T-Rex Mudhoney

Well, it has got the usual three knobs (Gain, Level and Tone) - how hard can it be? Additionally there is a "Boost" button which makes the controlled distortion turn into a creaming fuzz monster. Though, one interesting aspect of The T-Rex Mudhoney is it's flexibility and the "organic" feel to it. It's quite easy to get great sounds from the box but it can, to a certain degree, be a bit demanding on the player in the the sense that it's enormously dynamic and reacts to picking style.

There is off course no way to be objective in this matter, but to me it sounds very good in comparison with other distortion boxes: transparent, dynamic and very flexible. The hiss or noice (other than the noice it's supposed to make) presents itself only slightly with when all knobs are cranked. It covers most of the sounds from light "tubelike" overdrive to massive, heavily compressed fuzz mayhem. It cleans up (when lowering guitar wolume) fairy good. I wouldn't use it for metal distortion but for sounds in the range of rock, blues, jazz and pop it will certainly work. The tone knob has a good sweep from thick warm sounds to a sharp and edgy twang. Actually, in certain it can sound a bit like an overdriven old Blackface Fender Bassman (for you vintage amp maniacs, I said: "a bit").

I haven't tried it with solid-state amps, but it will work wonders with any tube amp. I'll give it an 8 because there are still better sounding overdrive pedals, fatter distortion boxes and wilder fuzz effects, but this one covers them all with goos results.

Can you depend on it? Yes. Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Yes. I havn't had mine for a year yet so what problems the future might present to this little beast is still uncertain. But it looks and feels very solid and I'm confident it will outlive me.

Never delt with T-Rex.

If you're short on cash and want only one OD/Distorion/Fuzz or if you want another well built, good sounding, noice free and good looking pedal to fill out your pedal boord with T-Rex Mudhoney presents a good alternative.

Very Easy to use. 3 Knobs - Gain, Tone, Output, and a boost pushbutton.

Guitars used: Fender Custom Shop Classic Player Strat, Gibson LP standard 92 model W/ Duncans.
Amps used:
2001 Matchless HC30 / ESD 2x12 Mismathed Celestions
2000 Marshall Heavily Modded 1987X / 2x12 Marshall Cabinet W/ Greenbacks.
1995 Mesa Boogie DC5 1x12 W/ 1x12 Ext. Cab. W/ Vintage 30's
Other Pedals:
Fulltone Clyde Deluxe, Fulltone Dist. Pro, Maxon AD900, Fulltone Choralflange, Matchless HotBox(origional Non Script SN 0029).
The first time I plugged this thing into my board I was a little disappointed, I thought ok its just a overderive, very good, but hey
I was looking for a little more. Then Oh No push in the Boost Button
and Ba Boom! What a musical pedal, it makes my HC30 sing so sweetly, I tweaked the controls Gain 6, Tone 7-1/2, Output about 4, and Boost pushed in. This setting really brings out the vocal qualities of single notes (DC30), and even though I have some other great Distortion Devices, I have found a place for this in my rig. I use the HotBox for Medium Gain sounds and Rythym Riffs, the Fulltone Dist. Pro for Cruchy Chord work, and now the Mud Honey For Super Sustain Solos. In fact that is what I would recomend this for,
Although at the extreme settings it can get very ugly (in a good way), Especially on my Mesa, and yet the Marshall sound soars, but these extreme settings actually seem to sound best with the amps maxed out. Its almost like Matching up the Gain on the Pedal to the
relative ouput level of the amp. Not as Dynamic as say the Dist. Pro, but this pedal has the best Vocal like Tone of any transistor distortion I have ever played. The Chord definition is not as good
as the Fulltone, but on single notes 'FORGET ABOUT IT' The Tones that this pedal is capable of are definitely dependant on your amp. Right
now I don't have any small amps ( I will never use anything without tubes period), but I can say that with the equipment that I have it does a very good job. It definitely makes my DC5 Grunt,
and Crunch, imagine a Dual Recto on steriods. The same exact settings through my Plexi 50 (OE Transfromer, Carbon Resistors, NOS Tubes),it pretty much nails the Thinlizzy Jailbreak Sound. But through the Matchless it is beyond words. As most people would agree the C30 is
is a great amp (in my opinion one of the best Class A's ever made),
yet it can be very picky when it comes to Distorion Pedals. The Mud Honey really speaks through this amp in such a smooth vocal way, I don't know how it can get any better.
Quite a few pedals have come and gone for me and now I am
again adding to my pedal boards (Fulltone, Maxon Vintage, T-Rex). I like this pedal so much that I am ordering some of the other T-Rex Pedals as soon as I am done here.

Being a Design Engineer, I had to take this apart to see what Kind
of Quality there is inside. I have to say Very Nice, Beutiful Circuit Boards. Through Hole soldered, very well designed. Dam near Fulltone
in Build Quality, The Std. by what all other pedals can and should be
measured against. The only things that I ever break are strings and
vacume tubes, so no I don't think that I need a back-up, but pedals
can break and it is not a bad idea.

Made in Denmark, In case you are wondering about this.
The Danes Don't make Rockets or Cars. What they do make,
the make very well. Dynaudio, TC Electronic, Scan Speak,
and now T-Rex Effects.
I purchased mine through Rudy's Music in NYC last week
when I was there on vacition, but a word to the wise.
Check out MUSICTOYZ.COM They are now selling them and
they have the best prices. They have the largest selection
of uptown pedals anywhere. I have been in dozens of music
stores and Nobdy has the Selection of REAL PEDALS that they do.
As far as T-Rex goes, I sent them an E-Mail 2 Days ago, and they
returned it this Morning, pretty good, 2 year warranty and for a
pedal thats very good! Hopfully I won't need it...

The thing to understand about this type of distortion pedal is
that it is different things to different amps. As a Rythym Pedal
it is very good, as a solo Pedal Through anything with EL84's or
EL34's it is unbeatable, quite possibly The 'Best of The Best'

Pretty easy to use has usual tone, gain and level knobs aswell as a boost switch which comes in handy.

I'm using an Ibanez RG570EX through a Crate Blue Voo Doo 60 watt valve head and a JCM900 4x12 marshall cab with celestions.

I first heard a review of ths pedal on a CD that came with a total guitar mag, I wanted it so bad since then but I didn't know where to get it. If you want one, contact Midas Distribution as they got hold of one for me, but it was the last one they had as I think they've stoped distributing these pedals.

The pedal sounds great from creamy overdrive to biting distortion. I find it absoloutly amazing to play blues through as well as hard rock. this pedal really kicks ass and also has amazing vintage looks, you wouldn't think it's a modern pedal. When you push the Boost button in this thing kicks in a wall of fuzz and filth sounds which work really well. I generally use this pedal with the boost button pushed in and gain around 12 o'clock and tone all the way up. This gives me a lovely rich distortion for hard rock. Take away the boost and it has an excelent bluesy tube sound, amazing Danish technology at it's best.

No probs yet, really solid!!!

N/A

overall a great buy and would buy again, if i could get hold of one that is, might have to go to Denmark if it was burnt in a house fire. The only let down was the price and that's what caused the 8 but it's well worth it, try it and you'll see why...... hell total guitar magazine gave it a 5/5 for sound can't beat that can you.. (www.t-rex-eng.com)