TRex

Summer 2010 Guitarist 121
T-REX ROOM-MATE & MUDHONEY II
£340 & £215
EFFECTS
W
hat we have here will
be familiar to anyone
with experience of
the classy range of pedals made
by Danish effects firm T-Rex.
However, while the names may
be the same, these are both new
pedals. The Room-Mate is an
updated version of the valve-
driven reverb pedal that has
been around for a few years,
while the Mudhoney II takes
the basic premise of the original
Mudhoney distortion pedal and
doubles it to put two distortion
effects into a single box.
Room-Mate
Combining old and new
technology with its valve and
digitally generated reverb, the
latest incarnation of the Room-
Mate offers four different
reverb types chosen with a
mode knob. New to this revised
model is a spring reverb
emulation, replacing the
emulated plate reverb in
previous incarnations. You also
get room reverb, hall reverb and
a setting called LFO that dishes
up reverb and chorus together.
Also new is a decay knob, which
adjusts the length of the reverb
tail in all four modes. The other
two large knobs on the front
panel are the mix knob, which
sets the ratio of effected to dry
sound, and the level knob,
which controls the overall
output level. The input to the
pedal is controlled by a much
smaller knob, a set-and-forget
affair that you can adjust to
your particular signal chain.
As a prompt to set the level
correctly, the pedal’s green on/
off LED will turn red if the
input signal is too high and
likely to cause distortion.
Another small knob offers
reduction of the high
frequencies in the reverb tail.
With a valve to be powered,
the Room-Mate needs a 12V DC
supply and comes with a
suitable adaptor. As well as the
standard single input and
output the pedal also offers
mono in/stereo out operation.
Sounds
The Room-Mate serves up
smooth reverb that wraps
naturally around your sound,
whether you just dial in a touch
of ambience with the mix knob
or turn it up for a more obvious
effect – juxtaposing that knob’s
position with that of the decay
knob allows plenty of leeway in
just how ‘reverbed’ you want
your sound to be. A crucial
The rivals
Room-Mate
The ToneBug Reverb (£145)
offers T-Rex quality at a more
affordable price. Electro-
Harmonix offers several
reverbs – the Cathedral
(£139) being the newest. Line
6’s ToneCore range utilises
digital modelling and offers
the Verbzilla (£119), while if
you fancy genuine spring
reverb in a pedal you may
wish to check out the
Vanamps Solemate (£279).
Mudhoney II
There are several dual
distortion pedals around. The
Blackstar HT Dual (£159)
offers two channels of valve-
powered distortion. Radial
has the Bones series (£177)
of solid-state pedals: the
Hollywood, London and
Tex as . Foxrox takes a flexible
approach with the ZIM ($259)
– you can order different
circuit cards for each channel.
With its ‘more’ gain boost
switch, the Vox Satchurator
(£112) is also a contender.
The Danish firm introduces two new pedals with
rather familiar names... by Trevor Curwen
T-Rex Room-Mate
& Mudhoney II
£340 & £215
The Room-Mate serves up smooth
reverb that wraps around your sound
factor in any reverb is how the
top-end dies off and the hicut
control plays its part here in
creating a smoother, less
splashy sound, although it is
subtle and perhaps doesn’t go
far enough. The room and hall
modes can create the sense of
space their name suggests
The Room-Mate’s green on/off LED will turn red if the input signal is too high
GIT332.rev_trex 121 7/16/10 2:09:04 PM