Mesa/Boogie V-Twin Tube Preamp Pedal

Its a fantastic effect solid enough for the rigors of touring with a drunken punk rock band.

First, I see lots of noobs ranking this thing low, from what I can tell they might be trying to actually make it sound like a MESA boogie when its just a simple effect with an over drive, clean and blues?

Hmm, well its no nickle back wonder dog, this is a pure blues with a monster side (It even has blues written on it?) Sheese!

My setup is stupid simple, point to point 18 watt hand wired amp with a blue dog and a 25 watt vintage 30 and a single coil strat. Nothing more. I get every kind of rock or blues tone by adjusting my pick attack and my special volume knob that has a hand wired effect that rolls off the distortion so I can go from blues to rock. I worked on my knobs with my amp on flat with the volume knob set at about 4 then used the mesa to control the volume and the guitar volume to control the distortion, cleans up nicely.

Ok, this is where it starts to break apart for me.
The unit will only magnify your own skills as a guitar player so if you suck its going to sound that way but with a blues character. The mesa makes me want to be a better player and you cant hide behind a wall of mud so don't over do the effect, its not designed as a metal machine, if you want to sound like ACDC with a single coil strat then you better have the balls to back it up with a good amp. Its my advice that you get a great hand built tube amp and go blues and rock! YEAH! IT ROCKS! But you cant hide between the punchier and articulate notes of this effect, you will be found out!

I got mine covered in beer "Not working" and I fixed it with some alcohol and a rag.. works fine now!

I never use support, I use local guys to fix. dunno!

Over all, the overdrive is fine but entire chords get muddy if you use the gain on the blues channel then the over drive is out of the range of chords. Perhaps backing the volume knob back cleans it up but being that I am centered on the blues channel the solo is to thick. The sound is very good and thick with the correct tools like a tube amp that does not suck.
On the inside mine is stamped 1993. I think more tweaking will make it sound better over the next week. I like classic rock so I don't know any of the new stuff like nickle back or or Britney Houston or what ever crap passes as modern culture kind of music that goes around but if you like walls of crap at high volume with spastic "Get paid by the note" playing you might just stay with a POD amp until you put it on ebay because it sounds like ASS. This is a fantastic tool for Boutique amps with no channels as it can give you one more, perhaps two more sounds to a trim setup. I am not sure if the tubes are for looks or if they pass the signal in the tube stage? Its similar to my Ibanez PUE5 tube but small. I do not know if the bypass is a true bypass. My pickups are shrill and this unit really tames them down. Is this worth $300? Sure because they are not produced! The headphones in my settings sound AWESOME! (Is Awesome a word now days?) Any way keep this rig tame for best results.

I would use this in a studio as an amp sim/re amp direct into nuendo/protools and no one would ever know its not a tube amp.

This is a follow-up review.

I've owned my V-Twin for just over a year now.

Easy to use. You just set the knobs and play. It's extremely hard to get a good sound from this thing with guitar, but with bass it's another story. See below...

Well, I used this pedal for a year with the following equipment:
- ESP AX-260, Neck-thru with Seymour Duncan pickups
- Laney TF200 65w valve hybrid combo

With guitar it's way too muddy and undefined, even with the bass knob on 0. It gives a tone pretty close to Aenima by Tool. I just took it out of my setup, in favour of using my amp's preamp instead. It sat there collecting dust for months, until I tried it with my cousin's 5-string ESP bass, plugged into nothing but a hi-fi stereo system, and, well...

...It sounded ****ing amazing!!

This thing's EQ makes a guitar sound ****, but it's perfectly suited to a bass. It's clean channel gives a beautiful warm bass tone, like a full valve bass amp. But the solo channel was where it shone. I cranked the gain up to maximum and played some of my favourite distorted bass riffs and the tone was just wicked. Absolutely FILTHY and full sounding, with a nice amount of high end and a well defined low end. Not only that, but it was super warm too, it's seriously the best bass tone I've ever heard. That's not an exaggeration either. I absolutely loved it. I wish I recorded some sound clips now.

For guitar, I give this pedal a 4 maybe.
But for bass, I give it a 10 straight away. Very impressed.

Very reliable. I've never had any problems in the year I've owned it, except for a single occasion when the footswitching got screwed up.
I'd definitely gig it without a backup.

Haven't needed to talk to Mesa.

These pedals should have been sold as bass preamps! They're perfectly suited to it. If you have the chance to try one with a bass, do it.

The tone this thing gives is really versatile for bass, it can cover any tone you're looking for. Clean, dirty, thin, thick, loose, tight. It will do it. From Blues to Black Metal.

If I was a bassist, I'd use this pedal all the time. Practising, rehearsing, gigging or recording. This thing is perfect for the gigging/recording bassist as well, since you can carry your tone everywhere you go in your gig bag without having to lug around a back breaking bass head. Also, the three different outputs (guitar amp, power amp, mixer/headphone) are great, it means you could plug this thing into a bass amp, a power amp or even directly into the mixer or PA as bassists often do.

For guitarists: Try this thing before you buy is all I can say. And by the way, this thing sounds nothing like a Dual Rectifier. If you want a Dual Rectifier sound, buy a Dual Rectifier. It's that simple.

For bassists: If you want a tough, versatile, easy to use bass preamp with beautiful warm cleans and filthy wild distortion, buy this pedal!

it is not really possible to get a good sound of this box easily...

because, the sound quality of the softer channels are a little cool,, but the distortion channel... well it completely sucks. dark and muddy sounding. h&k tubeman destroys this with all of its 3 channels. especially the lead channel is much more better than v-twins'. h&k does not have the "volume difference between channels" crap that v-twin has neither.

h&k has the best cabinet simulation direct output(red-box pro) and what v-twin has? -a crap sounding one.

plus, v twin does look like a toy. plus plus, it is overpriced. put 100 bucks more and get h&k. i give 3 'cause clean settings are a bit cool but not as much as H&K.

looks really cool and strong. i wish it could sound like that too...

meh.

dont buy this unless you pay 150 bucks or under that... i see them priced $300-350 on ebay. that is insane. if you are a pedal collector go for it. lol

really easy to use plug it in and start playing and tweaking
editing and tweaking is a doddle, the manual is detailed and easy to understand but you don't need it , just plug it in and work it out for yourself. my unit is the version 2 with the extra clean gain control under a removeable plate under the pedal.
the only reason i haven't given it a 10 is because the eq and gain is set for both clean and distortion and you can't store the a setting for each channel, saying that though the clean at full gain is crystal clear, punchy and glassy so that when you go to the distortion channel your gain can be awesome without it affecting your clean.
features are, gain, bass, mid, treble, presence, and master volume
bypass foot switch, and a clean to blue / clean to solo or on the version 2 it can be adjusted to do blues to solo.
it has 2 12ax7 mesa tubes for that nice tube compression/saturation no fizz

my rig is a peavey valveking 100watt head set on clean, with this pedal going straight into the guitar input, don't put it through your effects loop or it won't sound as good, and a gibson explorer.
i've owned a marshall dsl 100 full stack, tsl combo and head, a mesa 2x12 combo and played through alot of major heads like the 5150 and dual rec's, but nothing comes close to using this pedal through a cheap valveking head, it's all you need !!!
i've spent ages looking for my distortion tone and now i have it
it sounds massive and full of that mesa bottom end tone and crunch !!
the bass can really make this amp thud and punch.
the clean is really nice and warm, with gain set high it gives it a glassy type tone which makes the tubes sing !
i was fed up with every distortion pedal i've ever owned and played through, they just couldn't produce a distortion without that horrible fizz , i would say the only other pedal that would come slightly close to this would be the boss metal core, but it hasn't got the tube tone this gives !

it's built like a tank !!!! weight is around 2 to 3 kilos so on stage it isn't gonna move ! the only thing to replace are the valves as over a period of 2 or 3 years they will lose their tone with heavy use but the tubes are why i bought it and that's a given !

bit slow on email if at all, but if you call mesa service they are willing to help straight away and quite helpful.

i'm over the moon at finally finding a pedal that works and that is so versatile
if you can find one buy one !! but they are as rare as rocking horse s**t and very exspensive for a pedal , but it is a pre amp !
this will beef up any amp from power amps to guitar amps or straight into a mixing desk
would def' buy it again if it were stolen or lost if i could get the money and if they are available !!
i've been playing for around 13 yrs in touring bands and 16 years in total
i sold all of my gear and bought a cheap valveking and this pedal as i realised this is all i need now, no more exspensive heads that blow up and cost a fortune to repair, if my valveking blows up i can plug this into any desk or power amp and it'll do the trick !
i play heavy rock / metal, and rock ! this is def the pedal for these genres !

so stupid knobs , sounds like my grandfather ))))

realy realy bad ! I sell this damn pedal , and I am happy man . Guys do not buy this gear , the realy cool over drive pedal is - ROCKETT AFTERBURNER - IS KILLING ME !!!! YES

BIG METAL BOX , AND WHAT ?

MESA IS NOT BED CUSTOMERS

DO NOT BUY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could not be easier to use. Inputs on rear for most situations. 4 levels of EQ (bass, mid, treble and presance) plus gain and master.
two foot switchs (bypass and chanel) and one hand push switch for blues or clean. if i have one complaint, it would be.. wish it had 3 foot switchs instead of that hand switch

I am using the V-Twin as a overdrive/boost pedal I mainly use my US Fender Strat Deluxe plugged into Boss compression then into the V-Twin then to input of mesa boogie F50 then put various other stomp boxs in the effects loop. Ive tried various other ways of setting up, but find this gives me the best sound. Ive gigged with this setup for past 4 years and often been told my guitar sounds awesome.
I bought the V-Twin about 12 years and have had various other amps and guitars in that time but will never part with my V-Twin it works great with single channel amps. ive also tried various overdrive pedals. but none of them give me the sound and versatility of the V-Twin. Ive even done gigs with just the V-Twin going through the PA, due to amp failure. And it sounded cool.

Ive used this pedal every week for 12 years and its never let me down. what more can i say.

Never needed to contact them.

Ive been playing guitar 40 years.Played at all levels from semi-pro to pro then back to semi-pro.owned too many guitars and amps to list. Ive played many styles of music but mainly play country/rock these days. This pedal is the dogs gonards. and if you ever get the chance to own one, jump at it.only a fool would part with one. A must have for any guitarist.

Sounds like the guy below hasn't even heard this thing! what a nob!

Well it has the basic features which everyone else has already gone over. 2x12AX7's, 6 knobs (gain, bass, mid, treble, presence, master), bypass & channel footswitches and the alternate channel switch. On the back there's external bypass and channel select jacks, power and instrument inputs (of course) and outputs to a guitar amp, power amp or mixer/headphones. Clean gain adjust and solo/blues channel swap is under panel on underside.

The clipping is done by 5 DIODES! The valves are only to warm up the tone.

The manual is easy to follow and the basic settings are alright but obviously not great.

Its pretty quick to dial a nice setting in with this, but the EQ doesn't have very large range and the frequencies it covers seem quite select. If you're looking for a specific sound, it will take a bit more fiddling to get it.

I play an ESP AX-260 (mahogany neck-thru, very dark/full tone) and it goes into the V-Twin and then straight into the effects loop return of my Laney TF200 combo. I use it this way because I just want the straight V-Twin tone without anything else.

This pedal is SILENT with my setup, even with maximum gain. If you have quiet pickups and amps, and make sure you keep away from fluorescent lights and TV screens you shouldn't get buzz. Also make sure you don't plug the V-Twin into the same outlet as other power adapters (phone/iPod chargers, etc) or it will pick these up too. I have no need to use a noise supressor.

As far as tone goes, the clean channel is nice and warm but the tone isn't very versatile. Its quite a dark clean and you can't get a sparkling tone but that's just Mesa/Boogie tone for you, and you have to expect that.

The blues channel hardly gets used because it seems a bit thin even with my guitar's fat tone. It seems alright for lighter overdrive stuff. Doesn't seem very warm though.

The solo channel is what I use most because I usually play black metal. The rhythm tone is dark and has good gain and a light crunch but isn't fully saturated. I back off the mids and bass a bit and this gives a nice bold, raw tone. I switch to my neck pickup for playing leads and the tone is VERY fat and VERY warm. It really sings with slower melodic solos and sweeping. It doesn't have enough articulation for virtuoso solos and fast shredding but with some decent pickups it would. The clarity is very low. You couldn't hear all the notes in an arpeggiated chord individually, you'd hear the first two and then it would muddy up. Also, you can't play a power chord and let it ring out while you play open notes above it (like the intro to Freezing Moon by Mayhem). But for crushing palm-muted rhythms and singing solos, it excels.

With headphones its very buzzy and artificial but its not supposed to sound AMAZING. I mean, are you ever going play a gig thru headphones? Not likely. You can hear what you're playing without pissing everybody else off. Thats the point of it and it does it fine. Also, I use it with my Sennheiser HD202 headphones, which are mid-range home hi-fi headphones. Don't try it with low-end headphones! It'll kill your ears!

Through the mixer output into a PA it doesn't sound as good as a mic'ed guitar amp would but it sure does the trick. Good if your amp breaks down or there are no microphones!

This pedal could take a thrashing. The most fragile part would be the valves and they're very well secured. There's no way it would break under normal usage. Of course water, fire, natural disasters, or an 'act of God' aren't normal use...

Yes, I'd gig it without a backup, for sure. Just a spare pair of valves and thats about it. I'd be more likely to suddenly break down at a gig than this thing.

I haven't had to deal with Mesa/Boogie but I've only heard positive stories so far.

This pedal is alright for most styles but it does jazz, rock and metal very well.

If it were stolen or suddenly destroyed by water, fire, a natural disaster or an 'act of God' I'd probably just save up for a Dual or Triple Rectifier. These things are rare too so finding another one (especially here in New Zealand) would be hard.

The only thing I think the V-Twin needs is an effects loop so that your effect signal can go through the extra gain stages for the power amp output, and the cabinet sim for the mixer/headphone output.

I haven't tried this thing with an all-valve amp but I bought it off a guy in a local rock band who'd tried it with Ibanez Thermion and Triple Rectifier half stacks and it didn't go too well with them. Its designed to work best as a stand-alone preamp with a good SS or valve power amp rather than just as a dirtbox.
Also it works best with closed back cabs and good speakers or the bass response is too loose.

The 4 different outputs methods (guitar amp, power amp, mixer, headphones) are very handy for any situation and I've used all of them at least once.

This thing can easily copy what a Dual Rectifier sounds like overall, but it just isn't the same. If you wanna sound like a Dual Rec, just save up for one. This thing ISN'T the preamp from a Dual Rec and it isn't even BASED on one. Compare the schematics, they're completely different.

Well, overall this preamp is very dark-voiced and if you try getting bright spakly tones from it you're gonna FAIL!! But if you love the trademark Boogie roar, you'll love this thing.

it's easy to use, but hard to get a good sound. more on that below.

very limited in tone. Buzzy fuzzy distortion. This is because it is not an all tube pedal at all, and the tubes are not used to create the distortion! It uses nine TL072 IC chip sections and uses 5 clipping diodes for the distortion, exactly like any cheap boss or ibanez pedal. This is all shown in the schematic. So, sorry guys, the dist is just solid state pedal dist, not tube distortion at all. The clean channel is just a copy of the basic fender clean channel, nothing special. Same basic 3 knob passive eq like in any fender or marshall amp, nothing special, so the guy below who praises the eq in this pedal as "magic" is just praising the standard eq that's in nearly every guitar amp made since the 50's, nothing new. mesa just copied designs again like they always do (the dual recto is a soldano copy). the older boogies are fender copies with more gain.

looks to be reliable, but it's just a basic circuit board, mass produced, not handmade or anything.

never contacted them.

this pedal is a gimmick that pretends to be all tube but it's not even close. you'd get better results from a cheap pedal and any basic tube amp.

I'm sad of reading people who think that the V-Twin is an all-tube pedal... Let me clarify some points here:

First, a 12AX7 (or variant like 12AU7, etc) is a dual-triode. So there are two gain-stages available in each tube.

People said that they prefer the clean channel. No wonder, the clean channel on the V-Twin uses one tube (so 2 gain-stages), like most Fender preamps.

For the blues channel, well, it's another story. The gain is provided by a TL072 opamp and the distortion is created by 1N4148 clipping diodes (solid state, same topology as some of your Boss or Ibanez distortion pedal). However, they put ONE tube gain-stage afterward (the clean channel has two!!!) to warm-up the sound a little and the other half of the tube is a cathode follower (no gain, used as a buffer for the tone stack, like in a JCM800).

The lead channel is the same as the blues channel, but the opamp's gain is set higher.

That being said, I don't think it is a good or a bad thing. The purpose of this message is inform people that there is a bit of gimmick in there as the distortion is primarily created by clipping diodes, and not only by tubes like in a standard Mesa/Boogie amp.

By the way, the 12VAC from the power adaptor is being stepped at a couple hundred volts internally. So no, the tubes are not running starved at 12VDC (like the Chandler Tube Driver), but more around 200VDC like it is supposed to be.

Hope this help!

This is as simple of a layout as possible. Mine is the V2 version of the V-Twin, which has the clean gain control and the solo-to-blues control on the bottom.

Turning the knobs isn't that hard, and unless you have broken fingers, you can do use this pedal to it's full potential. I'd recommend messing with the clean gain to find your sound.

The manual is clear, even though you don't really need it once you start tinkering around with the dials.

Very easy to use, I'm glad I got this thing.

This thing, by itself, has some of the best cleans I've heard from any of my gear. It's phenomenal. The blues section of this pedal is perfect for blues; it adds punch to your tone, while having that bluesy slight o.d. sound to it. the solo section of this isn't what I thought it might be. I might just need to replace the tubes, but it's not a searing hot distortion. It still is good, and I may just need to put new tubes in, because it's still the original stock (i got this used).

I run my ESP ltd. Viper-400 or my Dean Dime Razorback into my ZOOM GFX-5 pedal, which then goes to the Mesa V-twin, and then finally into my Crate halfstack. This rig currently has my sound that I've been looking for. I had always been messing with the dials on my pedals, trying to get the right sound with that nice punch. With the Mesa/Boogie V-Twin and it's tubes, I've found that punch (and more sounds that I've been wanting!). My bass and treble are around 3 or 4 o'clock, and my mids are at about 12 o'clock. Gain is at the max (5oc), the presence is at about 12, maybe slightly more, and the master volume is at whatever it needs to be.

This pre-amp pedal is also amazing with headphones. Now, you'll want to use the headphones part with actual "around the ear" headphones, like you'd find in a studio. But I can crank up the jams and get a GREAT sound using it, all while my room-mate and neighbors in the dorm sleep.

I give it a 9, only because of the solo channel, I was expecting something more out of it.

This thing is all metal. I think planes, cars, and other vehicles should be Mesa/Boogie diamond plated, because this crap is tough. The tubes are housed in a steel cage, which is tough by itself. I can gig without a back up.

haven't dealt with them, but I'm sure they'd be great.

This is anybody's pre-amp. You'll want to run decent equipment through it, otherwise you won't get it's full sound potential. You'll also want to possibly run a distortion into it so you can get the dist. sound that you want. But if you want just blues, classic rock, or clean sounds, this is the pre-amp you've been waiting for, and the only one you'll need.

I recommend this to anyone, and have to my friend, the other half the guitar line-up in our band. He may not get it, but he'll be missing out. For any blues, clean, classic rock, or related genres, it's perfect by itself. Otherwise, for more dist., just add a dist. pedal, and you'll have even greater punch and emphasis on your sound in no time!

And for the price these run on ebay, these discontinued pedals are the holy grail of pre-amps on the go. Get one and rock on!