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Mooer Cruncher
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Mooer Cruncher

Distortion from Mooer belonging to the Micro series

Judas Judas
Published on 09/18/13 at 07:35
Distortion pedal in ultra compact (93.5mm) 42mm (52mm × (H) (W × D)) format supposed to be a clone of the MI Audio Crunch Box (I've owned it a few years, but I have unfortunately).

It's all analog, a gain knob (good size), volume and tone (lowercase), a switch and a 9V power supply standard type Boss.

Not much to say about the characteristics, except that there is no room for a 9V battery in the box (but if you see one day these pedals for real, you'll understand why). I think they were designed for people with pedalboard with the power supply or dedicated daisy chain (which is my case). But it can be debilitating for some people.

The construction is solid, the case is made of thick steel. I'm curious to see the life of the switch (known to be the weakest link in the Chinese pedals). For the moment I'm abused, it's second hand, and to report any worries.

UTILIZATION

For those familiar pedals drive nothing new under the sun, if not the level and tone knobs that are small and do not have a colored marker. So it's hard to know where we stand. Custom to remedy this lack I just put a small point on the mark typex better able to discern (especially live). Now it can be useful, because they are settings that often wants to keep fixed, so the chances of inadvertent misadjustment are diminished.

Another negative point, because of the small size, be sure to fix it properly pedalboard, or it may move a little (and I'm not sure it is a good thing, because the jack sockets are welded directly on the PCB).

SOUND QUALITY

I admit that I bought this pedal used by curiosity (I hit about twenty dollars in Canada), but I was really pleasantly surprised at the sound that comes out of this little box!

It is cut for rock / hard 80's, and turn your amp half stock JCM800 boosted with hormones. The output level is very high (to attack I clean my amp does not exceed 9:00), giving opportunities to use boost. I just tested, it is quite convincing, but it is far from a true clean boost (pedal slightly color the sound with the gain at minimum).

Personally I used pedal "classic" distortion when I play at home on my Egnater Rebel 20 clean. The bass is tighter goods, they may drool a bit when we lower the tone below 11:00. I tested it in rehearsal, she is doing very well, and one can easily pierce the mix playing a bit with the tone (set between 13 and 14:00).

The amount of available gain is more than enough to go tickle the heavy / hard 80's. Personally I like a sound not too saturated to maintain intelligibility, and never exceeds noon gain adjustment.

Note that with the settings I use, I can easily return to a light overdrive, lowering the volume of my guitar 8/10 about (Strat).

On the pedal it is supposed clone, I unfortunately have to test side by side, but from what I remember, it is very close to the crunch box, with sharp set back an additional bump in the mids and more gain. A comparison between the two pedals could be interesting.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for a few months now (I preferred to wait until the "honeymoon" period is over to post a comment.)

The +:

- The sound
- The price
- Size, but ...

The -:
- ... It can be a problem for some (size buttons, no battery).
- A little "muddy" with low tone settings and / or gain pushed

I definitely do this choice, the price / quality ratio is monstrous, if you see a move for it!