MXR announces Duke Of Tone overdrive with Analog Man

September 1, 2022 · 4 sources

MXR announced the Duke Of Tone overdrive pedal on September 1, 2022, a collaboration with Analog Man's Mike Piera¹²³. The pedal is a reimagined, smaller version of Analog Man's single-channel Prince Of Tone, which was itself modeled after the dual-channel King Of Tone²³.

The Duke Of Tone has three knobs, Volume for output, Drive for gain and Tone for fine-tuning the sound, plus a three-way clipping toggle switch with Boost, OD and Distortion modes²³. Guitar World describes Boost as delivering a "clean-yet-vigorous" bump, OD as adding grit and compression, and Distortion as layering on more of each². The pedal has a true bypass footswitch, as Guitar World says is the case for all Analog Man pedals²³. According to Guitar World, it uses the same thru-hole components as the King rather than surface mount alternatives, and WIMA capacitors². MXR claims the pedal delivers "a warm-yet-clear-and-open sound that allows all of the nuances of your signal chain to come through, from your individual guitar strings to the dynamics of your amp's tubes"². Guitar.com reports an additional 18V mode for more headroom and clarity, and that MXR says the pedal suits gain stacking⁴.

Piera said he tested the components himself. "I drew out the schematic for how I wanted the Duke of Tone Overdrive to be," he said. "They listened to me, and they used pretty much all of the parts I wanted"⁴.

The sources disagree on price and shipping. Guitar World and GuitarPlayer give $149 and an October 1 ship date²³; Guitar.com gives a pre-order price of $149.99 and an October 1 release⁴. MusicRadar says the pedal is due later in September¹. MusicRadar also reports a four-year waiting list for the King Of Tone¹, while Guitar World says the list regularly reaches five years².