What happened to Mesa Boogie cabinets?

[gln1955]

University professor since 1999 here. Different schools have different processes for handling e-textbooks these days; not everyone does it with tuition (we don't). I've never seen an explicit requirement that students must have a laptop but they all do. There are indeed a few students who take notes on paper but yes, the vast majority now do on laptops or tablets. Paper is indeed now a rarity and yes, pretty much all assignments are now given out and handed in electronically.

What I don't understand is your objection to this. I promise you that there are ZERO students clamoring to going back to the old system. Just because you prefer paper doesn't mean that the current crop of 18-22 year olds do.

It took quite a few years for academia to figure it out. Now, etextbooks and faculty generated notes, etc., are fully searchable, accept editable markups and have links to all references. Nobody where I teach, students or faculty, wants to go back to hard copy books, notes, or assignments.

 

[Jazzdogg]

It took quite a few years for academia to figure it out. Now, etextbooks and faculty generated notes, etc., are fully searchable, accept editable markups and have links to all references. Nobody where I teach, students or faculty, wants to go back to hard copy books, notes, or assignments.

Teaching was my second career, after 3 decades as a financial controller. I was amazed at how ineffective my college's various deans and department chairs were in communication and continuing education, which are supposed to be areas of functional competence.

It doesn't surprise me that an institution that is supposed to be teaching students real world computer skills so often fall short within their own institutions.

Sad, really. I see far too many administrators and non-teaching staff that are less than impressive, and they are the folks who monitor and manage faculty. At my college, deans and administrators seldom listened to department chairs; most of the time, their efforts made teaching more difficult while adding nothing of value for students.

 

[P. Aaron]

I recall attending the Monterey Jazz Festival several years ago and found an area, sponsored by Bose, in which a terrific guitarist and double bassist were performing.

There were several of the Bose units in use simultaneously, which filled the area with sound at a reasonable (not loud) listening level. It sounded pretty good, but not nearly good enough for me to consider buying Bose to replace my A&H analog board, amp rack, and PA speakers.

Has the quality improved enough to change my mind in the intervening years? Based upon what I've heard in the past few years, only for quiet music in small venues.

We used the system exclusively in a rockin' Country band for close to 5 years and it worked great for guitar, bass, drums, vocals and acoustic guitar.

People could hear us fine and we didn't blast their hearing out.

Rock bands may have different needs but, we held audiences 'cause they could enjoy the music. Also, most attendees at any event are gonna talk, before, during or after music. We were after an all-around enjoyable experience for our gigs.

 

[Jazzdogg]

We used the system exclusively in a rockin' Country band for close to 5 years and it worked great for guitar, bass, drums, vocals and acoustic guitar.

People could hear us fine and we didn't blast their hearing out.

Rock bands may have different needs but, we held audiences 'cause they could enjoy the music. Also, most attendees at any event are gonna talk, before, during or after music. We were after an all-around enjoyable experience for our gigs.

Sounds great to me. I'm happy to hear it is now suitable for the kinds of gigs I enjoy the most - jazz trios, folk, blues, R&B; bands that are skilled at creating a magical mix, both on stage and in the audience, in which everything can can be heard clearly, and nothing is too loud.

The best bands I was in rehearsed control, dynamics, and collaboration in addition to the music; I'm a sucker for quality over quantity.

 

[40Hz]

Intellectual property rights are pretty important to creators, they delineate authorship and might be all the difference between eating and not eating.
Personally, I don't worry about what you do with YOUR creations. Mine will get copy written just in case they sell.

I never suggested anyone not register a copyright, patent, or trademark as appropriate for their work. I register copyrights on my own music just like you.

My objection is over the abuses of the system by people who like to initiate meritless IP infringement actions. There are such things as patent and copyright trolls out there who make a business out of filing nuisance lawsuits in order to force settlements from smaller businesses and startups who lack the financial resources to get into a prolonged legal court battle defending themselves. Look no further than some of Gibson’s legal shenanigans.

There’s also the people who falsely file DMCA complaints to silence those they don’t agree with online. And despite there being anti SLAPP laws to go after people who do this, those laws are pretty loosely enforced. So much so that most people who do it are seldom held accountable.

 

[gln1955]

Teaching was my second career, after 3 decades as a financial controller. I was amazed at how ineffective my college's various deans and department chairs were in communication and continuing education, which are supposed to be areas of functional competence.

It doesn't surprise me that an institution that is supposed to be teaching students real world computer skills so often fall short within their own institutions.

Sad, really. I see far too many administrators and non-teaching staff that are less than impressive, and they are the folks who monitor and manage faculty. At my college, deans and administrators seldom listened to department chairs; most of the time, their efforts made teaching more difficult while adding nothing of value for students.

Don't get me started on college administration. It's way off-topic.

 

[Thegreatzambini]

I just liked the sound of the cab along with the built in road case & casters that way I didn't have to treat it like it was made of glass & it was easy to maneuver. Raining or snowing in Seattle? Who cares, throw it in the back of the pickup truck & head back to the studio to unload.

Oh I totally get it. Some of them sound awesome and were built like tanks. I think it’s funny is that we went from 25 to 35 pound amps down to 6 pound. The heaviest part was usually this donut transformer looking thing. Isn’t there a way these could be made out of neodymium?

 

[agedhorse]

Oh I totally get it. Some of them sound awesome and were built like tanks. I think it’s funny is that we went from 25 to 35 pound amps down to 6 pound. The heaviest part was usually this donut transformer looking thing. Isn’t there a way these could be made out of neodymium?View attachment 5373734

They are much smaller, lighter and higher performance in the Subway amps. About 4 ounces.

 

[InkCow]

Yeah. Doesn’t surprise me. Friend’s niece started college a few years back and all her textbooks are e-texts. You’re required to either have a laptop or purchase one. (The school gets you a significant discount if you buy one through them.) You buy the books for the year’s courses you selected when you pay your tuition. You also receive all your handouts, course descriptions, and grades -plus- submit all your paperwork and coursework online. She said the only place you might see paper is in class where some students (like her) still use a notebook rather than their laptop to take notes.

Whole new world.

Glad I went when I did.

Despite being a guy who spent the bulk of his career in IT I still never felt the need to funnel everything you possibly could through a computer network if there wasn’t a clear benefit for doing so.
A lot of what I see schools doing on the tech front is purely technology for technology’s sake; and/or the convenience of the faculty and administration rather than something that’s directly benefiting the students.

I work for an academic publisher (although not in publishing) and I can say that this take is largely akin to OP’s yearning for a return to big, heavy cabs.
Majority of textbooks have zero value to the student once the semester ends and the costs of physical textbooks (both financial and physical) simply don’t make any sense. Recall how much the suite of textbooks cost at the beginning of the semester and how little you were able to sell them back for. Add to it the churn of new editions (which, in turn, is driven by requirements for academics to publish to keep their jobs) and you have an enormously unnecessary financial burden placed on the students which is mostly waste.

Physical textbooks do still exist, but the subscription models are far more popular and for good reason: pay $600 per semester to haul around a load of textbooks that you have no interest in owning in 6 months or pay $15 a month for access to most to all of the textbooks for the period that you need them.

I can’t stand reading on a screen*, but even I would take that trade.

*also, it’s important to consider that reading from a textbook is a very different activity than pleasure reading. I didn’t love reading from textbooks in physical form either.

 

[Stranger Danger]

I’m good.

 

[DJ Bebop]

"What happened to Mesa Boogie cabinets?"

 

[tombowlus]

Very interesting as I am actually considering the 215.
I am after tone but also tactile experience. I really love my Genz Benz 212 Neox.
I guess the SW215 should be a big improvement.

I am familiar with the NeoX-212T, and I think you will be very happy with the SW215.

 

[richntiff]

wandered into a thread on TB, found a bunch of crabby old guys kvetching about how the sky is falling, and how smart they are in comparison to everyone else. Then, I wandered back out again.....

 

[DJ Bebop]

When I began teaching, students had text books, and my fellow professors lectured using transparencies and an overhead projector.

My colleagues looked at me as though I'd lost my mind when I started using PowerPoint. Nowadays, an overhead projector and transparencies are as antiquated as mimeograph machines.

The biggest problem I faced with the increase in computers in the classroom was students who thought nothing of copying and pasting from the internet, and considered intellectual property theft no big deal.

They learned a lot less, expected to be spoon fed the course material, and expected a trophy just for showing up.

I'm glad I retired when I did.

This is something I'm trying to get my grandson to understand, something I didn't myself going to school.

It's not so much the stuff that is being taught. Yes learning about Napoleon Bonaparte is not going to help him get a job, but the process used to lean about him is the key.

The ability to do research, the ability to problem solve, the ability to retain knowledge even if it seems useless. To follow a course of reason and see if there is flaws in it's conclusion. To learn from history and build on it and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is what you are learning, how to use your brain and be able to navigate through the world and time.

His response, "I guess."

 

[Jazzdogg]

This is something I'm trying to get my grandson to understand, something I didn't myself going to school.

It's not so much the stuff that is being taught. Yes learning about Napoleon Bonaparte is not going to help him get a job, but the process used to lean about him is the key.

The ability to do research, the ability to problem solve, the ability to retain knowledge even if it seems useless. To follow a course of reason and see if there is flaws in it's conclusion. To learn from history and build on it and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is what you are learning, how to use your brain and be able to navigate through the world and time.

His response, "I guess."

You get it, my friend. I hope to live long enough to be a good influence on my (now five!) grandchildren.

 

[g-dude]

This is something I'm trying to get my grandson to understand, something I didn't myself going to school.

It's not so much the stuff that is being taught. Yes learning about Napoleon Bonaparte is not going to help him get a job, but the process used to lean about him is the key.

The ability to do research, the ability to problem solve, the ability to retain knowledge even if it seems useless. To follow a course of reason and see if there is flaws in it's conclusion. To learn from history and build on it and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is what you are learning, how to use your brain and be able to navigate through the world and time.

His response, "I guess."

Learning about Napoleon specifically may not help, but in addition to what you wrote, understanding history (for example) helps you understand what shows up in the news.

After all, current events don’t happen a vacuum, and we sure could use informed voters who are actually informed.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I actually kept a few that proved useful after I graduated.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Learning about Napoleon specifically may not help, but in addition to what you wrote, understanding history (for example) helps you understand what shows up in the news.

After all, current events don’t happen a vacuum, and we sure could use informed voters who are actually informed.

I believe that we are in the process of seeing this prove itself out to be true.

And he steps off his soapbox and wanders down the street.

 

[agedhorse]

This is something I'm trying to get my grandson to understand, something I didn't myself going to school.

It's not so much the stuff that is being taught. Yes learning about Napoleon Bonaparte is not going to help him get a job, but the process used to lean about him is the key.

The ability to do research, the ability to problem solve, the ability to retain knowledge even if it seems useless. To follow a course of reason and see if there is flaws in it's conclusion. To learn from history and build on it and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is what you are learning, how to use your brain and be able to navigate through the world and time.

His response, "I guess."

Well said.

 

[40Hz]

the costs of physical textbooks (both financial and physical) simply don’t make any sense. Recall how much the suite of textbooks cost at the beginning of the semester and how little you were able to sell them back for. Add to it the churn of new editions (which, in turn, is driven by requirements for academics to publish to keep their jobs) and you have an enormously unnecessary financial burden placed on the students which is mostly waste.

I’m pretty much up on what it costs to publish a book. I worked as the controller for a printing company that did book printing and binding where I saw and analyzed all the financials. And the high prices academic book publishers charge can’t be attributed to the cost of physical manufacturing. And now that there are e-texts, even less so. So the question now becomes: why such high prices?

And if a book becomes useless shortly after a student completes a course, was a textbook even necessary? There was a time when such courses were handled with inexpensive photocopy handouts and a notebook. What is the justification for assigning what amounts to a vanity press textbook if that’s the case? “Because that’s just the way it is!” is neither a real answer nor a reasonable explanation.

Sure, a student would rather pay less to rent an e-text for a semester than to buy a $200 hardbound textbook with zero resale value after the end if the academic year. But what does that really tell you other than the cost of the textbook far outweighs its actual benefits. Which isn’t a justification for claiming a still overly expensive e-text is “better” than what you would otherwise have to pay for an even more expensive hardcopy. Preferable? Sure. But better? Hardly.

I can’t stand reading on a screen*, but even I would take that trade.

Different toys for different boys I guess.

Despite having a career in IT where the most relevant information and documentation is always screen based, I still dislike reading off a monitor or tablet. But maybe that’s because my casual reading speed on paper is 800 wpm with 98% recall after 24 hours. If need be I can crank it up to close to 1200 wpm. I can’t do anywhere near that reading off a screen.

*also, it’s important to consider that reading from a textbook is a very different activity than pleasure reading. I didn’t love reading from textbooks in physical form either.

For me that would depend on the textbook and my degree of interest the subject matter. There have been textbooks I devoured and wished were longer. Others I just read through. And more than a few I had to slog through. So I’m unable to agree with you on that point based on my own experiences with textbooks.

Either way, I never bought into the current education mantra that “all learning should be fun.” Because not everything worth learning is going to be fun or easy. Some stuff, particularly technical information that’s being presented on a professional or expert level, is going be difficult to get a handle on and most definitely not be fun. There are some things you just have to sit down and learn if you ever hope to level up.