upon negotiating or special timing. We feel that such pricing games are inappropriate and degrading to the integrity of our product, as well as demeaning to our customers' intelligence! As such, there is no relation to dropping a dealer due to discounting, etc.

We've got a great dealer network out there, as well as phenominal online stores such as Humbucker, Sweetwater, etc.

Thanks!
 
#24
I saw this coming when the walkabout head w/case was advertised on GC, then a couple days later it and other mesa items disapeared, mind you I just wanted a walkabout head, not a walkabout scout. I called someone at corporate and questioned them but they had no answer, which I kinda of excpected ...I'll be getting my walkabout head some day from somebody else their loss.
 
#25
coreyfyfe said:
Not at all what I said, just brought it up because the figures were linked. GC's debt to fender was $11M at the time Invalid Link Removed and they have been Invalid Link Removedover the last few years with Invalid Link Removed. I'm sure many retailers are having trouble, but we were discussing Guitar Center and Mesa Boogie. If Mesa says they were sick of GC's business, I can certainly see that being true.
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No that's not what YOU said... that's what the article in question sought to imply. Sorry if I wasn't clear.
 
#26
MesaBoogie said:
If you understand Pro-Net pricing, you would understand that any dealer can sell our products for whatever price they choose.
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Maybe times have changed; I have not followed the Mesa lineup or relevant pricing closely. But when I worked for a mom-and-pop MI shop that had the Mesa line ages ago in the mid-1990s, it was made VERY clear to me from the boss guy on day one that the retail price on any Mesa piece was the sale price, and any deviation from that policy whatsoever could cost us the line.

It's been my observation that Mesa stuff never, ever went on "sale" at GC either, at least until recently.

Perhaps it is more complicated than this. I never had big problems with Mesa doing it this way, because it seemed like a decent way to keep mail order shops from stealing local-shop business. It's when larger, much more ubiquitous companies like Apple take the same tack as a purely psychological ploy to inflate consumers' sense of value / quality that I have objections.
 
#28
I went to my local GC yesterday to look at a 1x12 4 ohm Walkabout Scout. It was marked $799 but I mentioned a mark on the tolex and the sales rep came right back with $635. He didn't say so outright but I got the impression that they were eager to be rid of their Mesa inventory.

I couldn't resist at that price. I'm still getting to know the combo but I am really impressed so far. :bassist:
 
#31
corsa said:
I went to my local GC yesterday to look at a 1x12 4 ohm Walkabout Scout. It was marked $799 but I mentioned a mark on the tolex and the sales rep came right back with $635. He didn't say so outright but I got the impression that they were eager to be rid of their Mesa inventory.

I couldn't resist at that price. I'm still getting to know the combo but I am really impressed so far. :bassist:
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That's a stupidly great deal! Congrats. I've had mine for 6 years and use the head all the time.
 
#32
I spent a couple hours at my local guitar center. Playing mostly the MB stuff in different configurations. I saw and played the Mesa stuff. The stuff looks great but I don't know any one that uses it. The warranty is outstanding. The Amp was on the floor so it was being offered as, what I considered, a demo. They would say it is new. However, and for me the elephant in the room, is the weight of the equipment. Sure it is a good system, with a lot of power, but (imo) not a lot of definition or punch. Maybe a few hours with the amp would reveal the punch. I will admit that I am a long time GK player. I was hoping to find a new system with a great tone and versatility and smaller footprint. I liked that sound, kind of, but the weight was a deal breaker, considering it would go into a rack along with a power conditioner, effects and maybe a tuner. Having said this I went back to the Mesa twice.
Oh, I also notice that guitar center did not have any new GK stuff, that only had three the 200, 700 and 1001 which had a broken switch and the a few combo's. So maybe GC issues are more structural. I think the notion of companies price fixing is stupid and unfair. I know that this equipment is difficult to design and construct and the companies should be able to get some reward, but after the equipment has been on the floor for a few months or even years, the price should be more flexible. I know for a fact that the Mesa systems that I saw had been on the floor for a little more that a year. In electronics that is an eternity.
 
#37
Looks like all Mesa prices shot back up. Was looking at a guitar lunchbox head (TA-15) last week but went in to actually try it out and buy it, but was told it was a different price :eek: $260 more!!! The remaining Mesa stuff they had all reflected similar like a PH212 selling now for $799?? Last week it was around $550?? Or around?? Manager wouldn't even budge on the TA-15 saying it'd be less then cost (which they had the audacity to say I must've been mistaken!)
They offered just a couple bucks off but I said no thanks and walked away. Oh well :/
 

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