Dunlop MXR Distortion Plus vs Keeley Aria

The Dunlop MXR Distortion Plus and the Keeley Aria are both pedals sharing warm, compressed, mid-forward. The Keeley Aria leans transparent.

Similarity
citedBlended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.

34% — somewhat different

Shared tone character
citedDerived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.
  • warm
  • compressed
  • mid-forward
  • saturated
Citation fame
citedCitation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.
17%
17%
Price
—

$185.07via Reverb

Description

The MXR Distortion Plus is the original MXR distortion pedal, introduced in 1973 and one of the most influential hard-clipping distortion designs in the history of the electric guitar. The circuit uses a single op-amp with hard germanium diode clipping to produce a compressed, warm distortion character with a distinctive midrange voice. The Distortion Plus is strongly associated with Randy Rhoads, who used it with Ozzy Osbourne, and with Slash on early Guns N Roses recordings. It delivers moderate-to-high gain distortion with warm, natural compression and a mid-voiced character that cuts well in classic rock contexts. The design has been extensively copied and remains in production as the M104.

The Keeley Aria Compressor Drive is a dual-effect pedal combining a chorus and overdrive in a single enclosure designed to deliver Stevie Ray Vaughan-inspired clean and light overdrive tones. The compressor provides studio-quality optical compression while the overdrive delivers a warm, harmonically rich Tube Screamer-inspired mid-boost saturation. The combination targets the specific SRV signature tone: compressed, harmonically rich blues lead playing with moderate overdrive into a driven tube amp.

Genres
citedGenres this gear is documented as being used in.
  • Classic Rock
  • Rock
  • Alternative Rock
  • Metal
  • Hard Rock
  • Blues
Tonal lean
—
  • transparent
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Dunlop MXR Distortion Plus vs Keeley Aria — Shared Character & Differences — NodeTone