The MXR Sugar Drive Mini provides a diverse range of clear and transparent overdrive tones, from sauced up boosting to blown-tube distortion. It’s based on a rare overdrive pedal that has acquired a mythical reputation among fanatical tone-seekers thanks to its unique circuit design.
The key elements of that circuit design are the Drive control and something called a voltage doubler. First, the Drive control on this pedal doesn’t just increase the intensity of the overdrive pedal. It starts with your clean signal and then blends it with the overdrive effect as you turn it up, replicating the smooth transition of an amplifier going from clean to dirty. The voltage doubler increases overall headroom, which opens everything up nicely.
Of course, we had to put the MXR touch on this circuit. If you’re all about true bypass, then you’re in luck—this pedal uses it by default. The original used buffered bypass, though, and we know there’s a lot of players out there who don’t want to fix something that isn’t broken. They’re in luck, too—just flick the Buffer switch on the side of the pedal to enable buffered bypassing.
With a simple three-knob setup and an MXR mini housing, this is the go-to overdrive to have on your pedalboard. It’s versatile and it saves space, and unlike the original pedals it’s based on, it won’t cost you thousands of dollars.
Key Features:
- VOLUME knob sets overall effect volume
- TONE knob rolls off high frequencies
- DRIVE knob sets the amount of overdrive
- BUFFER switch selects buffered bypass (indicated by blue LED)
- FOOTSWITCH toggles effect on/bypass (blue LED indicates on)
- By default, the M294 is set to true bypass switching For buffered bypass switching, set the BUFFER switch to its RIGHT position.
Analog/Digital
Analog
Effect Type
Overdrive
MIDI
No
Stereo
No
True Bypass
Yes
XLR Input
No
XLR Output
No
Got questions?
Head to our contact page or give us a call on 02 9449 8487 and our friendly team will be able to assist you.
