Sad news, Randall Smith booted from MESA

Randall Smith is 78, according to the Wiki, which also says he sold Mesa to Gibson in 2021. If he lasted three years after the sale, that's a long time. Two-year agreement seems sorta normal, and usually at least partly for the sake of employee retention. They don't want the entire old staff jumping ship, and often there's a financial incentive to the former owner if an agree-to percentage of the staff stays on for an agree-to amount of time. So, his "firing" seems like big nothing burger. More like, "Wow, he lasted three years! That's amazing."
 
From things I’ve read after the sale to Gibson, Randall is ready to retire, and that was the whole reason for the sale in the first place.

Timing seems about right, a few years to pass the torch, then finally time to relax.

The ‘fired from Mesa’ tag sounds like quite the click bait.

But as pretty much everyone has already said, until I see an official statement, it’s all hearsay on forums.
 
Domct203 said:
From things I’ve read after the sale to Gibson, Randall is ready to retire, and that was the whole reason for the sale in the first place.
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Same thought here a few years ago when Mesa was sold to Gibson - bit surprised at the word choice / limited context in that statement since its usually one of the more balanced YT channels imo.
 
Frodebro said:
Smith is an industry heavyweight and a household name to gear heads. You would think that he would make an announcement regarding retiring, just quietly leaving the building seems odd for somebody with a legacy such as his.
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Quietly leaving the building with a boatload of money.
 
Kind of want to go on an old Mesa buying spree now. I wonder if I can convince my wife it’s a show of respect. Like pouring out a 40oz or something similar. He’s not dead, but Mesa sure is..
 
There's a part of me that's considered getting a JP2c or some other semi-recent Mesa combo. Haven't owned a Boogie since my Mark-nothing, long ago. You could call Mesa amps "deep", or "lots of work", but they definitely have a lot of potential.

But so does my III :)
 
Dave Merrill said:
There's a part of me that's considered getting a JP2c or some other semi-recent Mesa combo. Haven't owned a Boogie since my Mark-nothing, long ago. You could call Mesa amps "deep", or "lots of work", but they definitely have a lot of potential.

But so does my III :)
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100%... I came close to getting a rack-mount Mark VII for the studio. But I have an Axe-FX III. It's really hard to justify a Mark VII. I have a REVV Generator 120 Mark III, so I'm pretty well set for outboard "Metal"-capable tube goodness. I don't "need" the REVV, but I dig it and use it for recording sometimes. The other unique bird I own is a Bartel Sugarland, which I bought after @Greg Ferguson mentioned it on the forum. Those two amps scratch my itch for outboard tube goodness. If money wasn't an obstacle, I'd probably buy and rack up a Mark VII in my desk. Maybe. Not sure. :p I have an Axe-FX III!
 
LanceZ said:
It's really hard to justify a Mark VII.
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This is me every time I see a nice amp head and start GAS-ing. Eventually after a little while I start thinking to myself "when the hell would I ever use it?". I got little kids and live in the burbs. Ain't no way I'm cranking a 90-120W tube head into a 4x12 or even a 2x12. I'd just end up playing my AxeFX anywho.
 
I’ve got 4 real Mesas at this moment. I started playing in 1976, and a vaunted Boogie was the holy grail for me. My first, a wood/wicker Mk III Simul-Class 1x12, came in the 80s and I played nothing but Boogies for years after. Randall is a visionary amp builder, and I hated to read of the sale but business is business, I suppose. It is, indeed, the end of an era.

I did finally get that original Boogie, a ‘76, some 40-odd years later. Randall made it, and it’s staying with me.
 
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