MXR M305 TREMOLO

102
GUITARIST MARCH 2021
MXR pedals
MXR packs the effects into this new duo of compact pedals
MANUFACTURER
MXR
MODEL
M305 TREMOLO & M251 FOD
CONTACT
WESTSIDE DISTRIBUTION 0844 326 2000 WWW.JIMDUNLOP.COM
PRICE
£169 & £185
PEDALBOARD
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Neil Godwin
I
t’s been a little while since we’ve seen any new MXR pedals
and now two come along at once. Both adhere to the same
shape and size that MXR pioneered way back in the 1970s
with the likes of the Dyna Comp and Phase 90, so in the case of
the M251 FOD Drive the battery access is old style by removing
the four-screw baseplate. The M305 Tremolo pedal replaces the
discontinued M159 Tremolo model, which launched in 2008 and
ran at 18 volts, necessitating the use of two batteries or another
arrangement. This new iteration runs more conveniently from a
single nine volts power source.
ROUND-UP
M251 FOD £185M305 Tremolo £169
M
XR’s Dookie Drive pedal was based on the rig of
modified Marshalls that Billie Joe Armstrong used on
Green Day’s third album. It had the basic aim of putting
the sound of two amp stacks in a single housing with options for
blending the two – and that’s exactly what the new FOD Drive is
designed to do, albeit with no artist affiliation and the option of a
toggle-switched midrange boost, plus a scoop and a flat setting.
A Blend knob sets the mix between the two sounds. To the right
is the High Gain channel, with Gain controlled by a the front-panel
knob while to the left is the Crunch Gain channel with internal set-
and-forget trimmers for its gain and volume if you want to deviate
from the factory settings. Both sides have the flavour of a nicely
cranked stack and each individually has a range of useful tones
whether you’re looking for rhythmic graunch or saturated leads.
It’s the combinations, though, that give the pedal its signature
voicing and these are where you can dial in really rich tones that
combine saturation and sustain with an extra edge of clarity from
the Crunch side. Tailored EQ and extra boost from the Output
knob add to the options.
T
his tremolo can run in mono or stereo and features six
different trem types, scrolled through by pushing the Gain
knob. There are standard Speed and Depth controls and
that Gain knob can not only compensate for the perceived volume
drop that the effect can engender but can also give you a boost
to drive an amp a little harder. One tremolo type, called MXR,
recreates the pulsing of the previous M159’s sine wave trem, plus,
still in the vintage amp-style, you get the softer flavoured Bias and
Opto types. Revo is an optical tremolo with a reversed waveform
for a slightly harder edged attack, something that finds its full
expression in the square wave trem’s choppy on/off effects. Finally,
there’s the increasingly popular Harmonic tremolo that recreates
the phasey sound of a rarer type of vintage amp trem.
A very cool envelope mode allows tremolo speed to be
determined by the intensity of your playing, put to great effect
with a trem that slows right down as a chord fades out. Other
performance options include connection of a tap tempo
footswitch or expression pedal, which is able to blend between
two settings to incorporate all three of the front-panel knobs.
VERDICT Layering two different overdrive flavours in one pedal is
an inspired idea and this does it seamlessly
VERDICT A pretty comprehensive set of tremolo sounds in
a compact footprint with plenty of performance options
MXR MXR
GIT469.peds_mxr_2peds.indd 102 21/01/2021 11:02