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Honestly, Mesa Boogie Mark amps intrigue me until I have to share a live show time slot with a band that uses them. Then I cringe from the excessive amounts of treble, volume, and gain... That or I can't hear them at all. Either way if I see a Boogie pulled out I go grab my ear plugs immediately. Those are the only two scenarios I've ever seen. Them seem like cool studio amps if anyone can actually dial in anything that is usable.

The Tweed Re-issue of Gibson Tweed Amps built by the Mesa Boogie 7-8 months ago that were expensive and were crap…you could buy vintage Gibson for less

Let’s see pushing boundaries, 1) ripping off Soldano’s Super Lead Overdrive Circuit, previous threatening smaller companies if they ‘copied’ his circuit designs, using Fenders Reverb amps without the reverb for an extra gain stage but otherwise keeping Fenders circuit values at the beginning of his career, Patenting public domain circuits from 1955 RCA tube handbook…in other words karma…or even he should have been aware of Gibson’s management team’s past, Randall Smith he sold out his employees claiming trying to keep their jobs…

Short version. The pursuit of profit and money, above all else ruins everything.

I dream of having some form of Colosseum Mesa I doubt it would happen but the moment they make a mark Colosseum version I am the first in line. I am one of the few weirdos who hate it when companies reinvent the wheel. I love myself heritage companies

I needed a new speaker from MB for a combo amp I had, called into there service department, and the guy I spoke to was an arrogant jerk. Acted like he could care less, I was just wasting his time. I was prepared to buy it from them and give them my business, but told the guy to forget about it and just bought one on the used market. A lot of these companies get so big that they think that they are above their customers if you’re not a rockstar.

Money, always. Someone wants his salary, cut corners on product, give executives bonuses.

Good Luck selling it. Where does a musician use a 50 watt or more amp? I'll stick with my Silver face Princeton Reverb and a few nice pedals.

Gibson not care about musicians, neither does Fender, Fender should have a class action suit around the Hot Rod Deluxe known defects they have continued to produce since 1996.Mesa Boogie made repairing amps too difficult. Custom Shop Guitars for $5K to$7K? Crazy to me....

Rest assured, people are going to advertise their amps as pre-Gibson and pre-Randall getting fired, mark my words. I loved Mesa but I doubt I'll grab one made after Randall get fired unless I get a hell of a deal.

As long as they reissues their bass amps the got my attention

I hope Mike Fortin gets back with Randall Amps. He has the potential be the next Randall Smith.

Mesa and Gibson must have had an agreement/contract stating things like 'will be made in US, no PCBs, etc.', or maybe he was supposed to be like Murphy Labs for amps, where small batches of hot-rodded versions of Mesa amps, and artist series would come out, so high-end, collectible only. Gibson maybe back-pedalled. Now they have this great brand and it sits on a shelf -well, we'll see.

I'm glad he's gone from the company. He refused to reissue C+ while he agreed to realease another run of Mark I. Pure hypocrisy. Also C+ (and C++) are the best sounding amps Mesa Boogie ever released, there are tons of Hetfield and Petrucci fans that simply can't afford a C+ which go for 10k$+ (and that's for a really basic C+, C++ with STR415 and a 105PT go for around 20k$) so when Gibson finally does a C++ reissue I'm the first in line for that amp and I'm from EU. I suspect he owns at least 5 of these amps and they're gonna be sold for a hefty price if they're gonna be advertised as "from Randall Smiths personal collection", people of that sort are disgusting - artificially keep the price high so they get a return on their "investment". Typical american way of f*cking everyone around just to earn a few bucks. As for competent techs which know the C+ architecture there are two guys in Poland, one guy in Belgium which knows how to service a C+ and upgrade it to C++ and they're probably some other competent techs in Europe at the very least. There are also some amazing and little known gentlemen in US who worked on and know how to service a C+ so I wouldn't panic about the lack of people who know how to service these amps.

Here's me hoping Randall Smith can continue his legacy the way Steven Fryette is able to continue his after VHT. Could be looked at as an opportunity, especially for BAD...

Not entirely true regarding the reissue theory. Mesa actually continues the legacy of old circuits by including them in the new designs with a little more refinement. All the technology that was developed throughout Mesa history is then instantiated into the new amps. You get the all the mark circuits in a mkv starting with the mk one. Then you got dynawatt power that was developed in the mid eighties in every el84 based boogie (amazing power amp!) you get the the transatlantic technology where your amp can go from a blackface to a Brit sound with stunning authenticity and no oscillation problems when switching channels. Nobody but nobody has been able to get very real American and Brit sounds in one chassis with no compromise. You can’t start an amplifier company and just dream up a Mark series amp and release it in a couple years. It’s the amalgamation of 55 years of R&D. Obsessive, meticulous design. Randall was most likely fired because of his eccentricity and attention to quality and detail with no compromise. Big corporations seek those types out and terminate them.

He sold his company, he's 80 years old. End of story

Bob Carver got fired by the board after he sold the company-Carver Amps-became Carver Corp.

What you’re saying makes sense. Because the community is very loud and clear about the 3 channel rectifiers not sounding as good as the old 2 channels. No one wants a new rectifier. I 100% agree with those reissues.

Dude, outstanding video! I couldn't agree more with your take on Randall's departure. This is my first time here and I'll def be back (liked & subbed).

There's also the all-important enshittification aspect to consider with all the tech companies you mentioned. Not central to the point here, I just don't want anyone to forget.

Why blame Gibson/KKR? I know, it was an offer RS couldn’t refuse. However, he could’ve just said “no sale.”

I don’t know if this was a factor but Mesa Boogie are terrible amps as far as build quality.

Gibson hasn’t been the same since the 60s , Norlin, then the crap in 80s ! Thank God for Suhr and PRS and Ibanez

Randle has no buisness getting old.

I'm boycotting Gibson.

Gibson will ruin anything they get their hands on.

I was listening until you start F**ing everything. You're just Fu**ing guessing about something you know nothing about!

it's depending on the clause of the contract with Gibson they usually stay on for 2 years and they won't be able to start another amp business for 2 or 5 years so they are not in direct competition

I have to argue this point - Gibson tried a bunch of new stuff, but no one bought it. Firebird x as example - brass nuts and motor tuners, blueshawk guitar, etc. no one bought it.

Indeed, corporate profiting. But in this case its going to turn out bad. Say good bye to Mesa. The old OG gear will become legendary. But hey, The giant tube driven amp is a thing of the past. The world and especially the music world is changing. In Nashville now the clubs do not even want amps on stage. Amp sims and pedal processors are going to take over...end of story. And the service issue is going to be HUGE

I don’t think Mike Zaite gets enough credit for how he has pushed modern tube amps.

Gibson seems to have more money than brains

Nothing wrong with reissues

The time to buy a real boogie is right now. I personally would not buy a m boogie from Gibson ...

Why hasn't the Mark I been reissued? No reason to not release reissues and new Mesas? Stupid. Maybe it was a good thing. Nothing wrong with a reissue of a great amp. The only Mesa I'd buy is a Mark I. Overrated new amps.

I don't trust Gibson to do anything right and I sure wouldn't buy a re-issue Boogie with Gibson management running it.

Watch Gibson remake MkIIC++ and light it up. RS wouldn't have it. Time to retire. Now, let's make Overdrive Specials.

Randall will just start a new brand.

Gibson ..nothing but reissues.....Let's see Gibson only has the Les Paul, Les Paul Jr. SG, Firebird ( reverse as nd non- reverse) ES 335, Explorer, Flying V, L5 , Mastertone, Loar Mandolins, J 200 , J 45.....yeah ....lazy bastards....never came up with a original idea ever....

Gibson is the KING of price raping LP's and they only market to the RICH...now Boogies will follow suit.

I bought a Mesa Baron years ago and called up the company and the dudes that made it still worked there and helped with schmematics for something they made 30 years ago. Very few companies out there that stood by old gear and kept great talent.

All this new stuff sounds lifeless tight and too saturated. All the builders you just mentioned in my opinion with one exception. The Friedman Plex. I have one and it sounds fantastic.

Fired? Interesting considering he said his contract with them was up.

Imagine Paul Reed Smith getting fired from PRS 😂

Hey Givson, how did that go when you tried to sell Orange amps? Oh, you sold it off.... Yeah. Good luck, Gibson.

I’ll never buy a Gibson produced Boogie ever

This was great! Felt like chatting with a pal that I never found in real life haha

Is that a Bogner Xtc classic behind him?

… a lot of words indeed