the cost of a mesa in australia

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Anonymous]

let me have a look here in hong kong - the prices are "little" below europe and all amps are 220v equipped.

the ACE 2x12" combo goes for
14.000 HK$ / 1.790.- US$ / 1.290.- Euro / 2.139.- AUD

give me some days to check the dealer to see whats there, usually 1-3 DR, some RK, LS and LSS ...

let me know if you are still interested and ... serious about it

So long!

 

[Leroy the Massochist]

I don't think import taxes are a factor as Australian import taxes were replaced by GST of 10%.

Consumption taxes in many European countries is 17%. I don't know what they are in USA but the exporter, Mesa Boogie, would get a credit for their tax.

That is, if US consumption tax is 10% then Boogie get it back and the only indirect tax would be Australian GST of 10% so taxes are no different US v Australia.

The cost of shipping is not an expensive thing either, at about $15,000 for a 40 foot container which would have to hold at least 1,000 amps, that is only $15 per amp.

 

[justanotherguitarist]

I just thought I'd share my story to give some perspective to any Aussie's considering mesa gear but don't want to pay the completely ridiculous retail prices over here.

Anyway, I just bought a used Roadster head from the US for US$1700, US$300 for shipping (to Australia) and US$75 for Paypal fees. So $2075 all up, which to anyone in the US would be a major rip-off for a used amp... but that was a BARGAIN! It took me a long time to find anyone willing to post here (Australia) and anyone that was willing couldn't get shipping for less than US$500! Which i thought was a little odd.

Anyway somehow this guy managed to get shipping through USPS for US$225 (yet the other sellers couldnt even get USPS to post it as it exceeded the weight limit) which i was absolutely cheerin' about!! (I'm pretty sure he's a member here). From the day the money cleared to his account it took i think 8 days to get here! Faster than the step down transformer i ordered, which took 2 weeks and was only coming from Sydney!

So all up it cost me ~AU$2400, compared to the retail price over here of AU$5000-6000 depending on the store and when it was you looked. So if i can get an amp over here that cheap (even though it took me at least 2 months of searching and waiting for a seller) then theres no reason why other Aussies cant do the same thing. Maybe then somewhere along the chain retailers/distributors may reduce their profits by offering MESA gear cheaper so they can compete with US imports.

The only issue is converting to 240V, that only required a $180 step down transformer... which i suppose is a bit of a bitch to carry around.

So basically, I got the Roadster (almost mint) for less than a new Marshall JVM or for about the same price as a new JCM2000, which i initially considered... but considering my own track record with marshalls (not impressive) and the general low reliability consensus, i opted for the mesa import option which has fully paid off!!

Basically if its this easy to import mesa's at a reasonable price (by Australian standards) why is the markup so high? I can see where taxes (10% GST) and shipping cost (which should be minimal for large importers) play a part but $6000 for a Roadster or close to $8000 for a Road King is ridiculous! Just as someone said earlier, if they were able to lower prices to compete with marshall, they'd increase sales 10x. I'd think AU$3500 would be reasonable for a Roadster head. Then they would definitely be in the Marshall range ($2800 for a new JVM head)

Thats my extremely longwinded 0.02c

 

[scottm]

id like to throw in my thoughts that should shed some more light on the subject!! i bought a brand new dual rectifier 3ch from billy hydes in 2002 for $4595. they would not budge on the price. in those days the exchange rate between the US and AU was like $0.55!!! yes almost 2 australian dollars to 1 US!!!

this is the year that mesa was introduced to billy hydes - the first time id seen mesa in a retail store before in melbourne anyway. id never played one before and mesa had always had a certain mystic hearing about them from friends.

i played the triple and loved it but was $5195 and just far too ridiculously priced for an amp. yes i know - whats $600 difference when youre paying $4600? but i was certain i could get what i was hearing in the triple from the dual. especially after reading reviews like "you only need the extra 50w if you play stadiums" - which is wrong might i point out.

so billy hydes pricing had some merit considering what that would cost u to import. $4595 less 10% tax less $300 shipping less $100 rough customer agent charges = $3699.50. so when converting that price into US dollars at the 2002 rate of 0.55 = US$2034.73. dr 3ch were going for rpp $1499 before tax in the states in 2002 - so it seemed about right - including local warranty and maybe a few hundred dollars difference going to various middle men.

id never imported anything that expensive into australia before - and thought if anything went wrong - that the store would fix it as warranty was another big advantage to the price.

i ended up not happy with the dual sound wise and sold it on ebay for $2999 a couple of years later to someone within australia. the amp was barely used as i had lived overseas for 18 months and not taken it with me.

so with my $2999 i bought a nice secondhand triple from ebay US and couldnt be happier still today. by this time the exchange rate was more like $0.75. so after shipping, taxes, customers agents and a $180 500w stepdown transformer, i still got change with my triple. so alls well that ends well...

in 2008 the price of a dual in australia is $4695. i agree with the previous poster and think that AU$3500 is a more responsible price for exotic, boutique amps such as the dual rec. these current local prices will just force people to buy from the second hand market.

but now ive bought from the US and saved $$$ and i will not be paying these ridiculous RPP prices like a sucker again. especially now that the stronger australian dollar is showing up these local mesa prices.

but as i mentioned before their original price was barley reasonable but people paid it - why should they reduce their prices now? at least this is how their accounts would look at it....

no warranty maybe? but if an amp has run perfectly fine for the first few years then in most cases it should continue to run with no/almost no major problems.

6 years ago i thought ebay was a bit shaky to buy expensive items from - paypal helped a lot to overcome that. the AU dollar is much stronger now - almost double its value in that time. so sites like ebay are now looking all that much more appealing.

so hoped these ramblings have explained why the mesa local price is so high today in australia.