BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

As per the most recent Guitar Center flier and a thread on TGP, I went to Guitar Center in search of the MXR Classic Distortion pedal M-86. Interestingly enough, no other information is available (not on the Dunlop / MXR website, or anywhere else). The pedal is only $29 and sounds substantially better than that. I wouldn't call it a distortion but its got a really usable medium gain tone. Nothing ground breaking- very traditional tone. Kinda reminds me of the Zvex's Box of Rock's tone- rumors are that its a MXR Distortion III, possibly with a lower gain range.

Just figured that I would let the rumors circulate over here. I really like mine- decent through good tones for dirt cheap. Not a BJFE, but it also costs like 7% of a BJFE pedal new

update in anyone is on the market... this pedal is theoretically identical to the Distortion III... I wouldn't have expected to like it much, but I really do. here's the review I wrote for TGP:


yeah, i bought one. gigged it last night. it kicked a BOR off my board. better mid gain distortion tones to my ear. similar gain range. bypass has a slight treble reduction. but, awesome tones. sounds great. not as gainy as i thought, but great tones never the less.

anyone else get it up to gigging volume yet? sounds sweet- EQ of the tone knob is really useful and it sits really well in the mix without getting bogged down in any particular EQ frequency- very balanced tone to my ear.

for the record, i gigged it with a Gibson SG through my normal pedalboard and my Budda SD18combo. It was alongside (for overdrive/distortion): MP MRD, BJFE HBOD, BJFE SYOD, PaulC Timmy, ZVex BOR, Zendrive, Burst Eternity. (I am an overdrive addict). I picked the MXR Classic Distortion everytime over the BOR, most times I was apathetic towards whether I liked the E or the MXR better- the MXR sounds "clearer" and cuts through better to my ear at mid gain. E for lower gain everytime. I could get interesting tones that were similar to the way I use my timmy sometimes- but its not nearly as versatile. Doesn't compete with any of the BJFE stuff and doesn't have the chirpy attack to do what the Zen does for me.

but... awesome tones. I'll be keeping mine...

That's cool ... I think I remember BJ doing a thread somewhere on low-cost pedals and good sounds.

I'll have to check this one out for fun!

Doc