Speaker Cab simulators - Mooer Radar & Nux Solid Studio

[mcnach]

Ok, not exactly the same thing but... that little Mooer packs a very interesting set of features nonetheless for just around £100.

It's primarily a cab simulator pedal, which should be great for recording (probably live too?). It contains tube power amp simulations, speaker cab models (both guitar and bass), and EQ. All very tweakable: type of valves, type of cabinet, microphone model, placement, distance from speaker... the EQ section can be either graphic (6 band, I think, where the centre frequencies are user-defined) or parametric, and it has an adjustable HPF *and* LPF (although the LPF only goes as low as 3000Hz, I think). With a standard size output socket and a little headphone output as well.

36 user presets.

In addition, you can load custom IRs...

Has anybody got experience with this?

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2018 by mcnach

[Bigwan]

Mentioned this in the HPF+LPF thread the other day after running into it on that other site. Looks like a VERY useful option! Apparently the output is a balanced TRS jack too...

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, Bigwan said:

Mentioned this in the HPF+LPF thread the other day after running into it on that other site. Looks like a VERY useful option! Apparently the output is a balanced TRS jack too...

On 05/11/2018 at 10:07, Bigwan said:

Just been looking at the Mooer Radar cab sim pedal and it has built in and, according to the manual, adjustable HP and LP filters, as well as EQ, power amp and cab sims. No details as to what the available settings are for the filters or what slope the filters have though...

Very interesting little pedal nonetheless!

Edit:from a user on that other site, HPF is adjustable from 15Hz in 5Hz steps. 5 band eq has sweepable mid points. 

As has been mentioned by the OP and Bigwan:

• HPF (and LPF) - I'd like to know whether this has a -12db / octave cut?
• Cab Sims - if this does a good Tube Power Amp sim, that would be very cool (and it is aimed at both guitarists and bass players)
• 36 presets - editable via PC / micro usb as well as via the pedal interface 
• Semi para EQ
• Balanced "DI" out  - ok not an xlr, but no big deal, easy enough to get a cable that converts 1/4" to xlr
• AND doubles up as a super compact headphone amp

Only downside is that it runs off 12V rather than 9V

I like the look of this a LOT!

Edited November 8, 2018 by Al Krow

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, Bigwan said:

Mentioned this in the HPF+LPF thread the other day after running into it on that other site. Looks like a VERY useful option! Apparently the output is a balanced TRS jack too...

 

True! I just noticed the balanced option if using a TRS cable. 

I think I'm getting one and see... I use an OmniCabSim live, as for one of the bands I use a lot of different overdrives and DI just does not sound right, too brittle, but it lives in my board. A little thing like this could be pretty useful to have on my desk for quick recording of bass and guitar... 

The Mooer TresCab also looks interesting. More limited (no balanced output and of course no IR stuff) but all the basic controls are there, without using menus and lots of scrolling and clicking buttons (or... button!)... although it appears it may not be as good. Hmmm.

[mcnach]

10 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

As has been mentioned by the OP and Bigwan:

• HPF (and LPF) - I'd like to know whether this has a -12db / octave cut?
• Cab Sims - if this does a good Tube Power Amp sim, that would be very cool (and it is aimed at both guitarists and bass players)
• 36 presets - editable via PC / micro usb as well as via the pedal interface 
• Semi para EQ
• Balanced "DI" out  - ok not an xlr, but no big deal, easy enough to get a cable that converts 1/4" to xlr
• AND doubles up as a super compact headphone amp

Only downside is that it runs off 12V rather than 9V

I like the look of this a LOT!

 

12V and large current draw... so I'd definitely use the (included) power supply. The supply is bigger than the pedal!  

As a person who detests scrolling through menus (the Zoom MS-60B was great, but I hated navigating through all the options), hooking it up to the PC looks very appealing, as I'd use this primarily for recording/silent practice.

[Al Krow]

32 minutes ago, mcnach said:

12V and large current draw... so I'd definitely use the (included) power supply. The supply is bigger than the pedal!  

As a person who detests scrolling through menus (the Zoom MS-60B was great, but I hated navigating through all the options), hooking it up to the PC looks very appealing, as I'd use this primarily for recording/silent practice.

Fortunately I have some flexibility on my PSU (MXR IsoBrick) in terms of voltage and current output so it should be able to handle this without too much effort (it's the Helix Stomp that I'm going to need to use its own power supply with!!). This, according to the manual requires 300mA. I suspect it'll be fine with 250mA or a little less.

Manual attached in case folk want to browse.

You discovered the ToneLib software for PC editing your MS-60B I hope? Like you, I hated the tiny MS-60B interface; the ToneLib package made editing patches easy and fun.

Mooer Radar Manual.pdf

Edited November 8, 2018 by Al Krow

[Bigwan]

Someone on that other site contacted Mooer, and tested, and it WILL operate at 9v... Whether it'll take a center negative supply I don't know.

EDIT: just looked at the manual and it's 12v center negative supply so might work from standard pedal supply with enough juice

Edited November 8, 2018 by Bigwan

[cattytown]

Similar power demands on paper to the Torpedo CAB.

MUCH smaller.

[Al Krow]

20 hours ago, Bigwan said:

Someone on that other site contacted Mooer, and tested, and it WILL operate at 9v... Whether it'll take a center negative supply I don't know.

EDIT: just looked at the manual and it's 12v center negative supply so might work from standard pedal supply with enough juice

You'll know more about this than me in terms of the electronics, for sure, but with my Markbass SS which was 12V and 550mA "minimum", I actually found that it was more sensitive to lower voltage than lower current. (So worked better on 12V 250mA but not 9V 500mA).

I don't know if that is a more general thing with pedals, or only relevant to particular types or models?

[Bigwan]

58 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

You'll know more about this than me in terms of the electronics, for sure, but with my Markbass SS which was 12V and 550mA "minimum", I actually found that it was more sensitive to lower voltage than lower current. (So worked better on 12V 250mA but not 9V 500mA).

I don't know if that is a more general thing with pedals, or only relevant to particular types or models?

Entirely circuit dependent so impossible to generalise regarding power supply requirements

[BassApprentice]

My Dad (guitar player) is currently using and really enjoying the Mooer GE200 - I assume this is just the cab sim section from that. He classes it as basically a budget Helix type system.

 

Have asked him what he thinks of it and will update later.
 

[mcnach]

14 hours ago, cattytown said:

Similar power demands on paper to the Torpedo CAB.

MUCH smaller.

 

Torpedo CAB does a lot more, to be fair. But the Radar does the bits I need it to do. I actually wish it were bigger with a larger screen and a couple more buttons. The NUX Solid Studio looks interesting too:

 

[cattytown]

36 minutes ago, mcnach said:

Torpedo CAB does a lot more, to be fair. But the Radar does the bits I need it to do. I actually wish it were bigger with a larger screen and a couple more buttons. The NUX Solid Studio looks interesting too:

Indeed - The power demands are similar to the CAB - I do wonder if that's the power the modelling needs. The CAB does indeed do more, but for me is overkill, the Radar does closer to what I need. 

I may well have a CAB for sale shortly!

Paul.

[mcnach]

Well, I bought the Radar. Let's see how it works.

The thing is... the more I look at the Nux, the more I like it: it may be simpler, but all controls are there on display easily. On the Mooer, I suspect I'd find one model I like enough, tweak it a bit, and pretty much use just that. I'm not a big knob-tweaker :p

[mcnach]

This is interesting, Mooer Radar vs Nux Solid Studio comparison

 

 

[mcnach]

Hmmm... and the Nux can actually capture IRs too.

So, I could potentially borrow a couple of good microphones from my friendly recording studio, and create IRs of my Two10 cabs... Now THAT would be pretty interesting.

[skelf]

Add this to the list. 

 

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2018/11/10/dsm-noisemaker-announces-the-omnicabsim-mini-pedal/

[mcnach]

Got the Mooer and the Nux now... and I like them both

I think I favour the Nux, but I miss some of the 'tweakability' of the Mooer. Since in the end it will mostly come to finding/creating a couple of presets, one for bass and one for guitar, either is probably fine. Straight from the box, I do like the sounds in the Nux a bit better. 

 

[cattytown]

10 hours ago, mcnach said:

Got the Mooer and the Nux now... and I like them both

Can you feel any latency with either?

The NUX looks a little light on bass cabs as delivered - would adding something like a fridge mean overwriting one of the defaults?

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, cattytown said:

Can you feel any latency with either?

The NUX looks a little light on bass cabs as delivered - would adding something like a fridge mean overwriting one of the defaults?

 

I really can't feel any latency.

The Mooer presets are a bit on the darker side, in general, although its extensive EQ should take care of that. The Nux presets are a bit more... 'airy' and so sound a bit more realistic... which is fortunate since you don't have much in terms of EQ there, just a basic 'Presence' knob *if* you have the amp simulation on. The amp simulation also seems to bring what sounds like a tiny bit of reverb... which I'm not loving. On guitar it's not much of an issue, but I like the bass pretty dry... However, it's a simple matter of not using the amp simulation, but that's the only kind of tone control you have on the pedal itself. It really is not much or a problem: I'd be happy with a box with no controls that simply substitutes a speaker/microphone combination.

You can add other models to the Nux, but yes, it means over-writing one of the defaults. Again, I don't see that as a problem, I don't need so many guitar cabs. You could select your least favourite cab... and each combination of valve type + mic position + microphone type becomes a new preset to store things in. Plenty of space to store new models in, even if it can become tricky to remember what is where! The BS410 (Bassman 410) is pretty cool on bass. Of the guitar ones, there's only 2 or 3 that I would use, so finding space to store new models, either created by you or uploaded from ze interwebz, should not be a problem.

 

[cattytown]

Thanks for the feedback - it's not that I am concerned about space, just mindful that my aging mind may not remember what I put where!

Where did you pick the NUX up? The main source I can see it Thomann.

[mcnach]

54 minutes ago, cattytown said:

Thanks for the feedback - it's not that I am concerned about space, just mindful that my aging mind may not remember what I put where!

Where did you pick the NUX up? The main source I can see it Thomann.

 

Ah, I'm with you on that one. I think a little sticker would be needed (for me), or a note somewhere. But really, I don't see myself using more than 2-3 different options, so it should not be hard to remember... (I hope!).

I got it from Thomann.

[krispn]

@mcnach

Seen a mooer radar become available locally on the fb group. Still recommend it? I’m downsizing my pedal collection/board but this mooer might mean I can keep two or three pedals in operation and have a decent cab sim for foh on that particular gig and be ’more’ IEM ready for little additional outlay. 

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, krispn said:

@mcnach

Seen a mooer radar become available locally on the fb group. Still recommend it? I’m downsizing my pedal collection/board but this mooer might mean I can keep two or three pedals in operation and have a decent cab sim for foh on that particular gig and be ’more’ IEM ready for little additional outlay. 

 

The Mooer is pretty good, I think, but you need to sit down and edit the presets to get it sounding the way you want.

I sold the Nux and still have the Mooer. It's more versatile and I like the small footprint. It's not as user friendly as the Nux if you want to tweak it on the spot, but I guess it's not really something you'd tweak much once you find the sound you want.

 

[krispn]

Good enough 😀