Cheap mini-pedals?

[tomteriffic]

I suspect that the various brands of these half-size pedals all have the same internals, but Donner has a bunch of them on sale right now and I need a cheap utility piece or two.  Does anybody have experience with these?  Noise level? Flexibility?  I just need a couple of bread and butter tones, nothing boutique-y. And the size and price of the Donners seems right.

I tried one mini pedal (with some other brand on it) and was not impressed with the resultant effect and the lack of flexibility to try to get what I wanted out of it.  Noise level and build quality were OK, though.  Still it went back.

Experiences?

[PaGator]

I’ve read that these are supposed to be good clones but I haven’t personally used FWIW

https://www.tonepedia.com/tone-city/

[HamerDave]

I've used a few, Mooer, Amazon Basics etc.  They're not terrible but you get what you pay for. I still have a few of the Mooers in the drawer but none on my board.

[Dave Scepter]

I bought a Rowin LEF-319 noise gate and it SUCKS BALLS !!

[tomteriffic]

2 hours ago, HamerDave said:

They're not terrible but you get what you pay for. I still have a few of the Mooers in the drawer but none on my board.

Well, I'm not expecting or, in this case, needing much.  If my reaction turns out to be "Yep, it's a chorus" (or whatever effect) that's just fine.

[HamerDave]

On 12/23/2021 at 3:55 PM, tomteriffic said:

Well, I'm not expecting or, in this case, needing much.  If my reaction turns out to be "Yep, it's a chorus" (or whatever effect) that's just fine.

If that's the case I'd heartily endorse Mooer.  The Hustle drive is a teeny OCD clone. The Chorus and analog delay are serviceable  I still like the Blues Crab for that Blues Driver pushed overdrive.  

[bubs_42]

On 12/23/2021 at 10:20 AM, Dave Scepter said:

I bought a Rowin LEF-319 noise gate and it SUCKS BALLS !!

Wow, that was unexpected plus, I wouldn't have seen that coming. 

[Jakeboy]

KO effects are a Canadian company and I own their Tea and Crumpets which is a Hotcake clone in a mini-pedal….it is fantastic through Vox circuits, inexpensive, and made in North America.I’ll def buy more minis through them.

[mathman]

I bought a few through mono price.  Not so terrible…

[scottcald]

I think with most of this, if you go in with the price in mind, you'll be pleasantly surprised.  Just go in with a truly open mind about it.   

[hamerhead]

I've had several of the Mooer pedals (Hustle Drive, Spark delay, Baby Tuner that I can think of) and thought they were really good. The tuner made a faint steady kind of beep when engaged (kind of annoying but gone when off). The Hustle Drive was a slightly raspier version of the OCD and overall sounded great. I liked that the knobs on the Spark were all on the side so you couldn't accidentally hit them with your feet. It must have sounded OK because I can't think of why I sold it.

Mudshark Ricky PIF'd a Donner delay that sounded fine but added some high end to the signal when engaged. Might have been where it was in the chain, I don't know.

I thought all the Mooers and the Donner were well built, but didn't gig them or reeeally use them long or hard enough to comment on durability. With reasonable care they would be just fine. They were better than some of the newer MXR stuff I've tried.

[Menehune]

I toy with selling my Mooer Ensemble King, and then I play it again and enjoy its CE-2ish sounda. Well-built. 

[JGale]

What do you need Tom?

[JGale]

https://www.cheaperpedals.com/collections/caline

[Armitage]

Wouldn't a used multiFx be better?

[tomteriffic]

On 2/16/2022 at 6:38 PM, Armitage said:

Wouldn't a used multiFx be better?

It would if I were starting from scratch but in this case I'm just filling a couple of gaps in an existing chain.

 

[tommy p]

I just bought a mini-Crybaby and mini-Fuzzface (the blue one) from a friend on a whim.  Both of them sound fine to me, but the only thing I've played with the Fuzzface is Spirit in the Sky and Satisfaction.  lol  I must say though, that thing NAILS Spirit in the Sky so I find myself hooking it up from time to time just to play that!