The Hunt - The Prey - The Luna

Luna Vibe - Tone Factor Product Details



I was always on the hunt for a modulation pedal (especially a vibe), that
would take my fuzzes well. A thread on the ToneFactor forum brought me to the Luna.

After buying, testing and lots of conversations, this was my final verdict
on the Luna (long read ahead).

I have to divide my impressions on the Luna in two categories:
1. clean without fuzz
2. with fuzz

My primary (more to that later) test setup is:
Tele > MJM > Timmy > Luna > Tweed RI and
Tele > Luna > MJM > Timmy > Tweed RI

clean:

The Luna is simply gorgeous.
The depth knob (I call him voice knob in the meantime)
lets you dial in so much different shades of vibe and chorus
it puts any other modulation pedal I have ever owned to shame.
Between minimum settings and 12 o'clock you get a
beautiful and very lush sounding chorus/vibe
Between 12 and 3 o'clock there are all shades of
deep throbbing vibes one can imagine.
Between 3 o'clock and max it starts to get crazy
somewhat as if a tremolo, vibe and vibrato are combined.

All these settings sound organic, rich, simply fantastic

fuzz:

I have mentioned it before, first impression was, lets say mixed.
Then I discovered the broken tubes in my amp and it was better,
but not satisfactory ...
The high frequency content was too much and it sounded harsh,
especially in the throbbing cycle of the Luna when the high frequency
end was reached.
This was the moment Robert and I started to PM.
I have to say that Robert is one of the most helpful
and dedicated persons I have ever communicated with

Suggestions were:
Isolating the fuzz and the luna
Bringing the volume of the fuzz down and compensate with the luna.
Bringing in the Timmy in front of the Luna to reduce high frequency.
Change the sequence of pedals (i.e. Luna > MJM).

My problems still persisted.
To me it sounded as if the Luna was masking my tone completely.
I even lost my pick attack on higher fuzz settings.
It became tolerable, when I brought the volume of the guitar
almost complete down (as you know the MJM reacts very well)

So I decided to give the Luna a test at live volumes
(maybe I am deaf right now, or too picky or whatever)

My setup for band practice:

Tele > MJM > Timmy > Luna > Tweed RI and Twin RI

First we played as classic power trio (drums, bass, gtr)
with individual amps no PA.
At the clean settings everybody that listened, was totally
impressed and intrigued by the Luna.
Playing really loud also helped the fuzz sounds with the Luna
but the magic was gone.

Then we switched over to a four man formation
(drums, bass, gtr, gtr/voc) playing through PA,
with a friend of mine doing the part as sound engineer.

The sound was ok so far, but the moment I engaged the
Luna I completely disappeared from the mix.

The sound engineer finally found out what was happening
(to be honest, I had been thinking the same, but was not sure)

The Luna has a 100% wet output, that only can recognized,
if you play with fuzz or in a band context.
This is the reason why I lost my pick attack.

Next thing we did was, I incorporated the Luna in my rack system
(complicated thing with a signal splitter and a rack mixer).
The Luna then was set to 50% wet in my rack mix.

Guess what, tonal heaven.
I haver never heard a better modulation effect,
whether I played clean or with all out fuzz.

Problem is, I want the Luna for my analog board.
So I asked Robert if he can build a mix control in the Luna.
He told me he will look into the possibilities, but it could
take some time.
He also told me about your (gururyan) Luna, that has
two outputs. This is what Robert wrote:
"I would prefer a mix knob on the Luna, but the idea of using jack number 2 connected directly to the fuzz and bypassing the vibe, while output jack 1 sends the vibe signal to the amp, provides for an interesting discussion on the forum."

In the meantime, while I wrote this, a new PM has reached me.

"I would be happy to offer you the a new Luna with Mix in exchange for your Luna. Please use the Luna you have now as much as you like and don't worry about conserving it in new condition."

This is what I call support
This is one of the best messages (as musician) I have ever gotten
I hereby promise that I will sing the praise for the Luna and Robert
for years to come

End of story so far -> happy end !

Tone Factor demo video of the Luna: