Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Drums Week 25
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Guitar Amps
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Artist news
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Recommended reading
JHS PEDALS
Guitar Pedals "He's not using a guitar amp. He's using a Tascam 424": JHS Pedals puts a Portastudio in a pedal to help you recreate Mk.gee's "elastic, lo-fi tones"
Chase Bliss Lost + Found: the new compact offering from the boutique stompbox company is the brand's first multi-effects, and comes in a cool green enclosure with a range of dip-switches for more tweakability.
Guitars Chase Bliss invites you to rummage around the Lost + Found – a compact multi-FX pedal with 12 modes
Cornerstone Imperium V2: the 2-in-1 overdrive has been revised with four separate input/output jacks and has an all-new look.
Guitars Cornerstone’s revamped Imperium V2 is a Dumble x TS-style stompbox that really is a 2-in-1 overdrive
Crazy Tube Circuits Mirage: the dual reverb features two independent DSP engines each equipped with 16 reverb modes – and there are flexible routing options.
Guitars With dual reverb engines, 16 algorithms, Crazy Tube Circuits’ Mirage is one serious reverb pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening Analog Amp Simulator: the compact single-knob pedal can be used as a headphones amp or on your pedalboard as a preamp whose signal can be sent direct to desk or DAW.
Guitars EarthQuaker Devices launches headphones amp mini-pedal that you can use to record with
EarthQuaker Devices Rancho de la Luna Dirt Transmitter – the return of the OOP fuzz pedal marks 30-plus years of the Joshua Tree studio and comes with all-new artwork.
Guitars EarthQuaker Devices joins forces with Rancho de la Luna for the return of a lost fuzz classic
Strymon EC-1 Single Head dTape Echo: the metallic gray box has cream dials, an LED that lights up blue and/or red, and is photographed here against a wooden background.
Guitar Pedals “A perfect melding of vintage sound with modern practicality”: Strymon EC-1 review
  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Pedals

Mesa/Boogie gets into the signal-management game with 4 new buffer and line-driver pedals

News
By Michael Astley-Brown published 28 July 2016

Stowaway, High-Wire and Clearlink units promise to be ultimate problem-solvers

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

Sure, its amps are known the world over, but Mesa/Boogie also makes a mean pedal - case in point, the ferocious Throttle Box EQ - and the company is now making strides into the utility pedal arena with four new buffer and line driver solutions.

The pedals include the Stowaway Input Buffer, High-Wire Dual Buffer, Clearlink (Send) Line Driver and Clearlink (Receive) Converter.

Each one is built in Petaluma, California, and promises the utmost in components and signal integrity. Read on for more…

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Mesa/Boogie Stowaway Input Buffer

Mesa/Boogie Stowaway Input Buffer

Small enough to mount underneath angled pedalboards, the ultra-compact - and aptly named - Stowaway is a Class A input buffer with RFI filtering, designed to deal with all manner of input issues.

From impedance loading and mismatching to changes in a pickup’s character and response owing to pedal and cable impedance, the Stowaway promises to “provide the tone and feel of plugging directly into a high-quality tube amp”.

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
Mesa/Boogie High-Wire Dual Buffer

Mesa/Boogie High-Wire Dual Buffer

“The ultimate all-in-one pedalboard signal loss remedy”, according to Mesa, the High-Wire solves input and output problems in one chassis.

As well as providing a stable, consistent load for guitar pickups, the High-Wire buffers the signal between pedalboards and amps, and features a built-in Clearlink output line driver with +3dB level comp switch to drive long cable runs.

Add in a tuner output and variable, footswitchable boost control that can provide up to 22dB of output boost, and you’re looking at one seriously useful stompbox.

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Mesa/Boogie Clearlink (Send) Line Driver

Mesa/Boogie Clearlink (Send) Line Driver

Designed to go between your pedalboard and your amp, the Clearlink can send a balanced or unbalanced signal to compensate for volume and tone loss from long cable runs.

Combine it with the Clearlink Receive (Converter) (coming up over the page), it can drive balanced cable runs of up to 330 feet, noise-free. Wowsers.

An output level control boosts the signal up to 12dB, while balanced XLR and 1/4” outputs are also onboard. Plus, a 9V through port can pass power onto a Stowaway Input Buffer.

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
Mesa/Boogie Clearlink (Receive) Converter

Mesa/Boogie Clearlink (Receive) Converter

This one is “the ultimate solution for all instruments where signal must travel longer than 20 feet”, apparently.

Mesa suggest pairing it with the Clearlink Send to convert a balanced signal back to an unbalanced signal for an amp input, but it can also be used for any isolation job where grounds cannot be shared, such as a multi-amp switching setup.

The passive design packs a Jensen Audio isolation transformer, plus a combination XLR/1/4” input and ¼” unbalanced output. Phase and ground switches deal with any potential noise issues.

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown
Social Links Navigation

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

Read more
JHS PEDALS
"He's not using a guitar amp. He's using a Tascam 424": JHS Pedals puts a Portastudio in a pedal to help you recreate Mk.gee's "elastic, lo-fi tones"
Chase Bliss Lost + Found: the new compact offering from the boutique stompbox company is the brand's first multi-effects, and comes in a cool green enclosure with a range of dip-switches for more tweakability.
Chase Bliss invites you to rummage around the Lost + Found – a compact multi-FX pedal with 12 modes
Cornerstone Imperium V2: the 2-in-1 overdrive has been revised with four separate input/output jacks and has an all-new look.
Cornerstone’s revamped Imperium V2 is a Dumble x TS-style stompbox that really is a 2-in-1 overdrive
Crazy Tube Circuits Mirage: the dual reverb features two independent DSP engines each equipped with 16 reverb modes – and there are flexible routing options.
With dual reverb engines, 16 algorithms, Crazy Tube Circuits’ Mirage is one serious reverb pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening Analog Amp Simulator: the compact single-knob pedal can be used as a headphones amp or on your pedalboard as a preamp whose signal can be sent direct to desk or DAW.
EarthQuaker Devices launches headphones amp mini-pedal that you can use to record with
EarthQuaker Devices Rancho de la Luna Dirt Transmitter – the return of the OOP fuzz pedal marks 30-plus years of the Joshua Tree studio and comes with all-new artwork.
EarthQuaker Devices joins forces with Rancho de la Luna for the return of a lost fuzz classic
Latest in Guitar Pedals
Chase Bliss Lost + Found: the new compact offering from the boutique stompbox company is the brand's first multi-effects, and comes in a cool green enclosure with a range of dip-switches for more tweakability.
Chase Bliss invites you to rummage around the Lost + Found – a compact multi-FX pedal with 12 modes
JHS PEDALS
"He's not using a guitar amp. He's using a Tascam 424": JHS Pedals puts a Portastudio in a pedal to help you recreate Mk.gee's "elastic, lo-fi tones"
An Earthquaker Devices Easy Listening headphone amp on a desk
“With no smartphone app, no IR loader, and just a single knob for control, it does away with all the distractions”: Earthquaker Devices Easy Listening review
Peavey Decade pedal review
"If you're seeking a polished, smooth, modern distortion, this is most definitely not the stomp box for you": Peavey Decade preamp pedal review
EarthQuaker Devices Rancho de la Luna Dirt Transmitter
“Simply a killer fuzz pedal”: EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter – Rancho de la Luna Ltd Ed review
IK Multimedia Tonex One Brown Sound Anthology Limited Edition: these special run mini pedals offer the Tonex One in red, yellow and white, each presenting a specific era of EVH's classic tone.
“The anthology fully captures an artist’s tonal journey as he changed rock guitar forever”: Eddie Van Halen’s holy grail tone from a Tonex One mini pedal? IK Multimedia unveils the Brown Sound Anthology
Latest in News
Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno
“A strange new land with a human living and feeling its way through its mysterious spaces”: Welcome to Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe’s new album
Josh Homme
What’s on Josh Homme’s to-do list when Queens Of The Stone Age play Sheffield next week?
Pino Palladino and Miley Cyrus
How Pino Palladino turned the demo bassline in Miley Cyrus’s End of the World into something "so much better"
Paul Mccartney Smoking A Cigarette At London In England On June 19Th 1967
“We decided that our audiences would come along with us”: Paul McCartney on how the avant garde influenced the Beatles
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who perform at Parco Della Musica on July 22, 2025 in Milan, Italy
The Who are forced to postpone Philly date on final US tour due to “illness”
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: Score a massive $1,000 off Roland V-Drums, up to $320 off a range of Fender guitars, and so much more

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...