This will get you the classic sound. When I say "classic", I'm thinking of Jerry Garcia. This is the real deal and what he used. He *never* used a Boss or the crappy III+ reissue.
Here's something to check out though... Mine is a later version, one of the last ever made. It has a power LED instead of an On/Off switch, and also uses an attached power cable instead of batteries or a power supply. I talked to a fellow that was referred to me by the actual inventor and creator of the Mutron III. He said these later models sounded a bit different than the original. The lows weren't low enough and the highs were too high.
He will take your original Mutron III and rebuild it to spec and calibrate it for you for 45 bucks and hour plus parts. A fantastic deal!
The company is called Lingenberg Sound Repair and the website is http://www.lsound.com
So, for about a hundred bucks, you can take your old, tired mutron and refurb it to new condition (electonically) *and* get it calibrated so it sounds its best. He'll even do a true bypass switch for it.
Reliability/Durability:
Well, mine is around 25 years old and it's pretty solid. I wouldn't worry about it. If it ever does crap out, Lsound or CAE sound can rebuild it for ya.
Ease of Use:
Fairly easy to use. Just start turning knobs until you hear something you like.
:-)
For your classic filter sound, start with the "mode" set to "LP" (low pass), set your peak and gain to 4 o'clock, range to low, and drive to up. tweak from there
Customer Support:
Musitronics is long gone, but http://www.mu-tron.org/ is still there. Obviously, I think the warranty has ran out, but the original inventor/creator has posted on his site a couple links to people who can repair them or get you parts.
Considering he's doing this for a company that's been out of business for about 20 years, I'd say that's pretty damn good customer service.
Overall Rating:
You can usually get these for around 200-250 off of ebay, which is a lot of money. But, considering I've been through:
Qtron, Maxon AF9, Boss Twah, DOD Filter
And none of them did it for me. I could have bought two Mutrons for the money I've spent on all of these copies! If you're considering getting one, just do it. worst case scenario, you'll find one for 200 and have to drop another 100 or so into it to refurb. But, at least you *know* you've got the lord king god of all filters.
What else is close to it? Probably the Qtron or the Maxon AF9. I really dig the AF9. It's really close to the Mutron, maybe a bit gnarlier. But, then again, why pay 200 bucks for a Maxon copy of a Mutron when you can get the real deal for the same price.
I dig it.
