MXR with Analog.Man Mini Duke of Tone Collaboration completes the Aristocracy of Tone Overdrive Trilogy!

MXR has been particularly smart with its collaborations of late - and following its fairly recent genius Mini Timmy collab, we now have a Mini Duke oF Tone - a reduced size variation of the Prince of Tone - which is in turn a reduction of the King of Tone.

Controls - Volume, Drive, Boost, Mode : OD / Boost / Distortion.

The control topology for the Duke of Tone is identical to the Prince of Tone - and there will undoubtedly be some parts variances along the way - with more SMT parts likely in the Mini Duke. And while some complain that the Mini Timmy doesn’t 100% capture the exact character of its full size forebear - in fact some say the Timmy isn’t as strong its Tim forerunner. While I feel generally that these are likely close enough - and I feel I could dial in a very decent approximation.

I had intended to get the Mini Timmy by now - so I will probably snatch up the pair when the Mini Duke finally gets through to the UK. I note that the same parent company’s Way Huge Smalls Red Llama still hasn’t reached these shores - so no doubt the Duke of Tone is a good 8 weeks away too.

These are neat pedalboard-friendly form factors and worth having in the collection for me - even though I have the originals. Funnily and initially - because of the massive waiting list on King of Tone - even several years ago when I got mine - I had kind of decided to get the Prince of Tone instead - so that’s been the longest on the wishlist. Then I very fortuitously came across the 4-Star JHS Mod KOT second-hand as in the version pictured - and I never got around to getting the Prince of Tone. Also I had other more pressing priorities for Compact Blues Breakers - like my recent capture of the Snouse White & Gold Hardware Edition of its BlackBox 2 Stage Pro.

Chances are I may have all the pictured ones eventually - but next on the cards for sure are a Mini Duke of Tone and Mini Timmy pair - sometime in late October / early November most likely - whenever they materialise in these parts.

Of the 3 pictured editions - I still think the original KOT is the one to have - but the other two are great as backups / spares - especially when you don’t have too much space on the board to accommodate this flavour. I don’t exactly need another compact Blues Breaker - but this would be my first mini of that type as far as I recall.

Some of the MXR Mini Fuzzes are killer - and these collaboration tend to be pretty high quality - will be interesting to see if MXR sell more of these than the Mini Timmys?

Pricing is pretty much as expected at around $150 in the USA - which now translates to £180 supposedly in the UK - we’re paying a heck of a premium nowadays both on price and time!

Anyone else here planning on getting one of these?