Mesa Boogie Throttle Box

The Mesa/Boogie Throttle Box is an analog distortion pedal aimed squarely at rock players. Mesa/Boogie describes it as a pedal that "serves up all genres of ROCK with cut and aggression, but retains the signature warmth and organic sonic quality found in Mesa/Boogie amplifiers," with its main strengths in higher-gain sounds and lower gain options for classic rock or blues¹. It was announced in late 2012 as one of four drive pedals in Mesa/Boogie's first stompbox line, alongside the Tone-Burst, Grid Slammer and Flux-Drive², and carried a list price of $199 at launch².

What sets it apart from most distortion pedals is its mid cut control, which scoops midrange to produce the signature Boogie "V" EQ curve, the same voicing idea that made Mesa/Boogie's high-gain amplifiers recognizable¹.

Controls and the two gain modes

The Throttle Box keeps its control set simple. Four knobs and two switches cover the ground⁵¹:

The Lo/High gain switch is the heart of the pedal's range. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the lo-gain mode "serves up great '70s high-gain tones," while the hi-gain mode makes the controls very sensitive, so small changes to the mid cut and tone knobs produce drastic tonal shifts, "from scooped Metallica tones to mid-heavy Southern metal or the industrial grind of Meshuggah"⁵.

The mid cut knob is the feature Mesa/Boogie built the pedal around. It scoops out midrange to produce the signature Boogie "V" EQ curve¹, the scooped-mid voicing Premier Guitar noted "put Mesa on the map"⁵. In practice it works as a continuously variable scoop: at one end the tone stays mid-forward, at the other it flattens into the classic scooped high-gain shape. Premier Guitar's reviewer called the mid cut control "very useful and sensitive"⁵.

One practical note: the EQ-Boost switch is internal, reached through the battery compartment. Premier Guitar's reviewer listed this as the pedal's main drawback, since it cannot be changed mid-gig⁵.

Power and connections

The Throttle Box runs on a 9V battery or an external supply. The external supply must be 9V DC with a center negative plug and a 2.1mm x 5.5mm jack, the standard configuration used by most pedalboard power supplies¹. Current draw is 15mA at 9V DC¹, low enough that it can share a daisy chain with other standard pedals without straining the supply.

Input impedance is 1M Ohm (500k Ohm minimum), which preserves the high end of a guitar's signal, and output impedance is 10k Ohm¹.

Where it came from

Mesa/Boogie announced the Throttle Box in December 2012 as part of its first effects pedal line, four drive pedals ranging from boost to high-gain distortion: the Tone-Burst, Grid Slammer, Flux-Drive and Throttle Box⁴. Vintage Guitar reviewed the four pedals in May 2013, and its reviewer heard the Throttle Box as retaining "some of that raw, rough quality of the Flux-Drive while adding to its hard and punchy in-your-face sound"⁶.

In 2014, Mesa/Boogie followed it with the Throttle Box EQ, a gain pedal built on the same core circuit with a five-band graphic equalizer added⁷⁴.

The Throttle Box EQ

The Throttle Box EQ keeps the core circuit of the original and adds a Boogie Five-Band Graphic Equalizer, the slider-based EQ associated with Mesa/Boogie's amplifiers⁷⁴. Where the original's two gain modes are set by an internal-style switch, the EQ version selects its HI/LO gain regions with a footswitch, so you can switch between two gain settings live⁷. The graphic EQ can be assigned to either or both gain modes, so it becomes active automatically when you select a mode⁷. It also keeps a MID CUT control for global mid scooping on top of whatever the sliders are doing⁷.

MusicRadar reviewed the Throttle Box EQ and found that "with a saturated, yet responsive chunk, the hi mode puts Foo Fighters, Metallica and Dream Theater at your feet," with EQ that can sparkle and scoop without harshness⁸. The reviewer summed it up as "a pro-quality pedal" with "bomb-proof construction"⁴, though its UK list price of £250 drew the comment that it is "a lot for an overdrive pedal"⁴.

What reviewers said

Published reviews of the original Throttle Box have been largely positive, with a few caveats⁵:

• Premier Guitar called it "signature Mesa grind in a box," praising the lo-gain mode's '70s tones and the sensitivity of the mid cut and tone controls⁵.
• The same reviewer found it "cleans up really nicely when rolling down the guitar's volume pot," a useful trait for players who ride the guitar's volume knob⁵.
• On transparency: "It's transparent enough that your tones will retain the natural color of your amp, no matter how hot you run the pedal"⁵.
• The drawbacks named were the internal placement of the boost switch and a tendency to sound strident through amps with a strong high end⁵.
• Vintage Guitar heard it as hard, punchy and in-your-face, while retaining some of the Flux-Drive's raw, rough quality⁶.

For a player shopping the wider field, the Throttle Box sits on the high-gain end of Mesa/Boogie's pedal line, distinct from the company's lower-gain offerings and from overdrive pedals in general by virtue of its mid-scoop voicing and meltdown-capable hi-gain mode¹⁵.

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