The opening Dm chord of “Shakedown Street” is familiar to all Deadheads, and to a good chunk of non-Deadheads as well, whether they like it or not. That whole song, as well as several other Dead tunes, Stevie Wonder songs, Frank Zappa licks, Bootsy bass lines and more, would not be possible without the storied Mu-Tron III™ Envelope Filter effect. Today, we’ve got the next great incarnation of this pedal, in smaller form and with modern updates as well. The Micro-Tron III from Mu-Tron is compact, convenient and a lot more affordable than the original pedals are these days – let’s dive right in!
The original pedal featured Mode, Peak and Gain knobs, as well as Range and Drive switches. These are all present in the Micro-Tron III as well: Mode give you the option of selecting Lowpass, Bandpass or Highpass filters, while Peak (or Q) controls the filter audio response from very weak to very strong. The Gain controls the envelope and filter audio drive. A new addition to this effect is the Level knob, which gives you control over the output volume of the effected signal, something the original pedal was lacking.
The Range switch gives you 2 choices for controlling the filter sweep. LO mode sets the sweep to a low range for most rhythm guitar, bass and lower fret uses, while HI mode sets it to a high range for accenting string harmonics or for up-the-neck and solo work. There’s also an additional Up/Down footswitch – the UP position produces familiar “auto-wah” sound – like a heel-to-toe sweep on a wah pedal; DOWN position produces a “down swoop” sound – like a toe-to-heel sweep on a wah pedal.
Basically, the updates here give you all the classic funk and wah sounds of the original, but with some more choices and easier ways to configure your sonic options. Plus, it sounds great not only on guitar, but on bass, keys, horns, harmonica and more as well. We loved the Tru-Tron 3X™ Envelope Filter when it came out a few years back, but the compact design of the Micro-Tron III has got us sold on this guy, not to mention that it sound just fantastic. Cheers to the Mu-Tron guys and gals for an innovative take on a classic, and one that we’ve all been wanting to see reissued once more. Check out our demo below, and then go to the Mu-Tron website for more info and more incredible effects!
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