Mooer GE300

M
ooer made its name
as a purveyor of
small, budget clones
of famous circuits,
and was responsible
for nano-sized pedals becoming
a space-saving staple. More
recently, the Chinese company
has looked to push its image and
products upmarket, taking on
ambitious projects like the Ocean
Machine collaboration with
Devin Townsend. Now, it’s back
with the GE300, which has the
Line 6 and Boss fl oorboards
squarely in its sights.
With the current generation of
modelling fl oorboards, the big
diff erence between Boss and
Line 6 is user interface – both
companies are more than able to
design great eff ect algorithms.
Where the Line 6 products have
the edge is in a more intuitive
user interface, and it’s here that
the Mooer must compete if it
wants to be a viable alternative.
Happily, we didn’t need to reach
for the manual besides for some
very niche tweaking, and the
large colour screen and row of
parameter knobs allowed us to
set up new patches and edit
existing ones with ease. Moving
blocks is easy, a matter of
clicking the selector knob and
adjusting left or right, and the
quick-select strip is a nice touch
when editing a longer chain.
In terms of sounds, there’s a
decent cross-section of classic
amps, from Fender tones, to
Marshall, to modern US-style,
which are actually pretty
impressive. Similarly, through
headphones we couldn’t fi nd
much to complain about with
the built-in cab IRs, and the
ability to load external ones
means any weak presets are
easily changed.
As you’d expect, there are also
plenty of great eff ects, although
here it does feel like Boss and
Line 6 have the edge, both in
terms of range and quality of
patches. The overdrives and
distortions hold up pretty well,
and there’s enough spare
headroom on the unit to push a
tube amp into breakup using a
boost or overdrive. Much has
been made of the fact that the
GE300 also comes with a
monosynth, and we can report
that this certainly delivers, with
multiple oscillators and bags of
customisation on off er.
In the fi nal estimation,
then, the GE300 is a big step
up. It looks the part, it’s
bombproof, and true to Mooer
form, it’s smaller than its
main competitors and more
aff ordable, too. Whether or not it
proves a success is likely to be
more about whether guitarists
can shed the image of Mooer as a
budget brand, but the GE300
makes a particularly compelling
case to take the company
very seriously.
Alex Lynham
MOOER GE300
Can Mooer compete with the Helix and GT-1000 floorboards?
1
EXPRESSION
There’s an
integrated expression
pedal, and, like on many
other floorboards, on
the rear there’s an
expansion port
allowing for a second
to be connected
2
FOOTSWITCHES
The instant patch
change row – marked
A, B, C, D – felt like it
should be set to
blocks by default, or
on the second row,
rather than closest to
the player
3
FOOT SAVERS
A nice touch is that
the unit ships with
enough mushroom-
shaped foot saving
switch adaptors to
allow barefoot players
to use the GE300
without discomfort
TYPE: Multi-effects
and modelling pedal
CONTROLS: 10
footswitches, 5
parameter knobs,
quick select block
switches, XLR output,
headphone output,
master output, main
select knob, 5
parameter controls,
rocker footswitch
SOCKETS: Aux in, exp2
in, guitar/line in, stereo
out, stereo send,
stereo return,
headphones, MIDI in,
stereo XLR outs, USB,
MIDI out/thru
MODELS AND EFFECTS:
108 amp models, 43
cab modelsm 20 IR
user slots, 164 effects,
15 effects blocks
POWER: DC 9V
(supplied)
CONTACT:
Strings & Things
mooeraudio.co.uk
AT A GLANCE
THE OVERDRIVES AND
DISTORTIONS HOLD UP WELL
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SuMMarY
Photography: Olly Cur tis
£749
1
2
3
REVIEW
95
AUGUST 2019 ToTal GuiTar
TGR321.gear_mooer.indd 95 19/06/2019 15:18