MXR Distortion M-115 III

So Simple even a caveman can do it..

I have had numerour distortion pedals and this one is by far the best.My rig is Tele----mxr dist 3----mxr classic distortion---Boss dd6---Dano coolcat chorus---Mxr Flanger---Compressor---Crate vc30 with 2x12+ tonetubbys.Not overly noisy.Just get it and enjoy!!!It seems to be an overdrive and distortion in one unit.I use the classic distortion for rhythm passages with grit and the Dist 3 for myleads and boost.TRUE BYPASS.......

Built to last...Tough metal case with quality parts

Dont know yet

I play in a Police tribute band and it gives me the sound i need.Compared with other distortion units i have had ( Jekyll and Hyde) (Boss) (Modtone) (Nau) this thing is hands down better and a much better price tag.I urge you to compare to whatever boutique pedal you can find.You will see....

I am not a fan of excessive knobs on effects pedals especially distortion boxes so this is perfect for someone who likes to set thier sound and forget about it. The tone knob, when in the 12:00 position, will get you a flat EQ. As other have said, this is not a high gain pedal but then it is not quite an overdrive either. With this pedal, you get a smooth distortion that does not get fizzy in the high end. The output has a lot of gain to it so you could feasibly push your tube amp into OD just by boosting the output.

The manual is basic and does give you some sample settings to get you started.

Currently I am using this on my Pedaltrain board. The signal chain is as follows:

Gretsch 6120>>Korg Pitch-black Tuner>>Barber Tone Press>>Fulltone Full Drive 2>>MXR Distortion III>>Roger Mayer Voodoo 1>>Lovepedal Amp 50>>Boss RT20 Roto Sim>>Boss DD20 Giga Delay>>Fender Deluxe Reverb RI.

The pedal is quiet but it will generate noise when turned full on. When the pedal is not engaged there is no loss of tone due to the true bypass and it does play well with other pedals. By adjusting the distortion level and tone knob you can get a variety of tones.

I have been playing guitar for about 30 years and I never had a MXR pedal go south. I still have an old MXR Micro Flanger that is still kicking. MXR pedals are built like takns and do not take up much room on the pedalboard.

Never had to call them.

I play all kinds of music and this pedal can do country , rock, punk, 60's garage, and Alt country. everything but heavy metal.

I love the fact that it is simple to use. I can set the tone knob flat and use the EQ from my amp, it does not use up a lot of real estate on my board, it works well with other pedals. Plus the price was a big incentive.

Would I buy another if it was stolen. Possibly, but to be honest there are a ton of other pedals that can do what this can do but may cost a little more.

Very simple and intuitive. Output level seems to be quite sensitive (i.e. a small change can make quite a big difference) but this is easy to get used to. Its very easy to get a range of sounds from slightly overdriven to full on hard rock. But you can't do high gain metal (which is fine as far as I'm concerned but if thats what you're looking for, buy another pedal). I think this is more like an overdrive pedal than a distortion box.

To my ears this sounds the business. It really cuts through the mix without sounding too harsh or trebley (is there such a word?). This really does have a very warm sound (I'm using a Gibson SG - not sure how it would fare with single coils). I absolutely love this pedal.

No problems so far but only had it about a month. It is very well built but I did notice that the paint is already chipping off where it knocked against a lead.

Not had to deal with them

Great for hard rock, indie and punk. Probably not so great for metal. If it were stolen I would definitely buy another one. I play this through a Marshall JTM-600 head and it sounds very warm, however much distortion I add. Highly recommended for the price!

It is very basic, volume, gain and tone.
Dialing good tones out of it is very simple. You only have to remember that the tone is voiced quite low, for me it is very good because I play guitars with single coils pick up.

Firs I must confess I am a tubescreamer fan, but in the band I play now I needed some more gain (not too much) and more bass. I like overdrive more than distortion pedals: the distortion iii becomes a distortion only in the last part of the gain pot travel.
It is a wonderful overdrive and booster if you need and can be classy sounding nearly as a good tubescreamer, it is more transparent and clear sounding anyway.
This pedal beats the tubescreamer when you need more crunch and more bass; it can sound blues but also punk and hard rock (metal is left behind).
As I said the tone is voiced quite dark; so i usually put it at about 2 - 3 o'clock.
The drive and level vary depending of the song; anyway I always find a good spot where I can have, changing volume, pick ups and tone from the guitar, overdrive and distortion without having to bend very often.
Best and natural overdrive pedal I ever had, and not too expensive.
Not noisy at all except when the gain is set past 3 o'clock, at this point some hiss gets added but, considering that we are in the "distortion" territory, totally acceptable.
I never tested it with an humbucking guitar, I suspect it could be too dark.

It seems pretty solid,it is small and heavy.

Never dealt with them.

I play rock music with some prog, post, noise elements in a trio with bass and drums. I have been playing nearly fifteen years. Just about five years ago I started playing single channel amps, so I started to use drive pedals; before I only used channel switching.
I usually use very few pedals wha (not in my current band)- overdrive - delay - sometimes a flanger, tremolo, octave (but so rarely that I got used to travel with just two pedals (only recently I got a used octave fuzz just to add some twist in places where I used to add flanger and octave).
As soon as I replaced my tubescreamer (I still keep it anyway) I had access to heavy strong sounds that were out of reach. Listening to a live recording I realized that the tubescreamer robbed too much bass frequencies; it was good for solo, but not enough for cords work in my new band.
I did a shootout in my guitar shop before buying it: turbo tubescreamer (better the real one), bad monkey (really sounds good, I had to try it; still a screamer anyway), distortion + (interesting, but not what I was searching for), boss turbo distortion (same as the previous), OCD (really good but too expensive, the MXR is shurely more humble but gets the job done); I tried some cheap bheringer pedals too... they are shurely cheap but not transparent and clean enough. I don't want to spend too much money but, You can't spend so little and expect big serious sounds.
So my actual rig is fender usa telecaster or squier (very old) bullet3 - MXR jimi octave fuzz (right now I like it, will it last?)- MXR distortion iii - ibanez AD9 (bought used and modded for feed back and self oscillation) in a marshall jubilee 25/50 amp (clean channel only) or epiphone valve junior, or whatever amp I find in the reharsals.
The disto iii sounds good both with tube and solid state amps and I think it will stay with me for a long time.

The controls are fairly normal for a distortion: tone, distortion, and output. The output control is very quiet from 7:00 to 12:00, reaches unity between 1:00 and 2:00 and gets very loud very quickly. The tone control isn't that useful from 7:00 to 12:00, just making the tone muddy but is useful from 12:00 on. The distortion control controls the character of the distortion more than the amount, going from an overdriven sound at minimum to a fuzzier and buzzier sound at max.

The name distortion III is really a misnomer. This is more of an overdrive pedal. The distortion control doesn't bring in that much distortion. The tone is somewhat muddy and bassy. This box is definitely not for DS-1 fans. The noise level was surprisingly low.

I haven't had it for long enough to rate.

Never had problems.

I play blues and rock and I'd use it for anything but rock lead. It doesn't have enough gain or high end to do that, and I wish it had. If I lost it, I'd look around, but consider it as an option. One thing that I found cool about this is that the knobs are glow in the dark.

I agree with the other reviewers on the features: 1. it's red and small, 2. there are knobs for volume, tone and gain, 3. there is a stomp switch, 4. it has a jack for 9 volt BOSS-type adapter, 5. it sounds really, really good for overdrive and crunch distortion when it's on. 6. when it's not on the true bypass is not a tone sucker at all, 7. Its quiet, too

I bought it used from a guy who had it for a month and decided it wasn't for him so it was in brand new shape-yipeeeee! Came in the box with all the documents and warranty card intact. Our other guitarist has one. I wanted that sound for myself.

I use this in front of my Fender Blues Junior as an overdrive, with a few Les Pauls and an Ibanez SA 160 fat strat clone. I set my amp to be loud enough to be heard in the band with my guitar's volume knob(s) between 3 and 7. For normal rhythm playing I have my guitar volume set very low and roll it up to 7 or so to take solos. The Blues Junior is set to 6-7 on the volume (gain) and the master volume is set for whatever sound level is appropriate.
I keep the MXR D3 at these settings: Volume is at 11-12 o'clock, Tone is at 12 o'clock, Gain is at 1-2 o'clock. I don't want a huge volume gain from this pedal, which I leave on 100% of the time. Might as well take the stomp button off the thing for as much as I use it. Anyway, at these settings (guitar/pedal/amp) my sound is as close to clean as I can get, without being squeaky clean. Call it very clean with just a touch of hair.

The Upside:
As far as the quality of the sound goes, this thing is dead quiet at the settings I usel. Tone-wise, my personal opinion is that it adds fullness and a little bottom to your tone-in a good, musical way. Since I keep it on all the time, tone color isn't an issue with me. (Some may disagree with that, so I made a note of this in the "downside" section below.)
The MXR D3 adds clarity to my sound; sort of focusing my chords and notes in a way that makes them jump from the speaker. That's why it's on 100% of the time. It just adds that certain clarity, bell like tone and sweetness to my guitars. For me it's a "don't leave home without it!" kind of thing. It sparkles for rhythm or solo work.
When I take a solo I depend on the pedal's drive to push the Blues Junior into more volume and more drive. Since the amp is already pushing 7 on the gain dial and the MXR D3 is set to a medium-hot level of gain, I go from sparkly rhythm tone with a little hair to a smooth sustainy drive/crunch tone for solos. Mucho harmonics and sustain with the guitar volume on 7-8. At 9-10 on the guitar volume it seems twice as loud as it does at 7 but it isn't as clear sounding with the guitar volume full on. Personally I'd much rather have note clarity and sparkle in my overdrive than a wall-of-doom distortion sound so I almost never roll my volume past 7-8. That's how I do it. The MXR D3 is a big part of my sound scheme.
My Les Paul has stock Gibson 490R and 498T pickups. My Jay Turser Les Pauls have Lace Hemi Buckers or GFS Dream 180 pickups. The Ibanez is dead stock-pickup wise. All of the guitars sound killer with the MXR D3 and the Blues Junior, at the settings I mentioned.

The downside:
Like I said, the D3 is NOT totally transparent. It does add a touch of its own color to your sound. Compared to my Radial Tonebone Classic pedal, the MXR can't do the transparency thing perfectly, or the complex tube harmonics thing but it costs 1/3 of the price, doesn't have a 12AX7 tube in it.
Frankly it does a very respectable job, IMHO. For the money, it beats out the green pedals and the Boss sd/ds/bd pedals. This ain't no Metal Zone, either. Not even close. For a nice overdrive/crunch tone-this one is the best I've seen under 100 bucks for sure.

Built tough. Everything about it says quality. No worries!

This pedal is part of my small venue/rehearsal package with the Blues Junior. I have a Blues Deluxe that I push with a Radial Tonebone Classic for large venues. Basically I have the exact same sort of setup with the bigger rig and I run it the same way.
The MXR D3 seems to complement the EL 84 sound better than the 6L6 sound-again, IMHO. Frankly I would recommend this pedal to anyone who uses guitar volume as part of the whole gain thing because it reacts very well under those circumstances.
Plus, it sounds great even if it does add some fullness and a little bottom when engaged. You can eliminate the added bottom with the tone control I guess, but that "fullness thing" is there, no matter what you do. To be fair, a TS9 type OD pedal usually cuts the bottom noticeably so if you want to keep the low end when you stomp, then this is for you. I like it, myself. To each his own.
I'm playing classic rock, blues, golden oldies, surf, British invasion, jazz and grunge styles with the band I'm in. Been playing since the late 60s, quit in the mid 70s to mid 80s and resumed SERIOUSLY since the late 80s. I've been around music since the late 60s and have seen a lot of OD and DIST pedals over the years.
This pedal is a winner. IMHO the MXR D3 is a classic in its own time. I would buy it again. It works and sounds perfect for the styles and methods I use. Great value, especially for the 50 bucks I spent.

Three knobs even a caveman can figure it out.

Here I will say that this pedal is very amazing. The range of useful sounds you get is great. Very low noise on most setting even with p90's and p94's.
The texture go from a mild overdriven tube amp to very organic traditional distortion. No loss of tone. The knobs respond fairly good.
You can get a late Beatles tone distortion if you tweak it. Verybalanced and most important plays well with other.

I use an Epiphone Casino, Epiphone Riviera, Fender Jazzmaster through a Line 6 Constrictor, Banzai Fireball, MXR Distortion III, Boss ROtary ensemble, small stone, Memory Man and Boss Gigadelay...

Very srong built. Metal housing, strong knobs,,,

Never had to deal with them...

Great Value for a mass produced pedal...

THREE KNOBS! Red paint job. True bypass. Simple to get good sounds from this.

OUTPUT (Volume): Every spot on the dial is sweet
TONE: Between 10 and 2 o'clock works for me
DISTORTION (Gain/OD): Every spot on the dial is sweet

CLARITY: Clear as a bell all the way up to maximum output. 100% mud free.

TRUE BYPASS: No tone suck that I can hear.

I own some high dollar overdrive pedals that I've picked up over the years, costing lots more. I have a collection of Boss, Maxon, Ibanez and BK Butler stuff, too. This holds together well and can definitely hang with the Barber, Tonebone, Fultone, Carl Martin crowd. It's my go to pedal these days.
People have said this is an overdrive, not a distortion pedal. I agree. For classic rock and everything else EXCEPT nu-metal this will do. Country players will love this, too.
This pedal produces the definitive CRUNCH of modern rock, plus it can be dialed back to suit Classic Rock, Blues, Country, even Oldies!
I'm using it with a Hot Rod Deluxe, on the clean channel for a crunch tone. It is just about perfect. I also use it on the dirt channel for super sustained solos. Honestly it doesn't get any better or simpler. This is the one for all sorts of rock overdrive sounds. Works very well as a boost for an overdriven amp, too. Pro sound with good clarity. Can't find any fault with this pedal after using it since last May.

Tough cookie. I have it powered by a One Spot.

30 year player, doing classic and hard rock mostly these days. I've seen a lot of pedals and rack gear come and go in my time. This is one of those "classic" pedals that everyone should have in their kit.
I use Les Pauls, Fender Strats and Teles and a few no-name guitars. This is all I need on the pedalboard because I'm really not an effects guy. All I need is the amp's two channels, amp's reverb and this pedal to get everything I need. I don't record so everything I'm saying here relates to live shows.
I'm sure the boutique pedals sound just as good but for the price there is nothing better out there. Other pedals I have that I compare this to: Boss od, Boss sd, Bad Monkey, Screamin Blues, Barber LTD, Barber Burn Unit (EXCELLENT PEDAL!), all the TS 9/808 clones, Radial British Tubes and a few others. I don't buy/use junk just because it's cheap. That's not to say that some cheap pedals are not good because some are very good.
The MXR Distortion III is the best bang for buck PERIOD and may just be the best of the lot PERIOD! If you are looking for a GREAT OD pedal you should give this guy a test drive. Chances are you'll buy it if you try it.

Red metal chassis, three knobs, input, output, and 9v power jacks. Pretty red LED. Quite easy to get the sound you want. I wish that MXR wouldn't put the power jack right in front of thr input jack.

Totally impressed with this pedal. I really like where the EQ is on this thing. 3k plus or minus 15db. The gain works through the entire sweep. A little or a lot, it sounds good. It is not buzzy or fizzy. The sustain works great and is very controlable. I have run a Les Paul, a Strat, Tele, Reverend with humbuckers, and a Reverend with 3 P-90s. Worked great with all. The single coil guitars were awsome! Using a Deluxe Reverb or a Booogie F-30 in the clean channel. Very quiet.

Never had a problem with a MXR pedal.

Don't know

The best $80 I ever invested in an effect pedal. I have spent much more for pedals that didn't come close to impressing me this much.

Three knobs, one switch. If you can't master that, then go play the kazoo. I don't want to spend a decade dialing in a great sound, the MXR Disti III was a breeze. I had a great tone in four seconds flat.

The guitars are Les Pauls, a Classic Premium Plus with Smit's handwound pickups and a 1978 "The Paul" with a JB in the bridge. I'm using this in front of a 1974 Marshall 50 watt super lead that has been tweaked to late 60s Plexi specs. But the thing is so amazingly loud that I can't turn it up past 4, so I needed an overdrive pedal in front of the rig to give me the cranked sound. I had been using an attenuator, but it really didn't sound very good.

I have to say I was stunned at how close this came to the authentic cranked tone that I just didn't want to stop playing. I just loved it. Really really really!

I should say, I've always thought badly of pedals and swore I'd never use one. If it wasn't authentic tube saturation in an amp lovingly hand-built by corpulent gnomes in Milton Keynes, England, it was automatically crap. Boy was I wrong.

I tried a bunch of other "distortion" pedals and they all sounded buzzy and thin, or the "overdrive" pedals sounded fuzzy and poorly defined. This one sounds like a cranked tube amp - and a really good one at that. It's also dead quiet. There was no squeal and the feedback was very controllable - uh, like a cranked marshall should be. You getting the point?

The only thing keeping this from getting a 10 is that the midrange is a little too boosted. I was able to compensate by turning down the midrange on the amp. But if MXR could put a little three-way contour switch on it for the midrange with scooped, flat and boosted settings, this would be fantastic.

+1 on the guy who said smoke on the water and AC/DC. He's absolutely right. If you want to dial in some convincing classic rock and classic hard-rock tone, this baby does it for days. Great job MXR!!

It's a thick metal box. I'd be shocked out of my mind if it ever broke. If I were a touring musician, I'd probably want a backup, but for the gigs I do, I have total faith.

No opinion, haven't needed them.

I challenge anyone to find tone this good in anything else costing under a hundred bucks. If it were stolen or lost, I'd grab another in a heartbeat. I'd also bet my backside that the boutique pedal tweakers will take it apart and start cloning it. It's really great, destined to be a classic. It gives me a killer cranked tone at any volume, plus, when I turn it off, I have a clean channel that I didn't have before. I guess it saved me from spending a bazillion dollars ona multi-channel amp. Seriously, the best $80 I've ever spent on a piece of music gear.