Based on a rare and elusive circuit, the MXR Sugar Drive Pedal
provides a diverse range of clear and transparent overdrive tones, from
sauced up boosting to blown-tube distortion.
This pedal can be
powered by a Dunlop ECB003 9-volt adapter, or the DC Brick™, Iso-Brick™,
and Mini Iso-Brick™ power supplies (not included).
The MXR Sugar
Drive Pedal provides a diverse range of clear and transparent overdrive
tones, from sauced up boosting to blown-tube distortion. It’s based on a
rare overdrive pedal that has acquired a mythical reputation among
fanatical tone-seekers thanks to its unique circuit design.
The
key elements of that circuit design are the Drive control and something
called a voltage doubler. First, the Drive control on this pedal doesn’t
just increase the intensity of the overdrive pedal. It starts with your
clean signal and then blends it with the overdrive effect as you turn
it up, replicating the smooth transition of an amplifier going from
clean to dirty. The voltage doubler increases overall headroom, which
opens everything up nicely.
Of course, we had to put the MXR
touch on this circuit. If you’re all about true bypass, then you’re in
luck—this pedal uses it by default. The original used buffered bypass,
though, and we know there’s a lot of players out there who don’t want to
fix something that isn’t broken. They’re in luck, too—just flick the
Buffer switch on the side of the pedal to enable buffered bypassing.
With
a simple three-knob setup and an MXR mini housing, this is the go-to
overdrive to have on your pedalboard. It’s versatile and it saves space,
and unlike the original pedals it’s based on, it won’t cost you
thousands of dollars.