Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
Moderators: Randy Perry, The Flying Dutchman, Stiltzkin, skezza, Trigger
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
I heard thru the grapevine, the MXR pedal will be release in July! Stay Tuned!!
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
This week was the week! The pedal was released on August 20th!
My order finally got packed and shipped yesterday, so should have Monday! Ugh....with I could have had it by the weekend and spend some time with it.
Looking forward to checking it out and if any different from my era-correct versions and if so, swapping out the pedal in my pedalboard and putting this journey I started 5 years ago and baby to bed.
In all honesty...I really think the D+ was stock!! I played thru my pedalboard the last 2 days and with the D+ AND EQ engaged into the amp with appropriate modification like Marshall did back in the day and Altecs....the tone is SPOT ON stock!! :O
We will see.
Oh, and if anyone is interested what the entire pedalboard and road cost cost me with era-correct pedals and the custom looper....It was about $4,500!! $2,700 in parts and $1,800 in labor given the amount of man-hours and at my pay grade!!
Enjoy!
My order finally got packed and shipped yesterday, so should have Monday! Ugh....with I could have had it by the weekend and spend some time with it.
Looking forward to checking it out and if any different from my era-correct versions and if so, swapping out the pedal in my pedalboard and putting this journey I started 5 years ago and baby to bed.
In all honesty...I really think the D+ was stock!! I played thru my pedalboard the last 2 days and with the D+ AND EQ engaged into the amp with appropriate modification like Marshall did back in the day and Altecs....the tone is SPOT ON stock!! :O
We will see.
Oh, and if anyone is interested what the entire pedalboard and road cost cost me with era-correct pedals and the custom looper....It was about $4,500!! $2,700 in parts and $1,800 in labor given the amount of man-hours and at my pay grade!!
Enjoy!
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Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
Well, I received mine on Saturday. Same stock pedal that I remember. I suggest keeping it shrink wrapped as that is how it will come. To me, there is no difference if you own an old( 40-50 yr) original pedal. My 2 cents worth. Plus, god bless you for making it work as it is not an appealing distortion to my ears.
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
surely there is something to the pedal. It can't take so long just be a paint job and packaging
Distortion III is good by me
Distortion III is good by me
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
To my ears, there is nothing special about the pedal. Maybe compared to the newest iterations, yes, it’s maybe better. Still not a tone I would typically use.
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
There must have been a royalty which is why it is limited
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
waiting to see some demo with the regular release. I know its all dump to purchase this pedal because of RAndy name on it but i just wanted one anyway but too late now. i have a regular Disto + that i use with whne playing with my band (Marshall 1987x). I keep going from tubescream to mxr to tubescreamer on each jam!!!
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
well, I was bummed about the release personally guys!
i was fortunate enough to pick up two!
i played the RR-104 and compared it to an original 1980 D+ with IC exactly like Randy's as pictured in the booklet that came with it, a brand new M-104 and a clone I built.
The RR-104 was significantly quieter and the quietest of the 4, but did not have the saturation and dirt of the others! Upon closer examination, i noted mine had installed green-band diodes in it! Photos of other peoples "gut shots" had black-band diodes!! I noticed the soldering was shiny on the diodes, but no other component! Meaning, they must have hand soldered these off-process. When I tested all of the diodes on all of the pedal, I found out that the clone I had built previously and vintage D+ had black-band and read 0.393 and 0.379V at 5.00mA on a 1980 and 0.346 and 0.342V on a 1978. The modern M-104 read 0.696 and 0.667V and had Red-band!
The RR-104 read 0.613 and 0.829V and had a green-band! I figured that may be part of Randy's tone in with the measurement being wide apart would clip asymmetrically and likewise, the higher the voltage, the less the signal gets clipped and less saturation!
I then had an opportunity to measure a friends RR-104 and that had got it from a different company. I got mine thru Sweetwater and he got his thru ZZ Sound. His diodes had black-band! When I measured it, it read 0.383 and 0.391V!! This means is was very similar in voltage, symmetric clipping and significantly lower than mine and very similar to a era-correct pedal!
Further, it means there is differences in diode type and supplier and they are not all consistent! I was personally a little disgusted I weighted almost 2 years to find out...1. the secret is....there is no secret in regard to Randy's D+ and was just a stock D+ of the era and 2. MXR did not do a good job of measuring the diodes and just used whatever was available and quality problems as pedals are not consistent!!
I then chose to sell both pedals which was the only saving grace of the whole experience was was able to get almost $1,000 for them!!
I have 2 correct vintage pedals, so no need for them and do not want a pedal that is not an exact replication of Randy's and nothing more than unfortunately what people had suggested it might be and a stock D+ with a paint job. I would advise anyone that wants to get tone as close to Randy's to just pick up a vintage circa 1980 block D+!! It will have the correct IC and should have the correct diodes. It will have the tantalum caps along with ceramic ton caps. The only thing that you might want to change is all of the resistors to 1/4 watt 1% metal film type because they are less prone to noise.
Why the RR-104 was significantly less quiet is a little perplexing to me. I figured possibly due to the metal film capacitor and a modern UA741CP which I believe the die had changed over time, so possibly improved noise in a modern IC....but the new 2024 M-104 D+ has the new IC and metal film cap! The ONLY thing different is the tone caps which are mylar and not ceramic! The only other things MAY be in the PCB. I have no idea why the RR-104 is a new PCB and layout! It's just like the M-104 with DC in and LED with DPDT switch.
Another last thing to note is the weight! The enclosure is the same side and weight of PCB and components should be about the same, but the RR-104 is significantly heavier than the M-104 and gives the impression of heavy = quality! But should do nothing for tone.
i was fortunate enough to pick up two!
i played the RR-104 and compared it to an original 1980 D+ with IC exactly like Randy's as pictured in the booklet that came with it, a brand new M-104 and a clone I built.
The RR-104 was significantly quieter and the quietest of the 4, but did not have the saturation and dirt of the others! Upon closer examination, i noted mine had installed green-band diodes in it! Photos of other peoples "gut shots" had black-band diodes!! I noticed the soldering was shiny on the diodes, but no other component! Meaning, they must have hand soldered these off-process. When I tested all of the diodes on all of the pedal, I found out that the clone I had built previously and vintage D+ had black-band and read 0.393 and 0.379V at 5.00mA on a 1980 and 0.346 and 0.342V on a 1978. The modern M-104 read 0.696 and 0.667V and had Red-band!
The RR-104 read 0.613 and 0.829V and had a green-band! I figured that may be part of Randy's tone in with the measurement being wide apart would clip asymmetrically and likewise, the higher the voltage, the less the signal gets clipped and less saturation!
I then had an opportunity to measure a friends RR-104 and that had got it from a different company. I got mine thru Sweetwater and he got his thru ZZ Sound. His diodes had black-band! When I measured it, it read 0.383 and 0.391V!! This means is was very similar in voltage, symmetric clipping and significantly lower than mine and very similar to a era-correct pedal!
Further, it means there is differences in diode type and supplier and they are not all consistent! I was personally a little disgusted I weighted almost 2 years to find out...1. the secret is....there is no secret in regard to Randy's D+ and was just a stock D+ of the era and 2. MXR did not do a good job of measuring the diodes and just used whatever was available and quality problems as pedals are not consistent!!
I then chose to sell both pedals which was the only saving grace of the whole experience was was able to get almost $1,000 for them!!
I have 2 correct vintage pedals, so no need for them and do not want a pedal that is not an exact replication of Randy's and nothing more than unfortunately what people had suggested it might be and a stock D+ with a paint job. I would advise anyone that wants to get tone as close to Randy's to just pick up a vintage circa 1980 block D+!! It will have the correct IC and should have the correct diodes. It will have the tantalum caps along with ceramic ton caps. The only thing that you might want to change is all of the resistors to 1/4 watt 1% metal film type because they are less prone to noise.
Why the RR-104 was significantly less quiet is a little perplexing to me. I figured possibly due to the metal film capacitor and a modern UA741CP which I believe the die had changed over time, so possibly improved noise in a modern IC....but the new 2024 M-104 D+ has the new IC and metal film cap! The ONLY thing different is the tone caps which are mylar and not ceramic! The only other things MAY be in the PCB. I have no idea why the RR-104 is a new PCB and layout! It's just like the M-104 with DC in and LED with DPDT switch.
Another last thing to note is the weight! The enclosure is the same side and weight of PCB and components should be about the same, but the RR-104 is significantly heavier than the M-104 and gives the impression of heavy = quality! But should do nothing for tone.
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
The weights were:
M-108 = 209g
R-104 = 377g
I decided, I'll just keep the vintage D+ in the pedalboard as it does sound correct!
M-108 = 209g
R-104 = 377g
I decided, I'll just keep the vintage D+ in the pedalboard as it does sound correct!
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
Thanks for detailed insight.
So same old same
https://www.electrosmash.com/mxr-distor ... s-analysis
So same old same
https://www.electrosmash.com/mxr-distor ... s-analysis
Re: Kathy states there will be an “exciting announcement” on Randy’s birthday..
Most of the 1N270s that you can find out there are spec'ed at 1V Vf and test between 0.6xx and 0.8xx.
I found a source tonight and that posted Vf=.3 and further feedback from people that bought confirmed measured at 0.290V!
So, I ordered 20pc (enough for 10 pedals) and should be in later this week. I will confirm this weekend. If confirmed, I will post the link, so folks that want to build their own pedal or got a new RR-104 with green band or poor Vf measurements, or a modern M-104 which has the red band and poor Vf one can desolder them and swap them out and put back to vintage-spec! Stay tuned!
I found a source tonight and that posted Vf=.3 and further feedback from people that bought confirmed measured at 0.290V!
So, I ordered 20pc (enough for 10 pedals) and should be in later this week. I will confirm this weekend. If confirmed, I will post the link, so folks that want to build their own pedal or got a new RR-104 with green band or poor Vf measurements, or a modern M-104 which has the red band and poor Vf one can desolder them and swap them out and put back to vintage-spec! Stay tuned!