MXR ZW-44 Zakk Wylde Overdrive Pedal
February 10th, 2007
Zakk Wylde, love him or hate him, has developed quite the product empire. Despite never really breaking into the mainstream with Black Label Society, even as much as other similar bands like Lamb of God and Children of Bodom, Zakk has an amazing cult following. Because of this he has been able to build up quite the product line.
There was a time when Wylde was the be all and the end all for me. I thought he was the king shit of life and if I ever had a dream it was to be able to play like him. I have since broadened by metal tastes, but I would still love to have one of these on hand when I just want to plug in and play some BLS.
His custom Gibson guitars are some of the best selling signatures ever, and I’m sure product makers just can’t wait to put the Zakk Wylde stamp of approval on anything they can. The good thing is he won’t put his name on just anything. He is pretty strict when it comes to the quality of his products and you can tell by the sound.
Basically, if you ever wanted to sound like Zakk Wylde then you need a MXR ZW-44 overdrive pedal. Not only is it approved by Zakk, but he actually uses this pedal in his own stage rig.
The unit is a standard overdrive pedal that has been tweaked to Zakk’s liking. It includes the following features:
- Output - controls overall effect volume (inactive in bypass mode)
- Tone - shapes overall EQ
- Gain - controls overall amount of distortion
- Footswitch - toggles effect on/bypass (red LED indicates on)
- Sports the classic Zakk Wylde Bullseye paint job
The unit can be powered by a 9V battery or with the optional Dunlop AC adapter. The battery is good for portability, but I always suggest using the adapter when you have the unit hooked up at home.
If you want to sound like Zakk and you want to do it on a budget, pair the MXR ZW-44 pedal with a set of ZW EMG active pickups and you’ll be squealing and slaying just like the man himself.
tagged dunlop, MXR Pedal and Zakk Wylde
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