Dear Mesa/Boogie,

It occurs to me that with the acquisition of SWR by Fender Musical Instruments and Eden by some other conglomerate that Boogie is now one of the few that's carrying the United States torch as an independently owned source of fanatical gear for bass players. I saw the new Scout yesterday and wisely refrained from plugging into it for fear of a repeat episode of my Nashville experience.

I little suspected when I went up with my friend years ago to Nashville to pick up his Mark IV that I would fall under the spell of Boogie bass amps. It was a 400 Plus that blew me away. I HAD TO HAVE IT! It was clean, tight, warm, and sounded HUGE. My only objection to the amp (serial number 1236) has been that it is hard to dial in a very retro bass tone as that is usually epitomized by sloppy, loose, semi-flatulent tone coming from God awful bass rigs compared to what is available today. I concede it is hard for it to dial in what is its antithesis. In its life so far, it has humiliated a bunch of original and reissue SVT's as well a buried the usual suspects in the hybrid realm. I imagine the amp would make a killer rhythm guitar head on top of a stack of 4-12 cabs as well. It would just be so obscenely loud, but I guess you could kill with clean tones with gobs of headroom. I think Rick Derringer did something like it with an SVT head and two Altec loaded 4-12 cabs for a while.

It's amusing as I have taken manufacturing courses and done my graduate work there has been talk of "Who do you consider a World Class company and why?" I have always answered Mesa-Boogie. It's all about maintaining a passionate company culture that has products reflecting what's now decades of tone obsession. Very few companies in ANY field have done it, and you've done it serving neurotic musicians, of which I am one.

Sincerely,
Thomas G. Bramhall
Government Test Engineer
And Tone Obsessed Bassist
Madison , Alabama