Mesa Boogie History
Mesa Boogie is based in Petaluma, California, and was founded in 1971. Originally started by Randell Smith as a small repair shop that modified Fender guitars. Mesa Engineering (the official name of the company) began as partnership between Smith and his friend David Kessner, who ran the business end of the company while Smith provided the engineering.
The story of how "boogie" came to be associated with Mesa Engineering is as follows: In 1969, Smith, (supposedly as a joke) modified Barry Melton's (Country Joe and the Fish) Fender Princeton amplifier and then took his creation into the front store looking for a tester. Coincidentally, Carlos Santana walked into the store that day and tried it out. According to company sources, he "wailed through that little amp until people were blocking the sidewalk". After finishing, Santana commented to Smith "Man, that little thing really boogies!"
By the time Smith and Kessner started Mesa Engineering in 1971, they already had a sizable local reputation and garnered business from such San Fransisco musicians such as Santana, The Grateful Dead, and the Holding Company. The number of musicians who have used Mesa Boogie amps over the years includes Paul McCartney, Ben Kenney of Incubus, John Campbell of Lamb of God, John Myung of Dream Theater and Cliff Burton.
Mesa Boogie Products
Over the decades, Mesa Engineering has released a mind-numbing variety of amplifiers, a large number of which have been discontinued (ironically increasing their appeal for many musicians). The first "official" released product of Mesa Boogie was a custom bass amp produced for Patrick Burke called the Snakeskin Mesa 450. In 1972, the breakthrough Mark I Boogie was released with production continuing through the 1970s. Overall, the Mark series continues to this day with the Mark II, Mark II-C, and Mark IV all having very successful production runs.
In the current Mesa boogie product catalogue, the Lone Star and Road King, as well as single, double and triple rectifiers make up the choices for guitar amps. For bass amps, one can choose from the Stiletto and Mark IV, as well the current reissue of the Mark I.
Discontinued products from Mesa Boogie include the F-Series, Quad, Nomad, Blue Angel, Maverick and Formula preamp, as well as earlier version of the Mark series. Pretty well the only place you can get these amps is through Ebay or private sales.