So in my usual twisted fashion I’ve somewhat fallen down a rabbit hole of Mini Pedals these days. This project was sparked off by the recent Andertons Ultimate Doom Pedal Shoot-out. That has some very oddly selected pedals within its shoot-out considerations, but where the Tone City Matcha Cream Green Russian did extremely well - in fact winning the most rounds - 8 in total of all the pedals trialled.
The eventual winner was kind of immaterial to me, I was all of a sudden intrigued as to whether there were any further Tone City Mini Gems that I might have overlooked. Andertons, the exclusive UK Dealer for Tone City - has really heavily pushed those pedals in various group rundowns since 2015, that even resulted in Pete Honoré and Rabea Massaad having custom signature editions of the Mandragora > Durple (Lovepedal Kalamazoo), and Wild Fire > Wild Fro (Suhr Riot). Truth is I’ve never really been that tempted by Tone City pedals - bar the recent Matcha Cream. My Mini Pedal champions have typically overall been Mooer - which is the brand I own the most Mini Pedals from!
So I thought it would be a fun exercise to try to compare and contrast the 20 Tone City ones with two of my favourite Mini Pedal Brands - Mooer and OneControl. It needs to be said that these all sit at slightly different price points - where Tone City is around £45 / $65, Mooer aggregates around £65 / $85 for those older mostly analog minis - but they can be as low as Tone City, and finally OneControl are a little bit more again at a current aggregate value of around £129 / $139 - with the BJFE Honey Bee etc. variants circa 100 credits more in each currency.
Tone City has only 20 Mini Pedals in total - so no need for any selection exercise or curation - while the OneControl range amounts to around 34 Mini Pedals - including the BJFE Bee variants. And Mooer has around the 60 mark - give or take a few discontinuations!
And while I have the full complement of Tone City pedals in consideration, I thought I should limit the Mooer and OneControl ones to an even 24 specially selected pedals.
I’m actually going to start the Rundown from the Mooer perspective first - per the above cover visual, and then work my way down through OneControl and Tone City - in such a ways that we only feature each pedal variant once! So a progressively smaller subset on each pass.
So I will name the source / inspiration pedal for each type, and then list any of the 3 featured brands if appropriate - before settling on a Mini champion for that pedal type - and we can then review the full category and see who is kind of the mos potent overall - albeit note that this exercise will require some modicum of subjectivity! While I will of course endeavour to be as objective as possible I will always lead on quality, but at times pricing becomes a key factor.
UPDATE! - I’ve decided to list 2 champion choices - [A] Budget (<£70), and [B] Boutique! types (>£100) - Just to make it all a little fairer and more salient!
My Personal Favourite Mooer Micro / Mini Pedals (not including the Preamps) :
Black Secret (Rat), Blues Mood (Keeley Modded BD-2 Blues Driver), E-Lady (EHX Electric Mistress), Hustle Drive (Fulltone OCD), Rage Machine (DigiTech Death Metal), Trelicopter (Demeter Tremulator), Triangle Buff Muff (EHX Triangle Muff), Ultra Drive (Keeley Modded DS-1 Distortion).
Mooer Selection Rundown
Analog Delay : Mooer Ana Echo (Boss DM-2), One Control Sea Turqoise Delay >> [A] Donner Yellow Fall Delay || [B] MXR Carbon Copy Mini
Proco Rat : Mooer Black Secret, Tone City Mickey >> [A] Mooer Black Secret || [B] Wampler Ratsbane
Silicon Fuzz Face : Mooer Blue Faze >> [A] Mooer Blue Faze || [B] El Musico Loco Wee Beaver / MXR Classic 108 Fuzz
Germanium Fuzz Face : Mooer Grey Faze >> [A] Mooer Grey Faze || [B] MXR JHW1 Jimi Hendrix ’69 Psych Series Fuzz Face / Expresso FX Germanium Fuzz Mini
Blues Breaker : Mooer Blues Crab, Tone City Blues Man >> [A] Mooer Blues Crab || [B] MXR Duke of Tone
Blues Driver / Crunchy Overdrive : Mooer Blues Mood, OneControl Strawberry Red Overdrive RC >> [A] Mooer Blues Mood || [B] OneControl Strawberry Red Overdrive RC
MI Effects Crunch Box : Mooer Cruncher, OneControl Anadodized Brown Distortion 4K >> [A] Mooer Cruncher || [B] OneControl Anadodized Brown Distortion 4K
EHX Electric Mistress : Mooer E-Lady >> [A] Mooer E-Lady || [B] Ibanez Flanger Mini
Analog Chorus : Mooer Ensemble King (Boss CE-2), OneControl Little Copper Chorus, Tone City Angel Wing >> [A] Tone City Angel Wing || [B] Ibanez Chorus Mini
Auto-Wah : Mooer Funky Monkey, OneControl Butter Yellow Auto Quack >> [A] Mooer Funky Monkey || [B] Function F(x) Accufunkture Envelope Filter Mini
Tube Screamer : Mooer Green Mile, One Control Persian Green Screamer, Tone City Kaffir Lime >> [A] Tone City Kaffir Lime || [B] Becos FX Ziffer Overdrive
Fulltone OCD : Mooer Hustle Drive, Tone City Dry Martini >> [A] Mooer Hustle Drive
MXR Phase 90 : Mooer Ninety Orange, Tone City Summer Orange >> [A] Mooer Ninety Orange || [B] MXR Phase 95
Pitch-Shifter : Mooer Pitch Box >> [A] Mooer Pitch Box || [B] Bananana FX Mandala Pitch Shifter-Sampler / EHX Pico Pitch Fork
Octaver : Mooer PureR Octaver >> [A] Mooer PureR Octaver || [B] EHX Pico POG
High Gain Distortion : Mooer Rage Machine >> [A] Mooer Rage Machine || [B] Decibelics Angry Swede
Dumble ODS : Mooer Rumble Drive, OneControl Golden Acorn Overdrive Special >> [A] Mooer Rumble Drive || [B] Function F(x) Zen Drive Clone Mini / OneControl Golden Acorn Overdrive Special
Mini Multi-Reverb (x3) : Mooer Shim Verb, OneControl Prussian Blue Reverb >> [A] Mooer Shim Verb || [B] EHX Pico Oceans 3-Verb / TC Electronic Hall of Fame Mini
Slow Gear : Mooer Slow Engine >> [A] Mooer Slow Engine || [B] EHX Pico Attack Decay / TC Electronic Infinite Mini
Suhr Riot : Mooer Solo, OneControl Rebel Red Distortion, Tone City Wild Fire >> [A] Mooer Solo || [B] Suhr Riot Mini!
Tremolo : Mooer Trelicopter, OneControl Tiger Lily Tremolo, Tone City Tremble >> [A] Mooer Trelicopter || [B] Mr Black Mini (Harmonic) Tremolo
EHX Big Muff : Mooer Triangle Buff, OneControl Baltic Blue Fuzz, Tone City Matcha Cream Fuzz >> [A] Tone City Matcha Cream Fuzz || [B] Free Fall Diver Huge / OneControl Baltic Blue Fuzz
Boss DS-1 : Mooer Ultra Drive >> [A] Mooer Ultra Drive
Compressor : Mooer Yellow Comp, OneControl Lemon Yellow Compressor, Tone City Comp Engine >> [A] Mooer Yellow Comp || [B] Becos FX CompIQ Mini Pro
Mooer Category Champions :
[A]’s :: Mooer [20], Tone City [3], Donner [1]
[B]’s :: MXR [5], EHX [4], OneControl [4], Becos FX [2], Function F(x) [2], Ibanez [2], TC Electronic [2], Bananana FX [1], Decibelics [1], El Musico Loco [1], Expresso FX [1], Free Fall Diver [1], Mr Black [1], Suhr [1]. Wampler [1].
Personal favourite OneControl Mini Pedals :
Honey Bee, Silver Bee, Blue Bee, Anodized Brown Distortion 4K, Baltic Blue Fuzz, Dimension Blue Monger (Boss DC-2), Golden Acorn Overdrive Special (Dumble ODS), Jubilee Red AIAB, Persian Green Screamer, Purple Plexifier, Rebel Red Distortion 4K, Strawberry Red Overdrive RC.
OneControl Selection Rundown
OneControl / BJFE Honey / Silver / Blue Bee : OneControl - Various, Tone City Sweet Cream >> [A] Tone City Sweet Cream || [B] OneControl / BJFE Honey / Silver / Blue Bee
Boss DC-2 : One Control Dimesion Blue Monger >> [B] OneControl Dimension Blue Monger
Orange Rockerverb : OneControl Fluorescent Orange AIAB >> [B] OneControl Fluorescent Orange AIAB
Booster : Mooer Pure Boost, One Control Raspberry Booster, Tone City AllSpark Boost >> [A] Mooer Pure Boost || [B] Becos FX Solo Boost Master
Marshall Silver Jubilee : OneControl Jubilee Red AIAB >> [B] OneControl Jubilee Red AIAB
Boss OD-1 Mini : OneControl Marigold Orange Overdrive >> [B] OneControl Marigold Orange Overdrive
Marshall Plexi : OneControl Purple Plexifier, Tone City Golden Plexi 2 >> [A] Tone City Golden Plexi 1 || [B] Xotic Effects SL Drive Alchemy Audio Modified / Wampler Plexi Drive Mini
Fender Blackface : OneControl Sonic Blue Twanger >> [B] OneControl Sonic Blue Twanger
Supro Amp : One Control Super Apricot OD >> [B] OneControl Super Apricot OD
OneControl Category Champions :
[A]'s :: Tone City [2], Mooer [1]
[B]'s :: OneControl [7], Becos FX [1], Wampler [1], Xotic FX [1].
Personal favourite Tone City Mini Pedals :
Angel Wing Chorus, Fuxx Fuzz, Golden Plexi 2, Matcha Cream Fuzz.
Tone City Selection Rundown
Klone : Tone City Bad Horse >> [A] Tone City Bad Horse || [B] Decibelics Golden Horse / Wampler Tumnus Mini
Vox AC30 : Tone City Black Tea >> [A] Tone City Black Tea
Foxx Tone Machine : Tone City Fuxx Fuzz >> [A] Tone City Fuxx Fuzz || [B] Schu-Tone Harpy Fuzz
Lovepedal Kalamazoo : Tone City Mandragora >> [A] Tone City Mandragora
Nobels ODR-1 : Tone City Nobleman >> [A] Tone City Nobleman || [B] Wampler Belle Overdrive / Nobels ODR-Mini
Mini Tape Delay : Tone City Tape Machine >> [A] Tone City Tape Machine || [B] EHX Pico Rerun Tape Delay
Spring Reverb : Tone City Tiny Spring >> [A] Tone City Tiny Spring || [B] Wampler Mini Faux Spring Reverb
Tone City Category Champions :
[A]'s :: Tone City [7].
[B]'s :: Wampler [3], Decibelics [1], EHX [1], Nobels [1], Schu-Tone [1].
[A]’s :: Mooer [21], Tone City [12], Donner [1]
[B]’s :: OneControl [11], EHX [5], MXR [5], Becos FX [3], Decibelics [2], Function F(x) [2], Ibanez [2], TC Electronic [2], Bananana FX [1], El Musico Loco [1], Expresso FX [1], Free Fall Diver [1], Mr Black [1], Nobels [1], Schu-Tone [1], Suhr [1], Wampler [5], Xotic FX [1].
So intriguingly my 3 key category selections have been fully justified as those brands have the most category wins : Mooer [20], Tone City [12], and OneControl [11]. Mooer is still quite evidently 'King of the Minis', and would be even more so here if I had decided to include its more evolved Micro-Preamps, and 7 Series Multi-FX in these selections!
Albeit not all of Mooer's pedals are equal, I've typically found Mooer to be pretty reliable most of the time, and some of their pedals are amazing.
Here below follows a final foray - which picks out some of the best pedals included in this selection.
I own several featured here, but there are many more on my wishlist. My Mini-Pedal addiction sort of comes in waves. Where I'm currently looking to complete my OneControl / BJFE Bee Trifecta, also trying to track down a Mooer Triangle Buff, and a OneControl Dimension Blue Monger in particular!
MOOER :
ONE CONTROL :
TONE CITY