For over 50 years, MESA has built custom amplifiers for some of the world’s most beloved artists, from Santana to Petrucci, Metallica to Prince. Today, through the Custom Configured program, you can make your own dream amp a reality
We don’t have a Custom Shop; we are a Custom Shop! From the very first amplifier built in Randall Smith’s Lagunitas, CA, shop under the redwoods back in 1971, this Custom Shop ideology was at the heart of everything he envisioned and pursued. Without realizing it at the time, he was literally creating “boutique”—a category—in the very sense of the word, with every order he filled. Every amplifier had a name attached to it and was ordered from a menu of options, each purposeful and accordingly priced, all aimed at delivering the finest guitar and bass amplifiers possible, built from scratch by loving hands. All these decades later, history has confirmed he was successful in his goal.
Today, alongside redwoods rather than under them here in Petaluma, nothing much has changed in our approach at MESA/Boogie®. We are still a Custom Shop building things from scratch with loving hands, and while it’s still true that every amplifier order has a name attached from the start of build, now the names are mostly passionate artists and select retailers, and the menu of options has become smaller on the electronics side due to features now deemed essential and included.
When it comes to the coverings and accoutrements, however, we still offer a wide array of choices to personalize and/or optimize your handmade custom amplifier. These range from the formats themselves—Heads, Combos, and Extension Cabs—to the speaker choices they can showcase, the custom vinyl, leather, and hardwood cabinetry finishes, and the different grille, corner, and piping options we offer to trim them out. From these widely varying choices and stylistic possibilities, you can express nearly anything you can dream of through our amplifier art.
This art form we devote ourselves to has had many defining highlights and genre-impacting moments throughout the last 50-plus years. Many of them have become classics, while some even went on to become icons. From the initial “Snakeskin” Boogies® with their funky, yet functional T-molding edges used by Carlos Santana during his Abraxas tour, to later Hardwood cabinet Boogies with iconic Wicker Cane grilles used by Larry Carlton during his legendary “Room 335” run, classics born of the Custom Configured ethos have made marks with the Mark Series over and over again, and it continues to this day with the Mark VII.
The 90s saw their own revolution in music, and MESA®, though often sans a Boogie badge, played no small part in it all with the Dual and Triple Rectifier® Solo Heads. These diamond plate-clad gain machines literally redefined popular mod amps of the day while rewriting the sound of radio guitar. The standard dress models were a sight to behold on their own, ushering in a look as menacing as their mighty walls of harmonically laden gain were sonically foreboding. We attributed the success of the Recto®, as they later became known in-house, to being equal parts sound and look. A musical statement that forewarned of its coming everywhere it appeared.
Even the fashion industry took note, as one year, Dual Rectifier Half Stacks were chosen for runway shows across New York, a total rent-out from the soundstage companies across three states during Fashion Week. We were humbled, offering spare tubes for the shows, just in case. That turned to bewilderment as the coordinator chuckled and assured us it wasn’t necessary, explaining that the amps would remain on standby, never to be heard, as they were silent props chosen for their industrial look and heavy rock vibe.
There have been many other special amplifiers created over the years for artists in custom dress as well, both Rectifier and Mark Series, that got their fair share of attention. Custom configured Heartbreakers™, Lone Stars™ and Blue Angels™, mostly in purple leather, some Floral and Paisley, found their way into Paisley Park for the Prince camp, many 4x12 custom cabinet and grille sets for Metallica, various custom Road Kings™, Mark Fives™ and ultimately JP-2Cs for John Petrucci’s Dream Theater live and studio rigs, Holstein cow fur Rectifier stacks for Avril Lavigne, Red Crocodile Stiletto™ stacks for “The Darkness”… these are just a few of the Custom Configured rigs we’ve done over the years for those who have had a vision and wanted to see it manifested.
We still offer myriad choices in colored and textured vinyl, leather of all types, colors, and imprints, hardwood cabinetry with beautiful dovetail joinery and oil-rubbed finish in several exotic species, several grille choices, each with a personality all its own, as well as handle, corner, and piping options to trim out your dream rig perfectly. Among these options, there are many different and unique looks available to help your amplifier reflect your personal sense of style.
Being a musician is the ultimate expression of individuality. Every player is inspired to choose their instrument and gradually build their talent through various experiences and means, viewing a musical landscape—and how they want to fit into it—through a unique lens. You’ve likely chosen a guitar or bass, first by its looks, then by its sound and playability. Usually, that look says something about its sound, or the sound a musician ultimately wants to coax from it.
At MESA/Boogie, we invite you to envision your sound along with an amp form factor and cosmetics it can broadcast from. One that will say something about your values and who you are as an artist, and what you want to convey through your music and talents. We encourage you to be bold with your dream. No one else could ever, or will ever, be you, nor will they express the unique messages or communicate with the music and sounds you will create. Why not celebrate that individuality every time you set up your gear and showcase it every time you play through your amp? Allow us to help you realize the dream with a Custom Configured build, handcrafted by artisans devoted to amplifying beautifully, as we have been every day for over half a century now.
Whether it’s a Mark VII, a Dual Rectifier, a California Tweed, a Fillmore, or even a Subway Bass rig, at MESA/Boogie, we want to be your custom amplifier company. Thousands of happy musicians around the world have trusted us with their tone and sought our help in sounding and looking their best, on stage, at auditions, in studios, and throughout their musical journey. We sincerely want to help you do the same throughout yours!
View Custom Configured amps and shop now. Contact your local MESA/Boogie dealer or one of the Garage Pros at the Gibson Garage locations in Nashville and London, and make your dream amp a reality.
