What pedal gives that Mesa 'pushed' sound when going into the clean??

Orvillain

Orvillain

Goatlord
Richard Cranium
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I feel like I might've asked this before, but are there any pedals out there that give the Mesa 'pushed' sound into the clean channel - Mark V or Recto 'pushed' modes is really what I'm thinking. They're very similar.

Tumnus Deluxe, TS808, and Boss SD-1 are all a bit too strident sounding. My Demhe Fuzz is a brutal motherlicker of a pedal and isn't the right tool at all.

What even is the 'pushed' sound doing in these amps???
 
Good question. From Rectoverb 25 manual:
PUSHED: This mode is a radical departure from the sweet, shimmering blend of the CLEAN modes low gain character. Huge increases in gain in the first stages of the pre-amp produce one of the biggest differences between all four modes and transforms what you thought to be a tame and gentle clean channel into a raging crunch machine. This incredible amount of gain (for a low gain circuit) also creates one of the most expressive solo modes in your Recto. Because there are fewer stages of gain for the signal to travel through and the Tone control network is tuned for the brighter nature of clean sounds, this mode responds more quickly to your pick attack and has a more urgent, snappy feel. Don’t overlook this mode for some of the Recto-Verb 25’s coolest overdrive solo sounds.
Click to expand...
I'd say a flatter, cleaner boost would get you more in the ballpark:

DOD 250 with gain on 0 (or low) and volume up
MXR Micro Amp
Xotic EP Booster
etc
 
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I've found that the Mesa Grid Slammer sounds like my TC-50's Clean channel with the Drive switch engaged. I really wish the switch was MIDI operable but settled on the Grid Slammer as a second best solution because it sounds identical.

Grid_Slammer_1_Body.png
 
hm.. yknow, i wonder what you mean by that. my mark ii kinda has a buncha 'pushed' sounds! that amp is funny as i cant make anything sound really all that much like it- its rounder and fuller through the mids where i like it on that amp than any other amp i have-- seems like thats the common thread for it anywhere in the gain range. ive never really hit on anything that has the same combo of 'bell curve eq' in the same place in pedal form, tbh- but mine doesnt have an eq. but i also havent found too many pedals that captured the texture of the gain quite right in a pedal either! i think laney aors were sorta close... but thats a whole amp :lol: i dont think i gotcha any closer.
 
The NOTADUMBLE might work for this. There’s a mostly-clean boost and a 2nd channel with a Volume, Tone and Drive, very transparent and not a lot of dirt at all, it’s whole thing is how it pushes the amp.
 
DrewJD82 said:
The NOTADUMBLE might work for this. There’s a mostly-clean boost and a 2nd channel with a Volume, Tone and Drive, very transparent and not a lot of dirt at all, it’s whole thing is how it pushes the amp.
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I reckon the Open mode on a Wampler Euphoria should do something similar. It’s supposedly a ”D-style” or ”transparent” overdrive. I quite like what it does on mild settings.
 
Meh, I have yet to find any pedal that gets anywhere close to a Mesa.... in any of the gain
ranges. And I have tried damn near them all.... including all of the Mesa branded pedals.

Transistors and clipping diodes are transistors and clipping diodes. :bonk

I think I'd look in the tube preamp/tube-driven pedal realm. Especially if dynamics and
control of the gain and volume with your technique is important to you.
 
You might need something that doesn’t bleed dry signal through so that you get the extra compression that’s part of how that mode feels. I could see something like a Rat with the gain backed down and the filter pushed up maybe getting you in the ballpark.
 
Have you tried this, Orv?


a20b95c5-99d8-4bfa-9ee5-4b9cd4f78057.jpg


I just realized I have been running one into both my Roadster and Trem-O-Verb here at
home. Duh! More for modded Marshall tones, but that said, that Plexi setting with the Variac
off is one of the best pushed clean tones you can find in pedal format.
:chef
 
I'm not a Mesa expert by ANY means, but listening to some examples... imo you basically just want a clean boost with a slight, wide mid boost, and one that centers closer to the low-mids than the RAT / TS thing, and doesn't have a ton of low end loss. I'd avoid RAT / TS / Klon style circuits unless they have a good EQ.

I'd probably just go with a dedicated mid boost pedal with a sweepable frequency or just an EQ pedal (parametric or graphic). Maybe start with a slight, wide-ish boost (1 or 2db) centered in the 300 to 800hz range, and then an overall volume boost.

If you specifically want to use a drive pedal... you might be able to get there with a Timmy (start with bass and treble maxed), or better yet one of the BD-2 variants / clones with the bass mod. An EP Booster in the mode that has more treble might get pretty close too (though might have too much bass). A Zendrive type pedal with the voice knob down might work too (tone knob set to taste). A Benson Preamp with the bass and treble set to 2 or 3 could be good too, and would give some of that Tweed-y character (Tweed style pedals in general might work well). A Dumble type pedal might work, because I think those generally tend to do a low-mids thing. All of them with volume up and gain set low.
 
la szum said:
Have you tried this, Orv?


a20b95c5-99d8-4bfa-9ee5-4b9cd4f78057.jpg


I just realized I have been running one into both my Roadster and Trem-O-Verb here at
home. Duh! More for modded Marshall tones, but that said, that Plexi setting with the Variac
off is one of the best pushed clean tones you can find in pedal format.
:chef
Click to expand...
Great pedal.
 
Yeah the thing about most pedals is they rob the low-end punch and don't really compare nicely to the Mesa 'pushed' sounds. I've not tried the Bogner pedals actually no.
 
la szum said:
Meh, I have yet to find any pedal that gets anywhere close to a Mesa.... in any of the gain
ranges. And I have tried damn near them all.... including all of the Mesa branded pedals.

Transistors and clipping diodes are transistors and clipping diodes. :bonk

I think I'd look in the tube preamp/tube-driven pedal realm. Especially if dynamics and
control of the gain and volume with your technique is important to you.
Click to expand...

I don’t know about that. My Greer Lightspeed is as good as any tube amp I’ve used when it comes to dynamics and control of gain and volume with technique.

There are some impressive drive pedals out there these days
 
I use an Xotic FX RC Booster. Used with the clean channel of a rectifier, you can emulate the pushed clean rectifier mode easily. Two stages, stage 1 is a simple clean transparent boost that gives you some sparkle, and the second drive stage has it’s own gain control and gets into blues breaker territory. It’s not as harsh or cuttting as a tube screamer. Takes the place of a Tone Burst and a blues breaker on my board in one pedal.

1765555462770.jpeg
 
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