MXR M75 Super Badass® Distortion

Product Information

As with all MXR products, the Custom Badass is built well, and is nicely finished to a high standard. It’s beautifully thought out, and feels like a really premium pedal, despite not being anywhere near the price of some boutique options that aim for the same sound. There is a reason that the MXR Super Badass Distortion is hailed as one of the best choices out there in the market - it just sounds really good and badass. As mentioned earlier in this review, the tones you can get out of the Super Badass are very impressive due to the built-in equalizer. This MXR pedal can do anything from making your guitar produce that powerful heavy riff to making your guitar's tone scream through the mix with a smooth distorted crunch. A distortion pedal can be used anywhere in your effects chain to really give your tone an entirely new sound, and they’re really very easy to use. Unlike some effects pedals and other guitar peripherals, there really isn’t much difficulty to using one. ProCo’s RAT 2 could in all honestly come very close to being our top choice, but it’s such an incredibly good distortion pedal for an incredibly good price, that it has to be our great value selection. It’s really not that often that you can say this about such a famous pedal either. There’s usually a premium to pay for a name, but there isn’t here.

Would be cool if anyone can explain to me the distinction between Custom and Super and whether this is actually a proper subset of MXR or simply a marketing vehicle! What is not in dispute though is that these are some truly great sounding Overdrives, Distortions and Fuzz. And I’ve seen many a player cite the Modified Overdrive especially as one of their favourites of all tine. In the past, distortion would happen when a signal was put through an amplifier that couldn’t deal with the sound. If the signal was too strong, then the speaker might have been physically unable to recreate the highs and lows of the sound wave, causing them to be cut off. The latest to carry the name is a cool touch-sensitive MOSFET-based Dynamic Overdrive - with 3 classic controls and a Boost / Cut Mids EQ toggle. That in itself is fairly unusual for MXR as they typically prefer to use those push-button controls - as can be viewed on the Modified OD and ’78 Distortion above. A lot of the more expensive pedals tend to be very restrained; offering transparency, or flexibility, or boutique manufacturing. This doesn’t. It’s an in-your-face distortion pedal for people who want crippling fuzz, loud distortion, and a no-nonsense approach to tone. It really is very loud when cranked up, which is something that can be missing from old-school fuzz pedals sometimes, and we love it. The manufacturers describe it as being like the roar of a hot-rodded model T, and that couldn’t be more apt. Enough about the way it looks though - how does it sound? Loud. That’s probably the most accurate way of describing this pedal. It might be a no-nonsense one-knob pedal, but this is one impactful unit. Crank up the dial and it will deliver some seriously powerful distortion or fuzz. Think Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top cranked up to 11. It’s worth bearing in mind that the pedal’s sound is influenced considerably by the guitar output - you’ll get that beautiful not-quite-fuzz sound with the right setup.For a fat, warm tone that pairs perfectly with the sound of a quality British valve amp, this is the distortion pedal for you. Of all the pedals on our list, it’s probably this one that gives the most uniquely distorted tone, and we love it. It sounds so very Marshall, and indeed you could probably replicate the sound of an overdriven Marshall without the right amp - it’s that good. It’s always a good idea, to begin with your pedal somewhere in the middle of the settings. This way you can easily bring things up or down a little to fine-tune and find the sound that you like or are trying to replicate. More gain isn’t always better, and you might be surprised by how much difference might be made when cranking up the volume, or adjusting some of the EQ. Ultimately, you’re getting a premium product for a very respectable price that just has an unbeatable sound to it. It comes beautifully finished with high-quality hardware and electronics too, which means that if you’re looking for superb quality boost and saturation, you just aren't going to be disappointed with the Soul Food. Premium Choice - EarthQuaker Acapulco Power Amp With a name like ‘Super Badass’, you’d almost expect this to be a pedal that delivers nothing but straight-forward distortion, but you’d be wrong. Very wrong. This MXR product is one of the most versatile pedals around, being capable of giving you everything from very light overdrive, to screaming, full-bodied distortion. Did a bit of you-tubing and decided this might be an option. Plugging into the M75 for the first time is a great deal of fun. No fizz, just fat distortion all the way through the dial. Output is huge, and my only beef is that unity is so low. Its loud.

One of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to effects pedals, is “what is the difference between overdrive and distortion?”. In truth, they are quite similar, and the line is often blurred when people are describing the sound that they hear. Lots of guitarists themselves won’t even be able to distinguish between them in the middle of the mix, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t differences. The newest member of this growing family is the M75 Super Badass Distortion, a thoughtfully conceived balance of overdrive and modern-metal mega-tonnage with a 3-band EQ and a very dynamic and touch-sensitive circuit. It does this by giving you controls for both level and gain, as well as treble and bass. There are also two fuzz options, for either a classic sound, or a grungier feel, and a boost one too. It’s really very good - the tone might not be the greatest that the market has to offer, but it’s ideal for someone who just wants to play with this kind of effect, or wants to sue it selectively. With its square chassis and 80s detailing it also doesn’t look quite like anything else, making it even more attractive. There’s not a lot else that feels this bulletproof either - at any price - let alone this one. Just a fantastic all-rounder that anyone should consider, even if you aren’t on a budget. Conclusion A distortion pedal is therefore set up to artificially clip the signal wave in a similar way to what would happen if the amplifier or speaker was overdriven but in a much starker and more significant way. We’ll cover the main differences between overdrive and distortion in the next section.

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The sound quality of the MXR Super Badass is certainly not surprising as MXR has come up with other great sounding pedals. But what sets the M75 Super Badass apart from other alternatives is its equalizer which allows you to attain specific tones for whatever genre or songs you are going to play. You get no less than five separate knobs on the Super Badass, allowing you to alter the output and distortion, as well as the bass, mids and treble. It’s perfect for sculpting tone, and we love the fact that you can get it do do pretty much whatever you want. Our only criticism might be that if you want maximum gain, this pedal might lose out to a more dedicated unit.