Mooer Mod Factory

Mooer Mod Factory MKII

GUITAR INTERACTIVE STAR RATING:⭐⭐⭐⭐

MSRP (UK) £79 (US) $TBC

PROS

Eleven great sounding modulation effects.

Tiny footprint.

Series/parallel, tap tempo and acceleration features.

CONS

No Uni-Vibe algorithm.

SPECS

9V DC

Dimensions: 93.5mm(D) x 42mm(W) x 52mm(H)

Weight: 146g

Mooer, the king of micro pedals, is back with an update to their hugely popular Mod Factory pedal in the form of Mooer Mod Factory MKII. Featuring a whole host of modulation effects, the MKII operates as a chorus, flanger, phaser and more, housing 11 effects across four dials for ultimate control. Nick Jennison reviews.

There are, to my mind, two kinds of modulation effect. There are the “I can’t live without it” pedals - expensive boutique units or rare vintage pieces that we love and cherish. Then there are “utility” effects. The ones you need for a song or two in your set. A chorus here, a flanger there…

The problem with these “utility” effects is that they can mount up very quickly. 12 different modulation pedals that you’ll use once per evening is quite an investment, even if you go for the cheapest ones you can find. That’s before you consider power supplies and pedalboard real estate. You could just “do without”, but with pedals like the Mod Factory MKII from Mooer, you don’t have to.

The Mod Factory MKII is a mini format pedal with no less than 11 modulation algorithms, ranging from the usual suspects like chorus, phaser, tremolo and rotary, through to some more oddball effects like ring modulator and bitcrusher. The single large rotary control selects the effect algorithm, while the speed, depth and “CTRL” knobs fine-tune the effect - the latter performing a different function depending on which algorithm is selected.

The more traditional algorithms sound great, and will definitely get the job done. Standout effects are the tremolo, phaser and chorus, but there’s not a “bad” sound in there. Sure, a vintage CE-2 will sound better than the chorus in the Mod Factory, but the flexibility the Mod Factory offers more than makes up for it. The “low bit” effect is a lot of fun, and it’s capable of some serious sonic mangling. It does require some careful tweaking though, with some knob positions resulting in some crazy, out of control feedback (of course, this might be exactly what you're looking for!).

Two other cool features are the series/parallel button and the footswitch itself. Series/parallel simply switches from 100% wet operation to a 50/50 mix of wet and dry signals. For effects like tremolo, the effect is somewhat negligible, but the parallel operation can go a long way towards helping effects like flangers or phasers sound “natural” when placed after distortion. The footswitch can function as a tap tempo control by double tapping the switch, and pressing and holding will engage the “ACCEL” feature, which gradually increases the speed of whichever effect you have selected. This can produce some pretty wacky results, but it’s also great with the rotary algorithm for mimicking the speed control on a Leslie cabinet.

The Mooer Mod Factory MKII has a whole pedalboard’s worth of great sounding modulation effects in the smallest package possible. If you need to cover a lot of ground in your set, or you just want to experiment with modulation without breaking the bank, this is the pedal for you.