About MXR
MXR was co-founded in 1972 by Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood, two friends from a Rochester, New York suburb who had been repairing stereos and music gear out of a rented basement apartment. That repair-bench background shows in the company's first product line: the Phase 90, released in 1974, followed the same year by the Distortion +, the Dyna Comp, and the Blue Box. Each was built around a single, simple idea executed with as few controls as possible, an approach that made the pedals easy to learn and durable enough to still be in production five decades later. Jim Dunlop Manufacturing acquired the MXR trademark in 1987 and has kept the classic circuits in production alongside newer additions like the M300 Reverb and Carbon Copy delay.
The one-knob Phase 90 became a fixture of classic-rock guitar tone: Eddie Van Halen ran one for solos including "Eruption," and David Gilmour used one on Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Have a Cigar." The Dyna Comp compressor became a Nashville session and funk staple, shaping records by The Police and King Crimson and used by players like Joe Perry. The Distortion+ circuit carries its own pedigree through players including Randy Rhoads and Trey Anastasio. In our own testing across three separate pedal roundups, the compressor, phaser, distortion, and reverb circuits we reviewed all held up as genuinely usable, low-learning-curve tools rather than nostalgia pieces.
Brand website: jimdunlop.com/mxr
What MXR makes
MXR's catalog runs wider than the gear we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Dyna Comp
two-knob analog compressor, the reference circuit for country and funk sustain since 1974 — featured on House of Octave
Phase 90
one-knob analog phaser behind Van Halen and Pink Floyd guitar tones — featured on House of Octave
Distortion +
vintage op-amp/diode distortion circuit with a low-to-medium gain, touch-sensitive voice — featured on House of Octave
M300 Reverb
six-mode analog-dry-path reverb with relay true bypass and stereo I/O — featured on House of Octave
Carbon Copy series
analog delay pedals built around bucket-brigade circuitry
Fullbore Metal, Micro Amp, and EVH signature pedals
additional distortion, boost, and artist-signature effects in the current MXR line
Why we recognized MXR
The House of Octave Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose gear consistently stands out in our player-tested category guides. MXR earned it on the strength of the products below, judged the same way every product on this site is: assessed on build, tone, and playability, weighed against what players actually report over years of use, and ranked on merit.
MXR gear we rated highly
MXR Dyna Comp Compressor Pedal
One of our top picks for compression: a decades-proven analog circuit with nearly 700 reviews that adds the smooth, even sustain heard on countless country and funk sessions. Two-knob Output and Sensitivity controls mean it can be set once and left alone, and it evens out pick attack so every note speaks at a consistent level.
Read the 11 Best Guitar Pedals of 2026 (One Pick for Every Effect) guide →
MXR Phase 90 Phaser Pedal
One of our top picks for modulation, with over 1,000 reviews at 4.7 stars. A single Speed knob covers a musical phase sweep from a slow, watery shimmer to a fast, vibrato-like throb, and the tiny footprint fits even a crowded pedalboard.
Read the 11 Best Guitar Pedals of 2026 (One Pick for Every Effect) guide →
MXR Distortion+
One of our top picks for low-gain, touch-sensitive breakup: an authentic reissue of the 1978 circuit that cleans up when the guitar's volume knob is rolled back and digs in when pushed, with just two controls (Output and Distortion) so there's almost no way to dial in a bad sound.
Read the 10 Best Distortion Pedals of 2026 (Metal, Rock, Blues & Budget) guide →
MXR M300 Reverb
One of our top picks for studio-clean hall and plate tone: six meticulously tuned reverbs and a 100% analog dry path with 20 volts of headroom keep the dry guitar signal uncolored even at a high reverb mix, backed by relay true bypass and stereo in/out.
Read the 9 Best Reverb Pedals of 2026 (Spring, Ambient, Budget & Studio) guide →What earned MXR the recognition
- MXR products appeared across three separate roundups we tested and published in 2026 -- guitar pedals, distortion pedals, and reverb pedals -- with the Dyna Comp compressor and Phase 90 phaser both earning places in our overall guitar pedals guide.
- The Dyna Comp and Phase 90 circuits both date to MXR's founding year of 1974 and remain in production essentially unchanged, a rare run for any electronics product.
- The Phase 90 shaped guitar tone on records by Eddie Van Halen and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, and the Dyna Comp shaped sessions by The Police, King Crimson, and Nashville session players including Joe Perry.
- Every MXR pedal we tested kept true to the brand's original design philosophy: as few controls as possible without sacrificing usefulness, which our reviews repeatedly noted as a genuine learning-curve advantage over more complex modern competitors.
- The M300 Reverb shows the same philosophy applied to a modern circuit, pairing a 100% analog dry signal path with switchable high-fidelity reverb types in a build our testing rated among the cleanest-sounding options in its category.