jeremyjh Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 So better or worse, I bought a Mooer GE150. This is actually a pretty decent sounding modeler/effects box and they are dirt cheap on eBay. I also got a used Powercab (non-plus). The two can sound great together, but not nearly loud enough for most patches. I can't find documentation on the topic, but it seems the Mooer is intended for "amp" or instrument level output and has no setting to change it. I measured its presets at -22db to -24db and of course the PC will be very quiet at those input levels. If you crank everything up in the patch (gain, boost effects, amp volume) you can hit -16db and it sounds pretty good through the PC, but I could never get clean sounds past -20db. Long story short its a digital modeler without enough clean headroom (lol). At first I figured I'd just try to sell the thing and get something capable of producing the right output but it *really* does sound really good and gets a real AITR vibe going with the Powercab, so I'm leaning more towards trying to make it work somehow. Has anyone dealt with something similar? I'm considering a clean boost or maybe graphic eq pedal. Its hilarious because some of these will cost almost as much as the Mooer but anyway I'm considering things like: Xotic Super Clean Boost - https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SuperCleanBuf--xotic-super-clean-buffer-pedal MXR 6-band eq - https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SixBandEQ--mxr-m109s-six-band-eq-pedal SparkMini - https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SparkMini--tc-electronic-spark-mini-boost-pedal I kind of lean towards an EQ with a decent amount of boost since the Powercab has no EQ of its own and it could be handy to make a quick global EQ change depending on where I'm playing or how its setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talonmm Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 sorry this place is so quiet and you did not receive a response. I am in the same boat - I am using the hx-stomp and the standard powercab and I am having volume issues. I made each of my presets louder by about 7 db and that should help somewhat. I am not sure if you can do that with your Mooer. However, I just ordered a tc spark mini booster. I already have one on my pedal board for boosts but the new one will be dedicated right in front of the powercab and it's sole purpose will be to lift each and every tone, to a louder level. I find the tc mini spark is a great value and absolutely increases loudness without changing tones or adding drive or distortion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremyjh Posted January 23, 2020 Author Share Posted January 23, 2020 Awesome. I took a chance and got the SparkMini as well and I agree it works and sounds great, fixed me right up. I decided against the EQ pedal because from the reviews it seems like they all introduced some noise. I was afraid the Spark might as well but if it does its completely undetectable to my ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
talonmm Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 yes some boosts add noise and worse, overdrive. the spark really does a neat job of adding volume w/o noise and overdrive. hopefully you and I won't blow a speaker or over-tax the powercabs (I have a feeling we will be ok) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremyjh Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 16 hours ago, talonmm said: hopefully you and I won't blow a speaker or over-tax the powercabs (I have a feeling we will be ok) Its certainly possible to clip the input but I doubt we'd damage it. I set the Spark to about 10:00 which is plenty of boost, then adjusted my rhythm presets to just tickle the yellow lights on loudest/hardest strumming with my strat. I'd probably roll it back to 9:00 or so for my humbucker guitar. Lead presets I leave a little louder. My only complaint with the PC standard is that I can't see that input light from the front of the cab which makes it harder to check that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcoss Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 Hi, I also bought a Mooer GE150. I purposed to use it as a backup for my helix and possibly as for flight board with my HX Effects. I've been playing around with it, and it works fine out of the box with my Powercab +. I changed the DB for input 1 to +8, and when I hit the strings hard, I get the input signal indicator hitting yellow. Moved it up to 12, and it was going to red alot. I was using a simple patch with just the Fender Deluxe amp and now effects. Anything pushing the input of a PC or PC+ more is going to add unwanted distortion. You DO NOT need a separate preamp. I have started messing around with turning off the CAB block and using the "Jarvis" speaker emulation and it sounds pretty good, but the PC+ isn't emulating the power output which in the Mooer GE150 is part of the cab block. It's nice that you can change tube topologies in the cab block. So far, I'm very impressed. I wish I could control the GE150 better, but I don't plan on using it for the effects if I have the HX Effects on a pedal board with it. One thing I can say about the Mooer GE150 is that it is small, light, and can be easily transported for a backup to a real tube amp or modeler. The Powercab + continues to amaze me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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