1979 block logo with script board and backplate.MXR INNOVATIONS

ROCHESTER,NEW YORK.

Mxr guitar effects pedals and rack mounts. there was a time back in the early 70"s when a group of young men got together and formed this company. i dont think they knew at the time just how important some of these effects would become in rock history. and not just rock.

the phase 90 was thier first pedal. and what a pedal it was/is. there is lots of valuable info on the net about MXR pedals but you will also find hardly anything on the company or its great employees. we know that one guy went on to form A.R.T. and another Alesis. and i have talked to a few people about the old MXR company and gotten a little info but there is no definitive MXR website to be had. to me thats a shame. i have talked with one seller here that im positive used to work for MXR and he has admitted knowing several of the old employees. he is also from Rochester N.Y. all of the old MXR employees and managment should be very very proud of thier accomplishment there. i thank them and millions of other players do as well.

Analogman has a great book out on effects and a nice story on MXR.

im a 27 year player and have been an avid MXR user. i have a small but thorough collection of MXR pedals. i grew up during the Van Halen era.

about the pedals,

as with another user here i will also use the three variations of the MXR pedal. Script,Block, and Reissue.

when Dunlop bought the rights to MXR they picked up right where MXR left off. design wise and all. i have an 87 phase 90 that is exactly like the earlier MXR block logo phase 90 but with Toshiba or Sony  chips.(ill have to look again) i have a pic. it sounds amazing! the CTS (chicago telephone supply) pots were dated 1987 and there was also a Dunlop sticker in it. then of course Dunlop blew it completly with thier ( a few months after making them exactly as MXR did) everything mounted to the PC board reissues. you can take the entire guts out of the later Dunlop reissues and use them without the metal enclosure. a few of the reissue Dunlop/MXR  pedals are ok. the EVH flanger and the EVH phase 90 are allrite but certainly not of the build quality or longevity of the originals.

the block logo has a couple of variations as with most other MXR(non Dunlop) pedals. when the transition from script to block was taking place you could buy  the new block logo pedals with the script backplates.i guess they were using up leftover script plates. there were a couple of pc board variations with that as well. the 6 single op amps to the three doubles.

then come the block logo pedals with the led and ac jack. in my opinion they were just as good as the older blocks or even some of  the scripts. the micro flanger is one of my fave MXR pedals i have both with led and without. the one with the led is amazing as well as the one without but the one with has more outer planetary tones:)

as we all know the script version were the first ones and the very first MXR pedals had the Bud Box enclosure. i can honestly say that having script versions and block versions i love them all and have no faves.  its all subjective to the player on which ones sound best tonally. again, im grew up with MXR pedals and i like them all my favorite phase 90 is an early block logo one.

these great MXR non reissue pedals are still doing well value wise and can still be had for a good price here on Ebay. also be aware of fake MXR pedals. Analogman has a good piece on this with pics at his website. most of the fake ones(although some say they sound ok) are far from original.

the foam insulation that protects the circuit board usually is and will be dust by now. there are some that the foam stuff is still very much intact. when the foam stuff isnt present it doesnt mean its been tampered with or that its a bad thing,but some people even original owners will just take it out and hopefully replace it with something good. and sometimes the divided by 4 square sticker as well as the serial # stickers arent always there.

and also you will especially on the older MXR pedals will see jumper wires going across the circuit board. they will have a diode in between them and will also have clear shrink tube on the ends. dont confuse this with being tampered with. they did a lot of post modding on the boards .

i will be adding to this page and i have several photos of insides of MXR pedals and also have some cool links.just email me.

Mercyfulfate1777