MXR announces Randy Rhoads Distortion+ for 2023

December 6, 2022 · 4 sources

MXR announced a Randy Rhoads signature Distortion+ pedal on December 6, 2022, Rhoads' birthday, according to a statement from his sister Kathy Rhoads D'Argenzio reported by Guitar World¹. The pedal was slated for release in 2023¹.

Rhoads D'Argenzio wrote on Instagram that the MXR team had recently examined the guitarist's pedalboard at Musonia, the North Hollywood music school and Randy Rhoads museum founded by his mother, Delores¹. "For the first time in over 40 years it was intricately examined, filmed, recorded and documented at Musonia," she wrote¹. She said the board had been awaited from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and that after the examination it was returned to a "secured location," not Musonia¹. Thieves broke into Musonia in 2019 and stole instruments, photos and memorabilia; all the missing items were eventually retrieved and returned to the family¹.

An MXR Distortion+ was a central feature of the pedalboard, which was stored in a flight case and had at least eight switches and nine control knobs, and played a significant role in Rhoads' sound¹. No specifications, price or exact release date were given in the announcement¹.

Be on the lookout for this pedal, upcoming in 2023!"¹

Guitar World later reported that the pedal, first teased in December 2022, "fell into obscurity" until January 2024, when it was announced it was still in the pipeline². The publication reported an August 20, 2024 release date³ and then that the pedal was available for $169.99, with two knobs for output and distortion and a true bypass footswitch². Dunlop's own account, published in September 2025, says the first run sold out quickly and that the pedal is back⁴.