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<< back to reviews Moollon Pedals review By Fred Heghammar UGG. Killer tone and a killer look! Mollon are Beautiful Korean hand made pedals built with top quality with selected components to capture the sound of classic tones. The look is awesome, raw aluminum boxes with stunning art work. Moollon got an eye for esthetic, that's for sure! The pedals arrive wrapped in purple silk paper in black boxes with a hand written numbered certificate. You can tell right away that this is something special. OK, they got the look, but do they have the tone as well? The answer is yes. All pedal sounds really good. They are built as a tank and the switching is dead silence. The tone is overall classic, rich and very organic, just as a hand made pedal of today should sound. Add the fact that the guys at Moollon knows their thing and are really nice to deal with. In this test you first will find Moollons own words about the pedals followed with our impressions. Enjoy! Overdrive 
Moollon Overdrive is designed for the full frequency range of an electric guitar.
Natural/powerful mid range and solid/tight low end is the core characteristic of this unit.
Moollon GW 109S Buffer Circuit lets you maintain constant volume level and tone under any circumstance.
GW 109S Buffer Circuit minimizes the ground noise, electrostatic noise, and mechanical noise (popping) from the switch by transforming the input signal into a low impedance output signal.Optimum wires with different cores and insulations are used for each input and output for transmitting the different input/output signals without a loss and minimizing the noise problems due to a weak current.
Even if this pedal has the classic TS808 vibe it still got its own sound. The tone is smooth and it cleans up VERY well on your guitar volume. The switch is dead silence and the pedal is over all very transparent and melts together nicely with the amp. The overdrive also works very well as a clean boost, just turn the overdrive down and it just add volume and some nice sparkle to the sound. This pedal is a really good choice if you are looking for a classic overdrive without any noise. Distortion 
Moollon Distortion fully reproduces the core of the thick and straight distortion sound with natural harmonics which you can get when you crank up the 50's and 60's tube/non master volume amplifiers.
Dist, Volume, and Tone controls organically interact so treble increases as Dist gets dirtier, which is the characteristic behavior of the tube amps - treble increases with volume level.
You can get the same distortion sound of cranked up tube amp even at a low volume level.
Moollon GW 109S Buffer Circuit minimizes the ground noise, electrostatic noise, and mechanical noise (popping) from the switch by transforming the input signal into a low impedance output signal.
This pedal works best with a slightly overdriven tube amp in my ears. It might differ between amps, but in my Mystic and in the Mad professor I tested it through it could be a bit hard on the clean settings at moderate volumes. When I crank the amps volume, this pedal really shines! The perfect mix between a Fuzz and a Overdrive. This pedal can sound both smooth and evil, it's really up to the guitarist. I liked it evil : With a Les Paul I got a very nasty tone and the pedal forced me to play old Black Sabbath tones for hours. Who need a RAT? Tremolo 
Moollon Tremolo focuses on the natural tremolo sound of the vintage tube amplifiers.
The Bias circuit on Moollon Tremolo is quite different from those existing Opto-coupler circuits which make unnatural discord frequency range between guitar and tremolo signals.
Depth, Slope, and Speed controls bring ease of use and wide range effect.
Especially the Slope control lets you can mix hard and soft slopes gradually, not just switch between them.
Moollon GW 109S Buffer Circuit minimizes the ground noise, electrostatic noise, and mechanical noise(popping) from the switch by transforming the input signal into a low impedance signal.
I must admit that I'm not that familiar with tremolo pedals, mainly for one reason… the ones I tried didn't do their thing. If you ever have had the chance to taste a "real" tremolo of an old Black Face Fender, there is no turning back. Unfortunately it's to much work to bring a fender amp to a show just for the tremolo effects, and a Fender stand alone Tremolo unit is not that easy to find. So if you really need a Tremolo to bring on the road, you have to find a substitute. Now I don't need to look any more. This is a VERY good sounding tremolo pedal! The tone is big, organic and warm. It feels very authentic to play through and it works well with any amp I have run it through. It's just beautiful! This was a pleasant surprise. Signal boost 
Moollon Signal Boost features a natural boost without any tonal alteration.
Up to 12 dB, this unit can be used as both a clean boost and a gain boost in the clean and the cranked-up range of an amplifier.
When used for adding more gain at the maximum volume level of an amp, this unit increases the gain so naturally without clipping due to an excessive distortion.
This unit can be placed either before or after drive/distortion pedals boosting gain or volume level.
Moollon GW 109S Buffer Circuit minimizes the ground noise, electrostatic noise, loss of treble or punch, and mechanical noise(popping) from the switch by transforming the input signal into a low impedance signal under 1K ohm.
Next surprise was the Signal Boost. I have NEVER heard a boost pedal sound this good. If you got a tube amp that you love out of this world, I promise you that your amp will sound even better with this pedal! This pedal produces tons of beautiful chimes and the distortion is super natural sounding. You got to try this pedal, end of discussion! Lotus Octah 
An electronically authentic replica of the legendary Tycobrahe Octavia, which was made after Jimi Hendrix's Octavio.
Lotus Octah reincarnates the original fuzz tone, octave-up sound, and volume response of the vintage Octavia with the same spec of parts and circuit.
Especially the transformer - the core element of Lotus Octah - is wound, tested, tuned, and optimized by Moollon one by one to guarantee the most authentic sound discriminated from any other Octavia clone.
True-bypass with LED in a compact size case brings ease of use and esthetic look.
Next confession to make… Even though I'm a Hendrix freak, I'm not a fan of playing through Octavios. Ok, I like the sound, but the feel to play through it is awful, no matter brand of the pedal. So, for this test I had to bring my friend Andreas Rydman from Custom Sounds to try it out. Andreas is a pedal freak and knows how to handle a beauty like this. We hooked it up with his Mad Professor and the pedal sounded really good. Andreas told me that the Lotus Octah was one of the best Ocatvios he had ever played, and I believe him because he looked like a child on Christmas day when he played it. The sound was instant Hendrix and the Octavio effect was rich and distinct even in the lower regions of the fret board. The fuzz effect sounded good too, even if it drained the Octavia a bit when it pushed. Fuzz fourteen 
The original Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face sound - the origin of all distortion pedals and the legend through decades to the present - born again in a new body.
Named after the atomic number of silicon, Fuzz Fourteen realizes the cool and open sound of the late 60's silicon transistorized fuzz pedals.
The original BC108C transistors, capacitors with the same spec, carbon composition resistors, and the original spec wires are all hand selected and matched to complete the top fuzz sound and minimize variations.
True-bypass with LED in a compact size case brings ease of use and esthetic look.
This is a classic sounding silicon transistor sounding Fuzz. It generates the lovely Fuzz tones from the 60's. If you are looking for a mean machine you have come to the right place, this pedal screams. I use a Analogman Sun Face NKT275 in my pedal board and I use this as a reference in this test. Fuzz fourteen doesn't clean up as nice as the Sun Face, Fuzz Fourteen gets a bit to bright for my taste. But I don't think you buy this pedal for the clean sounds anyway. As the distortion pedal Fuzz Fourteen sounds better in a slightly distorted tube amp with the volume set to loud. Sweet and nasty just the way it should be. Perfect match with your Plexi stack. Bass drive 
An overdrive with a wide range - Bass version of the Moollon Overdrive!
Moollon Bass Drive is based on the overdriven sound of a cranked up tube power amp. Driving wider frequency range than the Moollon Overdrive, Bass Drive covers the lower frequency ranges of bass guitars, baritone guitars, and 7-string guitars.
With higher frequency range still alive, Moollon Bass Drive is not just for bassists but also for those guitarists who want a tight low end with a vivid treble.
Moollon GW 109S Buffer Circuit minimizes the ground noise, electrostatic noise, and mechanical noise(popping) from the switch by transforming the input signal into a low impedance signal.
Ok, I used it with a guitar and liked it a lot, tons of bottom and nice crisp top. It has kind of a "clean" OD sound it keeps the tone clear and punchy but adds sustain and a transparent OD, the sound mixes very well with an already overdriven amp. I found it to be a very good lead boost. Sound clips From Anders with a Edgar D-lux amp and Paul Guy guitar with P90's. Quikly recorded with a simple portal recording device just to give you a hint how they sound. Overdrive Bass Drive Fuzz 14 Distortion Signal Boost Lotus Octah Tremolo More info at: www.moollon.com Br / Fred << back to reviews |