Randall Smith and Mesa Boogie Parting Ways??

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Theresa

Theresa

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Just read an article about Gibson releasing Randall Smith from Mesa Boogie. They claim he is retiring. Anyone hear otherwise?

End of an Era?

Above is the link to the source.
 
Randall Smith was definitely a pioneer in this industry who gave Mesa Boogie its fame and continued to do so for many decades. If he was fired as the article claims, that is rather harsh and disrespectful in my opinion. People just do not disappear due to retirement without some sort of recognition for their efforts unless there was some sort of medical emergency. :(

Perhaps there will be more information to come later on. Too much miss-information these days.
 
That's not a source of anything. Where's the primary evidence? Where's the statement? It's a comment made by Fluff (also with zero evidence or citation) on a forum that got picked up and publicised. That guitar bomb article sure reads a lot like AI wrote it to pad out a nothing story with a word count.

I'll believe it when I see it, until then it's not worth bothering with.
 
I've only seen second hand info at this point so it's tough to say what (if anything) went down. If Randy is gone and it was planned you'd think there would have been a corporate announcement from Gibson on succession plan. If they parted on bad terms or could lead to potential legal issues you would likely hear radio silence from both sides such as we're seeing. Seems likely either their relationship ended poorly or this is all nonsense.

Pretty cool to see flying alongside all the termination speculation is that M/B might reissue both the Mark IIC+ and the Rev G Dual Rectifier?!
 
he's what, like 79? any involvement he has is symbolic at this point anyway.

fluff's just trying to get clicks now that the pandemic gear craze has slowed down.
 
CoG said:
he's what, like 79? any involvement he has is symbolic at this point anyway.

fluff's just trying to get clicks now that the pandemic gear craze has slowed down.
Click to expand...
It seemed like he was still their primary designer, there was a relatively recent interview (post Mark VII release) with Doug West where he said there were a bunch of amps in Randy's queue and that Randy was still a "mad man". I don't think Randy has been physically present at Ross St but there's no reason he couldn't be designing amps from yonder.

It would be interesting to see what products Randy puts out there if he starts up post non-compete since Gibson owns all the Boogie patents / trademarks / copyrights
 
Theresa said:
Just read an article about Gibson releasing Randall Smith from Mesa Boogie. They claim he is retiring. Anyone hear otherwise?

End of an Era?

Above is the link to the source.
Click to expand...
I don't know who this in this video, so YMMV, but this guy is saying he was fired. Either way, this sucks.

 
Agree 100% (of course I don’t know anything) that that first article was click bait.

Curious if there is a health issue (none of our business) or just a planned exit or something else. If it was a ‘planned exit’ it does seem strange there has been no statement, interview or what not from the man himself.

Regardless, it does leave a pit in my stomach knowing that Mesa Boogie from here on will not have Randall Smith. But like Doug West said, we all knew such a day would arrive sooner or later.
 
I think this all has a simple explanation. Years back he sold Mesa so he could comfortably retire, and Gibson kept him on during the transition as a well deserved professional courtesy. The transition is over and Randall rides off into the sunset as he wished. And there are plenty of Mesa veterans still with the merged entity. Some may stay(because they still need a job, too young or not enough $$$ in the bank to retire) and others might leave, gradually, because of Gibson management as it is at the present. That's my 2 cents...
 
He made it pretty clear nearly 4 years ago that he was selling Mesa so that he could retire...

John Petrucci just posted pics of his retirement party. Didn't look like a man that was just forced out of his company.

Shame on fluff and any "journalists" that ran with the baseless "Randall was fired" claims without a lick of evidence. People worried that Gibson was going to tarnish the mesa name and it turns out its just clickbaiting so called fans that are doing so.... smh
 
spawnofthesith2 said:
He made it pretty clear nearly 4 years ago that he was selling Mesa so that he could retire...

John Petrucci just posted pics of his retirement party. Didn't look like a man that was just forced out of his company.

Shame on fluff and any "journalists" that ran with the baseless "Randall was fired" claims without a lick of evidence. People worried that Gibson was going to tarnish the mesa name and it turns out its just clickbaiting so called fans that are doing so.... smh
Click to expand...

IMG_2071.jpeg
 
So, if one were to pick nits, Petrucci’s post states he was at a “celebration of Randall”. JP doesn’t mention anything about Randall retiring or leaving Gibson or leaving Mesa Boogie etc. Some ambiguity remains! LOL
 

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