Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

[hermetico]

Last Saturday I was in a store just to intensively test Mesa Boogie pedals.
I am just regretting not having test the Tone Burst one, but I've tested the Grid Slammer, the Flux Drive and the Throttle Box.
I was highly impressed (so much that two of them are now in my pedalboard).
I've found my array of gain tones, from crunch to massive hi-gain.

A common denominator to those pedals is clarity. Notes stand distinguishable string to string, even with unharmonic chords.
Dynamics are really organic and they feel like an amp. They cut the mix straight, with tone controls at noon so, just small tweak is needed to fine tune them for your rig.
Worked flawless with single coils, paf-alike humbuckers and hi gain humbuckers.
And you can stack all them in a row and the sound is still defined and open!!!.

The Grid Slammer is a clean overdrive with a nice crunch. Really good to put your tubes in their sweet spot and, to control the amount of break up with the strength of your picking.
Differently to other clean overdrives I've checked, the sound doesn't goes thin or lacks sustain but, it's strong, very open and crunchy (think on SRV, if you like).

The Flux Drive is based on Mesa Boogie's Mark amp series and, has more gain on top than the Grid Slammer. Also, more tone control.
It's a distortion box and, has a nice foundational tone.
When the Grid Slammer is being stacked before, it's Hard Rock's heaven.

The Throttle Box is THE Recto-in-a-box (not just a recto-in-a-box).
The Mids Cut control works as the typical contour control and, allows you to get anything in hi gain distortion, from open and defined tones like in a Peavey 5150 to those dark and deep tones of the Recto.
Nice feedback on sound tails, controllable.

Well, I am not a kid fascinated with the brand name.
I've owned and loaded on my pedalboard lots of gain pedals before those.
And, I'm 100% positive MB's are keepers.

Pedals in this ballpark I've owned / used (maybe I am missing some):

Boss OD-2
Boss SD-1
Boss Metal Zone 2
MXR Distortion+
MXR Distortion III
ProCo The Rat 2
ProCo The Rat Whiteface
Ibanez TS 808
ISP Fetish
AMT California sound
Mad Professor Little Green Wonder
Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive
Mad Professor Mighty Red Distortion
Fulltone OCD v3
Fulltone Plimsoul
Xotic BB preamp
Xotic SL
Suhr Shiba Drive Reloaded
Suhr Riot Reloaded
Wampler 57 Tweed
Wampler 59 Blackface
Wampler Euphoria
Wampler Paisley
Wampler Pinnacle
Wampler Sovereign
Wampler Plexi Drive
Wampler Triple Wreck
Weehbo Plexdrive
Weehbo JCM Drive
Weehbo Bastard
Weehbo Dumbledore
Hermida Audio Zendrive
Hermida Audio Tiki drive
Jetter Gear Jetdrive
Jetter Gear 45/100 Gold
Jetter Gear Red square
Jetter Gear Dahrma

Well... that's why I am 100% sure they are keepers.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Which two did you buy?

That's an impressive list of dirt pedals. Not sure if the Mesa's beat them all, but it's good to know that they're in the same class as those pedals.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

I bought and installed the Grid Slammer and the Flux Drive.
Grid Slammer for overdrive / blues
Both stacked, hard rock heaven

But, I am waiting for the other two, next week!.
The Throttle box is really good, as well. Still not opinion on the Tone Burst.
Will hang some video demo, once I'm comfortable with all them.

It beats all them for MY style and taste.

 

[dominus]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

For the price of the two Mesa pedals, I'd just get the ISP Theta.

You should also try Amptweaker's pedals. The TightRock would probably be right up your alley. (I've got the TightMetal, and tried the TightRock.)

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

For the price of the two Mesa pedals, I'd just get the ISP Theta.

You should also try Amptweaker's pedals. The TightRock would probably be right up your alley. (I've got the TightMetal, and tried the TightRock.)

Thanks but, as I said, MB's are perfect for MY TONE.

 

[bladefrenzy]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Im looking for a high gain pedal for nu-metal and 90's stuff. Ive seen the Throttle Box at a local store. So it lives up to its hype, gain wise I mean?

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Man, while looking at the Flux Drive, I stumbled upon the Flux Five and I'm GASing for it pretty bad. Sounds the most like the classic Mesas I remember, but it's not cheap at $300.

 

[Matt42]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Man, while looking at the Flux Drive, I stumbled upon the Flux Five and I'm GASing for it pretty bad. Sounds the most like the classic Mesas I remember, but it's not cheap at $300.

I know what you mean, I really like that pedal. I want it bad.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

I know what you mean, I really like that pedal. I want it bad.

Argh.... GAS got the better of me. I looked at enough clips of the Flux Drive and saw the classic rock clip of the Flux Five and had to have it. I'm never selling my vintage Fenders and I've been on the hunt for a good modern rock tone so I think this will fit the bill better than my the old Bogner XTC Blue pedal I had. I sure as heck have a lot more confidence in the build quality.

It's a gamble since the pedal is brand new, but since this is Mesa's first real attempt at competition with Bogner I have a funny feeling I'm going to get a lot of use out of this.

Thanks Hermetico for waking me up to these things. I had read some lukewarm reviews and dismissed them without giving them a chance. I've heard a wide variety of tones with the Flux Drive (I'm really digging the crunch tones), so we'll wait and see.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

So you got the Flux Five? Awesome. I'd love to hear what you think of it when you get it. I'm really interested in the Throttle Box EQ and I'm eager to hear any opinions on the EQ series.

 

[briggleman]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

I ended up with two of those pedals, the Throttle Box and the Tone Burst. Two opposite ends of the spectrum but perfect for what I need them for. The Tone Burst turned out to be the end all boost I was looking for during my acoustic gigs. It will add just the right amount of slight gain/rough edge into my acoustic amp and PA for certain songs. With its tone controls, I can add a little more fullness to my sound, especially with the chorus pedal in the loop. And used as a boost, its a no brain'er.

The Throttle box is for heavy deep gain. It is full bodied and smooth. It will sing!!! Humbuckers or single coils, does not matter, it will make both do the high pitched harmonic feedback scream. I played both the Flux and Grid, but after auditioning the Throttle box, there is no other pedal like it.

Folks, if you like your metal or just heavy chords, you owe it to yourselves to try the Throttle box. You really need to audition this one!

Brad

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Well, the tone burst, I am still pending on a serious test but, the other three are awesome pedals.
And, way better than the Bogner boxes, IMHO. Straight good tone. You don't need to tweak so many switches as with Bogner's.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Im looking for a high gain pedal for nu-metal and 90's stuff. Ive seen the Throttle Box at a local store. So it lives up to its hype, gain wise I mean?

Absolutely!

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

So you got the Flux Five? Awesome. I'd love to hear what you think of it when you get it. I'm really interested in the Throttle Box EQ and I'm eager to hear any opinions on the EQ series.

EQ series are way expensive and, the store had none to test.
I think MB is delivering also a separed 5-bands (ala Mesa) Equalizer. That's why I'm not so gased by EQ versions.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

I ended up with two of those pedals, the Throttle Box and the Tone Burst. Two opposite ends of the spectrum but perfect for what I need them for. The Tone Burst turned out to be the end all boost I was looking for during my acoustic gigs. It will add just the right amount of slight gain/rough edge into my acoustic amp and PA for certain songs. With its tone controls, I can add a little more fullness to my sound, especially with the chorus pedal in the loop. And used as a boost, its a no brain'er.

The Throttle box is for heavy deep gain. It is full bodied and smooth. It will sing!!! Humbuckers or single coils, does not matter, it will make both do the high pitched harmonic feedback scream. I played both the Flux and Grid, but after auditioning the Throttle box, there is no other pedal like it.

Folks, if you like your metal or just heavy chords, you owe it to yourselves to try the Throttle box. You really need to audition this one!

Brad

Agree.
As said, the Grid Slammer cover all those SRV alike tones. Nice take of a TS, without the issues of a TS and directly cutting the mix. Good for blues and pushing other pedals.
The Flux Drive is, probably, the one that covers more ground, with greater gain than the Grid Slammer (but, can also go down to Grid's level) and a broader EQ.
The Throttle is metal heaven.

 

[karpathion]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Last Saturday I was in a store just to intensively test Mesa Boogie pedals.
I am just regretting not having test the Tone Burst one, but I've tested the Grid Slammer, the Flux Drive and the Throttle Box.
I was highly impressed (so much that two of them are now in my pedalboard).
I've found my array of gain tones, from crunch to massive hi-gain.

A common denominator to those pedals is clarity. Notes stand distinguishable string to string, even with unharmonic chords.
Dynamics are really organic and they feel like an amp. They cut the mix straight, with tone controls at noon so, just small tweak is needed to fine tune them for your rig.
Worked flawless with single coils, paf-alike humbuckers and hi gain humbuckers.
And you can stack all them in a row and the sound is still defined and open!!!.

The Grid Slammer is a clean overdrive with a nice crunch. Really good to put your tubes in their sweet spot and, to control the amount of break up with the strength of your picking.
Differently to other clean overdrives I've checked, the sound doesn't goes thin or lacks sustain but, it's strong, very open and crunchy (think on SRV, if you like).

The Flux Drive is based on Mesa Boogie's Mark amp series and, has more gain on top than the Grid Slammer. Also, more tone control.
It's a distortion box and, has a nice foundational tone.
When the Grid Slammer is being stacked before, it's Hard Rock's heaven.

The Throttle Box is THE Recto-in-a-box (not just a recto-in-a-box).
The Mids Cut control works as the typical contour control and, allows you to get anything in hi gain distortion, from open and defined tones like in a Peavey 5150 to those dark and deep tones of the Recto.
Nice feedback on sound tails, controllable.

Well, I am not a kid fascinated with the brand name.
I've owned and loaded on my pedalboard lots of gain pedals before those.
And, I'm 100% positive MB's are keepers.

Pedals in this ballpark I've owned / used (maybe I am missing some):

Boss OD-2
Boss SD-1
Boss Metal Zone 2
MXR Distortion+
MXR Distortion III
ProCo The Rat 2
ProCo The Rat Whiteface
Ibanez TS 808
ISP Fetish
AMT California sound
Mad Professor Little Green Wonder
Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive
Mad Professor Mighty Red Distortion
Fulltone OCD v3
Fulltone Plimsoul
Xotic BB preamp
Xotic SL
Suhr Shiba Drive Reloaded
Suhr Riot Reloaded
Wampler 57 Tweed
Wampler 59 Blackface
Wampler Euphoria
Wampler Paisley
Wampler Pinnacle
Wampler Sovereign
Wampler Plexi Drive
Wampler Triple Wreck
Weehbo Plexdrive
Weehbo JCM Drive
Weehbo Bastard
Weehbo Dumbledore
Hermida Audio Zendrive
Hermida Audio Tiki drive
Jetter Gear Jetdrive
Jetter Gear 45/100 Gold
Jetter Gear Red square
Jetter Gear Dahrma

Well... that's why I am 100% sure they are keepers.

What amp did you test these with? Did you try the amps natural preamp gain? Have you tried many of the A list amps that those pedals are based on? How do you compare the pedals to the real amp?

I'm just curious. Only because I've yet to find a pedal that actually sounds like the real thing. Yeah, they get close. But, it's not the same.

Edit: I see that you are using a Fender HR3. That makes my question even more relevant. Most of those pedals are based on maxed out EL-34 amps.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

I'm not using just a Fender HR3.
I'm using:

Vox Night Train (EL84, Harma Retro)
Marshall 1923C 85th anniversary combo (EL34, SED Winged C)
Fender Princeton Reverb reissue (6V6GT, NOS JAN/Philips)
Fender Hot Rod III Deville (6L6, NOS JAN/Philips)

And, tests were performed in store with one of the amps that I personally consider the best for fair tests, since it reveals anything, the good and the bad: Fender Bassman 56 LTD and Victoria Amps Bassman.
I went with my pedalboard and inserted those MBs instead of my currently loaded gain pedals, to be sure that they will work fine.
I went also there with my PRS 513, that allows me to test the rig with single coils, medium output and high output humbuckers.
And I went there with my MP3, asked for a PA system and, tested everything with some backing tracks, to check how they would cut the mix.
People in the store thought that I was demoing some product. That was funny.

No pedal sounds exactly as the real amp and, very specially if you make it to sound thru an amp with a complex front-end (which totally overwrites your guitar's natural tone).
I mean that they react as an amp, same as Weehbo's or Jetter's, by example.
They deliver great tone. How close to the real thing?. I really don't mind, if my rig sounds that good.
They work for MY tone, what doesn't necessary mean that will work for YOURS.

BTW, I've received today the other two MBs.
Let see if tomorrow I have time to check how the four interact.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

So you got the Flux Five? Awesome. I'd love to hear what you think of it when you get it. I'm really interested in the Throttle Box EQ and I'm eager to hear any opinions on the EQ series.

Just got it in. I've been playing for about the last 2 hours and I'm floored. Through a clean Fender, with your eyes closed you'd have a really hard time believing you're not playing a Mesa. I've played through a good portion of them and there was always something unique happening in the low end, a certain stiffness to the feel and a crisp kinda crunch tone. This delivers in a way that the XTC Blue and other dirt pedals like the XTS Atomic or Flickinger Cranky Atom didn't for me. Getting that crunch to sound authentic is not easy, but there's a way this pedal does it while keeping the amplifier sounding wide open and natural and that's exciting. I really like how it cleans up (this thing will literally get as clean as your ampfrom slightly turning down on the volume) and responds to your pick attack. It may sound like hype, but this really expands on the "amp in a box" phenomenon with the way it reacts in a way that I didn't think the technology had evolved to yet.

The "hi" mode really sings. The hi-trim control adjusts the volume of the hi mode so you can get some saturation without blowing your head off at home volumes. Cons right now are that the boost gain is not adjustable and the EQ is very powerful, so it takes some tweaking to get it to sound good and a little goes a long way (I'm sure the Mark series is similar). I made the mistake of turning up the upper mids on it on the hi side and the boost nearly ripped my head off both in EQ and apparent volume even with the trim turned down. I found the key is to cut frequencies with the EQ instead of boosting them to keep the hi-trim in check (it's easier to boost the non cut frequencies by turning up the trim afterwards). It came with the EQ set for the standard mid scooped "V" thing, but between having a telecaster and a silverface Fender it was terrible.

For the metalheads, honestly the Flux Five is crushing with the gain turned up and the boost on. If the Throttle Box is an extension of this pedal, I guarantee you it'll have more than enough gain to satisfy.

If you're looking for the classic Mesa thing, this has it. If you want something versatile enough to do Marshall or Vox or something, this isn't your pedal. I think it's great that it's completely usable (and damn near perfect) with the knobs straight up. I think I turned down the treble a hair and the gain a bit and I was completely happy with the rhythm and lead tones I was getting.

It's a strange thing - as I've gotten older I've found myself messing less with stuff and my tastes have changed. I originally liked my Bogners over the Mesa stuff, but over time, the things that used to bother me about Mesa like the stiffness and the slight fizz/graininess in the treble I actually appreciate now (one of the things that led me to selling my second Shiva was that it was a bit too smooth and compressed). This has clarity and attitude and while it's the honeymoon period, it's really promising.

Big kudos to hermetico again for posting about these things. When I first heard clips of the single channel stuff, I wasn't too thrilled about them. I thought it was Mesa's way of cashing in on the same pedals every one has already heard before. They've definitely found a way to get the unique EQ, feel and gain structure down and time will tell whether other musicians embrace it. Given the extra perks of having the EQ version, I'm really glad I took a chance on this. They've clearly put some R&D into this and it shows.

Unlike hermetico, I don't have a wide variety of amps to use the Flux Five with, but my suspicions were that the 6L6 tubes of my Vibrolux and Super Reverb would meld well with the pedal since the classic Mesa recipe was so similar in topography. For Fender guys looking for a serious crunch and lead tone pedal, this thing is a serious contender.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Just got it in. I've been playing for about the last 2 hours and I'm floored. Through a clean Fender, with your eyes closed you'd have a really hard time believing you're not playing a Mesa. I've played through a good portion of them and there was always something unique happening in the

Damon that is not what I wanted to hear. If they're that good than I will end up with a throttle box eq and a delay on a pedaltrain nano for my "metal rig."

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[Matt42]

Re: Mesa Boogie Pedals: serious tone!

Damn... GAS increasing for the Flux-Five