Mooer thunderball review

[uk_lefty]

I bought this cheap and cheerful distortion/ fuzz and took it straight to rehearsal. I've seen recommendations to stay away from this pedal on this forum but never a review... So here comes a review!

Yes, better pedals will exist. However my criteria were cheap without being "too cheap" and using as little space as possible. I wanted a distortion of some sort as my band has gigs where I may be using a provided backline so can't rely on my amps built in overdrive. I had heard that this pedal is a clone of the ehx bass blogger, which I used to own, so I had a good idea what I was getting tonewise but with a fraction of the pedal board footprint.
The distortion and fuzz... Not massively distinguishable from each other I'm afraid, but I keep the gain low for a gritty sound rather than a full buzz saw effect. I used this with both a p bass and a headless hohner in to the rehearsal spaces Orange amp. The sound was what I was looking for, not the warmest and most natural sounding but effective under two guitars for adding the grittiness I wanted. I can't see me playing around too much with the settings. Running an envelope filter before the distortion combined the two effects well, and despite its tiny size it was easy to find with the sole of my boot.

If you love heavy distortion and it's an integral part of your sound invest in a different pedal, you'll appreciate it more. However if you only need the odd touch of distortion now and then you won't go wrong with this one as a live and rehearsal tool, for recording you may want something more lavish to get a warmer sound from.

For less than fifty quid I think this is good value. Having had cheap bass overdrives before this is definitely a step above the bottom of the range guff you can get, but there are many many more upward steps if that's your style of play. The case seems durable and the tiny size is a blessing.

[Callumjord]

Ive tried a lot of mooers out recently and I genuinely think that they are hitting the nail on the head in terms of what a "low budget" pedal should be. Love there compact size and the fact they have catered to bass players as well. I think that their sub octave pedal is brilliant, tracking on it is great compared to others of the same price and has held up at gigs and band practice.

If I am correct I am pretty sure Devin Townsend is getting his own signature mooer delay pedal.

I just wish tone city would offer us bass players some pedals, they seem to be getting rave reviews from Andertons.

[Al Heeley]

I've just got hold of a little Mooer Thunderball and I found it really easy to dial in a Muse-like fuzz straightaway, it also does a decent gritty overdrive. For the money its hard to fault it and I love the small footprint. Compare with some of the exotic boutique fuzz pedals with £1.35 worth of components selling for over £100 and giving a violent spitty square wave rhasp, I can never find a usable live tone, and I've put together a load of mammoth clones over the years, the little Mooers certainly don't have the elitist appeal but as a cheap and usable workhorse its hard to fault them.
I also bought the bass sweeper and its far easier for me to get a good usable Bassballs envelope than with the original EHX pedal (which I now have for sale....). Next to try out os the Bass chorus. I'm liking them.