Grateful Dead Music Forum

Have been debating getting a Micro-Tron, then I saw this. Reached out to Mu-Tron and asked how the two pedals compare/contrast, this was their response...

"Thanks for reaching out about the Mini Mu. We will have some more in the next few weeks. There are quite a few differences between the Mini-Mu and the Microtron. The Mini is more identical to the vintage Mutron III. There is no Tru-tron pre amp or CV in the mini. For the volume control there is an internal trimmer. There is no high pass but there is a jumper that can be changed between true bypass and a bleed bypass (gain circuit acts as a clean boost- like the original). There is also another jumper internally for up or down. I hope that answers all of your questions but if you have any others just let me know."

Closer to the Mu-Tron III? I thought the Micro-Tron was essentially a Mu-Tron III, just a smaller footprint. Anyone able to clear this up for me going from what they said? It's over my head... what does having the Tru-Tron pre amp vs not having it change, what do they mean by CV, etc?

Thanks

https://mu-tron.com/shop/pedals/mini-mu/

First I've heard of this pedal. After checking it out on the Mu-tron site, it appears to be the exact same size as the Micro-tron IV. Not so mini. As for features, spending the extra $80 ($279 vs. $199) for the full featured Micro-tron over the Mini looks like a no-brainer to me.

Bill, tgo

The mini one cant be fine tuned like the Micro or the larger Tru-Tron 3x versions can be. I would save the $ up for the Micro IV. But thats just me. Unless you know the limitations of this smaller one wont effect your plans with it, i wouldnt get it. But hey maybe it nails that tone your looking for.

+1, +2....I'd go for the MicroTron IV.....it is so much nicer to have the gain control on the MicroTron IV (and on the III, which I have), rather than trying to adjust your output level by using a trimpot (it sounds like that's the case with the Mini). I find this makes getting to the sound you're looking for so much easier.

Des

Just a tip, if anyone is looking for a Micro Tron IV, on reverb put this one on your Watchlist: https://reverb.com/item/33237151-mu-tro ... ects-pedal

In a day or so Pitbull Audio will send you a offer for around $250 for it.

I didn't know what mini mu was so I had to check and wow, mutron really went the extra mile to make them look like cheap amateur stuff. Mutron on TGP has an awful rep and I myself received an (expensive) dud and never got any response back from them after reporting the issue. I know they have legendary status because of their heritage but they will never see my money ever again

I actually kinda like the paired-down industrial look on the new Mini-Mu. I'm not going into the details here but, FWIW, I haven't been completely satisfied, either, with the 3 MuTron pedals I bought new from them (two of which I still have) and don't foresee buying any more from them.

Jon S. wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 2:59 pm I actually kinda like the paired-down industrial look on the new Mini-Mu. I'm not going into the details here but, FWIW, I haven't been completely satisfied, either, with the 3 MuTron pedals I bought new from them (two of which I still have) and don't foresee buying any more from them.

what kind of issues did you have?

My Micro-Tron IV had issues when i first got it and i got a new chip board from them that seemed to solve the issues. What color board is inside the unit is important. Theres a red, blue and yellow i think and all three react a bit different. But I have both the Tru-Tron 3X and the Micro Tron IV and i cant hear a difference between them. It also really depends on the guitar being used. I find my Wolf guitars needs a boost pedal ahead of the Micro to make it quack right but my Travis Bean doesnt need the boost on and quacks perfect. I know a lot of folks use a volume pedal before theres, i recently got a expression pedal plugged into the Micro IV and WOWZA, def worth the $30 for the expression pedal to have much more control over the unit.

What parameter does the expression pedal control?

Thanks for the input everybody. That is why I have been on the fence about the Micro-Tron, the issues people have had here and over at The Gear Page. Plus have read about some customer service problems. They both look kind of cheap to me. Was interested in the Mini Mu because in their email they said it was more identical to the vintage Mu-Tron III.

I went with this, he builds good quality stuff. Haven't had it very long, but really like it so far.

https://reverb.com/item/56178480-handma ... mps-and-fx

Cool looking pedal ya got. Def let us know in deeper description what ya think of it as ya go. Id love to hear more about this pedal you got

franklins_timmy wrote:Thanks for the input everybody. That is why I have been on the fence about the Micro-Tron, the issues people have had here and over at The Gear Page. Plus have read about some customer service problems. They both look kind of cheap to me. Was interested in the Mini Mu because in their email they said it was more identical to the vintage Mu-Tron III.

I went with this, he builds good quality stuff. Haven't had it very long, but really like it so far.

https://reverb.com/item/56178480-handma ... mps-and-fx

I currently still own an original Mutron III. I don’t use it mainly due to its size. I’ve tried many other Envelopes, including the EHX Q-trons, the Emma Discumbobulator, the Valeton Katfish (favorite mini pedal EF I’ve tried - the new Mutron “Mini Mu” is not a mini-size pedal but rather a standard Boss size), and others. I had the Tru-Tron for a while, smaller than the original, but still a large footprint and a little complex for my liking. I currently have the Micro-Tron III on my board. I really like it. I recognize that the quality of the sound is a personal subjective opinion. You may think the III and IV look “cheap” in the photos you have seen. However, I can assure you it is an extremely solid well built unit, not “cheap” in any way.

Bill, tgo

franklins_timmy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 19, 2023 12:39 pm Thanks for the input everybody. That is why I have been on the fence about the Micro-Tron, the issues people have had here and over at The Gear Page. Plus have read about some customer service problems. They both look kind of cheap to me. Was interested in the Mini Mu because in their email they said it was more identical to the vintage Mu-Tron III.

I went with this, he builds good quality stuff. Haven't had it very long, but really like it so far.

https://reverb.com/item/56178480-handma ... mps-and-fx

So I was intrigued by the look of this pedal, it looked beautiful in some ways and realized that for the same price as the actual mutron it also had a SWEEP knob without the need to install cash-grab extra chips as DLCs. Well, I don't know what magic this guy did but this pedal is absolutely stunning. It's fat and thick, unlike microtron which was harsh and thin until the amp was pushed with level knob at 75%+.

This sounds like Jerry always sounded in my head. I'm flipping my Microtron IV. This ended my quest, thank you for reporting. Mr Doughtry was pleased to know he had a few minutes of stardom on the internet.

the guitar player in that clip is roknfnrol on thegearpage. He also makes a TON of pickup demo vids on youtube, so I trust his taste if hes got one on his board. I was not impressed by the Micro Tron I had