MXR KFK-1 10-Band EQ

listen and adjust to taste simple to use.level,gain and 10 bands of eq control.

this is a great eq pedal but the same as the mxr 10 band.very usefull tool for a guitarist who like his tone.to find a great distortion is hard but to adjust your tone a eq is vital.this pedal is one of the top 3 eq's i ever used top dog is the boss ge-20 10 band eq then this one and then the very old ibanez 7 band from the 80's.but the kk 10 eq lets you anjust the gain big plus.I've tried alot of eq pedals but this is a real beast great frequence adjustiblity and one of the few mxr products i ever like enough to boost.if kerry king put his nae on it you know it crushes.

a tank!

if you value your tone you should use an equalizer but if you are picky about your pedals and sound this will be for you.a great tool in a guitarists arsenal of sound.

I rate this a 9 on ease of use only because it is a sophisticated piece of equipment, and does require somewhat of a "learning curb" to understand and adjust correctly.
I suspect many people who are dissatisfied with this unit, did not take the time to experiment with and learn HOW this EQ unit works. EQ'ing takes time to develop an "ear" for ya know...

Also, ideal placement in one's "chain" takes time to discover via trial & error.
No "User Manual" of any significance came with my unit; and I bought it new. Yet, it is really not needed.

I am using this unit with my Epiphone Les Paul (the good one), which I have modded with the Jimmy Page set-up; played through a Crate V3112 (30 watt), re-tubed with some very nice Mullen tubes.

The unit definitely has introduced some noise into my signal chain, which I will have to compensate for using a noise gate/filter. I read an earlier post about lowering the Volume Level to help correct this: Sorry Bro, "That dog don't hunt"... too much sund must be clipped in order use it that way even with Gain boosting. Besides... it shouldn't have to be that way.

I'll give it an 8 due to the fact that the Dunlop engineering boys should have been on top of this problem long ago, and not make me have to go buy yet another component to add into my chain just to use theirs!
Other than that, this sucker definitely offers a world of good tone trimming capability!

Yes, I can do that "Fool in the Rain" solo now, which is way cool. But try out some old Deep Purple a well, like "Space Truckin"... very tasty!

Aside from the Plastic headed sliders, this thing is built like a tank.
I expect that if the internals are as good, I shall have no problems with this unit in the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I'd gig with w/o a back-up. But now that I've got one, I'd sure be missing it... and so would my audience I fear. Just like Jimmy Page is missing Plant right now. hehehe

No interaction with Manufacturer to comment on.

I give it an 8 for two reasons: One - it's noisy. Two - it shouldn't have been released that way.

I play Classic Rock such as Led Zeppelin, Styx, Stones, etc; along with Country/Southern rock like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Bros., and a variety of Blues.

I've been playing over 35 yrs. now. I own a Vox Clyde McCoy wah pedal, an RS-20 Loop Station, a Heil Talk-box, a V-Amp 2 (I'm phasing out), and a Crate V3112 tube amp.

If lost or stolen I would track down the thief and beat them within an inch of their life with my cane, since I am disabled and could not afford to buy another one for a very long time. But YES, I would need to acquire another one.

Features I love: 10 Freq. Bands of Control; one input Gain Slider; one Output Vol Slider; 2 Output Jacks making Stereo possible; all Jacks are conveniently located on the top-side (North side- not face)of the unit making chaining easier; and all sliders are lit for easy stage use.

Features I dislike: It's too noisy, which may be due to the fact that it uses an 18v power source rather than the customary 9v?

In comparison to other potential EQs I found the others were either too expensive, or lacked the features this one offered.

Wish it had: Better noise filtering.

It does help in making my music sound better, once I add noise filtering. It can not only fine tune my sound, but acts as another Boost Pedal if wanted. Really makes my sound stand out, better than any presence could.

see the other reviews, but yes it is quite easy to get the sound you want out of this, but there are so many different variables that it takes some time!! and you can tinker for hours and hours...

this pedal is excellent when used in the effects loop. mine is almost always on. i just set it and forget it. i play a marshall jcm 800 2205, and it BOOSTS the bass response in an amp that is by design fairly anemic in that department. it makes my amp sound the way that i've always wanted. the gain boost is excellent. no need for a distortion pedal, the eq does that without taking away the sound of your amp, and with the eq sliders you can focus your gain MUCH better than any old distortion pedal ever could. i set my amp gain and settings to get a cross between dimebag darrell and zakk wylde. being i play a tube amp, my sound is more organic and meaty (ala zakk) than dime's, but tighter than zakks- with more sizzle (ala dime.) i love that the pedal doesn't color the sound of my amp. and it is quiet.
i really disliked the sound of this pedal through the front of the amp, it was very mushy and full of feedback. much better through the effects loop.

here is some interesting stuff i learned... for those of you who have older amps with NO VOLUME on your effects loops, listen up! my amp has a preamp volume and master volume, and i used to like to crank my preamp to ten, and then adjust my master accordingly. IF YOU DO THIS- and you can get a signal to go through the pedal without clipping (i could on my first one, but not my new one), eventually you will blow the gain and volume boost out of the pedal... my local guitar guy said that the signal is too hot to cram through the pedal and then squeeze back down into the power section.
i learned that the hard way, but mxr were great and sent me a new one.

another thing- that same guitar guy said that pushing that much bass (which the amp apparently wasn't built for) would eventually blow the transformer in the amp. that greatly disturbs me, but i can't imagine going back to playning the amp without it, so ah well.. i can't find anything online about this occurring, or anything, so anybody who wants to email me with some advice- PLEASE DO!

so, aside from apparent user error. it seems pretty tough.

sent me a new one right away.

excellent pedal. i have been playing for over 10 years and never tried one. thought about selling my amp because it just wasn't quite what i wanted as far as sound, and bought this pedal as a last effort before parting ways. WOW! so glad i did, and i would recommend it to anyone.

see the other reviews, but yes it is quite easy to get the sound you want out of this, but there are so many different variables that it takes some time!! and you can tinker for hours and hours...

this pedal is excellent when used in the effects loop. mine is almost always on. i just set it and forget it. i play a marshall jcm 800 2205, and it BOOSTS the bass response in an amp that is by design fairly anemic in that department. it makes my amp sound the way that i've always wanted. the gain boost is excellent. no need for a distortion pedal, the eq does that without taking away the sound of your amp, and with the eq sliders you can focus your gain MUCH better than any old distortion pedal ever could. i set my amp gain and settings to get a cross between dimebag darrell and zakk wylde. being i play a tube amp, my sound is more organic and meaty (ala zakk) than dime's, but tighter than zakks- with more sizzle (ala dime.) i love that the pedal doesn't color the sound of my amp. and it is quiet.
i really disliked the sound of this pedal through the front of the amp, it was very mushy and full of feedback. much better through the effects loop.

here is some interesting stuff i learned... for those of you who have older amps with NO VOLUME on your effects loops, listen up! my amp has a preamp volume and master volume, and i used to like to crank my preamp to ten, and then adjust my master accordingly. IF YOU DO THIS- and you can get a signal to go through the pedal without clipping (i could on my first one, but not my new one), eventually you will blow the gain and volume boost out of the pedal... my local guitar guy said that the signal is too hot to cram through the pedal and then squeeze back down into the power section.
i learned that the hard way, but mxr were great and sent me a new one.

another thing- that same guitar guy said that pushing that much bass (which the amp apparently wasn't built for) would eventually blow the transformer in the amp. that greatly disturbs me, but i can't imagine going back to playning the amp without it, so ah well.. i can't find anything online about this occurring, or anything, so anybody who wants to email me with some advice- PLEASE DO!

so, aside from apparent user error. it seems pretty tough.

sent me a new one right away.

excellent pedal. i have been playing for over 10 years and never tried one. thought about selling my amp because it just wasn't quite what i wanted as far as sound, and bought this pedal as a last effort before parting ways. WOW! so glad i did, and i would recommend it to anyone.

see the other reviews, but yes it is quite easy to get the sound you want out of this, but there are so many different variables that it takes some time!! and you can tinker for hours and hours...

this pedal is excellent when used in the effects loop. mine is almost always on. i just set it and forget it. i play a marshall jcm 800 2205, and it BOOSTS the bass response in an amp that is by design fairly anemic in that department. it makes my amp sound the way that i've always wanted. the gain boost is excellent. no need for a distortion pedal, the eq does that without taking away the sound of your amp, and with the eq sliders you can focus your gain MUCH better than any old distortion pedal ever could. i set my amp gain and settings to get a cross between dimebag darrell and zakk wylde. being i play a tube amp, my sound is more organic and meaty (ala zakk) than dime's, but tighter than zakks- with more sizzle (ala dime.) i love that the pedal doesn't color the sound of my amp. and it is quiet.
i really disliked the sound of this pedal through the front of the amp, it was very mushy and full of feedback. much better through the effects loop.

here is some interesting stuff i learned... for those of you who have older amps with NO VOLUME on your effects loops, listen up! my amp has a preamp volume and master volume, and i used to like to crank my preamp to ten, and then adjust my master accordingly. IF YOU DO THIS- and you can get a signal to go through the pedal without clipping (i could on my first one, but not my new one), eventually you will blow the gain and volume boost out of the pedal... my local guitar guy said that the signal is too hot to cram through the pedal and then squeeze back down into the power section.
i learned that the hard way, but mxr were great and sent me a new one.

another thing- that same guitar guy said that pushing that much bass (which the amp apparently wasn't built for) would eventually blow the transformer in the amp. that greatly disturbs me, but i can't imagine going back to playning the amp without it, so ah well.. i can't find anything online about this occurring, or anything, so anybody who wants to email me with some advice- PLEASE DO!

so, aside from apparent user error. it seems pretty tough.

sent me a new one right away.

excellent pedal. i have been playing for over 10 years and never tried one. thought about selling my amp because it just wasn't quite what i wanted as far as sound, and bought this pedal as a last effort before parting ways. WOW! so glad i did, and i would recommend it to anyone.

I gave this a 9 because it is very easy to use for someone who has a basic understanding of sonic frenquencies, in this case, those that pertain to guitar. There are 12 sliders in total, 10 for EQ, a Volume and a Gain slider.

Absolutely, hands-down...10

No question. If you want a pedal that will sculpt your sonic soundscape and add color and richness to your tone you only previously dreamt of, then this is the pedal for you.

There are a number of opinions on here on where to place this on your chain, and I guess it really comes down to purpose...what do you want to gain from this pedal? What kind of sound and/or effect do you want? I've read many things all over the web about placing this at the beginning of the chain and the end of your chain. I found that by placing this before my distortion, the power got 'sucked down' and the tones lost when I engaged my distortion pedal...so I moved it one position. I've since added a couple of pedals to my board but the MXR EQ hasn't moved. To solve the noise issue, I have place a Roctron Hush pedal at the end of my 1st effects chain.

I'm using several high-end guitars including PRS, Schecter and Ibanez thru a Mesa Boogie Roadster Head/4X12...My chain is:


GUITAR>>>BOSStu-2 >>>ErnieBallVolume>>>KeeleyComp>>>FulltoneOCD>>>ProCoRatDist>>>MXR.KFK1.10BandEQ>>>MXRPhase90>>>RoctronHushNR>>>AMPLIFIER

Effects Loop: SEND>>>MXRStereoChorus>>>MoogMF-104ZAnalogDelay>>>BossDD6DigiDelay>>>RETURN

I always keep my tim-based effects in the effects loop. I play mostly Rock, Hard-rock, Alternative Metal, etc...in the vain of Seether, Staind, Breaking Benjamin, etc...I find with my MXR KFK-1 10-Band EQ in the position it is, that I get a nice crunchy but clean, very warm tone and a nice even signal boost. Makes my distortion and overdrives sound absolutely amazing...the difference before and after was night and day. Also note, I tried placing chorus after this pedal before the amp and the chorus sounded horrible, so I placed it back in my effects loop and it sounds amazing again!

Its built like one of those old Soviet tanks. I'm sure if there were a nucular haulocaust, the only survivors would be Cockroaches, Twinkies and MXR guitar pedals. I play very regularly with it in rehersals and live performances...its withstood the test of touring via both bus and airplane. I'm not worried about this pedal breaking, I don't have a back-up.

I've never had to deal with them regarding my own equipment, nor can I remember having to deal with them for past customers' either. They are a large company with an extensive history so I can only assume that it would be good.

I've been playing guitar about 13 years. I've owned plenty of equipment, and I used to work in a guitar store so I've pretty much demoed most of the pedals out there. If this were stolen, I would hunt them down and beat them with the pedal, no wait this pedal's so solid that it might kill them, lol...I would definately replace it though. I give this pedal a 10 out of 10. Wait is there and 11?

"Easy to get a good sound" ? This depends on what you're looking to accomplish with it. A graphic EQ is intuitive by nature, so it really depends on your application. One way i use a graphic EQ is to equalize my guiter's signal, which means i place it at the start of my chain (right after my compressor.) Another way to use a graphic EQ is to compensate for some characteristic in your chain that you don't like ... a "mid-hump", for instance; or, too much treble or bass feeding another device. OR, you can use it simply to sculpt a particular sound or tone, like making a Strat sound MORE Strat-y; or pushing an OD pedal with a particular frequency, to emphasize a particular tonal flavour. (Makes a passable boost pedal as well.) The uses are many; which is why i like the MXR EQ, because is gives me 10 bands to work with.....not 5 or 6. Plus, it has a Gain AND a Level slider, which is useful. AND .... another big plus ... this model has TWO outputs, so i can feed two chains in a dual-amp setup....a simple splitter, if you will.

The sound quality is good overall; BUT, it's a noisy pedal, and specifically, the noise is related to the "Level" slider; so, you'll have to bring the Level DOWN a bit, perhaps below the unity notch, then bring the Gain slider UP a bit to compensate. Other than that, it's been a very useful device for me. Once you apply a graphic EQ in your rig, you'll always want it available, even if you don't always USE it, because the added flexibility is just too good to pass up.

Though noisy, the pedal is reliable. It's built VERY heavy-duty....feels like a metal brick in your hand.

No opinion.

I'll rate the Kerry King EQ pedal pretty high, because of it's features & usefullness. The noise level is a negative, but you can get around that okay; if you're in a show, "noise" becomes less of an issue. In a studio, or a music room, noise can become untenable, so you'll have to either take it off line, or figure out how to balance the noise with the tone. This IS a good pedal for guitarists, overall, because it's got more flexibility in terms of tone and balancing than any of the other STOMP EQ's that i've seen, and it's built solidly. A full-blown EQ rack unit certainly surpasses this box, but a stomp isn't designed to compete with a rack anyway, so this isn't an issue with me. AND, don't confuse this pedal with something like the BBE Sonic Stomp ... it AIN'T the same thing....regardless of what some people say. I happen to use a Sonic Stomp, BTW, and the "effect" is totally different.

It has the following frequencies, along with a volume and gain slider:
31.25Hz
62.5Hz
125Hz
250Hz
500Hz
1KHz
2KHz
4KHz
8KHz
16KHz

I want to point out right away that even though it's a 10 band EQ, the 31.25Hz does not make an audible difference, so only 9 of the sliders are useful.


Like every other EQ, this has the same ease of use. Move a slider up to boost a frequency or move a slider down to cut the frequency. Or to not boost or cut, keep the slider at 0 (in the middle)

It might take a bit or time to find your sound because there's literally no end the number of settings you can have. If for some odd reason you aren't pleased with it, you've most likely not messed around enough with it because this WILL make your amp sound better.

I play metal (Megadeth, Metallica, Dream Theater, Slayer etc...)I'm playing an Ibanez DT200 through a Peavey ValveKing 100 watt head and a Marshall 1960A cab with Vintage 30's. I already liked what I was getting out of my setup before I had this EQ, but felt it could use some beefing up, ya know, thicker, tighter etc... And this baby definitely delivered it. It's way thicker now, the palm mutes are much thicker and meatier and chords are chunky as well, yet still defined. And if you want it to do nothing more than to make your solos stand out, simply slide the volume slider up and engage the EQ when needed. With 12dB's of cut or boost, it has a wide range of tones available. This EQ can transform your old tone into that tone you've always dreamt of. However, it is noisy though, but this might because I have the volume boosted all the way on the EQ.

This EQ is very reliable to me. When I play guitar, I turn it on and keep in on, it sits on top of my amp, not on the ground. This eliminates the possibility of the switch being broke and any of the 12 slider heads from being knocked off. Plus, everything is in cased in a heavy duty metal chassis. I bet I could throw this EQ out my 2nd floor window onto the pavement and it would still work. Not that I would do it of course, hah. Oh, and it comes with an adapter, so like most pedals that DON'T come with one, unless you buy the adapter afterwards, you're taking a risk running it a on a 9V battery.

I have not needed to contact Dunlop.

Overall, this is an awesome EQ. You can use it for any style. Don't think because it's a Kerry King signature pedal that it's going to be brutal, it's not. The only signature part about this EQ is the dual outputs, and of course the tribal graphic on the front, which is pretty badass. But if you want it to make your tone brutal, it will definitely make it happen. This thing will make your amp produce more tons that you could've ever imagined. If it were stolen, I would be furious and would track down the person who stole it. If it somehow broke, I would buy a new one right away, no question about it. And I have the good people on the Harmony Central Amp Forum to thank because they are the ones who recommended this pedal to me. If you have an concerns about your amp, look no further than the Harmony Central Amp Forum (HCAF)

It's a 10-band eq with volume and gain sliders. Very easy to use. I find the bands to be fairly tame compared to my rackmount eqs. Maybe they have a narrow Q, but it's hard to do a lot of drastic sonic sculpting with this pedal. That's what a parametric is for, I figure.

On the other hand, used with some intelligence, you can really clean up a guitar tone with this.

You can use graphic eqs for a variety of purposes, including sculpting, hiss reduction, and feedback reduction. I use this eq to clean up the tone on various guitars. On the one hand, I cut off low bass frequencies, as well as attenuating high frequencies and hiss. Then I center in on the bands in the guitar's range, slightly cutting those frequencies which are a bit harsh. And by slight, I do mean slight.

Because I reduce frequencies, and never boost them, it is handy to have a master volume slider to compensate for the slightly reduced output level. When I switch on the eq, I get a much tighter, more focused tone at the same volume levels. SOmetimes it sounds too tight, but in a live band setting, getting rid of unneeded frequencies - (and enhancing those frequencies which matter) - is paramount.

I play clean or semi-dirty a lot, as I am mostly a jazz guy. However, I have used this thing with distortion pedals and other effects. It sits last in my signal chain. I have noticed a tiny -( and I mean tiny) - bit of noise, but since I play clean, it doesn't bother me.

HOWEVER, this thing is equipped with the worst switch in history. Depressing it will emit a loud pop, regardless of whether or not you have signal passing through the chain. I made the mistake of switching it off during a silent moment in a church service that I was sitting in on (for fun). The resulting pop startled the audience. Absolutely terrible. If you are going to switch this thing, you will have to put it behind a controller such as a loopmaster, loopbone or GCX audio switcher. (either that, or have a kill switch to kill the signal to the amp, then switch). Ugh. Just terrible.

My unit, which was purchased new from music123, also makes scratching sounds when you move the gain by 0. (from either direction). Just a little scratch when you hit 0.

-2 marks for the pop sound when switching. -1 for the scratching.

Well, I do depend on it. How reliable would it be over the years? Who knows.

Never tried.

Mostly, I play jazz. As for gear, I have a fair number of upper end instruments and amps. VHT, CAE/Suhr, Jackson, Voodoo Lab, Diamond, Hofner. (etc)

This is a nice piece of kit if you want a graphic eq in the signal chain. Since I use it to reduce hiss, get rid of unwanted frequencies, and to do a bit of light correction to a guitar tone, I don't switch it on and off during performances. It just sits there at the end of the chain. It works nicely for that application.

I would NOT recommend buying this if you intend to switch it on and off dynamically during a tune. (Unless you have a loop controller).

The red leds are a nice feature. YOu can see the settings on dark stages. Really really nice. Big selling feature over its competitors, for those of us who play rooms with low lighting.

If stolen, I would probably replace it. For me, it's a great match. A bit heavy, and the 18v is a pain, but it does what I need. It sits there, cuts out frequencies, and looks a bit menacing.

(I could, however, do without the white trash tribal design on the casing. Not everyone is a redneck from the sticks, so please don't mark pieces of gear in a manner that paints the owner as a lower class twat with no taste. Mind as well give away a silver chain necklace, UFC shirt and elevated pickup truck with it)

Super easy to use. The lights on the sliders are awsome!! Just start in the middle and move the sliders up and down slightly to find the tone you desire.

The sound quality of this unit is off the charts!! Hardly adds any noise if at all. I use a Carvin MTS 100 watt head(EL34`s) into an original Madison 4x12 cab with 4 Divinity speakers(Celestion 85 watt clones). I use 2 guitars depending on what I am playing, either custom Jackson Soloist with 1 EMG 81 and a non-recessed Floyd or my Dean Czech select. My MTS sounded very good before I bought this EQ, but now, the tone is off the charts!! I put it in the Loop where it sounds best to me and I can get Slayer and old Metallica now problem.Not only does it shape your sound, it boosts your sygnal and sounds like you took blankets off of your speaker cab!! Awsome unit.

I haven`t owned it long, but so far so good.

Not sure, never owned an MXR product before.

I am rating this a 9 only because I haven`t had to deal with customer support yet and not sure.Anyway, I play old speed metal and thrash and this is exactly what I was looking for!! I love everything about it, except it could use metal sliders and less gap between them as dust can get in there. I have been playing for about 30 years and don`t know what I was thinking never owning a graphic eq. I think everyone should own one of these and experiment, it has done wonders for my tone. If it broke or was stolen, I would buy another one right away!! Now go get one!!