“I built one, and people said they liked it.”īarr designed his first phase shifter-named the Phase 90 because it provided 90 degrees of phase shifting-in 1972, but the pedal didn’t go into serious production until late 1973, a few months before MXR Innovations was incorporated in 1974. “Guitarists would come into our shop and tell us that the phase-shifting thing was really happening,” Barr told Thompson. The first pedal effect circuit that Barr designed on his own was a four-stage phase shifter. Barr lengthened the name to MXR Innovations to make it sound more business-like and official.īarr made one mixer and found the process rather tedious and boring, so he turned his attention to the effect pedals that his guitar friends raved about instead. A friend suggested that they call the company MXR, which was short for mixer. However, the first product that the duo produced was not a stomp box but rather an audio mixer, which also inspired their new company’s name. The response was so positive and encouraging that Barr and Sherwood decided to switch from repairing gear to manufacturing electronic devices for musicians.
“Eager to start designing some things, I made up a few little boxes for my guitar-playing friends. “When I saw the poor quality of the effects devices that were coming in for repair, I was really amazed,” Barr said in an interview published in Art Thompson’s 1997 book Stompbox.
