#172791  by Darkstar860
 
I tried out the Keeley and its not nearly as good as the Microtron. Id spend the extra dough, But thats just my opinion.

-Walt B

Also this is very interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA1TUGf ... irl-ASound

I owned a Qtron for years and I loved it, not sure how well the newer ones sound and how the build quality is. Id love to try a mod'd one.
Jon S. liked this
 #172793  by Chocol8
 
natebernstein wrote: Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:48 am But this thread has piqued my interest in the Micro-Tron IV, which I'd previously not heard of. Thanks!
Just buy it and then be glad you did!
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 #172795  by Darkstar860
 
^ I concur. I have the bigger model Tru-Tron and the Microtron and I like both over just about any other filter out there. As I said before the closest thing to these was the Qtron, but I had a 20+ year old EH Q-tron. Ive read the newer ones are not made as well etc. But even then the Qtron is kinda a tease, its like "almost" there. At that point why not just get "there" ;-)

-Walt B
 #173123  by Cumtax
 
So I've been messing around the last 2 days with my Micro-tron IV as it was very nasally and thin sounding, nothing compared to Garcia's ef sound. So I heard about the jumper swapping and tried that, the sound got really spongy and bassy, maybe too much. Then I started messing with the second trim pot (the one they suggest you move when swapping optomods) and as I was turning it clockwise the sound got beefier, more boosted and distorting. That's what I wanted, but the distortion was too much, and the sound got really muffled and lo-fi. Then I tried to move the trim counterclockwise and the sound got very thin. Then I swapped back the jumper to the original position and moved the trimpot to the original position and... everything was fine?! I got the sound I wanted. But how could it be? I started this journey cause I didn't like the standard pedal set to "J. Garcia", according to their manual.

Well while I was tweaking this stuff I was also messing with the amp, turned out that the only thing that I needed really was... yes, volume :oops:

People in the future, if you are scraping forums around the internet like I did, well this post is for you :roll:
 #173124  by Darkstar860
 
^ Do not listen to the manual. Im not chasing that particular Jerry tone. Im trying to get the Fire on the Mountain tone from Dead Ahead. I attached a picture of where i have mine set.

Also I ran my Mu-Tron first in the chain and it wouldnt quack right. I put my BBE sonic boost pedal before the Mu-Tron and BAM there it was. Im not using FX loop on my amp (as it doesnt have one). But with the settings I have and the boost in front it sounds 90% like it would thru FX loop. I never messed with the internal pots tho. Also there are 3 different chips you can get for it, read up on their site more. You may have one that is different than what we have etc.

Glad ya found your sweet spot ;-)

Image

The directions sometimes are just not right for what we are all trying to do. Just like my SMS preamp had Jerry settings in the manual, I couldnt stand the sound set like that. So i messed with it and found what works for me ;-)

My internal trims are set to factory. Can you take a pic of where you have your internal pots set ?

My toggles are set to Low Pass and Lo.
 #173125  by Cumtax
 
Darkstar860 wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 10:25 am ^ Do not listen to the manual. Im not chasing that particular Jerry tone. Im trying to get the Fire on the Mountain tone from Dead Ahead. I attached a picture of where i have mine set.

Also I ran my Mu-Tron first in the chain and it wouldnt quack right. I put my BBE sonic boost pedal before the Mu-Tron and BAM there it was. Im not using FX loop on my amp (as it doesnt have one). But with the settings I have and the boost in front it sounds 90% like it would thru FX loop. I never messed with the internal pots tho. Also there are 3 different chips you can get for it, read up on their site more. You may have one that is different than what we have etc.

Glad ya found your sweet spot ;-)

Image

The directions sometimes are just not right for what we are all trying to do. Just like my SMS preamp had Jerry settings in the manual, I couldnt stand the sound set like that. So i messed with it and found what works for me ;-)

My internal trims are set to factory. Can you take a pic of where you have your internal pots set ?

My toggles are set to Low Pass and Lo.

https://mu-tron.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... ide_v2.pdf

this is what I used as a reference and with the experience gathered this couple of days now everything makes sense. The trimpot position for the red optomod compensates the extra bass presence by thinning the sound out and vice versa with the jaco blue mod. I have the yellow optomod and the trimpots are exactly where they are as shown in the pdf

Well at least now I know the pedal I have in my hands and I'm gonna be able to help people out in case it's needed
 #173126  by Darkstar860
 
^ Exactly. Ive had a few friends purchase the Tru-Tron and the Micro-Tron and not like it until I told them to throw out the manual and play with it ;-) I gave them my settings and they went from there and love the pedal now. Filters can take forever to find your happy place with, but when you do its amazing.

Thanks for sharing your "Filter journey" and everyone else who can, chime in with yours as well :-)
 #173127  by Jon S.
 
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/cgi/viewc ... =cs_papers

Why Don’t People Read the Manual?

David G. Novick
Department of Computer Science
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX 79968-0518
+1 915-747-5725
novick@utep.edu

Karen Ward
School of Engineering
The University of Portland
Portland, OR 97203-5798
+1 503-943-7436
Karen.Ward@acm.org

ABSTRACT

Few users of computer applications seek help from the documentation. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of why this is so and examines how, in real work, users solve their usability problems. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 subjects representing a varied cross-section of users, we find that users do avoid using both paper and online help systems. Few users have paper manuals for the most heavily used applications, but none complained about their lack. Online help is more likely to be consulted than paper manuals, but users are equally likely to report that they solve their problem by asking a colleague or experimenting on their own. Users cite difficulties in navigating the help systems, particularly difficulties in finding useful search terms, and disappointment in the level of explanation found.
 #173131  by Cumtax
 
Darkstar860 wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 10:51 am ^ Exactly. Ive had a few friends purchase the Tru-Tron and the Micro-Tron and not like it until I told them to throw out the manual and play with it ;-) I gave them my settings and they went from there and love the pedal now. Filters can take forever to find your happy place with, but when you do its amazing.

Thanks for sharing your "Filter journey" and everyone else who can, chime in with yours as well :-)
the irony is that the sound I tweaked and came out to be the best is 95% the same they suggest as "J. Garcia". Just a slight tweak in the gain sections was needed as I have single coils and most likely they wrote instructions with hb in mind. The only problem was that I wasn't cooking the amp enough
 #173133  by Darkstar860
 
Yeah with very little movement of a knob the effect really changes form. I always reference a picture of my pedals settings on my phone before a show. I dont trust something turning one of the many knobs at my feet lol.
 #173321  by Jon S.
 
I'm starting to get frustrated concerning my still being without the defective Micro-Tron IV that I bought from Mu-Tron on June 4, returned afterwards because it was defective (it would have been my 2nd so I know what it's supposed to do).

I'm ready to cop a (relatively) cheap other brand of envelope filter. If Jerry tone is my primary reasons for owning a 2nd working envelope filter and I want to keep the price down, what's my best option?

E.g., perhaps an E-H Micro Q-Tron ($101) or Nano Q-Tron ($111)? (I'm not interested in the Q-Tron Plus: too expensive; too many dials).

UPDATE (typo corrected): Just heard back from Mu-Tron. They say they were unable at first to reproduce my issues with the pedal. Oy! Stay tuned ...
Last edited by Jon S. on Thu Jul 14, 2022 4:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
 #173323  by Darkstar860
 
I have not tried the Nano, id like to try it as its basic. THese days i like less knobs on my effect pedals ;-) Gone are the days i guess haha

Im interested in hearing from anyone who has tried one and what they think as well
 #173324  by lbpesq
 
The Valeton Katfish mini pedal can be dialed in for a decent Jerry quack and frequently shows up on reverb in the $35-45 range. Not nearly as good as the Mutron, but not bad for a cheap temporary replacement.

Bill, tgo
 #173325  by Darkstar860
 
^ Yeah this is true

I bought a M-Audio expression pedal for my Micro-Tron IV. Im interested how this works plugging into the CV input and what goodness can be pulled out of the pedal now ;-)

I dont see other envelopes overall that have the CV jack
 #173326  by Gr8fulCadi
 
Holy smokes I had not looked at the selling trend/price of the qtron + lately. I bought mine new 15 yrs ago for $179.00.

Definitely a keeper too as it sounds phenomenal for Jer-style quack.
CohoHawkeye liked this