Hello, and thank you for supporting Magpie Pedals and getting yourself this very dirty microphone! Please feel free to use it with guitar, bass, synths, vocals or anything in between.
This device runs on a single 9V batter (not included) or 9VDC power (2.1mm jack: center-negative).
Info:
Smootch has a 50mm piezo element (contact microphone) in its mouth that runs through a wild distortion circuit to make it sound just as dirty as it looks!
Because of this distortion amplifying the signal so much, it creates a sort of resonance with the piezo element in the metal enclosure so you can pick up sounds from further away than usually preferable with a piezo element. So feel free to try both close and distant smootches and see what you enjoy most.
During my testing I also noticed that certain frequences resonate alot more than others, which can create some bizarre synth-ish tones and dynamics. So please experiment! Because I honestly do not know exactly what might happen - though I’m pretty sure that it will always be dirty!.
Controls:
Smootch has an on/off switch that turns it ON when UP and OFF when DOWN.
Smootch also has a volume knob that goes from silent to very very loud. It is not a distortion control (but kind of feels like it in my opinion). In any case I found that if you use Smootch for vocals you will probably enjoy having a volume knob right where you hold the microphone! Super practical and something I will forever miss on all other microphones that don’t have this.
The output jack is a standard guitar/tele (6.3mm) mono jack. Perfect if you wish to run Smootch through effects pedals.
Enjoy!