No Mesa Boogie amps in stock?

RandallFlagg

Not sure if it's just Mesa Boogie or other brands as well but there appears to be pretty much no stock of Mesa Boogie amps anywhere here in the UK, or Thomann. Is this just global supply chain shortages or something related to the purchase by Gibson? 

Is "Pre-Gibson" the new "Pre-CBS"?

richardhomer

I’ve just bought a used Mark V 25 head (privately) and went in search of current stock in order to gauge the ‘street’ price of a new one. I rapidly came to the same conclusion as you - there are no new ones…

Cirrus

I seem to remember that Mesa left UK distribution/importing to a specific company which is part of the reason why the upcharge on new prices in the uk is so upsetting. That one company may have had Brexit red tape/ covid supply chain related disruptions, who knows?

octatonic

There are loads of problems at the moment- some of it is supply chain, post covid stuff, some of it is Brexit.
I ordered a custom DW drum kit for my 50th over a year ago, delivery was for my birthday in January.
Then it slipped to Feb, then March, now May- I am not sure I will see it this year.

fretmeister

A Mesa employee is on Basschat and he's been saying it's all supply chain cost increases and that the EU have more stringent and thus more expensive testing requirements so for the moment any stock they do build is staying in the USA.

No ETA on when that will change.

RandallFlagg

I'm a happy "pre-Gibson" Mark V 35 combo owner. The current price of a full set of replacement valves is eye watering though. 

Whitecat

I’ve seen Mesa occasionally reply to similar polite griping on social media with something along the lines of part of what @fretmeister is saying above - the supply chain is a mess and the US market is temporarily the priority. 

I’m surprised they were selling many loud amps during lockdown at all but maybe now that things are opening up a little… just in time for panic-induced tube shortages of course…

HerbieTheRadDorklift

Yup, supply chain issues combined with Euro regulations and the new Schumacher transformers.

dindude

It’s funny really, we spent decades paying over the odds for Mesa under the UK distribution of Westside, finally broke ranks and for about 2.5 minutes Mesa were sensibly priced. Now Gibson and ‘supply chain problems means that we’re back to a worse position . 

jpfamps

MESA used to use Magnetic Components transformers.

Magnetic Components have stopped trading, so they will have had to find another transformer supplier.

Transformers are a safety critical component so most companies use transformers that have passed the relevant approvals and then use these in several products as this greatly simplifies the approvals.

For the majority of consumer electronics you can purchase an off-the-shelf transformer where the transformer manufacturer has already done the approvals, however valve amps often use bespoke transformers and so if you change manufacturer and have to get a new part/s made you will need to get these new parts approved.

There is also a shortage of transformer laminations in the US (I've got this info from 2 separate sources), so this is probably holding up production too.

impmann

jpfamps said:

MESA used to use Magnetic Components transformers.

Magnetic Components have stopped trading, so they will have had to find another transformer supplier.

Transformers are a safety critical component so most companies use transformers that have passed the relevant approvals and then use these in several products as this greatly simplifies the approvals.

For the majority of consumer electronics you can purchase an off-the-shelf transformer where the transformer manufacturer has already done the approvals, however valve amps often use bespoke transformers and so if you change manufacturer and have to get a new part/s made you will need to get these new parts approved.

There is also a shortage of transformer laminations in the US (I've got this info from 2 separate sources), so this is probably holding up production too.

This plus the UK approvals thing changed due to Brexit - now there are approvals regs for EU and separate ones for the UK. Its pretty much of a muchness in terms of the requirements, but now two separate approvals meaning two separate costs.

Another example of making Britain Grate

guitars4you

Some good input above that I've heard from various sources - A couple of additional points - I heard from one UK Martin Guitar dealer that there will be no/little deliveries into the UK this year - Heard recently that PRS USA only had around 60 staff in most days in Jan due to covid - Hence everything is slowed down

Another story I picked up from the trade was all about the supply of parts, from different factories from different parts of the world and how many businesses, for a few years now, have relied on this whole 'just in time' process - As it improves cash flow - But it is now causing production issues - Effectively he said 'we can build the guitar - we can get the pick ups, we can get the tuners, we can get the bridge, the wood, the finish, but we can't get the cases'   - Which reminds me that my local hardware store was talking about issues with DULUX paint supply - They can make/mix the paint, but they can't get enough tins at the moment

exocet

guitars4you said:

Some good input above that I've heard from various sources - A couple of additional points - I heard from one UK Martin Guitar dealer that there will be no/little deliveries into the UK this year - Heard recently that PRS USA only had around 60 staff in most days in Jan due to covid - Hence everything is slowed down

Another story I picked up from the trade was all about the supply of parts, from different factories from different parts of the world and how many businesses, for a few years now, have relied on this whole 'just in time' process - As it improves cash flow - But it is now causing production issues - Effectively he said 'we can build the guitar - we can get the pick ups, we can get the tuners, we can get the bridge, the wood, the finish, but we can't get the cases'   - Which reminds me that my local hardware store was talking about issues with DULUX paint supply - They can make/mix the paint, but they can't get enough tins at the moment

The tins were an issue over 12 months ago when I last bought Dulux paint. Shows how long some of these issues take to sort themselves out.

Grumpyrocker

When I was recently looking to buy an amp and still undecided what to get i did a lot of window shopping online. 

It struck me that amp stocks are pretty low across the UK from many major manufacturers. 

Really popular amps like DSL40 are hard to come by right now. There's some stock, but you have to look around. 

Jonathanthomas83

So…when the fuck is this happening then?

tomajoha

There's a secondhand Mark V in at Peach?

fretmeister

Mesa are concentrating on the US market. They have component shortages according to a Mesa engineer who is a member on Basschat. They also need to get their newest products approved for EU standards, which costs time and money.

It doesn't seem to have occurred to them to build them all to EU standards and the yanks can still have them. Even the Chinese knock off places build to EU standards.

Aside from the stupid prices for their stuff these days I would really be put off because of how difficult it will be to get spares when something needs repairing.

spirit7

The Gibson Garage in London is opening in a couple of weeks.  I'm sure they'll stock Mesa, albeit at crazy prices.

Why wouldn't you just buy a second hand Mark III-V though?

WindmillGuitars

The secondhand market prices for Boogie seems to have risen a little due to lack of new stock - but then again like all vintage/sought after gear, getting clean examples of the "classic" models is getting harder as the years go on 

allen

Opens tomorrow. Mentions Mesa, but no details. Mentions the Mk VII and the Badlander availability.

 

Stevepage

WindmillGuitars said:

The secondhand market prices for Boogie seems to have risen a little due to lack of new stock - but then again like all vintage/sought after gear, getting clean examples of the "classic" models is getting harder as the years go on 

I’d say used Mesa prices have doubled for most models.