2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Zakk Wylde’s partnership with MXR, and as such, the pair have rekindled their partnership for a run of celebratory stompboxes.
In total, the drop is made up of five pedals – three of which have been released to spearhead the range – which each bring to the table a flashy new-look chassis to house some of Wylde’s go-to MXR effects.
In MXR’s own words: “Each of the five pedals in the series captures all the glory and hellfire that Wylde is famous for, from his legendary recordings and performances with Ozzy Osbourne and as part of his own band Black Label Society to his current run with Pantera.”
And it's true: in our complete rundown of Wylde's current gear list, every pedal that has been reissued as part of this series was accounted for.
It’s a rather select and exclusive lineup, which has been curated with the intention of providing players a broad spectrum of Wylde’s main sounds, spanning his Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society and, now, Pantera repertoire.
New-look versions of the MXR Wylde Audio Overdrive, Chorus and Phase pedals have been released first, with Wylde himself saying of this new launch, “They’ve been on my pedalboard forever. This is definitely all the ingredients I needed to make the soup.”
Each pedal pays homage to their predecessors with expanded throwback aesthetics. The Phase, for example, extrapolates the red-and-black buzzsaw design to cover the whole face. It’s a similar case for the bullseye-style Overdrive and psychedelic Chorus.
Aside from the new cosmetics, the pedals are identical to their forebears. That means the Phase has a sole control knob for Speed, while the Overdrive offers parameters for Output, Tone and Gain.
The Chorus is slightly more comprehensive – but still intuitive – with the presence of Low, High, Level, Rate and Depth knobs.
The pedals are yet to make their way onto Dunlop’s website, but they have cropped up on a handful of retailers, such as Sweetwater.
Price-wise, the Chorus is the most expensive new release, weighing in at $149. The Overdrive and Phase, meanwhile, have price tags of $129 and $119, respectively.
As we mentioned above, there are two more Wylde Audio Series MXR pedals on the way. What are they, you ask? The MXR Wylde Audio Rotovibe, and Zakk’s custom Cry Baby Wah.
Keep your eyes peeled on Dunlop for future Wylde Audio Series updates.
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