Why I love living in Petaluma.....

I go to drop off my Heartbreaker to have something checked out, and here is what happens:
1. Doug West walks up from down the street and says he recognized my car coming down the block, and reminds me again how we had the same car until rats ate his in his barn/garage.

2. Debbie gives me a hug when I walk in. I leave the amp with Rich.

3. Mike B. calls me on the following Saturday to talk about what is going on with my amp.

4. When I pick up the amp this afternoon, Randy Smith is at the front with Debbie. She goes to introduce me, and I let her know I know who he is. He takes time to ask which amps I own, how I like the HB, etc.. I tell him my first "real" amp was a Fender Bandmaster Reverb that he modded into a pre-boogie at Prune Music "back in the day." This sparks a smile and he asks if I ever smoked pot with them in the stock room at Prune (I hadn't). More head nodding and grins, and we move on.

5. I still get a kick out of the fact that they mail me tubes or other bits occasionally as needed, when I live about 2 miles from the factory.....

I guess being a customer since the 70's has finally paid off! I love this little cow tone of Petaluma.

It must be nice! If I lved that close, I would weasel my way in somehow. Sweeping up wood shavings part time, etc..... :mrgreen:

JOEY B. said:

It must be nice! If I lved that close, I would weasel my way in somehow. Sweeping up wood shavings part time, etc..... :mrgreen:

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YUP!!! I wouldn't mind Tim's job of artist relations. That would be fun.

-AJH

All that small talk, and you never asked who the OEM is on the new EL34 STR-448's?

What did they say about the "Changes" to your amp?
What was wrong with it?

1. OEM- I tried twice previously to find out and the answer was deftly avoided.
2. Mods- all Mike B said was "we left the, um mods, the way they were". He noticed but didn't editorialize. LOL.
3. Wrong- sound was fading out after 20 minutes under all conditions. FX jacks were bad. Also, reverb was weak- one spring was busted. General tuneup.
Brent

:lol: In that case.....Great story! :lol:
I would love to pop in and check that place out!

cool story...

if i lived close to the factory i would hang out most of my spare time in there... trying to score a job or something... hmmm interesting...

There isn't much room in the lobby!
due to my relationship with one of their artists, and a company we have that does some cross promotion, I've been fortunate to be able to spend plenty of time there. We've done dinners out and at my house with many of the team, done all day video shoots there and been loaned equipment. Everyone is just great to hang out with. It is a company where everyone is passionate about what they do and about their customers.

Since the topic is vaguely about heartbreakers, i've found a new love. A low gain setting (<9:00) OCD (switch up=hi freq) into the Lust channel on high gain setting with gain set about noon, and masters about noon, EL34's, bold, silicon, tweed, 50W. Awesome dirt tone that cleans up great with the volume knob! Incredible dynamics and crunch. Flip to the neck pickup, and creamy lead heaven! And with the OCD off, its a very thick on the edge of breakup but cleanish tone.

I used to live in Rohnert Park...before I bought my Dual Rec If I had my boogie before I moved I would have made any excuse possible to go into the factory. I still go up there at least once a month to visit friends. Too bad the factory doesn't offer tours though...

Actually, the will give someone a little tour. If you call ahead and ask/schedule, you often get a guided look around.

Sounds like a similar story I have about hangin out with the guys at Tomco Carburetoors in San Diego.

That is so cool !! Do you know if the have tours at the factory for visitors?

And why I love living within 2 hours or less (based upon traffic) is that it gives me an excuse to break out of the area and have Mike or George work on my gear. A while back Mike did some nice work on my Mark III just 'cause I wanted him to do the MB thing AND he did a reverb fix, which he said was actually a service bulletin, as well as giving it the Mike B Mesa love. So ,my 6BQ5 50 Caliber combo fried two resistors at rehearsal last week and viola - another drive to the plant. Rich was very nice and wrote down everything PLUS gave a very affordable estimate. In about 3 weeks it should be ready. Maybe I should bring down the Heartbreaker for some Mesa love if I can afford it.

Dennis

Awesome!!!
Two of my faves are in Petaluma....
Mesa and Lagunitas.

It's my mecca and one day I will make the pilgrimage there :mrgreen:

jpdennis said:

... So ,my 6BQ5 50 Caliber combo fried two resistors at rehearsal last week and viola - another drive to the plant. Rich was very nice and wrote down everything PLUS gave a very affordable estimate. In about 3 weeks it should be ready ...

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Got the amp back from Mesa Monday. Used it last night. WOW and more WOW!

I really love living this close to Petaluma because ... well it turns out there is some factory upgrade they do to the 50 Caliber that uses the EL84's. My God, this thing has never - ever - ever sound this good, clean, dynamic, AND NO SQEALING in the FX loop at any level. Plus they re-positioned my pre-amp tubes in a way I would not have thought of. I am not changing that. They did so much to the board and repositioned several components. I do not need to know why ... I just know that this thing was plain amazing. Now my wife says she likes the 50 Cal as much as the Heartbreaker. It is truly great to get to know the staff AND they recognized me when I came in - and I am not that famous - if at all.

On a side note - Rich gave me the impression there aren't too many EL84 versions of the original 50 Cal left out there. Don't know but if any of you own one you may want to send it to Mesa when service is due. Also, they showed me where they mark dates and stuff on the chassis, which I didn't know. WOW and more WOW - I really NEED to get my Heartbreaker to them now. Rich and Marcos said there is some LDR and "controller" upgrade they do when the HB gets to the bench. 'nough said. Did I say WOW?

George @ Mesa - if you read this thank you so much
Mike B @ Mesa - if you read this thanks again for making my Mark III sound amazing as well.
Heartbreaker - get ready for a trip as soon as I can put you out of service for a month - OH YEA!!!!

Dennis

How much did it run you?
I just picked up a Mark IV A from 1990 that I am thinking about sending to them.
It needs far more work than I really want to put into it. I have decided over the last year, that I want to play my amps, not work on them anymore.......

Monsta-Tone said:

... How much did it run you?
I just picked up a Mark IV A from 1990 that I am thinking about sending to them.
...

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With parts & labor they have both been right about $200.00 each. But I didn't have to ship and for the round trip my gas was about $15.00 (I use my Mini for these trips).

The real cool thing is that they have this "hidden" knowledge of what I call "Internal Service Bulletin" updates that seem to stay within the walls of Boogie. I would imagine that since every amp goes through a final stage that may change some component (value or whatever) for passing the "tone test" that each of mine got the updates based upon that final stage prior to releasing my amp back to me. Kinda cool in some ways and very mystic in others.

Dennis