Ditto
08-09-2011, 08:14 PM
Well,
I just got back from touring the Mesa Boogie Factory in Petaluma California. It was pretty cool. I got to see everything except the wood shop...top secret stuff with the cab making process I guess. But we started off with the circuit board machine and I have to say that was awesome. They have all the boards for an amp and run them through this machine that presses all the resistors and pots and transistors into it and then they run it through a solder bath. After that they add some of the bigger components with a row of ladies doing manual soldering. Then they can break off the different sections of the board to go into separated areas of the amp..... I thought that was cool.
Then they hand assemble all the tubes and racks and put it all together. It is then tested with a oscilloscope and all the circuits are checked out. Then it gets play tested with a guitar. Then it is sent to this room and all the amps have to sit plugged in for 24 hours. The guy told me that if a tube or transistor is going to pop, it will do so in the first few hours I said "COOL"
Then it is PLAY TESTED AGAIN buy a different guy and he really rips it up. They have a specific progression that they play that covers all the tones and pitches they are looking for. I said "WAY COOL" If it passes this guys test the amp moves on and it is installed in the rack or combo.
Once it is all done and ready to ship, guess what? ................ YEA! THEY PLAY IT AGAIN with the final put it in the BOX DUDE. This guy get to play it loud! He is in a sound room and if he does not like it, IT GOES BACK! (and there were about 10 AMPS outside the room with the RED tag on em) The tech touring us around said they don't like to see that but "If it aint RIGHT WE DON'T SHIP IT!"
They make everything there on site except for the Guitar speakers that come from England, I said "Who cares about guitar?" And some of the aluminum for the foot switches are made in Santa Rosa about 30 minutes away. Everything else is made on site. The BASS Speakers are proprietary and made right there. There was this stack of 10" speakers right next to me when he was talking about them, I was like hummm **** left my back pack in the car ;) Just kidding. Even the foam for packing the amps in card board is made right there.
It is a very small factory considering the amount of amps they produce. Everyone was nice and very casual. They work a 4 10 our week and take Fridays-Sundays off, except the wood shop as he explained, wood is on its own schedule and you cannot rush wood!
Hope yo enjoyed the info
Ditto
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/AcesHighDitto/Bass/DSC_0045.jpg?t=1312938534
I just got back from touring the Mesa Boogie Factory in Petaluma California. It was pretty cool. I got to see everything except the wood shop...top secret stuff with the cab making process I guess. But we started off with the circuit board machine and I have to say that was awesome. They have all the boards for an amp and run them through this machine that presses all the resistors and pots and transistors into it and then they run it through a solder bath. After that they add some of the bigger components with a row of ladies doing manual soldering. Then they can break off the different sections of the board to go into separated areas of the amp..... I thought that was cool.
Then they hand assemble all the tubes and racks and put it all together. It is then tested with a oscilloscope and all the circuits are checked out. Then it gets play tested with a guitar. Then it is sent to this room and all the amps have to sit plugged in for 24 hours. The guy told me that if a tube or transistor is going to pop, it will do so in the first few hours I said "COOL"
Then it is PLAY TESTED AGAIN buy a different guy and he really rips it up. They have a specific progression that they play that covers all the tones and pitches they are looking for. I said "WAY COOL" If it passes this guys test the amp moves on and it is installed in the rack or combo.
Once it is all done and ready to ship, guess what? ................ YEA! THEY PLAY IT AGAIN with the final put it in the BOX DUDE. This guy get to play it loud! He is in a sound room and if he does not like it, IT GOES BACK! (and there were about 10 AMPS outside the room with the RED tag on em) The tech touring us around said they don't like to see that but "If it aint RIGHT WE DON'T SHIP IT!"
They make everything there on site except for the Guitar speakers that come from England, I said "Who cares about guitar?" And some of the aluminum for the foot switches are made in Santa Rosa about 30 minutes away. Everything else is made on site. The BASS Speakers are proprietary and made right there. There was this stack of 10" speakers right next to me when he was talking about them, I was like hummm **** left my back pack in the car ;) Just kidding. Even the foam for packing the amps in card board is made right there.
It is a very small factory considering the amount of amps they produce. Everyone was nice and very casual. They work a 4 10 our week and take Fridays-Sundays off, except the wood shop as he explained, wood is on its own schedule and you cannot rush wood!
Hope yo enjoyed the info
Ditto
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/AcesHighDitto/Bass/DSC_0045.jpg?t=1312938534