Mesa/Boogie

The story: an amp maker in Petaluma

Mesa/Boogie's identity as a pedal maker starts with its amps. The company has long been known for the amplifiers it has been producing for decades³, and its pedal marketing leans on that lineage: the pedals are described as created using the same craftsmanship and quality components from the custom amplifiers⁷. Guitar World noted in 2013 that the drive pedals are built right in Petaluma, California, alongside the company's legendary amps⁸.

The pedal side of the business began in earnest with the "Four on the Floor" line of overdrive pedals, announced in December 2012, consisting of the Tone-Burst, Grid Slammer, Flux-Drive, and Throttle Box⁷. EQ pedals followed in 2014⁹, signal management products in 2016⁶, and three more overdrives in 2020⁵.

What Mesa/Boogie is known for: amps, drives and EQ pedals

The drive line splits by gain and character:

Reviewers were broadly positive about the first four. Vintage Guitar found that each delivers pro-quality sounds and is built tough for years of road use, with each offering a distinct tone and set of features¹³. Premier Guitar noted that each weighs in at nearly a pound¹⁰ and that all four are completely handbuilt in the Petaluma factory¹⁰. Guitar World called the Flux-Drive "easily the most versatile of Mesa's pedal lineup"⁸, and found that with an overdriven amp the Grid Slammer is "capable of producing tones that are shockingly close to Mesa's legendary Mark II C+"⁸.

The 2020 additions were the Cleo, DynaPlex and Gold Mine, three hand-built overdrive pedals spanning the range of gain: the Cleo is a transparent boost/overdrive and the lowest gain of the three, the Dynaplex is vintage inspired medium gain, and the Gold Mine is the higher gain option⁴¹. All three were available at launch for $199 each¹⁴.

On the EQ side, the Boogie Five-Band Graphic EQ is a stand-alone pedal offering the same tone shaping power and hand-built quality as the EQs found on Mesa's amplifiers⁹. The Flux-Five pairs a gain pedal with the Five-Band Graphic Equalizer and footswitchable HI/LO performance modes¹⁵.

Switching and signal management pedals

Mesa/Boogie moved into utility pedals in 2016 with four buffer and line driver units, including the Stowaway Input Buffer and High-Wire Dual Buffer, each built in Petaluma and promising the utmost in components and signal integrity⁶.

In May 2018 the company announced a pair of amp-switching pedals for dual-amp rigs, the Head-Track and Switch-Track¹⁶.

• Head-Track: switches between two amps, with an on-board footswitch for switching at the unit itself and a Remote Switch jack for a MIDI On/Off function or a latching pedalboard footswitch²
• Switch-Track: ABY switching for two amps, with A/B and A+B/mute footswitches onboard, a low-impedance tuner out jack, and a ground lift switch for isolating the A output¹⁶

Who designs Mesa/Boogie pedals

Mesa/Boogie credits no individual designer for its own pedals. The company describes them as built by the team who worked on their Mark Five and Dual and Triple Rectifier amps¹, hand-built in the company's only shop in Petaluma⁴. The company's earlier pedals, the V-1 Bottle Rocket and the Dual Rectifier-inspired V-Twin, were followed by the compact, solid-state Four on the Floor designs, which Premier Guitar's reviewer took as a sign that Mesa had learned a lot about what players want from pedals¹⁰.

Related gear from other makers

Mesa/Boogie's amps have inspired pedals from elsewhere. Master Effects' Super Four Hundred is based on the Mesa Boogie Bass 400+ bass amplifier¹⁷, and Jed's Pedals' Doctor Boogie is a DIY kit described as a 6-knob distortion monster that emulates a Mesa Dual Rectifier head¹⁸. For players switching Mesa amps from a pedalboard, American Loopers makes an external footswitch for changing channels on a Mark 5:35, using a 5 PIN DIN cable with an LED indicator; the maker asks buyers to contact them before purchasing to confirm amp compatibility¹⁹.

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