Help dating MXR Phase 100

[Electron Tornado]

I am repairing an MXR Phase 100 and would like to give the owner a good idea of when it was built. It is an early block logo pedal, the speed pot date code is 1377730, and also has "MXR9479" stamped on it. The switch date code is 1377733. That puts those components at Aug and Sept 1977, respectively.

However, I have other info in the form of two serial numbers on the inside of the enclosure along with the numbers on the PCB. I haven't found any sources that address those. Does anyone have any good sources or info? I'm not trying to get too detailed (i.e. "built on Wednesday 15 Sept 77, about tea time...by a guy named Eddie"), just narrow it down to 1977 or 1978. 

Here are some photos:

[R O Tiree]

My first reaction to the question was, if you want to date it, just ask it out - it can only say no... never mind.

I'm guessing that the white sticker near the QA signatures denotes that it's the 3037th one to be made.  Maybe Dunlop could help?  Those numbers inside should allow them to tie it down quite neatly.

[haveyouseenhim]

My best advice for dating an mxr phase 100 is to just be yourself. Dont wear Ed Hardy shirts and spike you hair to impress it. Usually they go for the gentlemen that hold doors and dont kiss on the first date. Just follow my advice and maybe one day you will experience the joy of waking to the sound of the little pitter patter of phase 25s playing.


EDIT   damnitttt!   I didnt see that ro tiree beat me to the joke         hivemind

[Electron Tornado]

I guess I'll go with my original plan - cut it in half and count the rings to see how old it is. 


Since this item is pre-Dunlop, it's a toss-up whether calling them will be much help.

[R O Tiree]

Yours was much funnier, haveyouseenhim

[Jdansti]

I wish you guys would get serious.   

According to Analog Man:

"The original pots are the only way to date an MXR pedal..."

http://www.analogman.com/fakemxr.htm

[Electron Tornado]

According to Analog Man:

"The original pots are the only way to date an MXR pedal..."

http://www.analogman.com/fakemxr.htm

I read that site before making my original post. The pot and switch on this Phase 100 are both correct and original. In short it's got all the right things and none of the wrong ones. Most of the web sites that I've seen state that the block logos began in 1978. However, in Analog Man's book, one of the founders of MXR states that the block logos began in 1977. If pots are the definitive way to date an MXR pedal, then the best thing would be to find when the next date codes show up on the pot, and particularly the switch. Rate of production should correspond with rate of consumption. 

Time to contact Dunlop and Analog Man.


This almost feels like I'm trying to establish provenance on an effects pedal. Bask in the pretentiousness.

[Jdansti]

>  This almost feels like I'm trying to establish provenance on an effects pedal. Bask in the pretentiousness.

Yeah, maybe a little unusual for effects, but not so unusual overall. People pay big money for all kinds of items that are somehow "special" because of how they were manufactured, or the materials used at the time, or the configuration that some famous person used which is no longer available.

[Electron Tornado]

Just to close this up-

Contacted Dunlop and Analog Man, and it looks like this pedal is from 1977. So it's from the first year of the block logo, something the owner was quite pleased to hear.

[Jdansti]

Those pots didn't sit idle for long.

[Anamnesia]

I am repairing an MXR Phase 100 and would like to give the owner a good idea of when it was built. It is an early block logo pedal, the speed pot date code is 1377730, and also has "MXR9479" stamped on it. The switch date code is 1377733. That puts those components at Aug and Sept 1977, respectively.

Hey, I thought I'd join just to add to this conversation.  I recently purchased a 'Script' MXR Phase 100 & used the useful information in this post to establish mine's date of manufacture.  The date code I could (easily) see was 1377727 - which would make the date of manufacture the 1st week in July, 1977.

I find this interesting as it narrows down the transition date from MXR to Dunlop.


Cheers!

[Stick7]

I have a block letter MXR 100 I'm try to date. Haven't checked the pots but the case has a s/n sticker that reads "7-037653".

[thermionix]

According to Analog Man:

"The original pots are the only way to date an MXR pedal..."

Really that only tells you when the pot was made.  If it's original, the pedal was made sometime after that.  Could be weeks, could be years.  Fender, for example, bought a whole bunch of pots in 1966, and were still putting them in guitars in 1968, if not later.  Then maybe you can imagine a big tub of pots at the factory, the assembler pulls pots out and when they get low, dumps a bunch of new ones in.  But maybe there were some still at the bottom that don't get used for quite some time.  Same thing could happen with boxes of pots stacked in the warehouse, only two boxes left on the shelf when the new shipment arrives, but the new boxes get stacked on top, and are used first to fill the assembler's tub out on the floor.