MXR M75 Super Badass® Distortion

Product Information

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. In addition, this becomes more complicated when some pedals are marketed as overdrive pedals, some are marketed as distortion pedals, and many even mention both. Hopefully, we’ll be able to clear up some of the confusion. 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. A signal wave normally looks like a smoothly undulating wave, with naturally curved peaks and troughs throughout the range. Distortion happens when these waves are clipped for any reason - that is that the highs and lows of the waves are cut off - and is essential when the ‘quality’ of the sound is reduced. When it comes to distortion pedals, this is, of course, a desirable effect. Most distortion pedals will use a variety of transistors and diodes to both boosts the guitar’s signal, and also change the shape of the signal’s waveform. The boosting of the signal is fairly simple to understand, but the clipping is less straightforward, but is very important, because it is what creates that distinctive sound.

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. 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. 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.

Warranty Info

OK, so the SF300 distortion pedal is unashamedly inspired by offerings from Boss, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it certainly isn’t when you get this much pedal for such a tiny price. This thing is basically a catch-all for fuzzy distortion. It can do light 60s fuzz, from the time when overdrive was still seen as a bad thing by a lot of guitarists, to meaty, stoner fuzz that is super distorted. 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.

Quality overall is very good, from the all-analog components inside, to the super solid casing on the outside, which incidentally looks very cool in an almost glittery finish. It’s not too much, but just gives the thing a little bit of character to separate it from your typical straight-laced technical pedal. 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

Among our choices, you'll find multi-channel offerings, blendable drives, and amp-inspired circuits at a variety of price points. Where does my distortion pedal go in the chain? 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. It is reasonably versatile too - if you really crank it up, you end up with some real fuzz that sustains well, but on the lower end, it can sound like a quality overdriven tube amp. Just a very nice sound all-round. So, let's break down what to look for when choosing the best distortion pedal for your needs. What is a distortion pedal?

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. At the start of this rundown it’s probably the two former Super Badass editions that I’m most likely to acquire next - but we’ll see where I stand once I’ve completed the sweep-through. 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. Although MXR pedals are known for their reliability and high quality, there are other great choices from its competitors such as the Boss DS-1, TC Dark Matter, and the Pro Co RAT. However, the M75 holds its own and is praised as one of the best sounding distortion effects in the market nowadays. Despite its pure analog circuit, the MXR Super Badass Distortion can pull off modern tones and is a great fit for any rig. This MXR Super Badass Distortion review will provide you with everything you need to know about the stompbox. Should You Get It? There’s often also EQ to be found too, which will help you to sculpt your tone - ideal if you’d like a little more bass, or you want to shine with some screeching treble.

What steals the spotlight in terms of features is the MXR Super Badass Distortion's 3-band EQ. I've always wanted this feature on my other stompboxes as it allows for more flexibility in shaping the tone that comes out of the pedal. Instead of just being equipped with a treble adjustment knob, the pedal also has knobs for bass and mid, allowing you to get a tighter low end if you want, or punchier mids if you want to cut through the band's mix when you engage the pedal for a solo. What can we say? The DS-1 has been designed from the outset as the everyman’s distortion pedal. It’s versatile enough to be used for a very wide range of music styles, it’s not hard to get it to elicit some great sounds, and it’s priced very attractively indeed. We can easily get everything from a bit of light distortion to some serious growls from the responsive dials, which is great if you’re new to this kind of effect. So what exactly are you looking for? The problem with this is that it will depend entirely on the type of metal that you like to play, or think you’re going to play most often. Metal is a hugely diverse genre, more so than many people would initially think, which is why it’s very hard to say that there is one single metal pedal that sits above all others. 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.

Once overdrive had become popular, however, guitarists wanted more. They wanted distortion. So they took overdrive methods and made them more aggressive. This was done by clipping the sine waves more aggressively using effects, and ultimately pedals. Overdrive pedals will clip softly, or smoothly. This is visualized as a narrowed wave that is still curved at the top. Distortion, however, will simply shear off the top of the curve into a (mostly) flat shape. I included it in my sizeable Brown Sound alternatives article from a couple of years ago - while it didn't end up as one of the most wanted - on account of others have more extended feature sets - including 3-Band EQ - which for me is almost essential for Marshall style pedals as the mids are so critical to the nature of that chewy crunchy output. It’s a fairly simple thing physically, with just the two knobs for output and distortion, and a nice big LED. It all looks nicely laid out, is incredibly well finished (including the knobs) and the bright yellow chassis really evokes the spirit of those 80s shred guitarists. Think the legendary Randy Rhoads, who incidentally did use this pedal in some of his setups. Finally, distortion pedals are often combined with other effects like chorus and reverb, or with wah-wah pedals. This is how you build a really nice distorted sound, but remember that it’s always worth fine-tuning your tone, then level of distortion, and then finally effects on top of that. It’s the easiest way of finding the right tone and ensuring that you can replicate it in the future. What does a Distortion Pedal do? As you'd expect, there are several different flavors of distortion out there. From transparent gain pedals that retain the guitar and amp characteristics to pedals that will transform your rig into something completely unrecognizable, there's a wide range of distortion pedals on the market for everyone.Paired with a wah pedal, some Hendrix classics can also be played with this MXR masterpiece. The versatility of this MXR pedal is what makes it such a great go-to for beginners who have no "ideal" tone or preference when it comes to distortion. However, this does not mean it's only for newbies - the sound quality and tone-shaping makes it just as perfect for performers and recording professionals. On our list, we’d recommend the MXR Super Custom 78, MXR Super Badass, and MXR Distortion +, along with the Boss DS-1 and ProCo RAT 2 as being the pedals that offer the biggest chance for some really high gain sounds. That’s not to say this list is exhaustive of course - you’ll find plenty of other high gain pedals on the market.