Mesa Engineering
Guess what I did yesterday?
I got a tour of the
Mesa Boogie factory!!!!!!!
I went to Mesa in Petaluma to get some much needed TLC for my Mesa Boogie Mark III.
I called Tim McKee(customer service/artist relations rep) at Mesa and told him that I needed this done TODAY and he said no problem, come on down.....(same day service....most places woulda stacked my amp in a pile and told me to come back next week).
I dropped off my amp and Tim said to come back in one hour. I came back and Mike (who worked on my amp) says come on back to my work bench and test out your amp. I mean all he did was replace a coupla plastic knobs and the AC cord. So I went to his work bench and played my amp through his Shecter Telecaster and my amp on the factory floor! So I get done with that and go back to the front and Tim says "Ya wanna take a tour?".....
and I say "Sure, I'd love to see where my amp was born!" (I bought my Mark III there in 1986).
So Tim walks me through the whole manufacturing process from the making of the circuit boards all the way down to the shipping dock...the whole nine yards!
It was more than being a kid in a candy store..........I felt like Moses collecting the Ten Commandments and parting the Red Sea for the hording masses......
Nah, I felt like a kid in a candy store!
Way cool, he told how the original designer's created the unique tone of the Mesa by tweaking the capacitors to get just the right "tone".....the Mesa "Brown" sound.
Then on to the assembly area where the rows and rows of fine folks assembled all the parts for the boards and the area where the boards and chassis are mounted. Then off to the different areas where the different parts and components are fitted to the chassis, the testing areas. There are at least three to four places along the way where the amps are tested. One guy was banging on the amp to check for loose parts/noise while another was testing the jacks and knobs. Then off to where the bass/ guitar cabinets are machined, painted and assembled......
The amp chassis are then plugged in and "burned" for 24 hours to make sure the eletronics are workin' ok.
Then to the final stage where the amps are packed in shipping containers. But the guy who has the best job in the world has the honor of playing each amp before it gets packed!
There is a sound proof "tent" right at the end of the line where the amps are rolled into and this guy plugs each one in and starts cranking it....loud......to make sure everything is working.
It was amazing to see that all the different parts of the amplifiers are MADE RIGHT THERE...the only part that is not made there are the metal chassis of the amp. Everything else is hand assembled right there.
What a great place....all the while surrounded by pallets and pallets of Mesa Boogies of all different types......
They have a new model coming out soon which Tim said is similiar in sound to an old Marshall...the Stiletto.
Keep your eyes out for this baby!
A HUGE THANK YOU to Tim and Mike at Mesa Boogie for sharing their time with me at the coolest place on the planet......
They treat you so well. These guys are great. They know there amps.
Mesa Boogie is truly the best company.
and no Eric....
I did'nt say anything about the Messy Stinging Rectal Fire!
Terry [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img] [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img] [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img] [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img] [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img]
Linear Mode
