Review: T-Rex Moller Overdrive/Boost

T-Rex Moller Overdrive The Tube Screamer is the Samuel L. Jackson of guitar pedals. Seems like it’s everywhere, but it’s not always great. The entire boutique effects market sprung up from builders like Analogman modifying the TS and improving on the basic flaws in the design. The appeal (and also the complaint) of the TS is its bump in the midrange when engaged. That bump along with an output boost readily overdrives an amp’s tubes.  When I was searching for an overdrive pedal for my Vox AC30, I ran through quite an assortment of pedals. The Vox is very picky with pedals, as it has it’s own strong focus in the upper mids. So, a TS pedal would seem like a poor fit, which is it. However, I ended up falling in love with one for use with my AC30. That TS-style pedal is the T-Rex Moller overdrive. It’s a pedal that is built in Denmark by a company that has generated quite a bit of excitement over it’s Replica delay pedal.

The reason the Moller works so well with my Vox is the enormous flexibility in its controls. The Moller is a dual-function pedal with the left switch controlling the overdrive and the right switch controlling a clean boost. The boost is completely independent of the overdrive circuit, allowing even more flexibility. The boost is very transparent, with maybe a little increase in the high frequencies, but never overpowering.  The overdrive side of the pedal is where the Moller shines. The design takes the functions of the Fulltone Fulldrive and the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive and sticks them in one pedal. From the Fulldrive, the Moller incorporates the Voice button, which switches the mid-hump in and out. For use with my Vox, I switch the mids out, giving me a transparent eq which allows the natural tone of the amp to go through. With my Fender Princeton, I switch the mids back in, as the amp has an inherent scooping in the mids. From the Sparkle Drive comes the Blend control. This knob allows for a blending of your signal coming into the pedal with the distortion from the circuit. There is a lot of variation you can get here. I like to get the gain around 2 o’clock and blend the signal 50/50. This gives me some nice break-up with the sweetness of my clean tone. Another nice option is to crank the gain and blend in just a hint of the distortion with the clean tone. This gives you great definition from your clean with the sustain of the distortion, a Dumble-style tone.

The one downside to the pedal is the price. New it runs $280 at most of the major online stores, though it can be had for less elsewhere. I would be hard-pressed to say it was worth that much, though it is a great pedal. If you are interested, I would scour eBay, where they go for less than $200. The Moller definitely has that classic tone that you’ve heard on countless songs. The flexibility of the pedal and the clean boost make it a worthwhile addition to any pedalboard.