the cost of a mesa in australia

[jaredrutledge]

i've got a triple recto in the states (i came over here for school) and am gonna bring it back here after christmas. but i was looking at the various prices of mesas here, and they all seem to be at least 2.5-3x the cost of the states.

given exchange rates, a new roadster costs something like 4400 USD here, versus 1899 USD in the states. if you bought a roadster retail, paid 400 bucks to ship it here, paid the 24% tariff and 10% GST, you could still pull a grand or more profit, and that's without any kind of wholesale price or bulk shipping discount.

the point is, does anyone know why they cost so much here? i'm gonna sell my recto here after a year of use and have enough left over to buy a plane ticket back AND a brand new recto in the states. that's crazy.

 

[Newysurfer]

2 reasons probably

1) add on transportation costs to Aust.
2) blatant profiteering by Mesa :roll:

 

[Barry]

Whats the exchange rate against Australia's currency ? I know in the UK the dollar is at an all time low . Its $2.00 to the pound sterling . Im sure import taxes are levied as well .

 

[jaredrutledge]

nah i figured all that in. fedexing my head to sydney would be 400 bucks, and a roadster new in oz is 5299 AUD. the exchange rate is .85 USD to 1 AUD. even figuring all that in, with the tariffs and GST, you'd make a grand easy. as a private party, not counting if you got wholesale.

 

[Newysurfer]

Same thing with US made guitars. I've bought an SG and a Gretsch from the US over the past 2 years and can sell em here any time and make at least $1000 - $2000 profit on each

 

[zeeman]

2) blatant profiteering by Mesa :roll:

I do not think that its Mesa over charging customers.

I am sure there are some additional costs to Mesa such as different power transformer (Australia is 240V 50Hz while the US is 120V 60Hz), along with a different power chord in addition to (and I am guessing here) different safety rules/requirements... and of course shipping and tariff costs.

If I had to guess, the dealer in Australia can charge more due to the rareness of Mesa in Australia. Here in the US, Mesa prices are fixed meaning that no matter where you buy, the price is the same. Mesa can "force" dealers to do this due to laws within the US. The laws in Australia may be different meaning that the dealers do not have to follow a fixed price and can charge what ever they want.

zeeman

 

[Anonymous]

To believe that MESA is doing this business for charity ... of course they make their margins! A good product expects a good price-jobs need to payed etc etc.

In Europe we have a simmilar situation, you pay nearly 2.400 Euro for a Stiletto Ace 2x12". The price here in HK is around 1.400. So where does the money go? Why to offer that fair price in USA and abroad (even Canada) so much more? Taxes!

 

[jaredrutledge]

i doubt it's mesa charging that much - it's likely the retail vendors. and like i said, australian import tariff is 24%, not nearly enough to justify a 250% price increase.

 

[warped]

The price is set by Mesa to a point where dealers really have no room to move on their margins - this is why when music stores have a big sale you can fine peavey/marshal/etc with a nice discount, but they may have only knocked $100 off a RRP $4500 Dual Rec. It does seem to only be Mesa who do this, and there are people out there prepared to pay that much so why should they drop their prices?

On the other hand if a Dual Rectifier was $3000, they would probably have sold 10x the number of amps in Australia than they currently have.

I think we could by direct from Bogner/Splawn and pick up a US boutique amp shipped direct to our door with a 240V transformer ready to go for the same price (or less) than a dual recto from billy hydes. We can buy a Diezel Herbert from the Australian Diezel distributor for the same price as a new Triple Recto.

Aus dollar is the strongest it's been for quite a while against the US, but that hasn't had any effect on the price of Mesa amps in our shops.

If you're not the trend/fanboy type you can buy hand made boutique gear made in Australia - Sherlock amps, Ledford amps for much less than imported gear so they are worth checking out.

 

[vic]

the dealers dont really make much money they get hardly any commission out of a sale.5500 for a roadster and 5200 for a triple is still outrageous so i buy used which is great cos you can buy a new dual for 4600 and the next day its worth 2500 or so

 

[oz_mike]

The main reason there's a big price difference is that in the US, Mesa deals directly with the stores. In Australia, there's a distributer between Mesa and the retailers,... Pro Audio in Canberra.

So for example, they'd buy a RK off Mesa for $1700, ship it to Australia $300. Duty (5% BTW, not 24%) $85. GST on value AND shipping would be $200. Customs broker's fees and other local shipping charges may add another $100. So the total cost to Pro Audio would be nearly US$2400. Their pricing would be based on say an exchange rate of .75, just to be on the safe side. So the Australian cost would be $3200. They would sell it to the store for say $5000. Store would pay a bit for shipping, then add 50% for their markup to get close to $8000.

That's a very rough analysis, but it gives you an idea of where these prices come from. It's not that anyone is being greedy. It's just that there are many links in the chain. And frankly, I don't think that it would be in Mesa's interest to sell direct to stores in Australia, on the other side of the world. The Australian market is smaller than the market in California alone. It's just easier for them to deal with one importer, and let them do what they want.

But having said all that,... (and let me say before I continue that I LOVE Mesa amps), there are lots of other home-grown alternatives which are better. Check out the Sherlock Fathead for example. 4 Channel, MIDI, 100W,... only $3500!!! That's cheaper than a single recto! Ledford Amps makes a high gain amp for a touch over $2000. BJ Amps in Brissy does the same. For a different flavour, Labsystems, Ulbrick, Reynolds all make amazing hand-made, point-to-point wired amps.

 

[voodoo_child]

I dont really think there are 'too many links in the chain'. I mean, really the only extra link is the Australian distributer.

Shipping and taxes account for some of the difference, but not that much. It might cost a consumer $300 to ship a single amp to Aus, but im sure Pro Audio would bring in a couple of months stock in a small container for a lot cheaper per unit.

Also, Mesa US would probably sell their amps cheaper to the Aus distributer than they would to a US store because Mesa US wont ever incur any costs doing warranty repairs on an Australian amp.

So pretty much all the rest of the difference is going to the distributer. They would probably argue they are providing warranty support, magazine ads etc, but personally i don't think that justifies such a high mark-up.

 

[Newysurfer]

Example - 4 months ago I bought the Express 5:50 in Newcastle, NSW. RRP in Australia was $A3300. I bargained and got the amp for $A2700 cash deal. I shopped around before buying and no-one in Sydney could do under $A3000

RRP for this amp in the US was then $US1200. Do your sums at exchange rate of 85 cents at the time = approx $A1300 price differential for the Express between US & Aust. That's a 90% mark up.

That's blatant and unjustifiable profiteering IMHO. Don't know who's responsible for it and don't care. Aussies are just being ripped off and if we don't like it well - no prob's really - just don't buy a Mesa.

If you want a Rectifier well expect and even bigger unjustiable mark-up. You gotta pay to play

 

[Schulzy]

Im from Western Australia.. im in the process of selling my JCM 2000 to buy a Dual Rectifier... But i also just cant understand these prices... i mean an RRP of $4595 for a DR... you got to be joking.

Do you think it would be cheaper to buy a DR off ebay and ship it to Aus and then convert it to 240v?.... I'm looking for a 2 channel DR and there almost extinct here in Aus.. I wouldn't mind a 3 channel.. but the 2 channel's sound mean!

 

[killbyphone]

Hi.

It's the same in Germany. Paid 2100 Euro for a new Recto 2:100 poweramp. In my opinion MESA itself is the reason for this high price.

First of all f.e. in Germany, there's one distributer (MEINL), who has the exclusive right distributing MESA products in Germany. Every shop, every salesman and every online store gets its MESA products from MEINL - they have the monopol.

I've had a phone conversation with someone from MEINL and he told me, that they have to pay their stuff, the products, the imports, taxes, charges, transportation. And what he did not told, I think some extra money to MESA, so they have the right distributing their amps, get the wiring diagrams, sell manuals etc.

I really think, that f.e. the stores don't make much money with those amps. This is also the reason why only a few huge stores carry rectos, because smaller stores can't get enough profit sailing them.

So in fact: MEINL gets the big deal but is passing a lot of the profit to MESA, who let pay their products very well, because their so sought-after.

Interesting:

In the early 90s Germany had a different distibuter and the prices for Rectos etc. were nearly identical to their US value. Just ca. 300 bucks more which can be legitimated through import costs, taxes and just a healthy profit margin. So I guess, that with the beginning NU METAL era in the mid 90s rectos became the most sought-after amps on the market, which MESA recognized and put high value at. So after the distribution changed, they charged a lot more from the dealers and so the dealers from the shops resulting in such a high pricing.

MESA is first a company, then an amp builder. Don't forget that without a healthy budget --> NO AMPS.

I just know that next time I will import everything from the States, although MEINL will see me dead.

Greets,

Chris

 

[killbyphone]

Hello.

A Dual Recto with 240v tranny costs 2589 €. :!:


A Rectifier Recording Preamp 1685 €

Single Recto: 1888 €

Triple: 2590 € (just one euro more than the DUAL!!)

Rectifier Slant 4x12 cab: 1289 €.

MESA ROADKING HEAD: 3690 € !!

STILETTO DUECE: 2390 €

-- so you have a small overview what MESA costs in Germany!


But when I see the prices for DIEZEL amps in the States.. it is the same, but just the other way around.


A Diezel herbert in Germany: 2999 €

Einstein Head (100W, EL34): 1840 €

VH4 : 2790 €

DIEZEL 4x12 V30 cab: 1150 €

So the prices are nearly the same compared to MESA, just a bit more expensive. So you see, how they rip you off in the US.

By the way, the VH4 is built since 1994! One music magazine tested the amp here in Germany in 1994, but it wasn't enough for the breakthrough. Just with the gaining popularity in the US, those amps became sought-after in Germany!!

(p.s.: Diezel will entering the Rack Preamp market in the next 2 years. I have a confirmed message from Peter, that they will start developing a two-channel basic switching preamp and a 4 channel-midi-monster).

stay tuned!



Greets,
Chris

 

[Leroy the Massochist]

And the cost keeps going up. Even though our dollar has appreciated signficantly over the past 18 months against the US$ my LSS which cost me $3,900 last year would now cost me $4,900.

Any wonder Ulbrik and Sherlock are having a crack.

 

[jaredrutledge]

my guitar teacher knows randall smith and was one of the original people to get mesa into australia - i'll ask him next time i see him what the deal is and let you guys know.

 

[FunkyMonkey]

The whole cost thing is an interesting one, and although taxes play a part the fact is there are more people in the chain and each of them need to make a profit.

I paid £1,695 for a brand new 2x12 LoneStar Classic in February this year and still had to wait 4 months to get it. That said, it was worth the wait.

I have no idea what a 2x12 LSC costs in the US, but on current exchange rates, I paid the equivelant of $3,400.85 USD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it wasn't even custom covered. Luckily I am over the moon with the amp, so don't care that much

D

 

[petejt]

Oz_Mike got it pretty much right.

A lot of the cost is because of the very high import taxes.


In Queensland, I remember at a guitar shop one bloke was talking to the store owner about his Dual Rectifier. They were so amazed about it, you'd think the bloke had a Dumble Steel String Singer! That's how rare Mesa/Boogie amps are over here, especially in Qld.


This year I moved to Western Australia, where Mesa/Boogie amps are more available. They cost HEAPS. Stiletto amps cost $5000, MarkIV heads cost $5300. Road King amps cost $7000+.

My Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Stiletto cabinet cost over $2000.



At the end of the day, Mesa/Boogie make the same profit from their amps being sold in Australia, as they do in America. It's the middlemen that are raking in the extra cash, and the taxman.