His mother and sister played piano and his father was the first-chair clarinet with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, played tenor sax, had a radio show and led a hotel dance band. Randall Smith was born into a musical family in Berkeley, California in 1946. Exposure from these top players helped to establish Mesa/Boogie's position on the market, and it is frequently referred to as the first manufacturer of boutique amplifiers. Prominent early customers included Carlos Santana, and Ron Wood and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.
Smith's modifications gave the small amps much more input gain, making them much louder as well as creating a high-gain, distorted guitar tone. MESA was started by Randall Smith as a small repair shop which modified Fender Amplifiers, particularly the diminutive Fender Princeton. Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering) is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers for guitars and basses.
