The Guitar Player's Resource
detachment | dəˈtaCHmənt | a group of troops, aircraft, or ships sent away on a separate mission.
A look at the Guitar Nine organization's medley of MXR dirt (distortion, overdrive) pedals amassed from 1980 through 2025. It's been called the "X-pi-al-i-do-cious 9", but that's a somewhat chucklesome (or roguish) way of saying MXR has been in the audio business since about 1972, started by high school buds Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood in the great state of New York. The second MXR pedal ever created was the Distortion+, a classic hard clipping 1970s op-amp distortion. Today, MXR is more vibrant and exciting than ever, offering dozens of dirt and drive models for guitar players, with the time-honored effects sitting proudly alongside forward-thinking boxes never dreamed of by the founders.
