MXR Custom Shop GT-OD

The MXR Custom Shop GT-OD is a compact overdrive pedal from MXR, the brand owned by Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc.¹ Jim Dunlop's own manual describes it as a "traditionally warm and transparent overdrive" that "adds sustain and gain without coloring your guitar or amp's tone"¹. In other words, it is built to push your amp rather than replace its character, which is what most players mean when they call an overdrive "transparent."

Vintage Guitar magazine reviewed the Custom Shop version in May 2007 and mapped out its range across the Gain knob: with Gain and Output set between 7 o'clock and 12 o'clock, the pedal moved from a slightly dirty clean boost to a solid overdrive with what the reviewer called "nice, abundant musical overtones"². Push the Gain past 1 o'clock toward 5 o'clock and it becomes "a slightly more aggressive, but still very color-free, crunchy distortion with an abundance of gain"². The current MXR GT-OD (model M193) is the same circuit sold outside the Custom Shop branding, and it has its own page at MXR GT-OD.

The controls: Output, Tone and Gain

The GT-OD keeps it to three knobs, and Jim Dunlop's manual explains what each one does¹:

Vintage Guitar described the same three controls as Output level (the pedal's overall output when engaged), Tone, and Gain for the amount of overdrive or distortion². The knobs themselves are MXR's old-school black-plastic style with glow-in-the-dark pointers, a practical touch for dark stages².

Because there is only one tone control, the GT-OD is not a pedal for surgical EQ work. It is a set-and-forget drive: dial in the gain amount, set the level against your clean tone, and nudge the Tone knob until it sits right with your amp¹².

Power, jacks and build

Powering the GT-OD is straightforward. Dunlop's product page states it can run on a 9-volt battery or a Dunlop ECB003 9-volt adapter⁴. The original Custom Shop version used a circuitboard-mounted 9-volt adapter jack rather than a fully chassis-mounted one, which is worth knowing if you are shopping an older unit secondhand².

The input and output are chassis-mounted 1/4" jacks, with the input jack accepting your guitar cable¹². Switching is handled by a heavy-duty classic stompswitch with a red LED status indicator so you can see at a glance whether the pedal is engaged².

The whole thing sits in MXR's familiar heavy-duty die-cast box, measuring 4.25" x 2.25" x 1.25", finished in satin metallic green paint². That is the standard small MXR enclosure, small enough to slot into a tight pedalboard without rearranging anything.

What reviewers said about its gain range

The GT-OD's gain range is where reviewers have spent the most ink. Vintage Guitar's verdict on where the pedal sits stylistically²:

That matches the maker's own positioning: this is a transparent overdrive for adding sustain and grit, not a high-gain distortion. Players chasing metal tones would be better served looking at distortion pedals or fuzz pedals designed for that job¹².

Josh Scott of JHS Pedals named the GT-OD in his 2020 list of overdrives worth knowing, pointing out that "you can pick one of these up for $65, which is amazing," and noting that the circuit is "a few parts removed from their signature Zakk Wylde overdrive, and it's really, really great in the middle gain set"⁵. His framing of its range was that it handles "light gain all the way to have your gain drive sounds"⁵.

Gearnews took a comparative view. In a September 2024 roundup of five overdrive pedals to know, Andreas Cordes included the GT-OD alongside the Origin Effects Revival Drive Compact, Revv Tilt Overdrive, JHS Morning Glory and Warm Audio Centavo, and wrote⁶:

He also noted the price at the time, $130.00 / £117.00 / 139.00€⁶. If you are weighing it against the Tube Screamer family, the Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 comparison covers that classic rivalry in detail.

Price history

The GT-OD's street price has moved around over the years:

The current Dunlop listing puts it at $89.99³, which makes it one of the more affordable entries in MXR's overdrive lineup, sitting below the Custom Shop pedals like the Shin-Juku Drive, the Timmy Overdrive and the Duke Of Tone.

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