Express combos - welcome to rip-off Britain once again...

[John Vasco]

Got my copy of Guitarist magazine today, with info on the NAMM show. There's a page dedicated to the new 5:25 and 5:50 gear.

I read in another thread in the Forum that the US prices of these two are: 5:25 - $1,050, and 5/50 - $1,199. Now given the present exchange rate between the £ and the $, how the feck can prices of the 5:25 combo be £1,095, and the 5:50 combo be £1,295, even allowing for customs duty, import tax and a certain profit margin on this side of the pond? 100% mark up!!! In fact even more when I come to think of it, since the price coming out of the Mesa factory of say the 5:25 will be a lot less than $1,050. In business the 'shop' price of an item is usually five times the unit cost price to make it. So a 5:25 would be heading out of the Mesa factory at around $200 (£100), but by the time it hits the shops here, it's £1,095! Wholesalers and retailers, robbing bastards, all of them!

Rant over.

 

[polaris20]

Sorry to hear that bro. That does suck. Look on the bright side; you guys get cheaper Cornfords and Laneys, right? Those are great amps too!

 

[Barry]

Got my copy of Guitarist magazine today, with info on the NAMM show. There's a page dedicated to the new 5:25 and 5:50 gear.

I read in another thread in the Forum that the US prices of these two are: 5:25 - $1,050, and 5/50 - $1,199. Now given the present exchange rate between the £ and the $, how the feck can prices of the 5:25 combo be £1,095, and the 5:50 combo be £1,295, even allowing for customs duty, import tax and a certain profit margin on this side of the pond? 100% mark up!!! In fact even more when I come to think of it, since the price coming out of the Mesa factory of say the 5:25 will be a lot less than $1,050. In business the 'shop' price of an item is usually five times the unit cost price to make it. So a 5:25 would be heading out of the Mesa factory at around $200 (£100), but by the time it hits the shops here, it's £1,095! Wholesalers and retailers, robbing bastards, all of them!

Rant over.

Thats not good. I dont think the amp is heading out of Mesa at $200 though . The dealers basically get about a 25% reduction on the list prices . Considering the exchange rate not sure how you are coming off with that bad of a deal . Sounds like the prat running the shop there is ripping you lot off .

 

[JPIndustrie]

I really dont think it cost Mesa $200 to make the amp. Theyre very stringent about dealer prices here.

 

[MasterTrax]

The prices are exactly - exactly - what the market will bear, what people are willing to pay, no more, no less. I won't hold it against those who intend to make a profit....they aren't in the business of making amps, after all. They're in business to make money.

If you will not bear the price, show Mesa by not purchasing their products. If enough people agree with you, believe me the price will fall - or the company in question will fall.

M

 

[KDS]

That's a drag. I was hot to trot for a Vox 30 until I played the 5:25. It's a very sweet little amp. Hopefully the market adjusts there.

 

[Barry]

The prices are exactly - exactly - what the market will bear, what people are willing to pay, no more, no less. I won't hold it against those who intend to make a profit....they aren't in the business of making amps, after all. They're in business to make money.

If you will not bear the price, show Mesa by not purchasing their products. If enough people agree with you, believe me the price will fall - or the company in question will fall.

M

Maybe everyone should take that attitude about gasoline . :?

 

[bigdan19]

your not alone in the uk. us aussies are paying 3-4 times the price of the US market for mesa gear. i got my ace head second hand and it still set me back aus$3000. thats the only real reason i own a mesa. i can get australian handwired heads brand new that would run circles around the overeas competitors for that amount and i have.

not bagging mesa at all there great amps. just the price is too overcooked outside the US. having said all this we dont see a huge amount of stock here, the ace i got was the first ive ever seen and i go to alot of music shops. at the end of the day im totally happy with it.

 

[Anonymous]

Post removed.

 

[John Vasco]

Got my copy of Guitarist magazine today, with info on the NAMM show. There's a page dedicated to the new 5:25 and 5:50 gear.

I read in another thread in the Forum that the US prices of these two are: 5:25 - $1,050, and 5/50 - $1,199. Now given the present exchange rate between the £ and the $, how the feck can prices of the 5:25 combo be £1,095, and the 5:50 combo be £1,295, even allowing for customs duty, import tax and a certain profit margin on this side of the pond? 100% mark up!!! In fact even more when I come to think of it, since the price coming out of the Mesa factory of say the 5:25 will be a lot less than $1,050. In business the 'shop' price of an item is usually five times the unit cost price to make it. So a 5:25 would be heading out of the Mesa factory at around $200 (£100), but by the time it hits the shops here, it's £1,095! Wholesalers and retailers, robbing bastards, all of them!

Rant over.

Thats not good. I dont think the amp is heading out of Mesa at $200 though . The dealers basically get about a 25% reduction on the list prices . Considering the exchange rate not sure how you are coming off with that bad of a deal . Sounds like the prat running the shop there is ripping you lot off .

You've got to understand that the standard business practise is 'x5' mark-up of the unit cost to arrive at the price for the customer. You miss out the wholesaler in your reply. The price is set by the wholesaler, and the shops operate from that. OK, you may be able to negotiate a lower price with the shop, and they may be prepared to cut their profit margin slightly to move stock out of the door, but the fact is, given the exchange rate of roughly/almost $2 = £1, there's some serious ripping going on. In reply to another post, having said that, I did get a good UK price on my F-50 after a bit of bargaining at the UK outlet.

To give you another example: a few years ago, I went to a Taylor Guitars demonstration with Doyle Dykes demoing the guitars. There was one of the top bods from Taylor on the UK tour, so I asked him at the end of the evening why lefty Taylors cost more in the UK than the rightys, since he said in his introduction at the start of the night that there was no price increase for leftys. He was surprised, and said that that shouldn't be the case. The answer, of course, is that once the guitars reach the UK wholesaler, the wholesaler sees a golden opportunity to make a few more quid/bucks. In this instance, it is blatant discrimination against left-handed players, nothing less. In the shop where I got my Taylor 314 in London, the owner said the higher price was because fewer leftys were built, and were therefore harder to sell. Well, he's done alright over the years with a huge, discrete, lefty section in his shop.

 

[postmanpat]

wow i was always told that lefty's are fewer made and therefore more expensive but hearing your story makes me very angry,

poor lefty's that sucks big time,

 

[zappaslaughter]

left handed guitars in stock tend to stay in stock for quite a bit longer than right handed (due to the uncommon phenomena of left handedness).

they therefore cost more to store over time etc.

thats the line of BS I got when I bought my left handed best man a lefty strat for being in my wedding.

I called BS and got the price reduced to that of a right handed strat.

These f%#&en people will rip you off however they can.

Play hardball. throw a petulant tantrum in the store if they continue to treat you like a dumbass.

As for the english, well I would just buy the MESA stuff used from yanks.

I know it's a gamble. Or find someone you trust in the US to buy it for you and ship it over.

I did this with an italian friend of mine and a god awful yellow ugly Gibson flying V.

 

[mesanomad100]

Hi john,Im another brittish mesa connoisseur,I have owned lots of mesa's,from amps to pedals and cabs,We are hard done by over here in the UK so when we get a mesa boogie it is a bigger deal for us as for you guys over the pond,for example I bought a brand new 3 channel dual rec the other week,I prefer them to the 2 channel versions,my point is I bought it for $1399,which is about £700,shipping was $200,approx. £100,so all in all I got it brand new for £800,from a guitar store over here it was gonna cost me £1899 which translates to about $3800,yeah thats right,guitar stores over here as well as my brown(Gordon brown chancellor of exchequer) like to cash in on these desirable,boutique amps,this then means only guitar players with a healthy bank balance can afford to buy one of these babies,mesa seems to be as common in America as Marshall is over here,good for you guys not for us,You may Think I dont have that special a setup but belive me,compared to most people I've ever met over here I have a very complex a some may say 'respected@ setup for the simple fact most british people havent seen a mesa,never mind touched one and only the minority have played one so in conclusion think yourself lucky over there as for the cheapest mesa over here with the same amount of cash you could probably buy the most expensive mesa over in America

Alot of that post was utter bollock and is simply me goin on another rant about the state of our silly country with all it tax laws an such

RANT OVER(for now,hahah)

Euan

 

[Barry]

Got my copy of Guitarist magazine today, with info on the NAMM show. There's a page dedicated to the new 5:25 and 5:50 gear.

I read in another thread in the Forum that the US prices of these two are: 5:25 - $1,050, and 5/50 - $1,199. Now given the present exchange rate between the £ and the $, how the feck can prices of the 5:25 combo be £1,095, and the 5:50 combo be £1,295, even allowing for customs duty, import tax and a certain profit margin on this side of the pond? 100% mark up!!! In fact even more when I come to think of it, since the price coming out of the Mesa factory of say the 5:25 will be a lot less than $1,050. In business the 'shop' price of an item is usually five times the unit cost price to make it. So a 5:25 would be heading out of the Mesa factory at around $200 (£100), but by the time it hits the shops here, it's £1,095! Wholesalers and retailers, robbing bastards, all of them!

Rant over.

Thats not good. I dont think the amp is heading out of Mesa at $200 though . The dealers basically get about a 25% reduction on the list prices . Considering the exchange rate not sure how you are coming off with that bad of a deal . Sounds like the prat running the shop there is ripping you lot off .

You've got to understand that the standard business practise is 'x5' mark-up of the unit cost to arrive at the price for the customer. You miss out the wholesaler in your reply. The price is set by the wholesaler, and the shops operate from that. OK, you may be able to negotiate a lower price with the shop, and they may be prepared to cut their profit margin slightly to move stock out of the door, but the fact is, given the exchange rate of roughly/almost $2 = £1, there's some serious ripping going on. In reply to another post, having said that, I did get a good UK price on my F-50 after a bit of bargaining at the UK outlet.

To give you another example: a few years ago, I went to a Taylor Guitars demonstration with Doyle Dykes demoing the guitars. There was one of the top bods from Taylor on the UK tour, so I asked him at the end of the evening why lefty Taylors cost more in the UK than the rightys, since he said in his introduction at the start of the night that there was no price increase for leftys. He was surprised, and said that that shouldn't be the case. The answer, of course, is that once the guitars reach the UK wholesaler, the wholesaler sees a golden opportunity to make a few more quid/bucks. In this instance, it is blatant discrimination against left-handed players, nothing less. In the shop where I got my Taylor 314 in London, the owner said the higher price was because fewer leftys were built, and were therefore harder to sell. Well, he's done alright over the years with a huge, discrete, lefty section in his shop.

Maybe you should call the UK distrubuters for Mesa








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[timmerel]

Its not just Mesa - most music gear here is double the price.

The problem with Mesas from the US is that you need to lug a transformer around as well. Amps are the only things I buy here - everything else is cheaper to import from the US (even European brands most of the time).

 

[MasterTrax]

The prices are exactly - exactly - what the market will bear, what people are willing to pay, no more, no less. I won't hold it against those who intend to make a profit....they aren't in the business of making amps, after all. They're in business to make money.

If you will not bear the price, show Mesa by not purchasing their products. If enough people agree with you, believe me the price will fall - or the company in question will fall.

M

Maybe everyone should take that attitude about gasoline . :?

Heh, if you don't like Mesa you can buy Marshall or Orange or Vox. If you don't like gasoline, how you gonna get to work 70 miles away or visit granny on the distant coast? Hope you got a **** fast bicycle.

M

 

[phyrexia]

I laughed out loud when you said the amp cost $200. There's almost that much money in speaker and wood in the godamn thing.

 

[guitargeek62]

Heh, if you don't like Mesa you can buy Marshall or Orange or Vox.

Er, no.

No marshall, orange or vox sounds like a mesa unfortunately or else i wouldnt be interested in getting one!

Did the marshall thing, was good but not great. Orange are overpriced for what they are, as are vox........... laneys do both sounds at a much much cheaper price but guess what........ i dont want those sounds lol!


Im after the express 5:25 as a part-ex against my rivera pubster, sweet little amp but i need more channels

 

[MasterTrax]

Heh, if you don't like Mesa you can buy Marshall or Orange or Vox.

Er, no.

No marshall, orange or vox sounds like a mesa unfortunately or else i wouldnt be interested in getting one!

Did the marshall thing, was good but not great. Orange are overpriced for what they are, as are vox........... laneys do both sounds at a much much cheaper price but guess what........ i dont want those sounds lol!


Im after the express 5:25 as a part-ex against my rivera pubster, sweet little amp but i need more channels

You missed my point. Your particular amp preferences have nothing to do with my point. The point of the original post was that "Mesa rips off Brits." My point was if one feels that way, don't buy their amps, and that this will not work with gasoline since all cars currently use it to take us from point a to point b and almost all of us have to use cars.

M

 

[John Vasco]

I laughed out loud when you said the amp cost $200. There's almost that much money in speaker and wood in the godamn thing.

The 'x5' mark up on the unit cost price is an industry standard, has been for god knows how long. Don't be fooled by big companies spewing forth all kinds of excuses as to why their product costs so much. They move stuff out of their door at a certain price, and then there is **** loads of add-ons by others. And the add-ons by others (such as Government taxes, wholesalers and retailers) cover their costs and profits also. Before laughing out loud, think again (and I'm not having a go at you here). It's how everyone in the chain stays in business.