I can't see how Mesa amps would break any easier than any other manufacturer's amp. What kind of amp does he consider reliable? I have seen many amps fail for different reasons. I would think that the 3 layer boards are better than the typical 2 layer boards others use. As far as reliability goes, why would so many big touring bands use Mesa if that was the case? The Mark IV is one hell of an amp. Do not let this fool tell you otherwise. He probably just could never afford to buy one or has never had one for any length of time. He may also be biased towards other amp manufacturers. Get a Mark IV and put him to shame. Mesa builds a very nice amp. If you look inside a Mark IV I think you could tell the build quality is there. Besides, if the amp was a terrible amp then why would they still be manufacturing it after over 15 years of use. Marshall hasn't even built an amp that they kept in production that long since the venerable 1959 and 1987. Look at the 800's they only lasted a decade in production. The 900's weren't that great but they only lasted a decade also. I am assuming that the 2000's will only last a few more years also. So for an amp company to be still producing and selling a product after over 15 years must say something for its reputation and longevity. The Rectifiers are nice and can almost have the same thing said for them as well though they did get more drastic changes and became more of a genre of amps. The Mark IV only received minor changes when it was revised to the B version. If you respect your amp and not treat it like crap even the most delicate of amps will last a long time. This is not to say that the earliest Mark IVs out there are even close to delicate. Most of them saw heavy use and were gigged hard because the price of Mesa amps causes them to be more geared towards a pro musician or at least that used to be the case. More people are now playing Mesa than before because of the tone that was presented to them by their favorite artist. They amps that I would be more leary of are those that are less expensive. Besides, Mesa has a reputation of being a manufacturer that not only stands behind their amps but also has excellent customer service should you need them. How many other amp companies can you call and talk to the man that not only designed your amp but built it? How many other companies actually have live representatives on the phone when you call? Most other amps are distributed by one company that handles their customer service poorly. In the last 25 years I have not been as impressed by an amp manufacturer as I have been with Mesa. I have played Marshall, Ampeg, Peavey, Crate, Fender, Musicman, Carvin, Rocktron, Digitech, DOD, Yamaha, Vox, Randall, Roland, Hiwatt, Laney, Sunn, Matchless, GT and Gorilla. The only other company that was even remotely close to Mesa's customer service was Metaltronix and Lee Jackson. I take it that it is because Lee was never very big. He will talk to you about any amp he has ever built or modified. I am assuming that Trace at Voodoo is about the same. I haven't had dealings with Trace but have dealt with Lee. I never had a problem with the Matchless or the GT so I cannot comment there. So from the mouth of someone who has played enough and tried to deal with manufacturers for stuff from tech support to replacement parts, modification and repair questions I think that you should be at ease with Mesa's build quality and reliability. As far as noone being able to fix a Mesa, Mesa requires a level of expertise that not every amp technician has. Mesa only allows individuals that know the amps to be authorized to be the actual Mesa factory service and service them. Sure you could take your amp to your local tech that might know how to fix the problem but they may not have complete knowledge of the amp the way a certified tech would. The amps are not that complicated if you have a good knowledge of electronics and are relatively skilled. To be honest, most amps are not that difficult to work on if you have a schematic and understand the circuit. I can say that many techs are lazy and do not like to work on things that present situations where they must be a little more careful or that involve more timet o work on the amp, ie. the later JCM800s that had the pots mounted to the circuit board. The older techs hated it. The newer techs just learned to live with it. I remember some techs refusing to work on them for something as simple as that or because a circuit was modified and they weren't familiar with the modification. This just shows a techs laziness and inability to assess and troubleshoot. Realistically if the tech knows electronics and has some common sense to him he will be able to work on just about anything. It just takes the time to figure things out.
By the way, what kind of amp does your friend consider to be a good amp?
I would consider a PTP amp to be slightly more delicate than a PCB amp if only because the leads are flying and support each and every component thus there is more to shake around and get loose. I can hear subtle differences in tone between PTP and PCB but rarely think it is really worth it though an old Marshall is hard to beat for that tone.
