MXR

MXR was founded in 1972 by Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood in Rochester, New York, and incorporated as MXR Innovations in 1974. Its first stompbox, the Phase 90, was followed by the Distortion +, the Dyna Comp compressor and the Blue Box octave fuzz, which set the template for small, simple pedals.

The company went bankrupt in 1984, and Jim Dunlop acquired the MXR brand in 1987, relaunching it with the Phase 90, Distortion +, Dyna Comp and Blue Box. Dunlop later added modern designs such as the Carbon Copy analog delay, one of the most widely used delay pedals.

The Phase 90 is closely tied to Eddie Van Halen, who used it on songs such as Eruption, and Dunlop later made the MXR EVH 90 with him, with a switch between the vintage script-logo and the more aggressive block-logo sound. Guitar Radar follows MXR's new pedals and artist editions.