Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

[Artie]

This is basically a rebranded Mooer Graphic G. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

5-band graphic EQ with +/-18dB of gain. True bypass. 470k input Z. (That seems to be the trend these days.) :sigh:

Pros:
Sounds great, dead quiet. First thing I did was center the EQ and Drive controls and compare in and out of circuit. No discernible difference. I was very pleased to hear that. I loved testing this with my SH Tele. (Jerry Donahue bridge, 59 neck.) I could EQ the amp for the JD, then set the pedal for the 59. But what worked even better was, set the amp for the 59, then set the pedal for the JD. I could dial in a bit more bass and drive to bring the JD up to the 59's output level. This thing is really fun to play with. But then again, I guess any good EQ would be. Nothing specific to this pedal other than a nice choice of EQ points. (100, 250, 630, 1.6k, and 4k)

Construction of the case is rock solid. I could run over this with my car and just scratch the paint. (With the exception of what I note in "Cons".) The drive control lights up when activated providing a solid "on" condition.

Cons:
The size. I'm guessing that the design concept was that by making it this small, you could fit quite a few pedals on a pedal board and still keep things manageable. Problem is, you can't really place them any closer together than the width of your foot, or selecting one, without hitting another, becomes a problem. So you end up placeing them at "normal" spacing anyway. Also, the size precludes using a 9-volt battery. This thing looks like something you could just toss into your case, (you can), to take to a buddy's house. But now, you need to take a power adaptor, (not included), too. The size advantage kinda goes out the window.

As to the construction: Case good, sliders weak. The footswitch takes a pretty good amount of pressure to activate. Thats ok but those fragile little plastic sliders are real close. Accidentally do a toe-down tap, and you might kiss them goodbye.

So, the bottom line . . . it's fun to play with, (as any EQ would be), but I'm probably going to take this back and exchange it for an MXR M109 6-band EQ. Same price.

Hope this is useful to someone.

Artie

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

good review thanks

 

[Artie]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

Thanks for the thanks Ed. And I've already returned it. Straight across trade, but they didn't have the 109 in stock. New review when it arrives.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

I had looked at the smaller pedals thinking I could cram more on a board
but you have offered rich "ah-ha" moment

I have a Joyo 6 band that is more MXR sized
for what I do it seems just fine

does the MXR have a Level slider?
My Clone doesn't
that is the one feature I wish I had on mine

 

[Artie]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

does the MXR have a Level slider?

No, it doesn't. That's a good point.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

I have two of these small sized pedals (TWA and EWS lil Brute Drive) in a loop. They're in a remote location on my board and will only use one OR the other. So I'm free to preset which one is on, which is off, then access them via the loop.

So in that case the size does matter. I get 2 pedals where I could only fit 1 otherwise. My board has a bunch of loops though. I think if you're building a loop style board you could have more pedals, and preset some combinations, and the size would be a huge payoff. But the micro pedal format is not always functional. Some pedals need certain sized components and space between them to manipulate noise and crosstalk.

Glad to hear this one sounds good. I've been wanting to add some straight EQ to my board. I suppose I'd prefer a slider around 6k, maybe one of the clone versions of this has different values...

 

[DankStar]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

So fender is copying mooer?

 

[Artie]

Re: Fender Micro EQ: mini review.

Glad to hear this one sounds good. I've been wanting to add some straight EQ to my board. I suppose I'd prefer a slider around 6k, maybe one of the clone versions of this has different values...

Frank; I almost traded this for the MXR 10-band, which has 4k, 8k, and 16k, but that one still requires external power. I wanted the portability of battery power, so I went with the M109. Can't wait for it to arrive.