Why have Mesa Boogie lost so much second hand value?

NelsonP

I own a mesa .50 caliber, an el84 version. I think it was a forerunner to the dc series and maybe I'm biased but they are great. So if they are currently cheap in the classifieds then make hay while the sun shines!

ThorpyFX

monquixote said:

Van_Hayden said:

It works both ways - British made Amos are expensive in the US. The importers want to make money and there's shipping to pay for. Westside do seem to be very guilty of taking a big slice of pie though.

Good point. 

I only recently realised that not only are Mesas much cheaper in the US, but Marshalls are more expensive. 

In the US I don't think there is that big a price difference between say a Mesa Express 50 at ($1449 Sweet Water) (£1,599 Andertons ) and a JVM 50 at ($1.900 Sweet Water)  (£938 Andertons) but if you look at the UK price the Mesa goes from being a good bit cheaper to 50% more expensive!

A boogie mark v combo works out at $4500 in the U.K. Vs $2500 in the USA at sweetwater. That's surely taking the piss

nick79

Last time i checked a Mini Rectifier worked out at £800 in the US, £1350 here. That's some markup...I paid £500 used for mine, i wanted one badly but no way was i going to pay £1350!

Dave_Mc

ThorpyFX said:

A boogie mark v combo works out at $4500 in the U.K. Vs $2500 in the USA at sweetwater. That's surely taking the piss

Yeah. Some things are certainly cheaper here than in the USA, but rarely are they as much cheaper.

Stevepage

The new price for a 4x12 mesa cab is now over £1500. absolutely stupid. I'd rather buy a Zilla or Orange cab AND go buy a second hand Mark IV to go with it. 

Sure there are some boutique companies that charge that and get away with it but Mesa are taking the pish

Chester

When we enjoyed 2 US$ / 1 £, Westside could justify a distributor margin, and still be competitive against European competition. Now that it is approaching parity, Mesa are no longer competitive new. If Mesa want to sell volumes in the UK, they need to re-think the Westside link

For those of us who like them, buying used is a great option - built like tanks and generally reliable, although a real pain to fix if they go seriously wrong. I've owned 7 Mesa rigs, 4 of which were bought used, but in good condition. Never had an issue that wasn't valve or verb tray related

welshboyo

Mesa are no longer "boutique", they are as common as Marshall are these days and therefore prices drop like a stone - which is a good thing as you can pick up really reliable bits of kit which are built to last for essentially peanuts.

My current Stiletto Ace combo is a bloody wonderful thing, does everything it's more expensive friend at home (Bogner Shiva) does with ease and I would hazard a guess is actually better than it.

ennspek

Because they are massively overpriced new here and in the case of the bigguns, not really sensible for most people's gigging I'd guess.

Musicman20

The distribution, as mentioned, is pricing them, IMO, farrrrr too high.