Mesa sold at all GCs?

[wilerty]

I was at my local GC this weekend, which is not a stocking Mesa dealer, and was told that they can now sell Mesa amps. They can get them from one of the stocking GCs or order directly from Mesa. I was also told they could only sell the guitar amps and not the bass amps. Anyone else hear this? This is rather surprising if it is true.

 

[wastoid]

I don't know about the guitar vs bass amp thing, but it makes sense that they could transfer their product from one store to another, so long as they didn't directly stock it.

The GC in San Jose doesn't carry Mesa but the one in San Fran does. I'm in the middle so I just go to the one with Mesa when I'm looking for that, so the issue of trying to order from the store that doesn't carry them hasn't come up for me.

I would assume they still can't officially stock them but they would be able to move the inventory around if it were for a sale. That's basically just giving the customer a little bit of free shipment as a bonus.

 

[Buugie]

Interesting discussion.

I visited the Nashville GC today (May 10 - 08) and Guitar Sales said they were a "non-GC Mesa Dealer", and that GC's in business over 5 years were able to sell Mesa, but younger GC's could not.

Went over to World Music of Nashville and found they stock and order Mesa equipment, so it appears I will have to use a dealer other than GC.

I live in Northern Alabama and the closest MESA dealer is nearly 100 miles away.... :roll:

 

[LPClassic]

Knoxville GC store is a mesa dealer, they don't have that much at this moment but you may get them to transfer to the Nashville store or to send it to your home. The guys at Knoxville are very good, only the general manager not.

 

[GCMgr]

Hello everyone,

Only Guitar Centers that normally stock and sell Mesa amps can sell them or order them at all. They can only be transferred from store to store when it is one "Mesa store" to another "Mesa store."

If your GC doesn't carry Mesa, they will not be able to order one in or transfer one in for you at all (except for used ones, of course).

Shipping direct to customers is also prohibited.

The above has been the agreement between Mesa and GC for the almost 10 years I have worked at GC. If it has changed in the last few days, the word has not been spread to us store managers.

The age of a GC store has no bearing on whether they are able to sell Mesa or not. It is just Mesa and GC managing the dealer network together.

GC deals with guitar products only. We are not a dealer for bass products at this time.

Hope this helps. Please ask if you have other questions or if there is anything I can help you with.

Have a great weekend everyone.

-GCMgr

 

[Bchewdown]

Oklahoma City stocks MESA products...Tulsa doesn't.
OKC don't put fuses in them and RE-fuses to?!?!?!?
dunno...

 

[mikeymike]

GC deals with guitar products only. We are not a dealer for bass products at this time.

Hope this helps. Please ask if you have other questions or if there is anything I can help you with.

Have a great weekend everyone.

-GCMgr

I have played many basses and bass amps at well over 10 guitar centers in my lifetime.. This is peculiar to me... They also have drums... Am I the only one who feels like this is strange?


On another note, I heard that some GC's will carry mesa products only if there isn't another Mesa vendor within the area. (not necessarily a GC but any store that is a vendor) Is this true? Is it mesa who dictates that there can not be 2 mesa dealers within a certain amount of miles of each other?

 

[GCMgr]

The dealer agreement with Mesa was revised a year and a half or so ago. One of the revisions eliminated our stocking of and access to the bass products. Prior to that revision, bass amps were part of our assortment. Now, we only have access to the guitar products and only through the GC stores that are Mesa dealers.

Mesa is selective about how many and which dealers they open up in a given territory. After all, they are still a relatively small manufacturer, preferring to build smaller runs of high quality amplifiers as opposed to pushing out massive quantities of mediocre ones. But if GC and Mesa both agree that a particular GC store should or should not carry the line, a change can be made. Although in my experience this happens infrequently.

As for the lack of fuses in OKC, well, that is strange. I can speculate that that may be an attempt to combat the "floor model abuse" of Mesa amps that I read about so much on here, but I can't say I agree with that approach. No fuse, no power, no damage might be their thinking. We certainly do not do that in my store. If you want to demo an amp, do they pop a fuse in for you or what?

 

[LPClassic]

GCMgr, thanks for clarify that, I though it would be able to send, like the rest of the stuff, but I can understand that agreement with Mesa/Boogie.

 

[GCMgr]

GCMgr, thanks for clarify that, I though it would be able to send, like the rest of the stuff, but I can understand that agreement with Mesa/Boogie.

No problem. Glad to help.

Mesa's policies can seem a bit strange, but they are trying to ensure that "sensitive" tube amps are not shipped over and over and over (some of you have seen first hand what can happen when amps and UPS collide), and also that their amps are represented and maintained as they envision they should be. I know sadly this is not always the reality at some GC's, however. They want to protect their dealers, both large and small from market saturation and to ensure that these dealers are providing excellent customer service.

If you encounter any issues with the presentation and functionality of amps at your local GC, I strongly encourage you to voice your concerns to an assistant manager.

 

[mikeymike]

The dealer agreement with Mesa was revised a year and a half or so ago. One of the revisions eliminated our stocking of and access to the bass products. Prior to that revision, bass amps were part of our assortment. Now, we only have access to the guitar products and only through the GC stores that are Mesa dealers.

So does that mean that the "no having 2 mesa dealers within x miles of each other" doesn't exist anymore? Would you mind elaborating on that (if you know about it I mean) and also what does Mesa have to do with you stocking Ibanez basses or Ampeg bass amps? I'm not quite following here... you said that:

"GC deals with guitar products only. We are not a dealer for bass products at this time. "

Did you mean GC is only a dealer of MESA bass products or ANY basses and products?

Thanks for the info from someone who's an insider. It's a good resource for these forums.

 

[GCMgr]

The dealer agreement with Mesa was revised a year and a half or so ago. One of the revisions eliminated our stocking of and access to the bass products. Prior to that revision, bass amps were part of our assortment. Now, we only have access to the guitar products and only through the GC stores that are Mesa dealers.

So does that mean that the "no having 2 mesa dealers within x miles of each other" doesn't exist anymore? Would you mind elaborating on that (if you know about it I mean) and also what does Mesa have to do with you stocking Ibanez basses or Ampeg bass amps? I'm not quite following here... you said that:

"GC deals with guitar products only. We are not a dealer for bass products at this time. "

Did you mean GC is only a dealer of MESA bass products or ANY basses and products?

Thanks for the info from someone who's an insider. It's a good resource for these forums.

My apologies for the confusion. GC still handles an assortment of bass guitars and bass amplifiers, just not MESA bass amps.

Gotta tell ya, there are times when I miss having a 400+ on the floor.... And I always thought the walkabout combos were huge sounding for such a small package.

Also, the geographic restrictions are not that stringent. There is no X amount of dealers per Y miles formula in use, but they do look closely at the size of a market and it's existing dealers when evaluating possible new ones (or possible eliminations).

 

[wilerty]

My original post was related to the Syracuse NY store. There is no Mesa dealer in Syracuse at this time. There are two in Rochester (one is a GC), which is about 90 miles away. I thought that since there is no dealer in Syracuse Mesa may have decided that particular store could now sell the product. The assistant manager was who told me that they could sell Mesa now.

 

[thejay]

From what I hear (in general) Mesa only allows a certain number of dealers within an area SO it is possible one GC would carry another may not or some other shop does and the GC does not. I have heard from my local GC that they do not do the "volume" in sales to carry Mesa products - go figure I had to drive an hr to pick up my Mesa BUT it was worth it!

 

[GCMgr]

My original post was related to the Syracuse NY store. There is no Mesa dealer in Syracuse at this time. There are two in Rochester (one is a GC), which is about 90 miles away. I thought that since there is no dealer in Syracuse Mesa may have decided that particular store could now sell the product. The assistant manager was who told me that they could sell Mesa now.

It's very possible then that the Syracuse location has been opened up as a dealer, especially if there are no others within 90 minutes. Very cool!

 

[Dead Moon Rising]

My original post was related to the Syracuse NY store. There is no Mesa dealer in Syracuse at this time. There are two in Rochester (one is a GC), which is about 90 miles away. I thought that since there is no dealer in Syracuse Mesa may have decided that particular store could now sell the product. The assistant manager was who told me that they could sell Mesa now.

I'm over in the Buffalo area, and our GC lost Mesa too, i haven't been there yet to see with my own eyes, but Jackson Music (near my house) just got authorized to sell Mesa. i'm happy for that because it's only 5 minutes from my house, and a mom and pop store that's taken very good care of me in the 14 yrs i've been a customer. they've even grown almost as large as GC while other small places collapsed after the GC arrived.

 

[wilerty]

My original post was related to the Syracuse NY store. There is no Mesa dealer in Syracuse at this time.

I'm over in the Buffalo area, and our GC lost Mesa too,

The Syracuse store didn't lose Mesa ... they never had it before. What I was just told is that they will still not be stocking Mesa, but they can order from a GC stocking store or from Mesa direct.

 

[Dead Moon Rising]

Got it now...

 

[GCMgr]

My original post was related to the Syracuse NY store. There is no Mesa dealer in Syracuse at this time.

I'm over in the Buffalo area, and our GC lost Mesa too,

The Syracuse store didn't lose Mesa ... they never had it before. What I was just told is that they will still not be stocking Mesa, but they can order from a GC stocking store or from Mesa direct.

Hmm. This is not how our agreement with Mesa is structured. Never has a store that does not stock Mesa been able to order amps, transfer them in, ship them store to store or direct to customers, or even take returns on them.

I believe someone may have misspoken to you.

I am going to inquire right now whether any of these policies have changed within the last 48 hours.

EDIT: Just heard back from Mesa and the policies have not changed. If they don't stock it, they can't get it, plain and simple.

 

[wilerty]

Someone did mispeak to me.