Picked up a Flux-Drive

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screamingdaisy

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I picked one of these up yesterday. I was looking for something to to use with my Electra-Dyne for leads. I figured that whereas most ODs that seem to work best with either a Fender or Marshall that Mesa would voice them to work really well with Mesa's. I was right.

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Before I wrote this I decided to try it with the ED, Mark V and Roadster. While it sounded great with the ED from the moment I plugged it in with whatever random settings it had out of the box I didn't want to post how great it was then discover it sounded like crap with a different amp.

The manual is typical Mesa... it gives more detail on one knob than most manuals give about the entire pedal. It also comes with four stock settings, which IMO were a pretty good baseline to work from. They used different names but I'll call them Mid-Gain Crunch, High-Gain Solo, Mid Bump and Boost.

Mid-Gain Crunch
Into the clean channel of any of these amps it produced a good alternative crunch, although if the channel was clean it tended to sound mid heavy and pedal-ish. If the clean channel was setup for more of a driven semi-clean sound it came alive and the response was smoother, more saturated and felt like a natural extension of the amp.

Into a dirty channel it was a little much, although it could be dialled back to push the amp for a good higher gain crunch. I found that with added treble it had the sizzle and sustain for a nice lead tone.

High-Gain Solo
I didn't get much use out of this setting. I found it too compressed and the lack of dynamics made it feel kind of lifeless. I kept dialling the gain down and the volume up until it felt better, at which point it looked more or less like the Mid-Bump settings.

Mid-Bump
IMO, this setting is a good starting point. It's got a Tubescreamer-esque mid hump and will push the amp for solos, but once I started playing around with the knobs the EQ it would settle in and the gain would mesh with the individual amps and produce the natural feeling drive I'm loving this pedal for.

Boost
if you've ever boosted an amp with a Tubescreamer then you know what this is. Level high, gain low, and cut bass to tighten an amp. Where this is a big improvement IMO is that I have control over how tight or full the bass sounds, that I can dial in some top end sizzle without it sounding harsh, and that I can dial in a touch more gain without the added noise or compression.

Electra-Dyne
The ED and FD sound great together. The ED on its own is huge and monolithic and when pushed by the FD it sounds huge, aggressive and monolithic with a distinct sag on rhythm and fat, sustaining leads with plenty of treble cut for definition.

Interestingly, the mid-bump on the FD makes the ED sound a touch louder or "more present" when engaged, helping solos sound a little more impressive instead of thinning things out.

Mark V
Useful as an alternative crunch on clean channel, or boosting lower gain settings on the other modes (or higher gain settings on Tweed).

Surprisingly, also good at boosting high gain modes. I could take Mark IV mode to the point where there was so much compression I felt like I was playing a harpsichord, and I could still have some control over how fat or sizzy the sound was.

Roadster
This one was a surprise for me. It had the ability to take the more aggressive sound you'd expect from an OD808 and make it even bigger and more bombastic. Imagine the increased attack of a boosted Recto, plus an even more pronounced sag with even more bottom end response. I don't know how long I spent giggling to myself as I chugged away palm mutes and shook the hell out of everything around me.

It also did a great lead. Nice and fat with the ability to dial in plenty of sizzle. Like the ED there was an increase in midrange presence that should help make solos pop a tad more. If you like the Recto for rhythm but find it lacks compression for leads this pedal should sort you out.

Anyway, that's my take on it. YMMV.
 
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