Mu-Tron III

I have used my Gibson SG and other stuff. It is really cool. I do not think you can make a mistake with this thing, regardless of your instrument. It can go all over the map.

Never has failed, but this baby needs TWO 9 volt batteries. They can burn out quick if you use this heavily.

This item is a fairly easy to understand compilation. The only thing about "Ease of Use" is that it will only do what you "send" to it. Experimentation is the key. I would rate it higher, because I like it, but it has a wide range of sound and takes some time. Three knobs, a button and switches...gotta try all the combinations, folks.

I know nothing about customer support. I hear the company is history. I do not care anyway...good product, all the same.

This is THE sound of funk. Think of Stevie Wonder..."There is is superstitious...writing on the wall." That being said, let me say this: If you never played a guitar, ever...and then you played with this device, people will ask you, "What are you doing to get that sound?" I would buy it again in two heartbeats. If it were stolen or lost (I presently cannot find it)...I know I am losing my mind. It is NOT an everday must item, by any means. It's just that...if you want that one, or two, or third SPECIAL sound....ain't no ther way. I have heard from many sources that it is THE version of this type of thing to own. I believe that.

This thing is pretty clean. Sometimes I use a pro co rat pedal with it, though I lose some bottom, I can spin off some wicked sounding leads. Fat(or is it phat)and liquid drip sounding.

I haven't had any problems with it, and mine is an original Musitronics from the late 70's. It is still being manufactured by     H.A.Z. Labortories (www.mu-tron.com). The original engineer/designer still works there.

This animal was pretty simple to use. I play bass in a funk/rock/fusion band and some of the settings are not really usable. I really use only the lower settings.

Never called, mainly cause musitronics has been out of business for 20 years! HAZ Labs was very nice, Iwanted to know if their power supply would work with an older unit(it doesn't), and they were very prompt in responding to my email.

This is a great effect, but it is still an effect. It will inspire you to try something a little different, but I still sound like me, not Bootsy. Get one if you can, and scare your guitarist.

Superior to other touch controlled wah machines. Very dynamic, open & noise-free. Some settings can get extremely piercing if put through the wrong amp - a warm sounding valve amp is recommended. There are several great and/or crazy sounds available here, my favorite is to feed it into an overdrive pedal set with only a little distortion and let the Mu-Tron push it into a bluesy funk overdrive. I will try to learn some two-handed tapping and make people faint. Since it's very sensitive to input levels a Les Paul and a Stratocaster requires different settings to get the same effect.

Reliability is not a problem. This is a pro piece of hardware. The downside to its great sound is that it eats batteries (2 at a time) for breakfast. Keep spares. Ten years ago a former (just kidding) friend of mind borrowed it and left it with the power switch in the "on" position. The non alkaline batteries therefore leaked out all over the circuit board and, as far as I could tell at the time, killed it stone dead. Around five years ago I found it in the basement in the suitcase where I had put it to rest. It took me 3 hours to clean it and the battery connectors were completely corroded but it works like nothing ever happened!

Not very. The controls are real sensitive and just changing pickup can throw you of. If you can't control how hard you pick you can't really control this guy. A plus for great ergonomics though. Some settings will be completely useless to most people.

I have no idea. I believe Musictronics ceased to exist around 1980. To bad.

For funky stuff this box is IT. Anywhere you would stick a wah... It also sounds great on keyboards. When recording you can really tweak it and get analog synth-like sounds from a guitar. You can also get some absolutely hideously spikey sounds that can tear your bandleader's head off from a distances of up to 35 feet. Enjoy! I got it in '77 I think but back then I wasn't good enough to make proper use of it. If I would lose it (shudder) I might check out Peavey's rack mount filter thing but I'm not sure it can do the same things. Because of its high sensitivity to input levels and broad ranging controls it would be totally great to have some programability for live use. In live situations the fact that the gain control both affects the effect depth and level AND the footswitchable "bypassed" level is troublesome to me. To reach complete bypass you have to turn the power off by the separate on-off toggle -this is not the ultimate in user friendliness. This isn't a subtle effect like chorus & I don't think it's for everyone but I sure dig it. Right now I mainly play a Les Paul replica with S. Duncan pickups through a Traynor YGL-3A 100-watt tube head and a Celestion loaded Music Man cabinet. Apart from the Mu-Tron I only use a Cry Baby & either a Tube Works Tube Driver or a Boss DS-1.