Mesa Boogie Throttle Box

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

Just got mine last night. It does just what it says it does. Sounds like a Mesa lol... It turned my JCM800 into a Rectumfryer Laughing

... For better or worse Laughing

It's pretty sensitive to adjustments on the knobs so you can pretty much sculpt the tone around your amp without any issues. There is a Mid Cut knob which acts like the EQ knob on the MK V, where it's got a pre shaped Mesa MK "V" scooped EQ pattern that you can blend in as you like to supplement the sound of the pedal or amp you're using.

The gain goes from tight and crunchy to loose and furry and everywhere in between. There is also a Lo/Hi mode switch on top to change the gain structure. Inside the pedal next to the battery is a little black dip switch that is a gain boost. It comes engaged but if it's too much gain for your setup overall you can turn that off and the pedal is a bit more tame and even tempered in the EQ.

Build quality is beyond top notch. It appears strong enough to hammer nails into the wall with. Twisted Evil

It comes in an MXR sized box but is a bit deeper than an MXR due to all the crap they stuffed inside.

It's true bypass and can use a 9V battery or wall wart.

Will I keep it? I'll hold onto it for a while. It's not the be-all-end-all distortion in the world. I don't think it's as good as an amp but it's better than any of those Boss or Digitech pedals. I'd put the sound quality on par with the Wampler and Diamond pedals out there.

I have been using it with my JCM800 in the low sensitivity input so the amp is super clean sounding. My guitar has Blackouts (AHB-2) which are really high output so it's hard to get a completely clean sound but I can leave the gain on the pedal at about 12:30 with the level around half and it's more than enough grind for the BRÜTALLLZZZZ.

I tried it in the high sensitivity input but it's really hard to get my JCM800 to do anything clean on that input but it definitely sounds heavy as hell like that. I just have to turn the gain on the pedal down more to under half to tame the sound.

Would I recommend this? Yeah, it's pretty neat and worth the $199 they are asking. I can see this as a good thing if you want to have a pedal you can just take around and plug into loud, clean amps and peel paint. It won't replace a good high gain amp's distortion but as long as you're having fun who cares? I dig it.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12252 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

can you make us a clip and how does it compare to the amptweaker pedals?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

BLOODROOT wrote:

can you make us a clip and how does it compare to the amptweaker pedals?

I will if I get some time. It isn't like the Amptweaker pedals. It's not a preamp like the Amptweaker. It's a distortion pedal. The Amptweaker is kind of a different thing in my opinion. Sound wise it's a totally different sound. Not better or worse, just different.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12252 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

BLOODROOT wrote:

can you make us a clip and how does it compare to the amptweaker pedals?

I will if I get some time. It isn't like the Amptweaker pedals. It's not a preamp like the Amptweaker. It's a distortion pedal. The Amptweaker is kind of a different thing in my opinion. Sound wise it's a totally different sound. Not better or worse, just different.

its cool. I youtubed it. I didnt care for it, not my thing. It reminded me of a solidstate version of the vtwin

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

BLOODROOT wrote:

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

BLOODROOT wrote:

can you make us a clip and how does it compare to the amptweaker pedals?

I will if I get some time. It isn't like the Amptweaker pedals. It's not a preamp like the Amptweaker. It's a distortion pedal. The Amptweaker is kind of a different thing in my opinion. Sound wise it's a totally different sound. Not better or worse, just different.

its cool. I youtubed it. I didnt care for it, not my thing. It reminded me of a solidstate version of the vtwin

LOL everything reminds you of a solid state version of something ahahaha... j/k Laughing

The pedal will sound different through every setup. The demos on YouTube are all through a little combo amp you can't just go off that. Nothing will be better than trying it yourself.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12252 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

BLOODROOT wrote:

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

BLOODROOT wrote:

can you make us a clip and how does it compare to the amptweaker pedals?

I will if I get some time. It isn't like the Amptweaker pedals. It's not a preamp like the Amptweaker. It's a distortion pedal. The Amptweaker is kind of a different thing in my opinion. Sound wise it's a totally different sound. Not better or worse, just different.

its cool. I youtubed it. I didnt care for it, not my thing. It reminded me of a solidstate version of the vtwin

LOL everything reminds you of a solid state version of something ahahaha... j/k Laughing

I'd agree to that statement alot of times. Its the mono crappy youtube low resolution over compressed vids sometimes. maybe it would sound better with your clips since you are a metal player and the vid I watch the guy was barely playing anything. The vtwin always reminded me of the guitar center b52 tube head.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

The video I made didn't come out very good. For some reason this camera's mic has been acting up. It didn't even sound right with just the clean tone. I don't know what to say other than just check it out. But it sounds much better in person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBYASKaB3Xk

When we start recording in a few weeks I'll get a mic'd tone from in the studio.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12252 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

The video I made didn't come out very good. For some reason this camera's mic has been acting up. It didn't even sound right with just the clean tone. I don't know what to say other than just check it out. But it sounds much better in person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBYASKaB3Xk

When we start recording in a few weeks I'll get a mic'd tone from in the studio.

fail.

you set it to private.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

I fixed it.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:51 am

wowzers. dunno what your beef with the mic was. it sounded great to me. for me it was Mark Morton sounding all day. *shrug* its not my thing at the moment but its good to know i can nail that tone for a paltry 200 if i need to for some reason.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12252 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

cool. see yours didnt sound solidstate.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

lordkronos187 wrote:

wowzers. dunno what your beef with the mic was. it sounded great to me. for me it was Mark Morton sounding all day. *shrug* its not my thing at the moment but its good to know i can nail that tone for a paltry 200 if i need to for some reason.

My beef is mainly that is sounds fatter in the room and I wish I could capture that with the mic on the camera.

BLOODROOT wrote:

cool. see yours didnt sound solidstate.

It's a good pedal. Out of the distortion boxes I have played it's in the top 3 next to the Wampler and Amptweaker. I like it because it's small and doesn't take much tweaking to get a decent tone from. I'm going to keep using it as much as I can before the return period runs out to make sure I want to stay with it.

It did kill a 9V battery in like 2 hours though and when the battery starts to die it sounds HORRIBLE. It's like those old fuzz pedals when the battery goes. They sound like they are melting into the floor. So you gotta have a wall wart with it, which I do now. I just pulled the battery out. I don't think I'll even try to use one again with it because it sounded bad with a partly dead battery.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 7:16 pm

fatter you say? i hear ya. fatter is good. i like fat. that would be sweet to capture on video.