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The Mutron Club : only quacks allowed...

Mosfed

Mosfed

Apr 21, 2013
12,753
45,523
Washington DC
Disclosures
Partner - CCP Pedals
#1
Hi there

I did an extensive search and didn't find any club dedicated to the work of Mike Beigel, the genius behind Musitronics and now the Beigel Sound Labs.

If there is enough interest, I thought we could form a club. Because clubs are fun and it would be good to have a place to talk about the circuits.

If you have any of the originals (Mutron III, Phasor I or II, Bi-phase, octave divider, etc), or any of the newest production (Beigel Sound Labs Tru-Tron) or a clone and appreciate the circuits that is good enough for me.

Pictures not necessarily necessary but fun.

What do you guys think?

Here's my current board with a Volume/wah, a Phasor 1, a Mutron III and an Octave divider. You can also see a BYOC of the octave divider on my main board.

image.jpg
 
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#3
FilterFunk said:
If his EHX stuff counts, I'm in! I have an EHX Qballs that I LOVE!
Click to expand...

Oooooh that's a tough one. On the one hand he did "consult" with EHX in making the q-tron and until he reissued he recommended the q-tron (which I didn't know if it was more "NOT recommending" the HAZ Labs Mutron or if it was recommending the Q-Tron). On the other, I don't think they sound anywhere close.

I would say for the fact that including people is more fun than not-including people, you are in.

Provided we have enough interest to actually start the club.
 
#5
Lagbox = coolest avatar ever!!!

I have both one of the originals with the battery option and removable power cord and the one in the OP. The one with the fixed chord went back to mike for calibration and as such sounds better. Not sure if there is really any major difference otherwise. Garcia preferred the later ones from what I have heard.
 
#10
Ok well that's good enough for me -

Mosfed #1
FilterFunk #2
LagBox #3
Stereo Player #4 honorary - for keeping a Mutron box for nearly 40 years you more than qualify!
Bass Brad #5
Johnk #6


From here on out - please mention if you'd like a number or not.
 
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#13
Mosfed said:
Lagbox = coolest avatar ever!!!

I have both one of the originals with the battery option and removable power cord and the one in the OP. The one with the fixed chord went back to mike for calibration and as such sounds better. Not sure if there is really any major difference otherwise. Garcia preferred the later ones from what I have heard.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was thinking about having that done. Who did you contact?
 
#14
LagBox said:
Thanks! I was thinking about having that done. Who did you contact?
Click to expand...


I contacted Mike Beigel and he put me in touch with Richard lingenberg who is also helping him with the new run (I think that's right).

It left as a more than passable envelope filter and came back as a frigging lightsaber. Highly recommended and I am going to send my other one out when I finally get around to it.
 
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#15
Mosfed said:
I contacted Mike Beigel and he put me in touch with Richard (blanking on his last name) who is also helping him with the new run (I think that's right).

It left as a more than passable envelope filter and came back as a frigging lightsaber. Highly recommended and I am going to send my other one out when I finally get around to it.
Click to expand...

Neat. I've only ever heard that doing this helps a lot. Sometime soon...
 
#17
Mosfed said:
I would say for the fact that including people is more fun than not-including people, you are in.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

I once owned a Musitronics Mu-Tron III and a vintage Univox Effectmatic (a licensed clone), both serviced and calibrated by Richard Lingenberg. I simply could not afford to keep them.

Of the modern filters I've tried, the EHX Qballs gets closest to the original Mu-Tron's sound.

I WILL own an original Mu-Tron III again...someday. I loved engaging the Mu-Tron and getting "that" sound with no extra effort. The Mu-tron doesn't approximate the sound - it IS the sound!
 
#19
StereoPlayer said:
I know it's prob not quite the same...
But, how does the H.A.Z Mutron III compare with the original?
Click to expand...


Mike Begiel claims that only the case is comparable and that the rest of the circuit is completely different.

I have no reason to doubt the guy but I don't know how much of that is true as I know there was quite a bit of bad blood around HAZ purchasing the rights etc. On his site for years he said, if you want to buy a MuTron equivalent today, buy the Q-Tron as the HAZ labs has nothing authentic about it.
 
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