Even though I have been invited to tour guitar and amplifier companies before, I must admit some excitement when Mesa Boogie invited me out to their facility. Maybe there would be a chance James Hetfield encounter or maybe Kirk Hammet would pass me on the way to a vending machine. None of that happened, but I did find out some really cool stuff about one of my favorite amplifier companies. One of things that appealed to my music consumer side were a plethora of Gold Records with some guy named Tien Lawrence on all of them. I wonder who he is? Turns out Tien is Mesa's former Artist Relations guy, and one of our guides for the day. Our other guides were John Rinkor Director of Sales, Jim Aschow Executive VP (2nd in command and a 3rd generation wood worker) and Randall Smith Founder, Designer and President.

We started the day in typical California fashion, in traffic, but this was a different type of traffic, Wine Country traffic. We rolled down the 4-lane highway at about 20 mphs with vineyards on both sides. This was a part of California I had not seen before, Northern California. Upon arrival we were greeted by Mesa Receptionist Debbie Anderson and told that Tien would be with us soon. So we meandered around the office with John and looked at Platinum Records while we waited for Tien. At this point I still didn't know what to make of Mesa Boogie, were they the huge machine I thought they were?

Some Gold and Platinum Records

The first place we visited was The "Pit" which is the name Randy calls his lab. This room is filled with old prototypes, amplifier parts and some really cool original amplifiers (the highlight for me being the first Dual Rectifier). I was told from time to time Randy comes down here for parts and inspiration. It was really cool to be in the room where a lot of today’s modern guitar tones were conceived. Some amps had “tone clusters”, which are circuit boards with multiple resistors or other things I don't really understand connected to them in big "clusters". The purpose of these clusters is to try different parts fast. This is the method used as Randy has his buddy Doug play through the amp while he switches components. Sometime Randy would just touch some pliers to the components and not change anything just to keep Doug honest. I am happy to say this practice still goes on today as Randy continues to develop amplifiers into the future.

First Dual Rectifier, this Chassis also was the first Mark IV

From there we walked about 10 feet over to where production actually starts of Mesa Boogie products. We were shown some early versions of a current amplifiers circuit board. To this day Randy still develops all his circuit boards from scratch. Randy draws out all traces and it is common practice for him to name a circuit board after a piece of music he is currently working on. Right away I could feel the quality difference in these circuit boards compared to others I have seen. They are thicker than most and the annular rings are completely coated in conductive material (the little holes used to connect components to the circuit board). Small details like these can be found throughout the materials Randy chooses to use. None of the items used in Mesa products are dictated by price. The best sounding component always goes in, regardless of price.

Circuit Board without any components installed

The next step is to have the resistors installed. Mesa uses a component insertion machine to install and immediately test small components. Having a machine do this job takes out all the guess work and helps build a better amplifier with higher quality control. The resistor machine also tests for polarity as it drops the resistors into the circuit boards at a rate of almost 100 resistors a minute. At this point the resistors are still loose on the board, they have not been soldered yet.

Resistor installation in progress

The next step is where man and machine come together in the assembly process. The upper part of this two-part machine holds the circuit boards in place and shines a light on the portion of the circuit board were the next component is to be installed. The lower portion of the machine is a multi-level cylinder shaped tray that only allows the operator to take one component at a time out. This is to ensure that the component being installed is the right one. This process is used to install specialized components. Bigger components have a silicone type material between them and the circuit board to protect them from being banged around. Then the circuit boards get put through a soldering machine that coats the back circuit boards in solder and then removes the excess so only the wanted connections remain.

Lower portion of machine

The next station is where the circuit boards start to look more like the guts of an amplifier. A handful of skilled employees then mount wires and other components to almost completely fill out the circuit boards.

Circuit Board gets closer to being finished

At this point I had to ask Tien where Mesa were finding all these skilled workers to perform these tasks, especially with the average tenure being close to 10-15 years. Petaluma certainly didn't seem like the electronic engineering capital of the world, it actually felt like a small rural town to me. Turns out that about 70% of the employees come from family or friend referrals, as I looked around I could feel the knowledge being handed down.

This worker has been with Mesa Boogie for 27 years

Next the circuit boards get fitted into a chassis. Mesa gets all their metal work done by multiple facilities within just a couple miles of Mesa Boogie, not China. In fact that day Randy was at one of those manufacturers while we were on our tour. I am impressed with the overall feel and quality of the metal work. The thickness of the metal and quality of the welds stood out to me.

Rectifier Chassis

What also caught my eye in this part of assembly was the maze of rails, carts and bins. Jim Aschow designed a railroad around the facility that amplifiers ride on from station to station. So when one guy gets done doing his thing he just pushes the cart to the next guy and so on. When they are all done the last employee takes the cart and puts in on a lower level of the system that returns it to the beginning, pretty cool. Now we are looking at something very recognizable, tubes are in and all internal components are connected.

Here is where Mesa’s commitment to quality control really shines. Every single amplifier gets tested the same way. Here is how it goes. Every knob and input/output is tweaked with signal being introduced, while this is going on the chassis is literally hit with rubber mallets to see if there is any change on an oscilloscope. If there is a problem the employee can then walk over to the assembly (10 feet behind him) and let the guys or girls know where the issue is in real time. No beta testing on the side of the consumer here.

Worker testing a Rectifier

The next job sounds really cool, but I bet it can't be. There is a young man in a room filled with amplifiers who plays through every one of them. He will tweak every knob and ever setting. This is the first of two tests to confirm that the amplifiers sound like they should before they leave. The next audio test comes after a 24-hour burn in period. The idea here is that the amplifiers have now had impact testing, turned on and off multiple times and burned in for a day before final audio test. Every amp, from the new Mini Rectifiers (which were being prepared for shipment while we were there) to a Private Reserve Mark V get tested this way. There is also a test room for warranty repair that features a looper for running signal continually into an amplifier and multiple speaker cabinets. The idea is that this simulates hours of playing.

Audio test 1

Now it is on to shipping where Mesa has a machine to make their own packing materials. Essentially every amplifier that Mesa ships has a custom mold that is filled with expandable foam for packing. It is this attention to detail that again separates them from most manufactures.

Packing foam molds

From here we went into the woodworking shop. The cabinets are made of 100% void free birch plywood except where MDF would suite the construction better. After the cabinets have been constructed they go to an in-house spray booth for a quick coat of black paint and then on to finishing. Mesa has dyes for all their cabinets to cut either leather or vinyl. However since the material does tend to stretch Mesa has to compensate strictly by feel and experience to make sure the material is cut correct. All vinyl is made specifically for Mesa Boogie and is much thicker and boasts a fabric style underside. If the cabinet is made of hardwood it is also finished in this same area. While we were there Jim rejected 2 hardwood cabinets that weren’t up to his standards. Jim overseas all of the cabinet making and has designed a machine used to drill holes in Mesa's ingenious caster mounting system.

All Mesa cabinets and combos are fitted with speakers specially designed and manufactured for Mesa. Celestion Speakers are all still made in England for them and have a number of upgrades that normal Celestion Speakers don't. Some of these include higher-grade silicones and components that are normally glued are welded.

Speakers waiting for install

Before our tour went up stairs to "Tube Town" we made a stop into the area where Mesa stores their hardwoods. Jim was nice enough to explain all the differences in the woods tonally and went into detail on how he sources these woods. Jim extended an offer to hand pick some hardwoods for our store. After a while of looking at high grade Bubinga and Maple, Jim happened to mention that he had some Myrtle Wood that was of a quality he had never seen before. When we started to pull planks out this wood proved quickly to have a unique look. We hope to have an announcement soon on which amplifiers we will be having custom made.

Myrtle Wood

Next stop "Tube Town" and a unique system for approving and rejecting tubes. Tubes are tested with a special machine that measures voltage and projected life called “Robo Tube”. Approved tubes get silk-screened and installed in a new amp or packaged for resale. Mesa rejects about 30%-40% of the tubes that pass through their tube-testing machine.

Tubes

All in all it was a very cool day, but the best part for me was meeting Randy himself. Randy is a very unassuming guy. You can tell he truly loves what he does and does not plan on stopping for a long time. One thing I did find awesome was his thoughts on the growth of Mesa. His opinion is that Mesa is the perfect size for what it does and that the industry doesn’t require them to be bigger. It was refreshing to see an owner look at the big picture like this and not be driven by constant growth. Randy is humble, smart, intriguing, funny and very friendly. I can't say enough good things about him.

So the next time you are in a music shop and plug into a Mesa, know that you are getting the best product Randy could design and Mesa could build, period.