TC Electronic El Mocambo Overdrive Pedal

I don't think it's necessary to talk about the actual sounds of this pedal - Youtube reviews are out there that do a far better job of that than any amount of talk would do. But there are still plenty of good features here that make this pedal a nice and not extreme source of overdriven sounds. There's always the Dark Matter pedal from the same company if you really want to "filthy up" your guitar sound.A lot of the function of this pedal seems to be about thickening up the guitar sound, especially down at the bass end, as the "voice" switch and the bass control do a lot of add some "oomph" (an industry term) to the signal. I've found myself with the treble control set usually at 12 o'clock and the bass somewhere around the dial between there and max. This seems to work really nicely on single-coil guitars such as Strats and Teles. It just adds a bit of authority to the sound. The drive control is where all the magic is done regarding the overdrive itself (rather than the tone of that overdrive), it's really just a gain knob, but the distortion it brings in can be really nicely contoured with the tone controls - it's actually a lot of fun just to sit there playing and tweaking, because the controls all do something useful to the sound even if sometimes it's a bit subtle.The pedal is not in any way extreme. It doesn't do a single wacky "sound effect", everything it puts out can be used in a mix (some pedals - usually modulation ones - have settings you try out and then quickly shy away from; not this one).The only control left to cover is the level, which is in a sense the practical control that lets you set the overdriven level and the bypass level as you like. Some people want to hear a volume boost when overdriven because they'll be soloing in a live performance, and with a bit of tweaking here you can get that to your liking. I actually like the levels to be similar because I'm recording parts more often, and I don't like to upset the levels at the recording end by adding a dollop of boost (I can always boost levels in the mix afterwards). Being able to balance the levels gives me the ability to record at the optimal gain settings for clean and dirty sounds, and this control really gives me good control over that.What's also nice is that with the pedal being subtle if you set it up that way, it can be used as a pretty clean boost into an amplifier to help with the amp's overdriven sound, or feed in a little crunch to take the amp over the edge. The sound can get messy if taken too far, but it's nice to have a second stage of options for dialling in your ideal overdriven sound rather than just a boost pedal.The battery compartment on the back opens with a large screwhead that you can use a coin to undo, but it's central in the back plate so if you velcro the pedal to a board you'll need to leave a space if using batteries. I don't bother, instead using a One-Spot Pro power brick to supply 9v into the port on the back of the casing.Summing up, I think the pedal might be a bit subtle for some tastes, and the Dark Matter might be a more hooligan choice for those folks, but it works really nicely on my single-coil instruments, although somewhat less well on humbucker-equipped guitars, or even ones with P90s. You might also find that you need to roll off the bass response on guitars that already have a lot of of bass frequency, or limit yourself to a single pickup if you usually mix between pickups - the sound can muddy-up and require a bit of experimentation to get the best guitar/amp settings for this pedal.Given a bit of playing with settings on all parts of the chain from guitar to amp, though, you're almost guaranteed to find a really sweet sound in here that would be hard to live without.

Very impressive product, particularly given the price.You get very effective and useable valve overdrive sounds from it, and you also get the dynamic range & feel you would expect from a valve pre-amp. It's definitely at the higher gain end of things, but you can still get semi-clean sounds. The only slight problem with this is that the level control is at parity when it is turned a long way down, so there isn't much fine adjustment - it's either loud or really loud.The only other very minor grumble is it's quite a big unit - probably only about 1 cm longer & wider than something like a standard Boss pedal - but it does seem very big & chunky on a pedal board, particularly if you've got it alongside compact pedals. Having said that, the positive is that it is very robust and solid feeling, and the controls are big & easy to use . No small& fiddly little knobs here.Basically you should just buy it. Great pedal, great fun and at that price, you can't really go wrong.

If you can pick this up around the £25 mark, you will have yourself a well-constructed pedal with good sound quality that basically replicates a good Tube Screamer.I'm confused at the reviews calling this a "transparent" overdrive like a Klon or Timmy - it sounds basically identical to a TS at most settings to me. Sure, a Tube Screamer has a degree of transparency, but it's not as touch-responsive as pedals like the Timmy. I bought it thinking it would be less TS and more Klon, but it really isn't.That said, an Ibanez TS can easily set you back over £100, and there's really absolutely no need to spend that when pedals like this are so affordable. Unless you want a green pedal and bragging rights, of course. For everyone else, this is a good buy.

Came across this pedal on a Paul Gilbert (Mr Big) rig rundown. Found out since that it is used by a lot of pro guitarists and there is actually a Paul Gilbert signature version of this called the PG 14 which is still under £100.Rather than use a 'regular' overdrive like a TubeScreamer etc I fancied something with more versatile sound shaping and this is it.Most distortion or overdrive pedals will give you 2 options such as gain and volume, but this gives you more options so you can shape the sound easier no matter what amp or cab you use. If it's good enough for the likes of Mr Gilbert, it's good enough for me. Its comparable to a Klon pedal which cost upwards of £1500. Best od pedal I've had. Buy it.

I’ve used distortion pedals into the front end of a valve amp for years, specifically on the drive channel to really kick the gain up. I have the JHS PG14 which is a superb pedal, although it’s much more a fuzz pedal than an overdrive. The Vox Satchurator is another favourite of mine, but, again, it’s a distortion pedal as opposed to an overdrive. Enter the MojoMojo by TC Electronics. At £39.99 I thought it was worth a shot. On the cranked clean channel of my amp (JCM900) you get a creamy, overdriven blues tone. On the dirty channel, you get ‘that’ tube-y, overdriven goodness. I can’t rate this pedal highly enough. About to purchase another to use with another amp (Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555X)