Guitar Pedal Reviews - MXR Distortion M115 III

MXR Distortion M115 III

This is a nice little distortion pedal that acts more like an overdrive pedal. Sits in a red box of around 111mm depth x 60mm width x 30mm height. Takes a regular 9v supply.

Nice and simple with 3 knobs for output / tone / distortion. There is an on and off switch. The unit itself has absolutely no noise or volume loss. There is no tone suck, although not 'true bypass' - this has a buffer.

This little baby gives overdriven sounds that can get fairly heavy (not metal heavy) but very adaptable. The output switch controls the volume. Of course any overdrive etc depends on where your volume switch on the guitar is. If your guitar volume is turned right up, there is more overdrive coming from the guitar (in effect).

The distortion knob increases and decreases the distortion and as mentioned there is a fair range of sounds available from it. If you want a kind of classic rock sound, this pedal does it really well. You just have to look at the reviews on harmony central to see how highly rated this pedal is.

The tone switch can sweep to give more high end on the guitar, or more low end. Most people tend to have the tone switch around 1-3 o'clock on the dial.

I actually found that using this with a Ibanez guitar with humbucker that it sounds quite nice with the neck pickups, giving a more sparkly and almost Marshall-esque sound. But the pedal is very adaptable when on bridge pickup and can give a varied sound.

Great little beast that can also act as a boost to other overdrive pedals. I actually run this after the Fulltone Fulldrive.