Vintage MXR Block & Script Logo Power/Play 9V Battery Adapters: Never Drill Again
Posted by Andrew Backover on
Greetings, tone seekers. I know it has been a while but I appreciate all of the visitors to the site over the past five years. This site is a hobby for me, a mediocre guitar player at best, so I don't get to spend as much time here as I would like.
Over the years, this blog article (Script versus Block Logo Debate) has been by far the most visited content on the site as vintage guitar pedal lovers all over the world continue to debate over MXR Script versus Block Logo pedals -- which have gone way up in price since I first wrote this. Is the Script premium worth it? That's for your ears to decide.
As far as my own MXR pedals are concerned, I currently have a 1977 Distortion Plus (Blog Logo) that I have always loved. It was made famous by such icons as Jerry Garcia and Randy Rhoads, and I really just use it as an overdrive with the distortion almost at zero. However, since these pedals didn't come with 9V battery power adapters, I often became frustrated by dying batteries and expensive replacement costs. I literally had battery anxiety when using the pedal. Would it die? Do I have any spare batteries? As a result, I didn't use it much.
That's when I came up with this gadget that allows guitar players to play their vintage 1970s MXR small footprint pedals (both Block and Script logo versions) to their heart's content with a 9V power source (It doesn't currently fit the vintage Bud Box cases as I am making a separate product for that). I call it the Power/Play and it has sold incredibly well for what is basically a self-made product.
This model fits the Distortion Plus, Dyna Comp, Phase 45, Phase 90, Envelope Filter, Blue Box and Noise Gate. Now, my MXR never comes off my board and it is constantly in use.
The feedback from buyers has been tremendous as many guitar players apparently had the same frustration about dead batteries that I did (I know some people swear that battery-powered pedals sound better but I have not been able to tell much of a difference). Anyway, I hope to make more versions of the adapter to fit other 1960s and 1970s stomp boxes that were battery only. If you have a special request, please contact me on the site or through the comments.
Thanks for visiting!
