Mooer Red Truck: Compact multi-effect for gigging guitarists on a budget
I first mentioned the Mooer Red Truck back in March of this year, when it was part of a few new products being announced by the company being scheduled for release in 2017. It should be finally hitting stores around the world, so what exactly does it offer and should you buy one?
Red Truck
The Red Truck has six onboard effects consisting of booster, overdrive, distortion, modulation (Tremolo, Phaser, Chorus/Flanger), delay (with tap and divide) and reverb. That’s a lot of useful effects for, it turns out, not a lot of money. Once again, Mooer is tackling the already burgeoning effects pedal marketplace with low-cost, wallet-friendly options for gigging and recording musicians.
Compromise?
There’s not a lot to complain about here. On paper, it has a lot of very useful guitar effects and the price is so low that even if there are some compromises in terms of quality, I can live with it given the value for money offered. Too bad that Mooer has decided to go with the boost on/off setting only via a mini-lever and not as a footswitch. I’m not sure I can kick it gently enough with my size 12 boot!
Mooer has, however, equipped the Red Truck with a handy FX loop, which is placed after the distortion and before the modulators, so you can get it to work with other pedals easily. The order cannot be changed from left to right, however, but it’s a compromise I can handle.
Compact and handy for those on the move · Source: Mooer
Connectivity
There is also tuner output positioned on the left at the very beginning of the signal chain. In addition, there is a useful headphone output. The Red Truck also has a stereo output which can also be used in mono, so great for dual and single amp setups alike.
Mooer Red Truck rear panel · Source: Mooer
I think the Red Truck pedal would be great for me if I had to travel light. The design looks neat and I like the well-illuminated footswitches as well. For the money, it has to be one to check out, I feel – they even throw in a carrying case at that price!
RRP – EUR 259 including carrying case
MOOER Red Truck product page
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2 responses to “Mooer Red Truck: Compact multi-effect for gigging guitarists on a budget”
I have a Red Truck. I use it in the front end of a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III.
The boost is unusual as it goes before the drive section and as such isn’t really designed to increase volume for solos. It is more for pushing the drives harder and driving the amp a little more. It also is extremely useful for matching levels and eq for a second guitar. I find by adding a small amount of boost and eq I can give the ultra clean Fender a slight bluesy break up. The overdrive is gorgeous. really transparent and rich. For AC/DC classic rock this alone would be enough drive. The distortion is full and rich with a punchy mid that works well as an addition to the overdrive. This I use for solos. Next up is the modulation setting. The trem is wonderful you can make it a very rounded pulsing wobble all the way to a square chop. The phaser, it’s ok. No script logo phase 90. I have heard richer phasers, this sound more like an LFO wah. The chorus flanger. Well it does flanging but the chorus? Only really as an addition to flanging. I haven’t yet got a decent 80s shimmer out of the chorus and to me this is the biggest failing of the Red Truck. As for the delay, it does precisely what you expect. Clean U2/Wall era Floyd repeats to smooth slap back echo. Shame you can’t save a couple of presets for when you need different amounts of delay. The Reverb is lovely. Very similar to the mooer shimverb pro with a washy quality. For the sort of music I play the Red Truck has everything. If they ever make a follow up then a compressor after the drives and a decent chorus / auto wah would be great additions.
What setting did you use to get the slap back delay?
As you said, it would be good to be able to store settings.