Mesa/Gibson corporate BS over free speech

[Nuage420]

I think many of us were upset with Mesa falling under Gibson. As optimistic as we all wanted to be I think we all knew it would be inevitably spoiled.
Lies were told about the firing of Randall and Fluff corrected them online and was immediately dumped by Gibson and Mesa. As a consumer I now have lost any faith and trust I may have had about gear reviewers and their products. Even the most trustworthy and dependable can now be called into question knowing that they have to produce videos and possibly censor themselves out of fear of losing support.

 

[monsterthompson]

Interesting. Following this for updates.

 

[bass.slinger]

Also following.

 

[pcake]

i already saw a different video on youtube about this and emailed gibson. any person in charge can make any business decision, and of course, we can't know for sure what happened. but while trying to keep people from knowing about the firing - assuming it did happen - they created a lot more awareness plus made themselves seem like the bad guys, whether they actually are or not. haven't their decision makers heard of the streisand effect?

i was unfamiliar with fluff - i watch bass channels - but after all his years of love for mesa, i felt like whatever happened, they could have given him a break. he took the post down - it was others who copied his post and made it a much larger piece of news.

 

[MaxCellExcelWon]

Well, since Gibson bought them they have switched to the Dad-rock nostalgia reissue business model with the reissued Mark and Rectifier guitar amps.

For me, this is a good thing, since I can't wait for a reissue of the Bass 400+ and a return to the aggressive "in-your-face" Boogie bass philosophy of years past, before they got lightweight both literally and tone-wise.

 

[gtirard]

I'd be curious to see if @agedhorse will care to comment that thread, he always has an good balance of sincerity and corporate loyalty.

 

[Fynn]

Well, since Gibson bought them they have switched to the Dad-rock nostalgia reissue business model with the reissued Mark and Rectifier guitar amps.

For me, this is a good thing, since I can't wait for a reissue of the Bass 400+ and a return to the aggressive "in-your-face" Boogie bass philosophy of years past, before they got lightweight both literally and tone-wise.

Oh, I wouldn't be so excited about that. Gibson is of course hyper profit oriented. More so than pretty much any other big name in the music industry that I can think of. Which to me would mean they probably wouldn't give two ***** about the bass nostalgia. I just don't see the market being there for stuff like that. Unless were talking about hyper expensive super short runs of reissues.
The market just isn't really there. I mean the bass player community is probably the most avantgarde out of all the modern instruments. We adapted the class d stuff super well compared to the gutiar folks and such. But even if that wasn't the case, there is way more guitar players out there than bass players.

I wouldn't mind if they reissued a bunch of old stuff, because then at least we won't have to deal with another of Gibsons hyper idiotic innovation...
I think I remember @agedhorse saying that so far Gibson has been pretty hands free with the Mesa stuff. There's hoping it'll stay that way for as long as possible.

 

[Element Zero]

Well, since Gibson bought them they have switched to the Dad-rock nostalgia reissue business model with the reissued Mark and Rectifier guitar amps.

For me, this is a good thing, since I can't wait for a reissue of the Bass 400+ and a return to the aggressive "in-your-face" Boogie bass philosophy of years past, before they got lightweight both literally and tone-wise.

Whew… you're gonna make a lot of friends here…

 

[baxter_x]

Whew… you're gonna make a lot of friends here…

I think his comment is pretty accurate.

 

[Lowbrow]

Any of us who've worked for a corporation will not be surprised by Gibson's action.

 

[fretno]

Its unfortunate but I get it. I don't think the community will change but… we shall see. No doubt the info got out before they all were ready. I think most manufacturers have some social media agreements. Someone leaked it.

 

[Killens84]

Well, since Gibson bought them they have switched to the Dad-rock nostalgia reissue business model with the reissued Mark and Rectifier guitar amps.

For me, this is a good thing, since I can't wait for a reissue of the Bass 400+ and a return to the aggressive "in-your-face" Boogie bass philosophy of years past, before they got lightweight both literally and tone-wise.

I've never thought that my Subway D-800+ and 2x115's are light in tone. Quite the opposite.

 

[OldBlue61]

Any of us who've worked for a corporation will not be surprised by Gibson's action.

Unfortunately all too true.

 

[Element Zero]

I think his comment is pretty accurate.

Yeah? Interesting.

 

[el murdoque]

I'd be curious to see if @agedhorse will care to comment that thread, he always has an good balance of sincerity and corporate loyalty.

I doubt anything good could come from that.
Agedhorse is (to my knowledge) not involved in those political decisions, and while he surely has a private opinion on such things, might not be wanting or able to discuss such internal policies with strangers on the internet.

Gibson bought Mesa Boogie and it's totally within their rights to fire their employees. It's also quite normal that you will let go of the 'old man' who was head of the acquired company after a grace period of a couple of years. It happens all the time in any business sector. You sell your company, and in the contract it says you will remain in the chair for 2-3 years. At some point after that, they start making business decisions you don't agree with and you voice your opinions about that. They don't agree with you voicing your opinions and they let you go.

 

[gtirard]

I doubt anything good could come from that.
Agedhorse is (to my knowledge) not involved in those political decisions, and while he surely has a private opinion on such things, might not be wanting or able to discuss such internal policies with strangers on the internet.

Gibson bought Mesa Boogie and it's totally within their rights to fire their employees. It's also quite normal that you will let go of the 'old man' who was head of the acquired company after a grace period of a couple of years. It happens all the time in any business sector. You sell your company, and in the contract it says you will remain in the chair for 2-3 years. At some point after that, they start making business decisions you don't agree with and you voice your opinions about that. They don't agree with you voicing your opinions and they let you go.

Agree.

 

[stevensivak]

Why did Fluff backtrack and agree that he should not have posted the firing? He should have told them to bugger off.... and obviously
it was the truth, as Randall stated it in the video.... "The truth?, you can't handle the truth...."

 

[el murdoque]

Why did Fluff backtrack and agree that he should not have posted the firing? He should have told them to bugger off.... and obviously
it was the truth, as Randall stated it in the video.... "The truth?, you can't handle the truth...."

When you are an endorsing artist, you usually have a contract that compels you to publicly present the endorsed product in the best light possible and not speak ill of it. I can imagine that the company called him and told him they are not happy with that posting, because it shows them in a bad way, so he agreed to what they said and took it down. Unfortunately, this is not how the internet works and the post resurfaced as a screenshot, which made the brass mad and he was kicked. I guess if that screenshot thing had not resurfaced, he'd still be an endorser.

 

[brianrost]

Gibson's track record with aquisitions has always been bad with the exception of Epiphone. Tobias, Kramer and Steinberger were all ruined. Although Gibson made amps for many years, they haven't had a serious presence in the amp market for over 30 years. From that perspective buying Mesa makes sense for them, we'll have to wait to see what they do with it.

As far as dropping endorsers, well, surprise, what should you expect if you trash your employer?

 

[ardgedee]

Was Randall Smith fired, laid off or did he retire? He's in his late 70s and might put the company up for sale because he had retirement on the mind to begin with.