Pigtronix Moon Pool Review
Verdict and Review Summary
The Pigtronix Moon Pool is a micro-sized, dual modulation pedal featuring dynamic phase and tremolo effects. While a lot of mini pedals tend to skimp on depth and flexibility, the Moon Pool does not. There are plenty of diverse sounds, textures, and creative possibilities at an affordable price.
Pigtronix continues to produce flexible mini pedals with more functionality than we typically see in pedals this size.
We got a chance to test the Moon Pool, which is an extremely powerful modulation pedal. The Moon Pool is a dual phase/tremolo modulator with dynamic sensitivity control. There's a lot of creative room here, from shoegaze tones to psych/blues sounds, and a lot of expressiveness that works with your picking pattern and intensity.
Our Pigtronix Moon Pool review will take an in-depth look at this pedal to help you decide if it's a good fit for your rig.
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Compare to Other Pigtronix Pedals
As we work through the Pigtronix lineup, we'll include them in our database which allows you to compare and check live pricing from multiple vendors. Use the comparison table below to look at different Pigtronix pedals. Check the product pages for more information about each device.
Pedal | Title | Rate | Shop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pigtronix Moon Pool | 88.0 | |
 | Pigtronix Gloamer | 86.5 | |
 | Pigtronix Space Rip | 86.0 | |
 | Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone | n/a |
Pigtronix maintains their otherworldly pedal style but with far smaller and simpler mini pedals. A good move, in our opinion.
Pigtronix Moon Pool Price Guide
Prices updated Wed, June 07th, 2023.
Pricing from Sweetwater
Price Alert Tool
Price History
Price History for Pigtronix Moon Pool Tremvelope Phaser
Statistics
| Current Price | $179.00 | June 2, 2023 |
| Highest Price | $179.00 | October 19, 2022 |
| Lowest Price | $129.00 | May 23, 2023 |
Last price changes
| $179.00 | June 2, 2023 |
| $129.00 | May 23, 2023 |
| $179.00 | October 19, 2022 |
IDEAL FOR: Modern pedalboards, pedalboard consolidation, recording, intermediate to advanced guitar players.
TONE
87
CONTROL
90
FLEXIBILITY
90
COST/VALUE
85
THE PROS
THE CONS
Tone of the Moon Pool
The Moon Pool's tone is pretty deep and full, particularly when both phaser and tremolo modulators are combined. They can be used separately as well, but I liked the combination of the two a lot more.
If you're more interested in separating the effects, you might want to go with a separate tremolo and phaser pedal.
The Moon Pool definitely makes its living off the combination.
The dynamic control opens up a lot of additional creative room, certainly more than you would get from your garden variety phaser and tremolo.
It all sounds very full and watery - a great way to dress up a boring clean signal.
Phaser
The Moon Pool's 'Phase Speed' knob allows you to control the rate of the phase wave - how fast it cycles through its peaks and troughs.
Turning it up gives you big, rich-sounding sweeps. When you switch on dynamic processing for the phaser, the phase speed increases and decreases in response to your picking intensity.
You can dial this back (or ramp it up) using the global 'Sensitivity' knob.
I'm okay with the global control in this case, because I can't see a scenario where I would want the sensitivity for one effect to be different than the other, assuming I'm using them both at the same time.
Tremolo
The 'Trem Speed' knob controls the modulation rate of the Moon Pool's tremolo. You get an intense flutter when all the way down. At the other extreme you get deep, longer drones when all the way up.
Here the dynamic controls let you decrease the tremolo speed through your playing, again controllable through the 'Sensitivity' function.
This is really handy on the tremolo since there is a timing and rhythm aspect to the tremolo effect.
Dual Modulation + Global Depth and Sensitivity
While both the Moon Pool's phase and tremolo effects are solid on their own, it's combining both in dual modulation that I liked the most - as mentioned earlier.
Flipping the central 'Trem/Phase' switch into the middle position activates both modulations, immediately give you deep and diverse textures. Both phase and tremolo speed can be controlled simultaneously, resulting in polyrhythmic textures and undulating tones.
The dynamic controls here add even more depth, allowing the guitar to take the lead and control the rate of both effects, giving it a 'human' sense of spontaneity.
The only drawback here is that there are no independent depth knob for each modulator, which would allow for more control over the effect's intensity. Still there is a huge amount of flexibility at your disposal, especially for such a small pedal.
The Pigtronix Moon Pool combines phaser and tremolo sounds with a high degree of flexibility. Four control knobs and three switches in a mini pedal is not particularly common.
Price and Value of the Moon Pool
Hovering around $180, the Moon Pool is more economical than buying phaser and tremolo pedals separately. Compared to other mini guitar pedals, it's more expensive. But it's certainly more functional and doesn't rely on its "mini-ness" to be appealing.
Most mini guitar pedals are fairly cheap. Companies make them and drop the price, which is attractive to a lot of consumers.
But Pigtronix has done a good job of both lowering the price and packing their mini pedals with the functionality of larger stompboxes.
Check the price tables above in case retail has changed, but I'm fine with the asking price as it currently stands.
Simpler than the Pigtronix pedals we've seen in the past, but a far better value in our opinion.
Where is the Moon Pool the best fit?
You've got to be investing in your pedalboard for the Moon Pool to make sense, because it's not cheap. I'd also recommend making sure you're after the combination of the two effects and not a separate instance of a tremolo or phaser pedal.
It's particularly good for dressing up a clean signal, so if you feel like your current pedalboard limits your options in that regard, the Moon Pool will solve that problem pretty easily.
You're also paying for the dynamic response, so that should be important to you as well.
Review Conclusion
Pigtronix is on to something with these smaller pedal designs. Several years ago their large form pedals, like the Echolution series, were much bigger and had a ton of functionality built into each one.
I think that type of pedal just attracted a different kind of guitar player, perhaps far more advanced and nuanced with the way they approached their effects.
Pedals like the Moon Pool are practically and financially more accessible.
Pigtronix is on the right track.
Buy confidently.
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