Thoughts after first attempt going direct at a gig (Mooer Radar saved me!)

Supportact

I bought a Mooer Radar during lockdown, mainly as it had a cab sim/IR and a headphone output, so I could practice quietly at home. I don't really use it for that anymore, but I left it on my gigging board as a back up, thinking that if my amp died at a gig I could just plug straight in to the desk. Never happened, so I've never used it live. 

Until this weekend! Turned up for the gig where there was supposed to have been guitar and bass amps provided. There was a bass amp but no guitar amp! So, no other option, I plugged straight in, using the standard 'Twin Reverb' preset. 

Not perfect, and I'd rather have had my valve amp, but I was surprised at how good it sounded through the stage monitors (given the Radar is fairly cheap compared to some other options). If I'd had more time I could have eq'd out some bottom end, but given that I just plugged in a standard preset I was more than happy. I think having an analogue compressor and drive pedal in front helped the feel of it. Fortunately the monitor situation was good and we all got individual monitor mixes which helped (a lot of the time at the venues we play monitoring is not ideal, so I could see that being a problem.)

I told our singer about it afterwards and he had not even noticed that I had no amp on stage! So I'll definitely be leaving the Radar on the pedal board just in case. 

hollywoodrox

Do you have an amp sim on your board then ,seeing the radar is just an IR box. Sounds awesome bit of kit anyway

Supportact

hollywoodrox said:

Do you have an amp sim on your board then ,seeing the radar is just an IR box. Sounds awesome bit of kit anyway

No, not a proper one. There are different amp 'models' in the pedal, but apparently they are just approximations done with eq. In front also I was using a compressor, a Zendrive set very clean, and a Chase Tone secret preamp which I have on anyway.  

I've also noticed the recent Tonex pedal which is a similar size but has proper amp sim (I think) so maybe that's superceded the Radar. Maybe not worth upgrading though for me, as it's just a back up. 

thomasw88

Supportact said:

hollywoodrox said:

Do you have an amp sim on your board then ,seeing the radar is just an IR box. Sounds awesome bit of kit anyway

No, not a proper one. There are different amp 'models' in the pedal, but apparently they are just approximations done with eq. In front also I was using a compressor, a Zendrive set very clean, and a Chase Tone secret preamp which I have on anyway.  

I've also noticed the recent Tonex pedal which is a similar size but has proper amp sim (I think) so maybe that's superceded the Radar. Maybe not worth upgrading though for me, as it's just a back up. 

the tonex one can have 3 presets in it, that you can use.   You can either set it so you can switch between preset 1 and 2,   OR have preset 3 turned on or off.  It's also possible to cycle the 3 presets

So I've got it at the end of my drive pedals, when going into an amp I'll use it so can switch preset 3 on or off (and have a drive pedal loaded in there).

Also, have a clean/crunch amp loaded into presets 1&2 so can use that to go direct or into the return of an amp.  


   I've been impressed with it although the software is shite.  Its actually very easy to switch between the two settings in a live setting and turn the cab on/off if using presets 1/2.

hollywoodrox

Supportact said:

hollywoodrox said:

Do you have an amp sim on your board then ,seeing the radar is just an IR box. Sounds awesome bit of kit anyway

No, not a proper one. There are different amp 'models' in the pedal, but apparently they are just approximations done with eq. In front also I was using a compressor, a Zendrive set very clean, and a Chase Tone secret preamp which I have on anyway.  

I've also noticed the recent Tonex pedal which is a similar size but has proper amp sim (I think) so maybe that's superceded the Radar. Maybe not worth upgrading though for me, as it's just a back up. 

Sounds a great bit of kit anyway ,Mooer do some brilliant stuff

Supportact

thomasw88 said:

Supportact said:

hollywoodrox said:

Do you have an amp sim on your board then ,seeing the radar is just an IR box. Sounds awesome bit of kit anyway

No, not a proper one. There are different amp 'models' in the pedal, but apparently they are just approximations done with eq. In front also I was using a compressor, a Zendrive set very clean, and a Chase Tone secret preamp which I have on anyway.  

I've also noticed the recent Tonex pedal which is a similar size but has proper amp sim (I think) so maybe that's superceded the Radar. Maybe not worth upgrading though for me, as it's just a back up. 

the tonex one can have 3 presets in it, that you can use.   You can either set it so you can switch between preset 1 and 2,   OR have preset 3 turned on or off.  It's also possible to cycle the 3 presets

So I've got it at the end of my drive pedals, when going into an amp I'll use it so can switch preset 3 on or off (and have a drive pedal loaded in there).

Also, have a clean/crunch amp loaded into presets 1&2 so can use that to go direct or into the return of an amp.  


   I've been impressed with it although the software is shite.  Its actually very easy to switch between the two settings in a live setting and turn the cab on/off if using presets 1/2.

That does sound handy. I've not ventured into the software on the Radar yet, you can import third party IRs but so far I've just tweaked the presets it came with. Still, I'm the type of punter who is pretty wedded to my valve amp and basic pedals,  so even this is a bit of a leap for me!

Rowby1

I use a Mooer Radar for recording and I think it’s a great bit of kit. I’ve imported some of Celestions free IRs and they’re very good too.