Wayne Kramer, guitarist and co-founder of MC5, was a punk rock icon and a lifelong activist before his death last year. His incendiary guitar playing mixed with MC5's anti-establishment lyrics and rebellious sensibilities helped lay the groundwork for the subgenre before it even had a name.
Today, we're introducing the MXR® Jail Guitar Doors Drive pedal. Designed before Kramer’s death in February 2024—together with friend Jimi Dunlop (CEO of Dunlop) and Daredevil Pedals owner Johnny Wator—the Dunlop/MXR-manufacturered pedal packs the sound and fury of MC5 into a single-knob stompbox.
The MXR® Jail Guitar Doors Drive is available exclusively on Reverb via The Official MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive Reverb Shop. And for the occasion, we got the perfect player to demo it: Tom Morello.
In our video, Morello—the innovative guitarist behind Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, the Nightwatchman, and more, and one of Kramer’s best freinds—not only shows off the pedal, but tells us what made Kramer and his work so special.
Beyond MC5, Kramer’s significance also comes from his enduring commitment to activism, especially in justice reform, and his resilience—surviving incarceration, addiction, and industry burnouts to continue creating music and mentoring others. His life story embodies the defiant, DIY ethos that defines punk and has directly inspired generations of bands and musicians after him.
"If aliens landed and you said, 'What is the rawest moment in the history of rock 'n' roll?' That live recording of 'Kick Out the Jams' that… unleashes itself like the four horses of the apocalypse running wild in a Beverly Hills crystal shop, bringing his Detroit power. It's just beyond," Morello says.
If you want to unleash that fury on your own, this is the pedal to get. As Morello puts it, "This is the MC5 roaring distortion sound in a box."
Named after the late rocker's charity—which provides instruments and art workshops to incarcerated individuals as rehabilitation tools—The MXR® Jail Guitar Doors Drive pedal aims to capture all of the high-voltage energy of Wayne Kramer's sound.
It features two uniquely voiced gain circuits cascaded together with a singular pot controlling both the output level of each circuit and the overall saturation level of the distortion, and artwork from artist and activist Shepard Fairey (Obey Clothing founder).
"What they've tried to bake into the MXR® Jail Guitar Doors Drive pedal is not just Wayne's sound but Wayne's attitude, and the grit and the rawness of Detroit and of the MC5," Morello says. "This is the guitar pedal that was used on the song 'Heavy Lifting' that I recorded with Wayne for the last MC5 record."
A majority of profits from the sale of the limited-run pedal are going directly to Kramer’s Jail Guitar Doors charity, which supports the rehabilitation of incarcerated people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds.
"What I love about Wayne Kramer and his legacy is the inspiration that it continues to provide," Morello says. "Seeing Wayne daily on the frontlines—one as a great father, two as a great guitarist, and three as an inspiring activist—those things will echo through the ages. Especially through Jail Guitar Doors and the Capo Center, where both the people who work with Jail Guitar Doors and the people that Jail Guitar Doors—the hearts and souls it touches—Wayne's spirit continues to march on."
The MXR® Jail Guitar Doors Drive is available now, right here on Reverb.