Pedal clones often sport not very subtle references to the pedals they are inspired by, and that’s definitely the case for the NUX Morning Star overdrive, a Blues-Breaker-style pedal that shares more than a word with the (extremely popular) JHS Morning Glory. Surprisingly, it differs in color, but size and price tag are greatly reduced!
NUX has been emerging in recent years as one of the most solid and even creative Chinese pedal builders, and even if this pedal belongs to the “shameless clone” category (a practice that’s however very common even among highly rated boutique builders like… JHS!) this product’s quality at the advertised price ($54!!) make it extremely tempting.
It even improves on the original JHS pedal by adding a press/hold footswitch function that activates a “Shine” circuit which adds extra brightness to your tone.
It also gives you 2 bypass options: True Bypass or Buffered Bypass.
NUX Morningstar Overdrive, Builder’s Notes
Blues-break Overdrive with an extra Treble touch option
Go from Blues-Breaker to Blues-Sky Rocket!
The Morning Star lights up all of the classic aspects of a great blues breaker pedal, but we added something stellar to improve the high-frequencies.
Engage the Morning Star foot-switch to add more overhead with saturated grit to your clean tones, and if you wanna’ boost your high-frequencies to a whole other stratosphere, press/hold the foot-switch to activate the Shine circuit which adds a whole new level of tone brightness.
A Simple Pedal, Loaded with Massive Tone!
0 to 5 on the Drive-Knob yields a balanced overdrive to your clean tone. Tweak it up for thick overdrive with a bit more gain. The tone control has superb tone range from Dark to Morning Star bright. And, whenever you want your blues riffs to light up the skyline, the Shine circuit is always there waiting for your cue to come over the horizon.
You also get 2 bypass options: True Bypass or Buffer Bypass for your essential signal chain needs.
True Bypass or Buffer Bypass
A lot of professional guitar players start their signal-chain with a stand-alone buffer. it has optional True Bypass / Buffer Bypass modes for running the pedal. Push and hold the foots-witch and power up the pedal to select True (Red LED indicator) or Buffer (Green LED indicator) bypass mode.
Specifications
- Input Impedance?1M ohm
- Output Impedance?1K ohm
- Power Input?Standard 9V DC, center negative >100mA (power supply not included)
- Weight?174g/ 6 oz
- Dimensions?94?L?×51?W?×53?H?mm | 3.7?L?×2.0?W?×2.08?H?inches
