Mesa Distortion pedals

samzadgan

Who has them? what are your thoughts?

seeing Mike Sullivan using them has got them on my radar. I really like his tone and he is quite particular about his gear, so keen to hear thoughts from anyone who has it and how they are.

I think the ones he uses is the Flux drive.

Sassafras

I'd quite like to try the Throttle Box, if it really is a low gainer.

MtB

The Throttle Box is the highest gainer of the Mesa pedals... Dual Rec in a box.

mike_l

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cFyLQCDGD68

 

jeztone2

I tried the throttle box,it sounded great for chords & crap for melodic lines. I still think the 7thvn is the one to beat in terms of a non valve amp in a box

Sassafras

Silly me!

I meant the Tone Burst, not the Throttle Box.

Wondered how it compares to the Xotic RC or AC.

samzadgan

Yeah the throttle box is not really interesting to me...i dont really like the voicing...

Any experience with the Flux??

Pete24v

I had a flux drive for a while, I liked it into a dirty amp, or into another drive pedal. The eq was good, not as drastic as the Xotic stuff.

samzadgan

@pete24v you never used it on a clean amp? 

Pete24v

I tired it, wasn't massively impressed, other pedals were better at that job.

samzadgan

ok thats my answer right there!

thanks mate

ICBM

I've got the Flux Drive, and it's the best overdrive-sounding-like-an-amp pedal I've ever tried. It's so good that using it into the clean channel of my amp is better than the dirty channel by itself, at low volume.

It does not have that irritating slight separation between the dirty sound and an underlying clean just before a note decays back below the point of clipping, which drives me nuts about almost all solid-state overdrives.

OK, it is very middy at the centred positions on the EQ - I use it with the bass turned up all the way and the treble very nearly. It's not that high-gain either - it will clean up with light picking or rolling the guitar volume back slightly even with the gain all the way up.

In contrast to Pete I don't like it as much into a dirty amp, at least not at the settings it sounds best at into a clean one, and I prefer it with another overdrive/distortion in front to going into another one. I would use it as an extra-channel pedal at the end of the board and after any other dirt pedals.

The only things I don't like are that it's true bypass (sorry, not a fan - and it's implemented badly too) not buffered, and that the knobs are fragile, I'd had it less than a day when I dropped it and broke one . Oh well...

Branshen

the mesa tone burst sounds good in this clip. Used as a low gain overdrive into a clean amp.

Pete24v

Everyone is different, I simply preferred an Xotic bb or a Mojohand Rook, they sound amazing into clean amps, especially Fenders

ICBM

Exactly - just preference. I haven't tried those two either - just the Xotic RC, which I like but is more of a boost with a bit of dirt and less of a full-blown overdrive than the Mesa, I think, although obviously each can do both things.

fretmeister

I know Mesa should really be able to make a Rec in a Box, but having owned several Recs I think the AMT Legend R2 is far closer to the amp than the Throttle Box. And it's quite a bit cheaper.

Not tried the others.

Teetonetal

I have and use the tone burst - it's a great clean boost, to very mild OD - but I  only use it to push my already broken up amp. As a standalone OD it's awful. It sounds great with my balckstar ht40, but not so nice with my laney club 12.

Moss

Seems like Anna Calvi uses the Tone Burst on her board

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5484/10831779535_5627cfd3f8.jpg

ICBM

fretmeister said:

I know Mesa should really be able to make a Rec in a Box, but having owned several Recs I think the AMT Legend R2 is far closer to the amp than the Throttle Box.

I didn't particularly like what I heard of the Throttle Box in the demos. I have a V-Twin anyway, which is the only Rectifier in a floor pedal I will ever need.

I really wanted the Flux Drive because it's more like the lead channel of my old DC-5, which I miss sometimes - or like the V-1 pedal, which is similar.