We have lots of pedals and we have lots of mics, and now they can finally be friends!
Franklin Audio have made the MP 10, a small box that feels like someone finally looked at all the awkward adapters, strange routing tricks and half working workarounds people use to get a mic into a pedalboard and said, no, we are not doing that anymore. It is a simple thing on the surface, but it clears away so much clutter that it feels a favour to anyone who has ever tried to stitch a setup together with whatever cables were lying around.
The MP 10 brings a microphone to a place where pedals behave properly, keeping the signal steady and letting the user decide what to do with it, whether that means adding a bit of warmth to a vocal, shaping a horn line, or letting an acoustic instrument interact with pedals that were never designed for that kind of input.
There is a split that keeps a clean mic signal alongside whatever the pedals do, which becomes quietly powerful in practice, giving you a natural version of the sound and another that can head in its own direction, and it is the sort of touch that earns the lords at Franklin Audio a quiet moment of appreciation from engineers and producers who have dealt with this headache one too many times.
The MP 10 fits on a pedalboard without taking up much room, runs from a regular nine volt supply and blends into the mess of pedals, cables and half remembered favourites people tend to collect over the years, giving all of them a bit more purpose simply by letting a microphone move through them.
It feels like something made by people who understand that most setups evolve slowly and imperfectly, and that the best tools are the ones that remove hassle rather than add features, leaving you with a clean path, a more versatile board and a piece of gear that does its job without stealing the spotlight.
For the love of all that’s good go get one.
