MXR has launched a distortion pedal honouring the late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. The Jail Guitar Doors Drive was co-designed with Kramer before he died in February 2024, and it is gloriously simple in its design – at least, from a guitar player’s POV.
This is a single-knob drive pedal. Connections for your guitar cables are on the top. One footswitch. No messing. Cool enclosure artwork comes courtesy of Shepard Fairey, the founder of Obey Clothing.
And the demo video comes courtesy of Kramer’s old friend Tom Morello, who says that if you stick this on your pedalboard you’ll have access to that anarchic MC5 electric guitar sound.
The Rage Against The Machine guitarist also reveals that Kramer did get a chance to record with the pedal before his death.
“What they’ve tried to bake into the MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive distortion pedal is not just Wayne’s sound but Wayne’s attitude, and the grit and the rawness of Detroit and of the MC5,” said Morello, one of Kramer’s best friends, during his demo of the pedal. “This is the guitar pedal that was used on the song Heavy Lifting that I recorded with Wayne for the last MC5 record.”
The pedal is named after Kramer’s charitable organisation which supports the rehabilitation of the incarcerated, and the charity takes its name from a song the Clash wrote in tribute to Kramer after he was sentenced to four years in prison on a drugs charge.
Paying tribute to Kramer just after his death, Morello said Kramer was the “best man I’ve ever known” and described the MC5 as the ür-punk act.
“His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music and was the only act to not chicken out and performed for the rioting protestors at the 1968 Dem National Convention,” Morello said in 2024, paying tribute to Kramer. “I’m pretty sure every album I’ve ever worked on the rawest fastest track had the working title ‘MC5.’”
The Jail Guitar Doors Drive was designed with Jimi Dunlop, CEO of Jim Dunlop, and Johnny Wator, owner of Daredevil Pedals owner. While it is as simple as it gets as far as distortion and overdrive pedals go, under the hood there is a lot of clever stuff going on, with two quite different gain circuits working in concert.
All you have to do is turn that dial and adjust to taste. That dial controls output volume and gain. Search for the sweet spot.
Available exclusively via Reverb, the Jail Guitar Doors Drive is a limited edition charity release. All proceeds will go to Kramer’s charity.
You can pick one up at the MXR Official Reverb Store, priced $199.
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