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MXR, also known as MXR Innovations, was a manufacturer of guitar effects units, founded in 1972 by Michael Laiacona, Keith Barr, and Terry Sherwood, and based in Rochester, New York. MXR is now owned by Jim Dunlop.

Product line

Reference Series (1972 - 1984)

The first MXR effects pedal was the M-101 MXR Phase 90, widely used on the first two Van Halen albums^[1]. A milder version of the effect was also released, the MXR Phase 45, and a programmable version, the Phase 100.

Each of these enclosures had 4 screws attaching the bottom plate. A 9V battery powered these effects; to change the battery, one had to unscrew the bottom plate.

M-101 MXR Phase 90
M-102 MXR Dyna Comp (compressor)
M-103 MXR Blue Box (distortion and octaving effect)
M-104 MXR Distortion+
M-105 MXR Phase 45
M-106 MXR Noise Gate & Line Driver
M-107 MXR Phase 100 (slightly larger case)
M-109 MXR 6-Band Graphic Equalizer'
M-120 MXR Envelope Filter
M-133 MXR Micro Amp (Un-distorted version of the Distortion+)
M-137 MXR Power Converter
M-144 MXR Loop Selector
M-148 MXR Micro Chorus
M-152 MXR Micro Flanger
M-157 MXR Headphone Amplifier
M-1?? MXR Western N.A.M.M. Winter 1982

MXR also created several pedals that were AC-powered and were 4 3/4" wide by 3 1/2" tall:

M-108 MXR 10-Band Graphic Equalizer'
M-117 MXR Flanger
M-118 MXR Analog Delay
M-134 MXR Stereo Chorus
M-142 MXR Distortion II
M-143 MXR Limiter

Commande Series (1981 - 1984)

In 1981, MXR introduced a line of inexpensive plastic ("Lexan" polycarbonate) pedals known as the Commande Series. These were priced to compete with the Japanese-manufactured effects pedals that were flooding the US and world markets. These were a departure from the Reference Series in several aspects... The input, output, and power jacks were all moved to the top of the case to allow a tighter grouping on the floor, or pedal board. They also, for the first time for MXR, incorporated a large area footswitch.

M-161 MXR Phaser
M-162 MXR Preamp
M-163 MXR Sustain
M-164 MXR Overdrive
M-166 MXR Time Delay
M-167 MXR Stereo Chorus
M-167 MXR Stereo Flanger

2000 Series (1982 - 1984)

The 2000 series was a complete rework of the Reference and Commande Series. These were a higher quality pedal, with electronic switching and dual LED indicators. They had a new contoured shape, had a metal chassis and an easily-removable plastic battery compartment door, were fully rubberized on the bottom surface, and were remote-controllable.

The original 2000 series sported six models. Later, a digital sound effects pedal generator, simply known as the Junior would be added with four sound effects built in. These were programmable by swapping an internal chip.

MXR continued to manufacture the Reference, Commande and 2000 series pedals until they closed their doors in 1984.

M-200 MXR Master Pedal Series
M-201 MXR Phaser
M-202 MXR Dyna Comp
M-203 MXR Stereo Flanger
M-204 MXR Distortion+
M-205 MXR Stereo Chorus
M-206 MXR Time Delay
M-210 MXR Junior

Dating MXR Pedals and Effects at a Glance

(1972)

The very first effect was the MXR Phase 90.

(1973-1975)

The very earliest enclosures were known as "BUD" boxes. These were used during MXR's first two years of production and made from aluminum. These can be identified by the BUD logo on the inside of the back plate. There is also no MXR engraved on the outside of the back plate. All the pedals at this time were also know a Script Era pedals as the pedal name and MXR logo appeared in Script lettering.

(1975-1977)

These are still, Script pedals, but are now made of die-cast Zinc. The zinc is a heavier and darker metal than the aluminum. There is now also a Script MXR engraved into the bottom of all the smaller size boxes...

(1977-1978)

There is a “Transitional” period here in this era. A Transitional Pedal has the now famous logo and pedal name in the “Block” print. However at this time MXR still had a large inventory of Script engraved back plates that they chose to use up. A very few of these transitional pedals continued into 1979. There are also several circuit design changes to various pedals in this period.

(1978-1981)

This is the primary Block Pedal period.

(1981-1984)

All models made after mid-1981 had a 1/8" DC power input jack, and utilized a DPDT footswitch as well as a red LED indicator. (The Noise Gate/Line Driver and the Headphone Amplifier were only upgraded with the 1/8” jack.)

(1981-1984)

Commande Series Pedals were made while the Reference Pedals were also in production.

(1982-1984)

Late 1982 and durring the start of 1983 MXR also made the 2000 Series Pedals while making the Command Series and Reference Series.

(1984)

Mid-1984 MXR of Rochester NY closes their doors.

Dating By Pot Codes

The easiest way to date pedals is the same way you date some guitars and amps - by the POT CODES. EH, MXR, and most US made effects used pots with EIA date codes on them. They usually start with 137 which is the manufacturer (137 = CTS), then the next digits are the year and week. For example, 137 7903 would be a CTS pot, made in the 3rd week of 1979. Sometimes there are only 6 digits, for example 304731 would be 304 (stackpole) 7=1947 or 1957, 31st week. You can also date speakers this way! Other manufacturer codes are :

106 : Allen Bradley 134 : Centralab 137 : CTS 140 : Clarostat 220 : Jensen (speakers) 304 : Stackpole 328 : Utah/Oxford speakers 381 : Bourns 465 : Oxford speakers 285 : Rola 391 : Altec-Lansing 649 : Electro-voice 1098 : Pyle 67 : Eminence On many Japanese effects there are no date codes on the pots, but there are usually date codes on the chips and sometimes on the capacitors. So check them carefully! If you see 7932 on the bottom of a chip, you can be pretty sure it is a date code for 1979.

My old MXR analog delay is too hard to open up to get at the pot date codes, how can I date it?

You really cant tell by the serial#, sorry! But here are some rough dates for them:

1 output: 1977 - 1979, SAD1024 chips x 3 2 outputs : 1979? - 1982, R5101 chip x 1

MXR Rackmount Effects

MXR also had a line of professional rackmount effects used by the likes of David Gilmour and Mike Rutherford of Genesis. These included:

M-110 MXR Auto Phaser (Mini-vertical rackmount)
M-111 MXR Auto Flanger (Mini-vertical rackmount)
M-112 MXR Mini Limiter (Mini-vertical rackmount)
M-113 MXR Digital Delay Came with 320ms(2U rackmount)
M-113m MXR 320ms Expansion Up to 4 cards for up to 1280 ms (1.28 Seconds)
M-115 MXR EQ Parametric Equalizer (Mini-vertical rackmount) (Prototypes Only)
M-116 MXR Professional Products Rack (Rack, Audio Linking and power for M-110 & M-111)
M-124 MXR Dual 15-Band Graphic Equalizer (2U rackmount)
M-125 MXR 31-Band Graphic Equalizer (2U rackmount)
M-126 MXR Flanger Doubler (2U rackmount)
M-129 MXR Pitch Transposer (2U rackmount)
M-131 MXR Pitch Transposer Display (1U rackmount)
M-136 MXR Dual Limter (1U rackmount)
M-151 MXR Delay System II (2U rackmount) (3.228 Second Max Delay with M-155 ad-in)
M-170 MXR Dual Octave Graphic Equalizer (2U rackmount) (Dual 10-Band)
M-171 MXR Dual 2/3 Octave Graphic Equalizer (2U rackmount) (Dual 15-Band)
M-172 MXR 1/3 Octave Graphic Equalizer (2U rackmount) (31-Band)
M-174 MXR Pitchshift Doubler (1U rackmount)
M-175 MXR Digital Time Delay (1U rackmount) (320ms Max Delay)
M-180 MXR Omni Multi Effects Unit (2U rackmount) (See Below)
M-181 MXR Omni Foot Pedal Switch Board (Floor Unit) (See Below)
M-186 MXR Digital Time Delay (1U rackmount) (1000ms Max Delay) (Same in appearance as M-175)
M-190 MXR 1500 Digital Delay (1U rackmount) (1500ms Max Delay)
M-191 MXR Digital Reverb (1U rackmount)

In 1983, MXR introduced one of the first multi-effect rack units for guitar and bass, the Omni. The Omni had 6 different effects; sustain, distortion, delay, equalization, flanger, and chorus. The main unit was a 2U with separate controls for each effect. There was a floor footpedal (M-181) that enabled the player to switch the different effects on and off, as well as changing the order of the distortion and equalizer effects, a master bypass as well as an effexts loop.

MXR Desktop Effects

MXR featured a line of semi-professional effects that were targeted for home entertainment systems of the day. Most of these items came with wooden (Walnut) side panels. However the larger 17” wide units also had kits available for single or 1U (M-145 Single 1.75” Rack mount kit) and 2U (M-146 Double 3.5” Rack mount kits) available. You would unscrew the wooden sides and install the rack pieces and you would now have a fully 19” rack-mountable device.

M-114 MXR Stereo 10-Band EQ (Desktop only unit)
M-119 MXR Compander Noise Reduction - Increases dynamic range of tapes. (Desktop only unit)
M-123 MXR Dynamic Processor Expander (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-127 MXR Stereo 15-Band EQ (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-128 MXR Mono 31-Band (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-132 MXR Dynamic Expander Feature rich Expander (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-139 MXR Linear Preamp Stereo switching and routing prior to amplification. (1U (Rack-mountable with M-145))
M-140 MXR System Preamp (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-147 MXR Stereo Octave EQ (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-150 MXR System Preamp II (2U (Rack-mountable with M-146))
M-153 MXR 5-Band Stereo EQ (Desktop only unit)
M-156 MXR Discorder CX Process Decoding of Records. (Desktop only unit)

Drum Computers

In late 1981 MXR released the KIT (M-178), a digital drum machine. In early 1983 MXR released the M-185 [1] MXR Drum Computer, followed by the Drum Machine II (M-189). These were all similar to Roger Linn's Linn LM-1 drum machine.

Jim Dunlop and MXR

Jim Dunlop (the company famous for the Cry Baby Wah-Wah) bought the MXR licensing rights, and currently manufactures reissues of some of the classic MXR effects pedals. Dunlop has created new models in addition to the original line up, including "signature pedals" such as Eddie Van Halen Phase 90, and Flanger. ^[2]