MESA/Boogie
Latest MESA/Boogie guitar news, new electric and acoustic guitars, signature models, artist collaborations, and releases tracked by Guitar Radar.
Guitar Radar follows MESA/Boogie through 2 stories and 1 product release, covering new gear, launches and company news as they happen. Most of it sits under players and gear. The most recent story, from Oct 30, 2026, is “J Mascis returned to a 1959 Jazzmaster and a Mesa/Boogie Mark I for Dinosaur Jr.’s There Near”. Coverage here goes back to Sep 16, 2026. The newest product in the releases catalog is the MESA/Boogie 90s Triple Rectifier Standard Head.
About MESA/Boogie
Mesa/Boogie was founded around 1969 by Randall Smith, who was born in Berkeley, California in 1946 and began by modifying small Fender amps. After a Princeton he had hot-rodded impressed Carlos Santana, who called the sound "boogie", the name stuck. Smith's cascading high-gain preamp became the Mark I, and about 3,000 were built at his home.
The Mark II added channel switching, and the Mark II-B brought the first effects loop in 1982, with the Mark IIC+ later becoming the most celebrated model. The company moved to Petaluma in 1980. The Dual Rectifier, designed around 1989 and released in the early 1990s, deliberately moved the brand toward a modified British voicing and was embraced by metal, punk and grunge players, among them Metallica and Soundgarden.
Gibson acquired the brand in 2021, with Smith appointed as Master Designer for Gibson's amplifier projects. Guitar Radar follows Mesa/Boogie's new amps, cabinets and limited editions.
Sources: Wikipedia: Mesa/Boogie · Reverb: A brief history of Mesa/Boogie amplifiers · Premier Guitar: A Mesa/Boogie history
Stories
J Mascis returned to a 1959 Jazzmaster and a Mesa/Boogie Mark I for Dinosaur Jr.’s There Near
A new interview traces how old guitars, shorter studio sessions and a rediscovered amp sound shaped the band’s first album in five years.
MESA/Boogie brings the 90s Triple Rectifier Standard back to the catalog
The 150-watt two-channel Rectifier returns in the black-chassis, chrome-knob and Diamond Plate configuration associated with its 1990s rise.