Mooer GE 250

There are probably way more combinations to make than you'll ever use and the sound is good so at this price there aint much to complain about. However, Mooer really need to make updating firmware easier, updating the software on this one feels like being back in the 90's and it's not smooth at all. One tiny mistake, be it downloading for the wrong operating system, or just not selecting all the different files you need, or installing them in the right order, or in the right directory, you wont get the Mooer to update its firmware. This needs to become way more simple.

Mostly use it as an amp modeler and sound card. I play 70% clean jazz tones (with hollow-body guitar) and 30% hi-gain/distortion tones with regular electric guitar.
I almost only use it with my monitoring headphones.

Pros
- Great look and built quality
- Intuitive interface
- Lot of possibilities and parameters to achieve the desired tones
- Sounds good to me overall, especially for distorted sounds

Cons
- If you know the tone you are after it takes a while to get there (not for beginners)
- Clean, smooth tones aren't easy to crack (signal gets muddy too quickly especially with cluster chords)
- You can get nice clean tones but you need a lot of tweaking with the EQ and for some reasons only use Cabinets and not Amps
- Reverbs could have been greater
- Looper is the biggest let down. No saving of loops and no auto-start?? Surely with something so technologically advanced it should have been easy to add such basic features.

Overall I am happy, I sold all my other pedals except my looper (shame!)

As someone who doesnt care too much for [modern high gain metal] tones ..more into old Sabbath and Zeppelin...buying a modeller thats really aimed at that modern metal sound ...probably didnt make much sense ....but this was an investment in tone ....as situations changed ...cranking amps and cotinually upgrading and replacing pedals ...ect ...was becoming no longer the best plan ....so an all in one modeller ...was the way to go .....I tried plugins before ...and thy,re ok ....I was tired of monitoring from the DAW ...as I am just a Home studio guy ....not a live player....I wanted direct monitoring ...from the interface instead ...

The GE250 is fantastic looking ...and heavy ...The UI is very easy to navigate ...and getting a tone is in minutes....The amp sims are very nice especially the JCM800...There are 2 major selling points for this unit ....1...The FX loop ...2 Tone Capture ....[fantastic] ...and so easy to use ...even for a crusty ol, fukkr like me ....Ive captured 2 amps on this unit ..and I am very pleased with the results.....

Now... as a Home Studio messer...mixing down a unit like this is simply not the same ...as mixing amps/preamps ...analog gear ....because youre dealing with amp sims in Hardware form ....compression and eq is your friend .....when you figure that out ....this unit is fantastic..and putting some drives thru the FXloop really gives it that analog bite ...and it takes pedals/amps really well....

Also loading the MNRS captures of real amps into the free amp slots ...is feckin class ....I mean not everyone has a warehouse full of classsic amps
lyin around ...but you can download from Mooer Audio website.....from what ive sampled so far ...theyre really good ....they have weight to them ...
The PC editor is fine ... [Tip].if you are using windows 10/11 when doing youre updates ....just make sure yore folders are kept hidden ...you can do this in File Explorer Options ...[view....Hide Folders].... as sometimes .dll files go missing ...and its a pain in the arse...having to download and re-install ...them ......but the editor is fine ....easy to download and install .....no problem editing patches ...or loading ir,s ...profiles ...ect ....

In conclusion ....this is a great unit ....and I am delighted I took a chance on it ....Took a while to get used to it ....its central now in my small studio set up ....everything goes thru it ....Boosts/Drives/Fuzz ...and even amps from time to time ....if I want to sample a real amp capture ....just load it up .....Happy Days ....and even the stock amps/cabs it comes with are top class in my opinion....

Would I recommend the GE250 to someone looking for a modeller .....absolutely ...especially if you are not too sure about the whole modeller thing ....you can still put your pedals/amps into the fxloop ...and just use ...delays/reverbs...ect and record /practice ....