Mesa/Boogie Flux-Drive Overdrive Pedal Reviews

Great overdrive pedal. Not best match for Mesa amps but sounds great on an orange amp

I am a 40-year, 6000-gig Mesa Boogie Mark IIB purist. I've played and heard 1000 Marshall, Fender, blah blah blah, and other Mesa amps. No other amp or pedal before provided the thick, silky, articulated, expressive tone in the Mark II's overdrive channel.

The Flux is the second-best overdrive playing experience I've ever had. On the clean side it adds subtle, crystal-clear crunch and thickness. On the overdrive side it runs a close second in every regard to the Mark II.

Incredible to me that this was accomplished with a solid state unit! I previously thought this was possible with only tubes.

Buy it! Worth every penny!

If had to boil down all the things I love about this pedal for the sake of the reader I would say I love that it maintains your guitars natural tone. With the gain turned low its a great boost pedal, medium gain growls, and high gain is a distortion pedal. The bass and treble knobs really bring the whole thing together for me . Great job Mesa boogie thank you.

I recently wrote a review about a Mesa Gold Mine pedal. I was hoping it would be the successor for the Flux Drive pedal...it wasn't. The Flux Drive is still king of the hill for harmonically complex overdrive that is very tight, with clear note articulation...best overall low to high gain pedal I have for that killer Mesa sound. I use it to drive my Triaxis and Rectifier clean channels at the edge of breakup...this pedal makes my clean channels sound better than my lead channels....less noise and more control over the gain. The 2 band eq works well also...i use the treble control for a slight treble cut and boost the bass a bit...the mids are perfect so you won't miss not having a mid-range frequency control. It works great to tighten up the Rectifier low end to make it roar with purpose. Just a great pedal even 7 years later.

Never owned a Mesa/Boogie product before but won't be the last. It provides a very special rich full sound. Works well with other pedals. I was having writers block and well Carlos Santana was right Mesa Engineering's products adds some Boogie to your sound. It's one to learn but perfect. Plus the Sci Fi sounding name Flux Drive is even cool

I have been using the Flux Drive pedal for about 3 years now. I also own / have tried many other OD pedals including the new Gold Mine pedal from Mesa (check out my review on that pedal if you are interested). let me start with saying the Flux Drive is still on my main front of amp pedal board. This pedal just sounds amazing....the overdrive and harmonics it creates blend perfectly with the original tone to the point where you really can't tell where one begins and the other ends....the note clarity, even with high gain, is the best i have heard with the only pedal coming close being the Walrus Ages pedal. The Walrus pedal has dry signal blend capability. The Flux Drive is so well designed, that dry signal blending is not necessary. This is pure mesa tone by the way...sounds amazing on Mesa clean channel amps for sure. I use this pedal with my Mesa Triaxis and Rectifier preamp clean channels for high gain overdrive rhythm and lead tones. The pedal is equally impressive adding a gain stage to lead channels that have the gain turned down a bit at the amp. This pedal is unbeatable for the price.

I use this mostly for jam sessions and it does not fail. Bass/treble knobs let you EQ when amp tone needs to be tweaked. And with boost and drive knobs you can adjust for high/low output amps and the right amount of distortion - for that sweet spot between clean and grit.

I ran across this baby by pure luck at the local shop in used condition. It is a must have pedal if you crave for first class tone. Thismis a hands down the best overdrive pedal that I have and I have many. I was always saying that if your amp foes not give you the tone you want than you have a wrong amp and that was my moz5o for about 20 years of my playing but then I got this pedal and I was blown away. Now I have a load of pedals that are in my arsenal all because of this baby. Its a must have.

Built with high standard of quality. It is very sensative for great adjustability. It sounds great! Love It.p

It's a well manufactured, American made tone box. From thick & gritty to high treble and biting spank , notes swell into rich, beautiful harmonics ! I'm so happy I ordered it ! Thanks Anthony and everyone at Sweetwater for another job well done!

This is a great pedal to have to compliment your sound. I use it in front of my Euphoria OD to add extra harmonic flavor. Its also great by itself for playin clean tones with the gain around 9 or 10 o'clock just to add some dimension and sparkle. Its like an EP booster with much more characteristics to it, and if you use it to push your OD pedal, it can get creamy saturated tones or add a metal bite to your OD.

Seriously, the best drive ever. Versatile range of EQ and gain structure, stacks in all sorts of complex matching. I am not easy to please on drives but this puppy, it is the one. I chose this over so many higher end drives. Really marvelous and decent priced. Only wish I'd have got the EQ model, now I will have to get it anyway, this series of pedals by Mesa are killing other choices. If you have a hard time finding just the right drive and the right musical tones, stop looking you found it.

best overdrive pedal out there

There's no way I could afford a Mesa Boogie amp such as Carlos Santana uses a lot, and I was looking for a way I could get closer to his tone without spending a lot of money or having to crank my amp up to stadium-like volume and playing with the feedback like Santana does so well.

This Flux-Drive pedal is a great compromise -- it gives incredible sustain and the controls allow me to get just the sound I want. The True Bypass Switching is great -- turn it off and pure guitar tone comes through with no shading at all.

This pedal is ruggedly built and very well designed.

Wow. What stellar, powerful tone. I ordered this pedal, as it was billed as the best match for my boogie mark v. I as most people that truly understand this amp, was interested when I heard that both channels 1, and 2 would benefit from increased sustain, and powerful overtones. What a great description. I plugged in my prs on channel one at a rehearsal, and my entire band was blown away. I was able to achieve sweet, singing allman brothers tones, to all out, blistering, harmonic nastiness on channel 2. Channel 3 doesn't pair so nicely with this pedal, but Cmon...who needs an overdrive on a mark 4 setting? Overall, I'm beyond impressed with this pedal. I play in a touring modern country band, which as people have come to tell me has evolved into classic rock. The flux drive has improved my tone immensely. I thought that after plugging straight into my mark v I'd be satisfied, but after hearing the two together, I'm starting to imagine what a mesa boogie guitar would sound like. Lol. Cheers mesa, the spirit of art in technology.

Pedal reminds me of the Mark IIC. Its tone controls (Treble and Bass) works well with the gain control to sweeten your tone or turning it to an aggressive beast. Everything good you read about this pedal is true. If you choose to setup your amp at a breakup point it gets very intresting turning on the pedal and adjusting the gain/tone controls to enhance your sound. It's not just a booster, it's another true gain stage in your amp. But the pedal alone on a clean amp sounds great too.. Must be played to really feel the sound. Blues, Rock and heavy Rock players should love it. Metal heads will need to adjust there amps accordingly then turn on the Flux Drive to let her rip. To my ears, this is one of the best pedals for shaping your tone. Cleans up really nice turning down the guitar volume knob. Well made pedal inside and out. Looks great on your pedal board too. True bypass. Bottom line it's more than a overdrive pedal. It's another channel for your amp. A must have for guitar tone heads. MESA (Boogie) Engineering does it again! MESA know about gain.

I purchased this after testing it out through a mesa roadster in the store. I own a roadster so that's why I used it on that. Makes sense right? It's not like the roadster needs an overdrive, but from a utility device and sustain point of view, it's great to have for that amp. Anyway, I just bought a used Mark IV 1x12 with a black shadow speaker in it. WOW! This pedal is making that amp sing with luscious pushed tone on any channel. I have been using it on channel 2 mostly right now and pushing an already crunchy setup. The harmonics and sustain I'm getting are crazy delicious and never ending. I"m running the gain, bass, and treble between 12-3 o'clock and I'm in love. I've heard this pedal is good for high and low gain pickups in reviews, so keep that in mind. Also, don't buy unless you have tried it out, preferably through your own guitar rig or something close like I did.

This pedal provides additional distortion and volume through my amp and can be implemented in boost mode or normal mode. A great little gadget that's simple and easy to dial in a cleaner, minimal distorted sound or can be adjusted to growl like a wounded bear. I'm a previous owner of an older Mesa, Mark ll amp & I detected Mesa Boogie tonal characteristics while routing through this pedal into my Vox amp...a very effective distortion pedal. I prefer using this pedal to adjust the entire range of distortion after amp settings are dialed in. I sounded better playing through this pedal & the tonal qualities of my amp were enhanced somewhat & I'm well pleased with Mesa's FLUX-DRIVE pedal.

This pedal is amazingly flexible with all aspects of overdrive of my Mark V. Alone it's equally as impressive....it's a has a very smooth overdrive and loves to work in conjunction with other pedals like compression and boost which breaths a whole new life with it's tone.

i bought this on a whim like most everything else and was not thinking it'd do the trick, but it does very well for me...

what's the trick?? it's boosting the **** out of my amp shelving the lows and boosting highs prior to hitting the pre amp,

I own an old tc electronic integrated preamp, and always go for that tone when looking for a booster/overdrive pedal, and this is pretty darn close, not as drastic as the TC but idk what could be

subtle and yet can do way more than i want it too, an all around wow of a pedal!

yaaay mesa, you did something right since the mark iv! hehe

wow best o.d. ever just what the doctor orderd. put this in front of a throttle box and get an awesome lead tone keeping the bass where I need it and the highs crisp and detailed. This pedal can go from creamy break up to a nice full roar. Very musical and responsive. no other o.d. pedal can touch this. get one now>

I own two Mesa Boogie Amps and i was a little concerned when Mesa announced that they were making a new line of pedals. So i bought this pedal after my previous so called "Botique" pedal broke, and let me just say that this pedal was simply amazing, Mesa you've done it again.

Thank you SWEETWATER for helping me find this pedal!

I chose this pedal after talking with my sales rep Adam Chesi about a couple of available overdrive pedals. I play acoustic mostly, but wanted to add a litle something to my electric rig. I have a nice Tele and Blues Junior with the "special" Jensen speaker. The description does not over estimate this pedals capability. All of the controls influence your sound in a noticeable and high quality way and did not add unwanted noise to my set-up. Clean to pretty darn dirty, (not quite metal band), it will get you there, no window dressing here. There is no way you won't enjoy extra output this pedal gives. The quality is evident.and make it well worth the money. Thanks Adam.

This pedal totally kicks major ***. Its the perfect overdrive. Obviously it increases the gain and volume, but it doesn't really change the tone of the amp. It adds these subtle harmonic overtones that just make the notes sing that much more. I use a Gibson Les Paul Traditional Standard into a JCM 800 2210. Best tone I could ever wish for.

I've had this pedal a few months now and it continues to seduce me. Smooth, creamy, focused, and tight overdrive with a full range of usable control settings. Go no further...your search is over.

I'd seen these in the British guitar mags 1st, and knew this is the one out of the 4 advertised, that I wanted! I just hoped the hype would live up to the product, once I plugged my guitar in! It sure did!! I already had an overdrive pedal, and the difference was night and day, and I had less problems with the pedal whining against the amp than the one I had. I recommend this pedal hands down!!

I picked one up at a local music store in San Jose - guitar show case - on nov 29 - as soon as they came out. I did not even know they had them and was going to get smth else, but when I saw Mesa pedals. I kinda I had to try one. I only needed overdrive, as I like my amp - Burriss Royal Bluesman - create most of the sound. This pedal gives very smooth overdrive, with a bit of midrange focus (I would 't call it hump) to cut through the mix. But this can be almost dialed out and have quite transparent unaltered sound using bass and tone knobs. Very gentle sounding at low gain setting, but if the amp is slightly breaking down already (mine only gets very slightly there with volume on max, if master is kept at house friendly level) and the flux drive on max gain, you're instantly in angus young territory. This pedal compliments the sound of your amp and let your clean sound shine through, but I would not say it does not add a bit of color- it does, and since I own a Lonestar and in general well familiar with mesa amps (i like them a lot), I can honestly say that it does make your amp sound somewhat mesa-ish ... For me it's cool, since I dial my Burriss in a similar fashion anyway, but for someone this could not be as nice. One thing for sure - it's very gentle and musically sounding, so the sound you'll get will be beautiful - but whether it'll be what you're looking for or not , I can't say

I wanted to recreate the sound of my Lonestar amp, this pedal comes very close,glad I purchased it

yup, i sold the pedal back in 15 or 16 i think. And have been through many overdrives since. My rig has changed, i used a HX effects now for most of my effects and to switch amp channels on my mesa. Honestly, dirt pedals still sound better than what's in the HX. i will use some to boost the lead channel on the mesa though. Really i wouldn't need this if i could switch modes on my mesa but since i can't becsause it has a pushed mode that sounds amazing (always prefer amp dirt over pedals, yes i am that guy hahah), i use this as my "crunch" channel versus the other channel for higher gain stuff. pedal sounds warm and creamy, great overdrive and crunch sounds. It can get heavy but not super heavy, stack it or put a klon type pedal in front and it sounds really good. I'm a huge mesa fan because their products are built like bricks and last forever, you get what you pay for. if you buy this i promise you will like it........not a metal pedal though, but definitely can get some hard rock tones out of it

Pedal itself sounds incredible! Perfect amount of OD and Pre amp/boost combined is perfect! Super durable as well

This pedal is extremely well built and extremely responsive to your playing style. As with all Mesa products, the EQ controls are interactive with the gain and level, and if you are a tone fanatic, dialing in the "perfect sound" will take some time. BUT....it's well worth it !! If you are using this pedal to take your crunch sounds to blistering, or using it to take a clean sound to a crunch sound, the range of overdrive is 100% useable, and doesn't get muddy. If you are using it to enhance your solo sound, it is capable of providing violin like sustain without ever losing the nuances of your picking attack. Just make your tweaks in small increments, especially for pushing an already overdriven amp, and you'll have your dream tone set up in short order !!

Was not impressed at first but as soon as I paired it with other drives it came to life! Sounds great as a stand alone pedal on some amps also.

I have been playing though Boogie amps since 1987, and currently have the Mark V. Got the Flux Drive to help boost channels 1 and 2.
This is my first overdrive pedal because I have always been a tube amp distortion purist. So many great players use pedals, I just had to try it. Gives the amp a different feel, makes the clean channel sound like a killer blues amp. Makes channel 2 sound smoother, less gritty.
The build quality of the pedal is awesome.
So far.......love it.

The overdrive is really nice for me, typical for the range of blues-rock style. Having the bass and treble controls allows you to get an awesome variety of tones. Overall, my favorite overdrive pedal in sound alone.

I've also paired this with a tube screamer - while the tube screamer punches the mids, this pedal can really drive the low and high end.

All I can say is that "it might get loud".

I have had issues leaving the pedal plugged in - it kind of cuts out. I now leave it unplugged and plug it into my board right when I want to play, and I have had no problems. If I were to put it on some real road wear, I'd want to have a backup around.

I bought it for the name...thinking that it would sound good. Wasn't really impressed. I sent back the Goldmine overdrive pedal. Didn't like that one at all.