Kernom's Moho Magmatic Fuzz is simply Magical and even more impressive than their magnificently engineered Kernom Overdrive - it has become my absolute favourite fuzz pedal of all-time!
I’ve had the Moho on my board for an entire wonderful week so far - and it’s been nothing but delightful from the very first encounter. I occasionally use the phrase ’a joy to deploy’ and that’s never been more apt than in these circumstances.
It’s not just that the Moho delivers high fidelity - it truly sounds magnificent every which way you point those dials - with all the verve, ebb and flow, fuzzy feel and full flavour you could ever desire. It has some degree of guitar volume gain cleanup too on certain modes - and depending where you’ve set the various dials. Where the really impressive part is just how beautifully richly textured it sounds - and how you can genuinely pretty much recreate all the key core fuzz sounds of the last 60+ years. I could not get it to ’squelch’ per se, and without a resonant filter - you don’t get some of those filter-fuzz voicings - but pretty much everything else is represented here - and in such a clever way.
The above visual represents the circular / cyclical nature of the Moho - along with themes of a molten magma planet, Lord of the Ring’s Middle Earth, a Solar Corona with Solar Flares - and all-round sizzling and awe-inspiring elemental forces!
THE CONTROLS
The obvious place to start off your Moho journey - is with exploring the 6 control knobs. Note the recommended starting positions for each control in the above visual.
CONTROLS Summary - Electricity (±Octave / Harmonics / Ring Mod Adjust), Mood (Character/Nature/Flavour/Texture), Volume, Post Tone, Pre Tone, Fuzz (Gain / Saturation), Preset Footswitch (Hold for 2 seconds to save favourite), On / Off Footswitch, Midi In / Out, and Expression ports on rear.
ELECTRICITY - Essentially an Octaves Control - One Octave Down fully CCW, and an Octave Up fully CW. It's Off in the noon position, and in the sweep up to the full octaves in either direction generates extra harmonics and artefacts that can further accentuate certain MOOD modes. When on Ring Mod MOOD - this dial controls the Frequency of the Ring Mod.
MOOD - 5 Segments of different combinations of Bias and Core EQ but with other elements in the mix too (clipping style?) - which take you through the many eras of fuzz - from Early / Proto Fuzzes, through Underbiased Starved and Velcro tones, then though the Classic Vintage Era of Fuzz, onto more Grungy Muffy Tones, High Gain Square Wave, and finally Ring Modulation. There are so many nuances to this control - that the very next section here is expanded coverage of that - with infographic to further explain the wider nature of the MOOD control.
VOLUME - Overall Output of the pedal - but note that it does impact on texture and character - and certain degrees and levels of saturation on the Volume side render different hues of tone!
POST TONE - Comes after the fuzz / clipping state and allows you to precisely tailor and shape the frequency profile of your output - neutral at noon, with the high harmonics filtered out to the left and more presence generated to the right.
PRE TONE - Precedes the Fuzz stage and adjusts the pedal's response to your incoming guitar signal - particularly low-end content. Noon is neutral, where CCW adds more bass into the mix, and CW filters out more of the bass.
FUZZ - The Gain degree and saturation / sustain of the output. Note that this is very interactive with Volume, Mood and Tone EQ's and small movements will render different degrees of harmonics and sizzle.
I feel that any of you that have mastered the Zvex Fuzz Factory - will have a relatively easy time here - as there is a huge amount of interactivity on every dial - meaning that every one of my settings involved tweaking all 6 control knobs to a degree. I often talk of 'safe-cracker-like' movements of certain dials - and it's never been truer than here. That's not to say there is an inherent degree of sensitivity here - but that tiny movements can render quite different results - and sometimes an optimal harmonic sweet-spot is literally a micro-movement away.
As with most of my analog pedals - I operate the knobs mostly from a standing position with my big toe! - and I've evolved a degree of delicacy which allows me to make the most tiniest and delicate of movements - as is indeed required for this pedal. For some of my presets - as below - the ultimate sweet-spot was the tiniest degree away - which really means tuning everything by ear. My recommended settings give you the ballpark of where certain sounds and textures lie - but you have to tune in the last part by ear. That's why I photographed the settings and then rendered those as precise visuals as the knobs are not always in easily described o'clock positions.
MOOD
As with Kernom's Ridge Overdrive - the MOOD knob is where most of the magic occurs, a complex melding of different bias, clipping and eq values - with some added magic sprinkles on top!
The sweep of that knob, starting fully CCW takes you from Early / Proto Fuzz sounds - low-ish gain Overdrive and Fuzzy-Drive initially, then through Under-Biasing / Voltage Starve and Velcro tones, into Vintage, mostly British fuzz flavours, then American Muff and Opamp, onto High Gain Square Wave Fuzz, and finally several flavours of Ring Modulation - in combination with the secondary Ring Mod Frequency Control on the Electricity knob.
FIRST SEGMENT - EARLY FUZZ SOUNDS - Old-school early / proto fuzz flavours derived from discrete transistor circuits and mixing desk serendipitous mishaps and misadventures. You start off with fairly minimal texture which leads into broken / choked / velcro / geiger / radiation decay textures - stuttering out to nothingness - slightly gated and dissonant. Note that the segments aren't wholly linear - and nor are their intersections neatly demarcated - meaning you get interesting overlaps and overflows - so Velcro sounds bleeding into the Vintage Segment, and Ring Mod bleeding into the Modern Segment for instance - and vice versa. Each Segment has its own curve and mix of textures - but they don't cross over neatly into the next category - but rather more overlap really to a degree!
SECOND SEGMENT - VINTAGE PSYCHEDELIC ERA - Here are all those classic Fuzz flavours that so many like - from the earliest 1962 Gibson Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz Tone, through various flavours of Tone Bender, and Fuzz Face. Note that for some of my preferred Tone Bender voicings I was slightly 'over-the-line' and into the Grunge Tones segment - while that's very much the nature of the MOOD dial - the intersections are often the most interesting parts!
THIRD SEGMENT - GRUNGE TONES - Representative of further / added gain stages and more saturation and sustain in tonality - your classic late 60's and early-to-mid 70's Big Muff and Opamp flavours.
FOURTH SEGMENT - EDGY / MODERN HIGH GAIN - Essentially a Square Wave type or thereabouts - often associated with Synth-like / Synthy fuzzes - but really rather just more high gain and searing / sizzling fuzzes really. You definitely get a certain modern sheen / edge to the core nature and character of that voicing.
FIFTH SEGMENT - RING MODULATION - Those metallic-edged, scrambler, and dial-up fuzz flavours. Where the Electricity knob is essential for defining the Frequency of the Ring Modulation - where the MOOD dial takes you through different depths and intensities of the modulation - and you can achieve some very unique fuzz flavour. I got a really cool Super Fuzz setting right on the edge of the Modern High Gain bleeding into Ring Mod - obviously with the Electricity dial in exactly the right position for the optimal texture - per my "SuperFuzzy" settings below.
SETTINGS / PRESETS
This is the most fun part of deploying the Moho - exploring all the different textures and flavours that the fuzz contains. And while I was not matching up or specifically trying to recreate the precise tones of some of my favourite genre fuzzes - I nevertheless had a lot of my favourites on the board at the same time - for memory reference really - and to see how close I came from memory. So it's not about exactly recreating a certain vintage fuzz pedal - but there are definitely vintage tones onboard - in spades.
As mentioned under the controls section above - every dial / knob counts and all have been tweaked however minutely - for each of my recommended settings - even Volume in different positions delivers a different hue of texture!
So I can say with some confidence that the Moho can absolutely beautifully recreate the very best of those vintage and well-loved classic fuzz flavours. At times sounding like proper Germanium Transistors, and at other times colder and more steely-edged Silicon and fizzier Opamp. I keep using the word 'Magical' but is so applies here - it's not just that you're getting eerily close facsimiles of those core classic tones - you're getting magnificent full fat and richly textured versions of those tones - mostly indistinguishable from those original classics - it really is a most wondrous marvel of engineering!
In any case - onto the presets - where in my first session I aimed to recreate classic Fuzz Face, Big Muff, Octavia, and Super Fuzz tones - each as follows - with explanations.
FUZZY FACEY
A really classy - classic open Fuzz Face voicing - as if perfectly biased!
MUFFY
Tried to capture the earliest '69 Triangle Muff tonality - lots of variations possible here with very minor changes to MOOD, 2 x TONE and FUZZ - in fact degree of Volume impacts too, particularly on Sustain!
SUPERFUZZY
I was just adventuring away - exploring the depths of the MOOD dial - when I came across this Superfuzz-esque setting - right on the intersection of Modern and Ring Mod - so the Electricity knob reverts to Frequency selection - really cool, rich and complex texture!
OCTAVIOID
Classic Octavia/Octavio/Octafuzz setting - really easy to dial in - max out on the Electricity dial of course! You can decide on how searing you want it to be - via the TONE and FUZZ dials mostly!
THE TONE BENDER SESSION
Tone Bender voicings have so much nuance to them and a very distinct somewhat dry reedy edge to some of their tonality - particularly the MKI. I was expecting the exercise to be a somewhat tricky one, but it turned out to be not in the slightest. I had my ThorpyFX Boneyard on the board at the same time - just to remind myself of the specifics of the key MKI, MKII and MKIII flavours - not really to match to - but more get a sense of the character and texture of each. And lo-and-behold - just a few moments later - I had some superb takes on those legendary circuits. The Tone Bender started off as an enhancement of the Maestro FZ-1 - a more searing and sustaining evolution of that circuit essentially - where I've always preferred the evolved Tone Bender character over the Maestro's original fuzz flavour!
TONEBENDY1
Classic Mick Ronson tones - very much that dry reedy character of Tone Bender MKI fuzz!
TONEBENDY2
Get your early Led Zep on - Jimmy Page / Whole Lotta Love - Peak MKII tones!
TONEBENDY3
The ultimate MKIII voicing in pedal format has always been the PigDog JuJu - veering into liquid distortion textures really! And yes the Moho can cover that voicing too!
FURTHER ADVENTURES ON THE MOOD WHEEL
I was determined to cover all the main facets of the MOOD dial - and spent a session getting cool Velcro, Modern High Gain, and Ring Mod flavours - and below are some of the highlights from that session.
GEIGER / VELCRO
Classic underbiased starved / velcro voicing - sort of sounding like the decay of a Geiger counter measuring radioactivity!
HEAVY-HARMONIC
A really cool Modern High Gain setting with great harmonics.
EDGE OF SQUELCH
I can't say why exactly but I wanted to create a sort of acidic squelchy voicing - and this is as close as I could get the Moho to a squelchy texture - really cool edgy texture - which you really need to dig in on!
ORNITHOPTER
Indeed inspired by or somehow reminiscent of the Denis Villeneuve Dune Ornithopters - a kind of sci-fi sounding variant of Ring Mod - with an unusual flutter / percolation on the decay!
KEY FEATURES AND SPECS
- MOOD knob — A super-versatile control that completely changes the fuzz character - core Bias, EQ and Clipping Style variations allowing you to attain near enough every fuzz sound imaginable
- ELECTRICTY knob - ± Octave and enhanced harmonic textures, also frequency control secondary function for Ring Mod MOOD
- Expression Pedal Input — Connect an expression pedal (not included) and adjust any and all of the 6 knob's Parameters on the fly for ultimate control
- Preset Switch — Instantly save a favourite setting by Pressing and Holding the Preset Footswitch for 2 seconds - a quick press will then recall that single preset
- 128 Presets via MIDI — The Moho is fully MIDI compatible, allowing you to plug in a MIDI switcher (not included) and recall up to 128 different presets! This MIDI connectivity allows you to have full control over all of the Moho's parameters too.
- Signal Freedom — Unlike traditional fuzz designs, musicians can place the Moho wherever they want in their signal chain, choosing precisely where its magic will impact the sound
- Robust Aluminium Casing — A 5mm thick aluminium enclosure makes the Moho a tour-grade piece of gear that'll easily withstand the rigours of the road
- Power Requirements : 9V DC [-] 300mA current draw
- Input Impedance: 1Meg Ohm (Guitar Mode) / 32k Ohm (Line Mode)
- Output Impedance: 100 Ohm
- Bypass Switching: True Bypass (Electromechanical Relay Switching)
- Dimensions (D x W x H): 11.2 x 16.4 x 5.2 cm
- Weight: 850 g
- MAP / RRP : $379 | €349 | £319
- Further Info @ Kernom
FINAL THOUGHTS
It has to be said that I'm totally blown away by the Moho - it exceeds every expectation - and that someone could develop such an accomplished 'Every Fuzz' in this manner is just extraordinary.
It not only is able to recreate the core of all those classic fuzz voicings - but to produce some of my very favourite fuzz voicings of all time! Whichever way you look at this pedal it is exceptional.
I was impressed with the Kernom Ridge - while in some ways I preferred the Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MKII for certain flavours and applications, and there were certain clipping flavours and specific mid-range EQ's that it didn't quite cover - I still have many a favourite overdrive pedal which the Ridge doesn't quite capture the essence / nature of. While with the Moho - I feel it's pretty perfect for what it's designed to achieve.
I've stayed away from MIDI so far - as I don't want to loose a slot to a non-tone-creating pedal, while to make the most of the MOHO you really need some sort of MIDI switcher - as some of the settings are so precisely tuned by ear - it all takes a while - however enjoyable, would be great to be able to add just one more voicing to the Moho flavour bank! I have requested more onboard presets - but perhaps what Kernom need to do next is a genius compact MIDI switcher pedal.
I'm currently looking at compact MIDI controller pedals like the Selah Quartz V3, and Disaster Area DMC Micro Pro - if anyone has some insights on those - vis-a-vis the Moho - please let me know in the comments below. Ideally I would like a dual footswitch vertical compact pedal - but I'm not sure the ideal one for me has been created yet!
In any case back to the Moho - it's totally instant satisfaction for me. I deliberately plugged it into the middle of my board - and it still sounds totally fantastic - open, vibrant and searing, Unlike a lot of pedalboard-friendly pedals which can though have some degree of sensitivity in different positions - i.e. they sound at their absolute best closer to the front of the chain. The Moho is even more magical than most in being absolutely totally freely placeable.
And you get genuine searing transistor style voicings out of the pedal. I've not inquired too much into the circuit design - but there's some significant Devialet magic onboard here!
Of course you have one of the most beautiful and highest quality levels of finish - both on the aluminium enclosure and knobs - a lovely egg-shell satin-like finish - that totally shouts Premium Quality!
Many thanks to Jeremy Savonet @ Kernom - who has my main liaison on this - and had to suffer several rounds of detailed questioning - and being exposed to around 20 variants / iterations / evolutions of the main visual.
As of my writing this for publication tomorrow morning - there is no demo out there yet that does this pedal full justice - it really is a level above everything else - and while I would never kick out all my other favourite fuzz pedals - I certainly could trim the herd if I wanted to. But hey! variety is the spice of life! And fuzz is all about nuance. And however nuanced the Moho is - it cannot capture the minutiae of every single exacting fuzz flavour and characteristic - at least not just yet! I still believe in Mojo parts to a degree - especially for the simpler fuzz circuits.
While I decree that the Moho is most definitely a beast of a fuzz in all the best ways. I'm a proper full on fuzz fanatic - with a collection of over 600 individual fuzz pedals - and I totally love the Moho!
I don't know what more to say really - it's a little on the large side I guess - but every fuzz fan should definitely own one. My next steps with the Moho is exploring the MIDI side of that pedal, and I hope to report back in the new year with some recommendations on that front.
In the meantime - get on the pre-order list at your dealer. These pedals have taken a while longer to come through engineering - but it's so evident that said extra time was well spent.
A truly magical masterpiece of a fuzz!
"The One Fuzz to Rule Them All!"
Order direct from Kernom - or check out their various - Dealers.
UPDATE!
Killer Mike Hermans Demo Added!
Demos
