Mooer has extended their range of micro preamp pedals. The Cali-Dual is based on the preamp in a Mesa-Boogie Dual Rectifier. Each one of these pedal are designed to actually take the place of your amps preamp. They accomplish this by directing users to plug into the pedal and then plug the pedal directly into your amps effects loop input. How well these little pedal do is a matter of opinion, but the fact that you can decently featured preamp for under $100 is pretty interesting.
From Mooer:
Mooer micro preamps are sonically accurate digital recreations of the preamp sections of popular tube amplifiers. We have developed these by directly analyzing real tube amplifiers using a brand new technology to capture their sound, dynamics and response. Each Micro Preamp comes complete with dual channels, integrated speaker cabinet simulation and dual operating modes to suit the needs of all users.
Features
High quality dual channel preamp
Independent 3 band EQ, Gain and Volume controls for each channel
Speaker cabinet simulation on/off
2 different modes for footswitch operation. On/Off or channel A/B
Connection:
DCIN:
Connect a DC 9V 300mA centre pin negative power supply
2.INPUT:
Connect your instrument directly or the output of your pre, pre-amp effects like Overdrive, distortion, etc.
3.OUTPUT:
Connect to a power amp or your amplifier's effects return. (highly recommend using a tube amplifier)
Different power amplifier will affect the outcome of the final tone. You can also connect directly to a sound card and activate the speaker cab simulation for recording purposes
Note: You can connect your "fx loop" effects, like modulation and time based effects, in between the MOOER preamps output and the input of the power amp (fx return)
Specification:
Modes: Delay and reverb effects with tap temp functionality
Input: 1/4 mono audio jack. (Impedance: 1 meg Ohms)
Output: 1/4 mono audio jack (Impedance: 100 Ohms)
Power requirements: AC adapter 9V DC, center negative. (Highly recommend to use Mooer Micro Power.)
Current Draw: 300mA
Dimensions:93.5mm(D) x 42mm(W) x 52mm(H)
Weight: 160g
Mooer is know as the leading innovato of tiny pedals. If they weren't the first to make tiny pedals, then they were the first to get recognized for making faithful replications of tested circuits in 1590A enclosures. They have done it again with non-other than EHX's B-9 in their sights. The Mooer Mooergan (pronounced /more-gan/) is an organ simulator. The few videos that have made it online suggest that it does its job. Is it a compact replacement for your B-9?
It's So Punny
I guess they just couldn't resist making the joke. I think they could have just stuck with naming it the Morgan and left let those who appreciate a good pun to draw the lines. Having said that, it is a tiny pedal doing the job of a pedal that four times its size. I love the fact that it can do this, however it limits the functionality of the pedal greatly. You can change the Wet and Dry signal and adjust the Modulation, but you are limited to the one organ sound. The Click knob isn't present either. That may not be a deal breaker, as you still have a very usable pedal when it is all said and done. Also, the size of this pedal reflects amount of time that it will actually be used.
Small Pedal, Small Blog
That pretty much it. I'm not going to rush out and sell my B-9. But those looking for an organ sound with a cramped Pedal board and tighter budget might be in luck. The sounds of an organ might be available to you yet. Does it sound as good? No. Is it as flexible? No. Does it make you think of an organ when you play through it? Yes. There is a gap in the 'sound like an organ' market. Mooer has done a good job of providing a tiny pedal that we could actually use.
Support the blog by shopping on Amazon by using my link!
There should be an ad below:
If you suffer from GAS as I do, then you are probably aware of the influx of pedals from china. I'm not talking about BOSS, or Digitech, or Mooer, or Mod Tone or any of the other pedal brands that manufacture overseas. As I remember, it started with Joyo. They made a brand for themselves by mostly copying other pedals and rebranding them, all at discount prices. There has been several others to come about. These pedals have a bit of a stigma already. The first time I ordered a Joyo pedal, the wrong pedal came, and customer service was so bad that I opted to sell the pedal outright instead of returning it. There has been several brands to come about since, and service and quality seem to be improving as well. However Tone City don't seem to be turning out the 'same old stuff' as these other brands. When I first saw their pedals, I did think they were just shined up Chinese copies. To start, you can find lists of the pedals that most of their micro-pedal like is emulating. What caught my attention was their release of their larger, seemingly more original, pedals. I learned of these when I saw my favorite two Brits fool around with them:
Chappers and The Captain are amusing to watch and their production quality is nearly unmatched on YouTube. Something that you have to remember is that they are representing a store. This store sells the products that they are demonstrating. Bare in mind that it would not be beneficial for them to complain about or criticize these pedals. They are going to speak favorably about them, but one thing that Lee 'The Captain' Anderton said made my ears perk up. Most of these dual button Tone City pedals are voiced like very particular amps. All except one, one is just called, "King of Blues". Lee mentioned that he thought that it could be a aNaLoG MaN King of Tone clone. I decided to find out for myself.
I Haven't Played A King of Tone
So this first one is telling on myself. I haven't had a chance to play through one of the more iconic boutique pedals. I have listened to many high quality demonstrations, but I know that there is a lot missing from these. There is no way of sensing the attack sensitivity or feeling how the pedal reacts with the amp. I will say that I've heard a wide range of tone from this one pedal. Obviously the amp these pedal being played through are very important, also the guitar and anything else that is in-line with the pedal. So everything taken with a grain of salt, the KOT is a full sounding flexible overdrive. It is capable of clean-ish 'transparent' boost and thick saturated overdrive. So I may not have played one of these pedals, but I've spent a lot of time researching just what makes this pedal so sought after.
The Pedal Has A Mix Message
Several descriptions of this pedal include that the first stage of this pedal is a straight Klon copy. Stating the the second stage is an 'original' design. I find this a little over simplified. I also think that this description is a little lazy. However, you can't dismiss it entirely. Tone City makes a spot on Klon copy in the 'Bad Horse' pedal. The famous circuit shrunk down just like the Tumnus from Wampler. This is completely likely, however, the KOT and the Klon have similar features as it stands, so the comparisons between each of these pedals may not be totally baseless. I've recently put the King of Blues pedal against every Klon circuit I could get my hands on, and my verdict is that it may share characteristics, I can't say that its a direct copy of the Klon. For one, the Tone knob works like a tone knob (low pass filter) rather than a treble boost. The amounts of gain are similar but the output from the pedal is notably less. The King of Blues of much warmer than any Klon or Klone that I've ever played. From what I've heard of the Tone City 'Bad Horse' (klone) these are not the same circuits.
If It Is A KOT Clone, Then I Have Bad News
Let's say that this is a KOT copy. The real deal goes for north of $300. That's three times the price I paid for this pedal. That's KTR money. Sure, there are other pedals that fetch that kind of money, but what is really striking is that the pedal is only so-so. I do like the pedal. It is capable of several good sounds, and it is really flexible. Two 'channels' make it a great option to handle your overdrive tones. But, if this is a actuate copy of the famous pedal, then I don't see what is so great about it. I'm able to do everything this pedal does with a couple of other overdrives already on my board. This might have had the appeal at the beginning of the boutique boom, but now it's just riding the way of hype from its glory days.
Conclusion
This is a fine pedal. If you are looking for a multi-stage low/medium gain overdrive then this might be the thing for you. I'd put it above a Fulltone Fulldrive (a pedal that I don't really care for all that much), but I'm probably not going to replace what I already have on my board with this. There might be certain situations that I'd prefer this pedal to others, like if I wanted to run a small-ish board for some running around, but it fall short of the litany of pedals that occupy my board. Its good, but it's not "sell all your pedals now and get one of these" good.
Support the blog by shopping on Amazon by using my link!
There should be an ad below:
