GEAR SPOTLIGHT
MXR
M108S TEN BAND EQ
STREET PRICE $ 129.00
M109S SIX BAND EQ
STREET PRICE $ 89.00
REVIEW BY IAN GARRETT
In the pedal world where freaky fuzzes , outrageous overdrives , delicious delays , and marvelous modulation pedals , it is easy to overlook the venerable EQ pedal . Sure , it ’ s a useful pedal to have , and can be used in a wide variety of applications , and can help improve your tone in many ways . . . wait , why don ’ t I have one ?
It ’ s been a while since I ’ ve had a dedicated EQ pedal on my pedalboard . The last one was replaced by something else , who remembers what it was now . Maybe it was that boost pedal with separate bass and treble controls , or the compressor with a tone shift feature , plus it seemed silly to have a dedicated tone shaping pedal , when just about every overdrive and fuzz pedal I have offers some tone control . Let ’ s not forget that each guitar I have also has tone controls . Why add yet another pedal that aims
to “ fix ” to my tone ? Ironically , my last dedicated EQ pedal was the MXR 108 10 Band EQ . Fast-forward a half dozen years at least , and MXR is offering two updated versions : the M108S 10 Band EQ , and the M109S 6 Band EQ ( the “ S ” signifies the sexy new silver color ). With bright red LED lights for each slider , these pedals have the look to brighten up any pedalboard . More importantly , MXR has made some internal updates to both versions , making their operation quieter — a real plus when every pedal in your signal chain has an impact on both tone and noise .
In my testing of both EQ pedals , I found it interesting in how they differed from one another , both in tone and function — more on that in a minute . Firstly , I tried them in different locations on my pedalboard . I tried them first in the chain , where they act as sort of a
glorified master guitar tone control , affecting to some degree all other pedals that run after it . The second place to put an EQ pedal is after any overdrives or fuzzes , and finally I tried them out in my amp ’ s effects loop . As you might expect , I got different results in all three cases . Which worked best ? It really depended on which pedal I was using .
Here ’ s a quick rundown of the differences between the two pedals : Obviously , the M109S has four less bands , but that is not all . The M108S does indeed have 10 separate bands , which gives you more control over a wider audio spectrum , with deeper low end , and a brighter high end , plus more midrange control . It also includes two other useful features : a gain control — useful when you place it before an overdrive , giving it just a little more bite — and a master
56 TONE GEAR SPOTLIGHT TALK // How // To MXR Master M108S Your Ten Jazzmaster Band Eq , M109S Six Band Eq