MXR Envelope Filter

ok,here i go again. another positive envelope filter review.
i've tried em' all,fell in love with a few. but after the ''honeymoon'' stage(and too much knob twiddling onstage)i inevitably moved on to the next best.
my favorites in order were-
tonefactor 442
old ibanez af-9
haz mutron III +
1st edition dod fx-25
guyatone wr3
well,i bought this as a project on ebay. it arrived looking like it was wrapped in duct tape for years and inside it had a decaying battery and all the original foam had become gunk.a little naptha cleaned the case right up.the switch was bad,and i 3pdt my pedals anyway.all it needed was a switch and a bath.

the little mxr is the only one that sounds great in ALL applications. clean(single notes AND chords)
or before an overdrive/distortion
especially an old mxr dist +:
bear in mind im going for the garcia tone,although i dont play at all like that.
im not gloating,but this was a great deal.
as for ease of use,unlike all the other filters are tempermental beasts,the mxr is far and away the most pedalboard friendly.
and it nails that 'estimated prophet' sound on low and high strings simultaneously.this is the elusive quality of the mxr,it opens and closes on all strings up and down the neck.
i dont miss an led cause you know when this thing is on,and i use it sparingly.it will turn heads though,it sounds that good.
kids,if your looking for a filter to make noises with,dont buy one of these.get an old dod fx-25 and put it after your boss ds-1 or mt-2

mines a 77,took a lickin but kept on tickin

R.I.P MXR, my hats off to you guys that put these together back in the day.you are to be commended!
maybe dunlop will stop board mounting jacks/pots and switches and once again build them like their forefathers did.
wait........thats not cost effective!

well,ive said enough. sorry to be contibuting to the escalating prices, but i got mine and i wont be selling it,my orange ross phaser or my modified boss sd-2,EVER!
i saw one of these mxr filters sell for $255.00 with box and manual.
you pedal collectors need to get a life.
what,did you finally grow out of your star wars figurines?
wealthy nerds

Basically, same two controls as the Dod 440, except in reverse order. One knob for adjusting the sweep, and one for adjusting the response of the pedal to the attack of the strings.

I believe most people will want to know how this pedal compares to the Dod440.The MXR has way more usable settings than the Dod440.With the Dod you have to find it's sweetspot and leave it there.Not the case with the MXR. The MXR responds to the dynamics of the player and follows your playing equally as well as the Dod. With the MXR there is no annoying volume boost as is the case with the Dod. The MXR works well on its own without the need of help from other pedals, such as a compressor. The Dod really only shines when you have a boost in front of it and a compressor behind it. THE BEST PART ABOUT THE MXR IS THAT IT DOES NOT COLOR YOUR TONE LIKE THE DOD440. The tone of the MXR envelope filter out-performs the Dod440 by a huge margin, especially with overdrive. It is the best envelope filter out there when it comes to live performance because of its tone and its ease of use. Find one of these or build a clone of one and you will not be disapointed with the results.

Not really a fantastic value as the price of these is steadily rising. I paid $120.00 for mine and I know I could have gotten one for half that price three years ago. I think they are becoming quite rare because I don't see them up for sale very often. One can build a clone of this for pretty cheap. General Guitar Gadgets has a good plan for building one of these. I believe this filter is the favorite of many guitar players for giging purposes.

Just 2 knobs...attact and threshold. Threshold works on when you want the WAAAAAA to start and attact is how hard you need to hit a note, or chord to get the WAAAAAA out. If you don't understand that...just listen...you'll get it in a minute.

To me this is the holly grail....this is the sound I ALWAYS WANTED. This is the first envelope filter I ever owned. I had lent it to my bass player and he died about a week after I lent it to him. Well lets just say that his family thought I was a bad influence on him. There was no way they would even let me have any of my equipment back. After that I bought a T-Wah...the first model. And it was nice with the up and down switch but...it wasn't my MXR! I've had Q-tron, Qtron +, nice but not the MXR. I even had a Mutron V....nice but...not it. 4 Weeks ago a package came in the mail. It was a bunch of my equipment that was returned on the 10th aniversary of the death of the Bass Player.
I missed that damn thing!!!!! I am so happy tohave this back...It it the BEST!!!!!

I can't tell you what its done for the last 10 years but its about 24 years old. I put a new battery in and I was of to WAA WAA land.

Its is strong as can be!

The Real MXR is gone.

I bought this for the Jerry Garcia sound. I just love his sound. This thing hits it right on. I have used a Mutron III like Garcia used but
I found it to be too difficult to tweek. Especially on the fly. I hope one day Jim Dunlop gets down to business and starts to build the correct filter. I was afraid to purchase one off of an auction site as this would be so easy to copy the outside and screw up the insides.

If you don't mind buying from internet auction sites get one quick and quack off. Its great!

Why a 10? Just listen to the sound. I dont even know how to play a guitar normaly, but whith this i can get the sound that makes my chords melt down and blend your ears with milk and honey.

Look at all the other mxt rewievs. A BRICK!

Never needed them.

The best auto-wha on the market, or is it on the market. I bought it fram a drunk keyboardplayer who needed cash to bye beer. Its true. I saw him a couple of nights ago on the bus. I hid in my cap. I guess he would kill me for tricking him of his best sounding pice of equippment. As i said- the best!

MXR=Simplicity!! Two controls, Threshold and Attack. Getting a great sound out of this unit is seconds away!

This unit is part of a long chain of filter, drive, modular and delay fx. I use a Gibson 3 pickup Nighthawk through a Matamp R28 amp. This effect really stopped me in my tracks, I had not used an envolope filter or auto wah of any kind before and now its one of my main effects. Real funky tone from this little unit in clean mode but it really comes to life when used with some dirt!! Put it together with a drive or distortion pedal and you will only put your guitar down for sleep!! Whether its Jimi tones, Achtung Baby U2 tones, or just plain funk this pedal will not disappoint! This pedal is very responsive to picking attack.

This pedal is 21 years old and although it is just starting to get use (mine is a NOS Block logo bought off ebay USA) it really give a sturdy impression. Housed in a tough metal case this unit would make a certifiable weapon against anyone trying to steal it!!

Not really appicable being that MXR no longer exists (Dunlop owning the name MXR is nothing more than that, their pedals are not MXR!)

I play anything from basic blues to alternative Radiohead style music to rock and metal and this really adds to my tone. I have been playing for 9 years and can't believe I've only come across this effect now! I would replace this pedals no question without even looking for another brand, I love MXR pedals and this effect is just right for me

It is very easy to get a decent sound from this landmine, its Plug&Play. Compared to Mu-tron III it has less adjustments, but in a live situation I see that as a convenient thing. If it had a DC jack I'd give it a perfect 10.

I use it with my '78 JazzBass, Mesa/Boogie 400+ and Ampeg cabinet, and it always works great onstage, it has a dry wah without ear-wrecking resonance. I consider Mu-Tron III as the mother of all Envelopefilters, but I have to fiddle more around with the knobs to get the sound I want from that, so I only use that when recording.

It'll survive a nuclear war.....

Don't know.... haven't needed it yet

When I first started, many years ago, listening to Larry Graham Parliament, Funkadelic, Sly, and all the funky stuff, I noticed this wacky, jumpy sound on the bass. I soon learned that it came from a box called Envelope Filter, AutoFilter, AutoWah, TouchWah or whatever.
I think I've tried them all since. Starting with Boss AutoFilter, which was a disapointment, then DOD; too wild and resonant, Doctor Q; ok, but too squeaky, and then I got my hands on Mu-Tron III!! That was it.....Pure Funk! I played it for years, though live it seemed to fight back, but in studio it was great. Then a friend gave me an MXR Envelope Filter, which has been a rocksteady partner since, it never lets me down.

If you know how an envelope filter works, it's easty to get a good sound out of this 2-knob pedal. If you don't know how and envelope filter works, you might be frustrated, since the effect depends on which pickup you're using, the volume on your guitar, and any number of tonal factors.

If you have the rubber knob cover, it makes the pedal much easier to use, as you can adjust the sensitivity with your foot as you change pickups, tone, etc.

I'm using EMG equipped guitars and Mesa/Boogie amps with this pedal.

Like most old MXR effects, the bypass isn't all that clean, and the pedal is a little noisy when engaged.

As for tone, this is a great pedal. It doesn't give you a freaky quack effect like a Mutron or Moogerfooger, but it's perfect for reggae or Grateful Dead tones (Jerry had it in a loop coming out from his guitar so that the signal going into the envelope filter was always constant).

I've had this box for over ten years, and it has yet to fail me.

I play many styles of music and rarely use the envelope filter. But when I need it, I'm glad I have this straight-up, compact, dependable workhorse model.

If my MXR envelope filter were stolen or lost, I would definitely try to find another one.

I love that it's small and only has two knobs. I like that its sounds are limited, compared to the newer wave of envelope filters coming out today.

Like all my old MXR pedals, I wish that this one had a status LED and power jack, but if it did, it'd be one of the crappy Dunlop knockoffs and I wouldn't own it anyway. Somewhere down the road, I'll mod this pedal like I've begun doing with the other ones.

This pedal helps me make music. In fact, that's the best way to describe the MXR Envelope Filter: It's a musical effect.

Simple, two knob operation. One threshold level (that trigers the effect),a bit tricky to set, and one attack knob (fast or slow wha-wha effect)

Very good sound quality. No noise.

Very rough, almost indestructible.

No customer support has been needed since 1983.

Good for funk, as many owners said, but for reggae rhythm guitar, this effect is a must. Great for soloing in any music style.

well, its two nobs, but you need to learn how to play guitar around the pedals setting at the time (how hard to hit, how hard to trill, how to fade out effectivley etc...)

Great Wah sound (but aoutomatic), With a strat when clean you can get really funky, or dark and trippy, I use an Ibanez Flying V copy, which cant get as funky as a strat thouhgh, but can get trippy, you can really spice up a lead sound with it as someone said. you can do al sorts of crap such as quacks and other stuff. You can fool around for hours.

A nob broke off, but thats it. (and its about 21 years old as of october 12 2000)

Sounds good, great fun factor, i like adding to leads to give it an extra edge, i also use it for when i need a wah ( i dont own a "real" wah). I think Its becoming apart of my sound.

BTW. My setup is Ibanez Flying V---->MXR envelope--->Rat---->Fender Super 112

and i use the amp for distortion mainly, but sometimes the rat

This effect is pretty easy to use. One knob controls the threshold of the WAH effect (i.e., how loud must I play to trigger it), the other controls the attack curve (i.e., does it shoot straight to a bright sound, or does it "wah" to a bright sound).
Ease of figuring out how the controls work would be a 10, but you also must learn how to set the threshold, and how to play to trigger it, which took me a little while. I like to back my guitar volume off to about 7, then set the threshold so I'm right on the edge. Then, as I play, if I want more wah, I just roll up my guitar volume.

This is NOT a substitute for a real wah pedal. But for an "autowah," I think it sounds cool. It does effect the tone of my guitar a lot. I play a dual-humbucker solid-body Madiera and a Japanese Fender Strat, mostly into a Crate VC508 tube amp.
Engaging this pedal seems to compress the signal and reduce the low frequency response. The tone, both above and below the "wah" threshold, is thinner and kind of "ringy" sounding.
For playing around, or for weird solos, this thing is excellent. Setting the attach to be very fast and lowering the threshold produces wild "boink" or "quack" sounds. I bet this thing would sound cool with a bass.

The reliability knob should go to eleven. This thing is about 20 years old, but is unbreakable. Bricks don't hold up this well. MXR really knew how to build "stomp" into their little boxes.

High reliability makes customer support an unknown. If all MXR boxes hold up like this one, MRX may not even NEED customer support.

This is a fun effect with few real applications. But for playing around in my basement, it's very cool.
This is an obscure pedal. I think many used envelop filters change hands for a low price, because most folks don't know what it is or how to use it. That's how I got mine for free!