Mesa/Boogie V-Twin Tube Preamp Pedal

Very simple! There is no patches, only knobs. Gain, Low, Mid, Hi, Presence, Gain. A selector to choose between Clean & Blues channel, and a FootSwitch to choose between C/B & Lead Channel. A bypass footswitch is also present. Connections to external switches, input, output to power amp, input of guitar amp or mixer/phones. Everything very easy. In the back of the peadal has an switch between blues/clean and clean/blues and a volume trimpot to choose the clean gain. On the side a switch between mixer/phones.

Awesome! The best pedal the I ever played, And an excelent preamplifier!
It suits to a lot of styles of playing. I don't recommend if you want to play country, vintage, or want just a little overdrive with crunchy sound(I have a peavey classic 30, and I use its preamp to play these stuff). The sound is a bit muddy, frequenttly I use the eq Hi and presence almost full to get a good sound. I recommend an graphic EQ post the v-twin (I'll have to buy one). Not noisy. I can get sound of a thousand artists with the v-twin. Very rich tone.

The mixer output has a great sounding if u don't wanna spend some time placing microphones or u dont have a good amplifier. U can record great things this way.

Some say that can't get much gain from it... I use a tubescreamer ibanez before the vtwin, so when I need gain, its there... =] but the gain is well balanced, just use the tubescreamer to do solos or play metal stuff.

Equipment:

Guitar: Cort S2550 with dimarzio single pickups and a shadow humb. pickup;
Ibanez Artcore asf75tbl.

Guitar>*Boss CS-3>*Tube Screamer tonelok Ibanez> *Vtwin> *Boss SD-2 Dual overdrive>*Danelectro TBone distortion DJ2>*Boss Ch1 super chorus> *Boss DD-3> Peavey Classic 30 tube amp or mixer (if using the mixer output from the vtwin

It will last decades.

never tested it

I play lots of styles, varying from blues/country to Heavy/Death metal, almost always using the v-twin. If I were stolen, I would buy an other one! This preamp/pedal rocks!

If you want to know anything abou the pedal, or wanna hear something from it, just send me a mail.

Having read through most of the reviews before buying, and then buying one, I have to give it a 10. Heres why. I bought an (lucky me) unused one with original everything.

First off the tone. it is dark and one voiced a little bit, with the stock tubes, MESA. Drop in some of your favorite vintage tubes and problem solved. eg. I pluged in my Gibson EB-2D Bass and by the way this is a great bass preamp also, talk about facination street. Anyway with the stock tubes it was kind of dirty and one voiced all the way from the bottom up to the top. change tubes and you dont have old fender sound but a better stock Mesa, in my opinion.

Now I have a 64' Princeton that Im putting this into (not bass that's head phones) but as for guitar with this setup I have to give it a 10 for the cost alone. Of course it might (in my opinion) sound like crap into a transistor amp I don't know.

This preamp is so versital (with NOS or just OS) you can get quite a bit of different sounds out of it. Between the Gain Master and Presence you really have serious flexability. 10 for sound. 10 for build. few things to keep in mind it has "switching logic" the buttons are not switches. It's like pushing on a spring, no click. I don't mind this but there is a pause in audio when switching channels. And if I remember correctly it's one way, like going from blues to lead or clean to blues, and not the other way. Buy one on ebay if you hate it you will always get your money out of it if you sell it back on Ebay.

It's pretty simple. Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence and Master. Although when I first baught this, I had to spend ages tweaking the EQ to get the sound I wanted! This is why I give this is an 8 instead of a 10.

I'm using an ibanez sz and usa fender strat with lace sensor pickups into a marshall 80 watt valvestate amp. I use my v-twin going into a pod xt live. i only use the effects on the pod xt live, I hate digital overdrive sounds. The v-twin proves that valve overdrive is by far the best.

My amp is not the best, but it has a nice clean sound but the v-twin sounds awesome through it. For heavy overdrive, this pedal sounds the best with humbuckers,I use the bridge pickup on my ibanez and I love the sound. It's a big sound with enough gain to give loads of sustain but it's also very clear. Too much bass on the EQ makes the sound quite muddy, so I set the bass and the gain quite low and have slightly more mid, presence and treble and it will cut through a full band mix perfectly.

I use the solo chanel for heavy rhythm and the blues chanel for more mellow stuff. For solo's I boost the signal from the solo chanel on my pod xt live.

I use the blues and solo channels on the v-twin which i think are perfect! I don't use the clean chanel on it because I think it's totally pointless to have clean and overdrive sounds with exactly the same EQ.

This pedal sounds great with my strat but I think this pedal was made for humbuckers! I have to turn up the gain quite a lot to use with my strat.

This pedal is amazing! The blues chanel gives beautiful creamy mellow overdriven tones and the solo chanel has loads of gain and sustain for hard rock! Maybe not quite enough for really heavy metal.
Overall the sound is smoother than a proper mesa dual rectifier but it still got more than enough balls!

I'm about to get a prs or a les paul and a good fender valve amp, so I'm excited to hear this pedal sound even better!

I've had this for just over 18 months and it has never let me down. I've done loads of gigs with this beauty and it's built like a tank.
I can't afford to buy another one for a backup, but if I had the cash I'd buy another one! In that case, I would use them both and EQ one of them for my ibanez and set up the other one for my strat.

Never had to deal with the company.

In my rock band, I mainly play punk and hard rock (sometimes metal) and this pedal does the job to perfection. It's great for more mellow bluesy suff aswell, although I'm looking out for another overdrive pedal to give a more mellow sound to compliment the v-twin.
But it looks like I'm gonna have to look long and hard to find an pedal of similar quality to this baby.

I've been playing for 7 years. If were lost or stolen, I would cry my eyes out and then buy a new one.

I don't really see the point of the clean channel, but I suppose it would be useful for use with power amp and cab. Would be amazing if you could have independent EQ setting on the each channel

Knobs are very interactive so it takes some time to figure them out and dial in your sounds. Also depends greatly on what you are patching into-guitar amp, recording desk, PA - as to what the final result will be. Channel switching is also a factor as one set of controls is used for whatever two channels you selct. As always, there is some compromise-you'll never get both channels exactly the way you wish.

Many of the other reviews are correct in stating that this pedal is VERY dark sounding in all three modes. Even if you dial out all the bass and mid and gun the treble and presence you will NOT get a sparkling tone. Even with a strat or tele !!!! If the dark sound is to your liking you are fine, if not you are stuck. Don't expect Dual Rectifier sounds out of the lead channel either. And the clean channel does not give a very clean Fender tone. Again, as long as this is what you want you are fine, if not you are stuck.

Boogie gear is well-known for its dependability and this pedal is built like a tank. I'm sure it will stand all the gigging you can hand it.

Boogie does get back to you, and they are quite helpful. The catch is you may have to wait a while. I guess this is a reflection of their success. Their repairs and upgrades are the same deal-they do excellent work, you'll just have to be patient.

I have a Mark III and the three channels there can be tweaked to give you pretty much any sound you would like. Unfortunately, the V Twin is not similar. Again, a very DARK tone that has to be accepted as is. The tones it produces are fine, there just aren't as many of them as you might like.

Does it get easier to use than this? So many ways to hook it up all with differant results.

This thing screams. Hard rock, metal..its there. I really like the blues channel the best.

Sound clips?
Blues Channel- Guitar Face #2
Lead Channel- Guitar Face #1 & 3
http://el84rocks.com/el84_music_video.htm

Only problem I've ever had in the 10 years Its been on the road with me is the power supply plug gets loose over time.

I should pick up another for a back -up
anyone want to sell theirs?

Never had to call

EL84 plays "Arena Rock" as well as Hard Blues and Fusion, even some metal and Ska and it works perfectly for all.

We recorded are entire CD using the v-twin both miked and direct-

I use it with a Boogie Simul 2:90 and 4- 2x12 cabs and Ibanez and Fender Guitars.

Hear it at www.el84rocks.com

Reasonably easy pedal to use, not overly complicated, but at the same time intuitively versatile. Not much really to say here, as if you are having trouble using this pedal then you have likely never used a guitar amp before.
My big beef in terms of live performance with this pedal is not being able to footswitch from clean to blues, but I have since fixed this with a mod that I came up with (see below).

The Set-Up. Custom Telecasterish guitar (P-90 neck, Harmony Gold Tone midle, SD Antiquity in bridge).
Pedals are Ernie Ball Volume - Mesa V-Twin - Boss GE-7 - MXR Microamp - DL4 Delay Modeler - Fulltone Supa-Trem - various tube amps depending on the backline provided at the show.
The Sound. God-like, as any guitar would sound in my hands. Seriously, I always find it difficult to describe a sound, as every person's ears are different. I use this pedal primarily for it's smooth breakup, without altering the overall volume of the final signal. I found this pedal to be dark and murky, but withe addition of the GE-7, the tones available were really versatile and sounded absolutely divine. I have been giging with this pedal for a year, and have nothign but positive things to say about it.

I came up with a mod to footswitch between the clean and blues, but was not impressed with it from a performance standpoint, aside from being handy in an emergency if my amp blues and I need to DI this pedal.
Overall, a great overdrive pedal, and it should be at this price.

Used for a year, no issues. The Wall-wart always makes me a bit nervous.

Great customer support. Absolutely phenomenal. If only they made amps with a clean sound like a fender.

This pedal is an integral part of my guitar rig, and a great and versatile piece of gear. The performance is so dramatically improved with the GE-7 that it is hard to think of one without the other.

I'm playing lead & rhythm guitar in a southern hard rock band called JAYHAWKERS influenced by PRIDE & GLORY (Zakk WYLDE), LYNYRD SKYNYRD and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY (still Zakk WYLDE) and, of course, I play on GIBSON Les Paul guitars. During the recording of our second album, I wanted different songs so I bought this Preamp. As I write it before, I put this Preamp in the loop effect of the tube amps I play with (MARSHALL JCM900 and LANEY GH100L).

The "clean" and "blues" channels give me sounds better than I expected : like I've played on very old & vintage tube amp. "Solo" channel gives me Metal rhythm sounds very different from MARSHALL ones. For recording, I mixed both of them : Marshall or Laney on the right and Mesa V Twin on the left. Amazing ! I'm very happy with my MARSHALL and LANEY sounds but combined with this MESA one, it's a pure miracle.

For lead playing, you'll probably need to add an Overdrive.

With distorted sounds, it's a little bit noisy. More than Marshall, less than Laney. Nothing impossible to manage.

The three channels is great : "clean", "blues" and "solo" but for a hard or heavy lead guitar player, "solo" doesn't have enough gain. For lead playing, I use a Boss Overdrive, OD-1, to get enough gain (Just like for others gears I play with, so it seems normal).

I use this preamp in the loop effect of TUBE heads (MARSHALL JCM 900 or LANEY GH 100). If you have transistor, solid state, power amp or amplifier, you will not get the full & great sound this preamp offers. This is a TUBE preamp for TUBE power amp ! I've tried it once with solid state power amp (Marshall 8080) and that sucks.

The only problem is the choice between the three channels for switching : "clean" to "solo" or "blues" to "solo".

So far I didn't have any problems.

So far I didnt need it.

I stay an huge fan of the MARSHALL & GIBSON gears I've got. But this preamp really helps me to have different and awesome sounds. Just one thing : dont't try it with a solid state power amp. Use only TUBE ones.

i'm using with an ibanez S1675FM Prestige, and a marshall. Suits hard modern rock very well, aswell as blues. the clean channel is VERY warm and perhaps a little too warm - muddy? The solo channel kicks ass in that classic mesa way - powerful, brutal, but perhaps slightly muddy. Manyu reviewers have said not enough gain - i'm inclined to agree (a first for everything), because the option would be nice, however i feel there is enough gain for me. blues channel is very nice with a neck humbucker, but sounds a bit weedy with bridge pickups.

Not very versatile, but the sounds you can get are very nice. very mesa. I play many different styles, and i use this mainly for modern rock and metal, and sometimes the blues. 2 channels/3 modes - clean, blues, solo. headfone jack. 4 band eq - treb mid bass presence. 2x 12ax7 preamp tubes. wish it had 1 switch for each channel - would make things so much easier. the stock switching layout sucks.

it won't break. the tubes might.

Sorry. This is a hand-made block of metal, Mesa phone operators are probably very lonely souls.

buy it used from the states. get it for hundreds cheaper.
I'd get another one. very useful when i get bored of that marshall sound. just jump on a couple'a switches and i've jumped across from Bletchley to Petaluma. REALLY opens up your options. don't use clean channel with bridge pickup and shitty speakers. i blew the speaker of my practice amp, just playing an open E. it made me laugh. HAHAHAHAHA. yes. I'd definately reccommend it. Really warms up solid state amps aswell. I wouldn't use it with a Mesa. Use with a fender or a marshall, or something with a distinctively different sound, in order to expand versatility.

standard Eq knobbs, duh. But the amazingly confounding aspect to this piece is that the given response from different amps sound surprisingly different with the all else being the same, guitar, relative db, etc. And if that weren't emough, the same amp sounds different at varios volumes. So, you have to be ready to toggle and compensate for that. And there is a chamber underneath, accessed with a screw dirver, where further settings can be adjusted. But other then that, easy street baby!

I use a '93 Gibson Les Paul Standard mostly, but also a PRS 24 fret and a Tele into various amps; Fender Twin, Marshall 1x12 combos and also 50watt and 100 watt halfstacks, Ampeg VT22 and a V4, Randall solid state 2x12 combo, Peavey Classic combo, and various others. Used it with bass and acoustics too, both nylon and steel, just to see how it sounds.

The V-twin is a bit lacking I've found. Muddy, even with all kinds of compensatory fiddling and years of fiddelage. But its still a preferred tone, even with the muddyness, partially eq'd out. I think its great, except for that aspect.

I like the idea of trying a mod to take that mudd on out and will try that before relagating this baby to the cryostasis shelf. To save you scanning down, here is what an earlier poster did;
"In reading the reviews posted here I have found that most people like this pedals overall sound. Those who didn't usually found it to be to dark or muddy. I too found it to be alittle muddy/undefined as well. However since I liked the overall layout and options I decided to modify it rather than sell it. I opened it up and modified several components as one would do with any tube amp preamp section to squeeze alittle more treble and less mid range out. I changed the slope resistor in the tone control section from 33k to 56k and changed a coupling capacitor out of the second op-amp on the input stage from .1ufd to a .047ufd. With these to changes the pedal cleaned up very nicely and sounds fantastic. It puts any od-1, ts-9, ds-1 (all old originals) to shame. Lots of clean usable bass. I give a 7 here as I had to mod the thing myself."
Awesome!!!!!! I can't wait to try this or something else/similiar my trusted tech guru would suggest. I'm hopefully en route to total satisfaction!

Swapping tubes didn't take the muddiness out for me, but I only tried various others for brief periods at a shop. But I could tell since I'm so very familiar with this piece and its naunces.

As aforementioned, it sounds different with every different amp, and also, varies with the same amp and different volumes, not as much, but keeps you on your toes.

The clean [green light] is never used, prefer bypass to tube amp for clean then this. The Blue one, is rarely used, for its just a watered down tone from the red overdrive. I use the red one primarily and play jazz-fusion-alterno with it. But its lacking in higher end clarity, but not in gain or tone. its not a super compressed overrive that Slayer might wish for, but I like its tone alot! Why, cause it sounds as close to a overdriving Marshall halfstack as a floor unit can get. Its warm, will be nice harmonic feedback characteristics, nicer that some bucket-brigade unit or some modeler baby at higher volumes.

There is a slight lag in the on/bypass or swithcing channels, but that is easily compensated for by just hitting it a fraction earlier. Proactive timing baby!

I use it with other stompers for other tones to add edge to it or get other tones, like nasty fuzz or compressed nu-metaloid. Its not the end all final answer for distortion, but any one single thing rarely is.

Tubes, otherwise a ten. Have had it for almost five years adn got it used. The original tubes are still in it. Had it go down on me on stage, but only after the initital stomping down and all the sand from the bottom of my boot saturated it. It was lightly sprinkling on and off but enough to make the sand clingy and cakey. Basically is got into the foot switches and clogged them up and it started acting up, so I yanked it from the foodchain within the submodule it was in along with some other more intrigueing texturing boxes, but as the adage goes, the show must go on. And also, note that when playing an outside but covered stage, knock the sand. I took the top most nuts and bolts off and cleaned it and have had no problems since, <knocking on my wooden head>.

NA

I can but hope its as quality as this peice.

I think its overall great! I'd replace it, if it were somehow lost, godforbid.

This unit can be difficult to get a decent sound from. There are a lot of factors that affect the sound, such as the host amp and your guitar's pickups. This may be great for tone tweakers but for those who just want to plug in and expect to get a decent sound, stay away from this pedal.

I used either my Jackson Dinky (for metal) or my Fender Strat (for rock and blues)through a Peavey Transtube 112. There are 3 channels. The clean channel did produce some nice sounds but the solo and blues channels were terrible. I could not get a sound I liked from it. In fact, my little solid state amp sounded better WITHOUT the V-TWIN. Even the nice clean sound wasn't that far off from what I could get without the V TWIN.

One thing I will give the pedal, it is built tough. It looks very reliable and other than having to replace tubes at some point there should be no problems.

My experiences were bad with this pedal. If you are an experienced tone tweeker with plenty of pro gear maybe you will get better results. If you are a metal player, STAY AWAY. You are better off getting the Rocktron Silver Dragon which will give you some HEAVY quality tube distortion.