MXR Shin-Juku Drive

The MXR Shin-Juku Drive is a limited-edition analog overdrive pedal from the MXR Custom Shop, released in 2016 and designed with Japanese amp and pedal designer Shin Suzuki¹². Its aim is a specific one: capturing the sound of what MusicRadar called "one of the rarest and most sought-after amps ever made"², a circuit family Premier Guitar's reviewer described as Dumble-inspired¹. Dunlop later summed up the pedal as "widely praised for the way it captured the raw sonic complexity of a rare amplifier with a legendary reputation"³.

For a player, that translates into a dynamic, amp-like feel: Delicious Audio described it as great at pushing an amp's front end or working as a straightforward overdrive pedal⁴. Premier Guitar's reviewer found it "delivers the combination of responsive, mid-heavy, harmonically excited overdrive"¹.

The controls and the Dark switch

The front panel is a familiar three-knob layout: Gain, Tone, and Output⁴. MusicRadar put it plainly when the pedal launched: "Three knobs - output, tone and gain - do the business"².

What separates the Shin-Juku from a generic three-knob drive is how those controls behave together. Premier Guitar's reviewer highlighted "the considerable range in the tone control and the way it interacts with the output and gain controls," calling the set "Effective, interactive, and rangy tone and drive controls"¹. In practice, that means the knobs are not isolated: turning the Tone control reshapes the mid-forward character of the pedal depending on where Gain and Output sit.

The Dark switch is the other distinguishing feature. Delicious Audio described it as "a 'Dark' switch that acts as a low pass filter which helps you tailor the sound to your specific style and rig"⁴. Premier Guitar's reviewer found it a matter of taste but noted that "the dark button won't suit every player's taste, it enables fuzzy desert-rock tones at high gain levels that sound killer against bass riffs"¹. So the switch is not a subtle voicing tweak: engaged at high gain settings it pushes the pedal toward fuzz territory, and the reviewer found that character worked well under bass riffs.

History: Shin Suzuki and the MXR Custom Shop

The Shin-Juku Drive came out of the MXR Custom Shop, MXR's line for limited and collaboration designs¹. It was released in 2016²³, and MusicRadar reported it as a limited-edition pedal available from November of that year at £166 in the UK and $129 in the US². Gearnews reported around the same time that some US dealers were already listing it at $129 plus taxes, with a rumored European price around €196.35⁷.

The design side is the story here. Shin Suzuki is a noted amp and pedal designer out of Japan, known through his own company Shin's Music; on the JHS Pedals channel, Josh Scott introduced him as "the noted amp and pedal designer uh Shin Suzuki of Shins Music"⁸. Delicious Audio called him a "legendary amp designer" when the pedal launched⁴. Scott also noted that the project was "initiated and project managed by George Trip" at MXR⁸.

The Shin-Juku Drive was Shin's first collaboration with the MXR Custom Shop⁹. His second followed in 2019: the MXR Raijin Drive, which Guitar.com's reviewer described as "Shin's second collaboration with the MXR Custom Shop - the first being the Shin-Juku Drive"⁹. Premier Guitar's announcement of the Raijin put the timeline simply: "In 2016, Shin collaborated with the MXR Custom Shop to create the Shin-Juku Drive"³.

Josh Scott covered the Shin-Juku Drive on the JHS Pedals channel in 2022, discussing its background and Shin Suzuki's work as a designer, including how the project came together at MXR⁸.

Click to load

What reviewers said

Published reactions to the pedal have been positive about its core job. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the controls effective and interactive, and praised the tone control's range, while noting the Dark switch "won't suit every player's taste" even though it enables those fuzzy desert-rock tones at high gain¹. The same reviewer's framing of the pedal's target, "the MXR doesn't do Dumble-inspired sounds well," comes from a review that ultimately assessed the pedal against that amp family's sound¹. Dunlop's own later description, "widely praised for the way it captured the raw sonic complexity of a rare amplifier with a legendary reputation," reflects how the pedal was received after its release³.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions