50th 250

This is definitely a cool edition of the DOD OD/PRE 250. To commemorate the manufacturer's 50th Anniversary, it's given a 3-mode make over. This way, if you like what the pedal already offers - no frill OD with a very smooth response - the variation here means you can also sound a little edgier & conjure harmonics fairly easily. Sadly, only 1,974 units are made available to the world & if your local authorised dealer isn't enthusiastic about it, it won't be made available where you are at. 

Pic: Yahoo

 

Heavy

Nothing fancy, just spending time with my Edwards today. This E-LP-C is something you should not invest in if you are particular with weight; it's heavy. I do not wish to speculate if it's replicating the true weight of a Gibson LP Custom which is what it was modelled after but on more time - it's heavy. I like to play this guitar because it can easily pull off (no pun intended) one of the heaviest metal-type tones out there. A tone reference for this would be Dissection's Reinchaos & Napalm Death's Fear, Emptiness & Despair. 

Also, this is the guitar I enjoy plugging the above-depicted pedals into; the re-issue DOD OD-Preamp 250 & Elektrik Head's Snakestortion. Due to the guitar's deep, bass-inclined tone, the pedals were dialled up to manifest more top end. For the record, the pickups in this guitar are Seymour Duncan JB (b) & Jazz (n). These are replacement pickups, Edwards no longer equip the E-LP models with Duncans & I simply prefer Duncans in mine.

DOD: Preamp 250

Finally had some time to try this out. It's the re-intro of the DOD Preamp 250 which was quite a hit in its heyday. This debut (sort of) is rather eventful as this pedal was the initial batch of effects units handled by Cort, the new owner of the DOD brand. I get easily distracted by such pedals as they add something useful to my signal chain - boosting my amp's dirty channel, mostly. If you are expecting a very yellow pedal, well, it's actually closer to gold. Not quite apparent in this pic, it seems.

I'm also constantly looking out for pedals that has a battery capacity as I am a pedal minimalist. I simply do not wish to set up another PSU for pedals. I'm only using two at any one time (sometimes just one) so the 250 is a good one for me.

To be continued...

New DOD

 Ah yes, that I think I need a new pedal to spice up my tone trap working nicely.

Some DODs

These re-issue DOD pedals (now under Cort) are in stock @ Swee Lee. Prices look good. In any case, these are not boutique items.

Pic: Swee Lee web store

DOD: OD Preamp 250

This is good news indeed - the return of DOD's fabled OD Preamp 250 pedal. It's basically a no-frills OD unit that work for many applications, nothing magical but being useful, effective & reliable is indeed the magic. Really hoping the price won't be extravagant just because it's a come-back production; it wasn't costly back then.

Pic: GW 

CortDODigitech

Cort has acquired  DigiTech / DOD. The manufacturer is well-known in the instrument circle, hope this excellence would trickle onto the effects counterpart. It would be interesting to see if they would OEM stuff for other manufacturers as well since they are doing that for guitars & basses. 

Metal to the pedal

Throughout the years, I've discovered that the best intense distortion that does not impede playing fundamentals come from the amplifier. It makes sense because signals are processed at the amp end, not before. I started out with BOSS' Metal Zone which is still the standard to beat in terms of intensity & EQ manipulations. What puts me off when it comes to the Metal Zone is that it sounds nasal at higher volume settings. My distortion formula ever since had been to trust the amp's distortion. Currently my EVH 5150 III does the job, my Marshall JVM has that as well but with a more British flavour while the Blackstar HT Metal lets me hear something in between. The story with the pedals you see above:

• Digitech/DOD Death Metal: These pedals, to me, still tell a semi-tragic tale of an attempt which turned stale. There should be no more attempts to capture a genre defined distortion. You cannot package derivative tones into a single offering. It fails because the proponents of death metal formulate their tones through the use of several implements, not a single pedal per se. Most of the time it's a match between an amp & a drive/distortion pedal to get a slightly more embittered heavy tone; that crucial excess which defines the tone rather than bringing intensity into the next level. This pedal in its initial incarnation was strictly a niche appeal. The treble excess was excruciating & the amount of distortion on board was fixed, no less, no more, it's just there. The subsequent incarnation, the Digitech version, did not fare any better. The treble offerings were still much to be desired for but they kept it in check. In use, I had to basically turn it down to ZERO. The MID/LOW sweeps were more acute than the DOD version in that they actually let you hear the difference. 
• EHX Metal Muff: I was in fuzz territory for a while & EHX had (they still do) what I was comfortable with; a fuzz tone that did not squash the low frequencies too much. Eric Johnson is arguably one of the very few guitar-inclined individuals who managed to make fuzzy bass notes very musical. When the MM was introduced, there were no official dealer/distributor here, but someone was bringing it in & was operating online as a small time enterprise. I just went with the pedal instinctively & it proved to be a worthy risk. The MM still offers the grizzly fuzz responses but with a a different EQ consideration which facilitated intensity. To me, this was a marked difference. The top end boost added some depth in terms of clarity when it comes to solos so to me the MM was it. 
• Blackstar LT Metal: This pedal is much overlooked. At the time of its release, it's over-shadowed by its other, tube-driven sibling, the HT series. I tested the HT version but couldn't come to terms with how fuzzy & Marshall-esque everything sounded. The LT version, on the other hand, is focused on distortion intensity. It has no other details in trying to fulfil expectations (namely the tubeless technology) & it sounded good despite not having dedicated EQ knobs to oversee proceedings. The Blackstar name itself is formidable in the amplifier front so people look up to Blackstar for amps, not pedals. This one will remain insignificant until you hear it out in person

I have since stopped hunting for that elusive heavy metal pedal to out-amp an amp because they  turned out to be second best in this aspect; the amp distortion is still superior in terms of voicing if intensity is factored in. In fact, pedals were there to emulate an amp's performance to begin with. However it's all down to preference- some of us prefer amps to handle our driven tones, some prefer pedals, some prefer both. Whatever it is, do not stop experimenting what works for you. 

Gunslinging

DOD has a new distortion unit, the Gunslinger & it features a MOSFET type circuit. Personally, DOD's vintage type pedals such as the one featured here (no, it's not churning out vintage tones) are winners with me as they are good sounding pedals which are affordable. The manufacturer promises a wide range of distortion on board & hearing is believing:

Selling: DOD Overdrive Preamp 250 (SOLD)

This one has a touch of fuzz to it at higher gain settings.

• Selling: DOD Overdrive Preamp 250
• Condition: 9/10
• Box included
• 1mth +/- old
• No reservations/ trades
• Confirmation/ queries: subversion.sg@gmail.com
• Price: $89 (final)

Item SOLD :-)

Drives

Spent some time with these darlings (L-R):

1. Seymour Duncan 805 OD
2. Digitech DOD OD/Preamp 250
3. Maxxon OD808

There is very little to separate them in terms of fundamentals; all overdrives & we know there's not much intensity to be had here. 

The 805 is a surprise in this aspect for its ability to manifest some proto-intensity with all controls maxed out. There's not much to be had in terms of tone tailoring but the in-your-face drive is there for your considerations. 

The OD250 on the other hand is the senior citizen here, but the fact that it's a repro of its ancestor disqualified it from being one. The GAIN control has some pre-determined EQ as you dial it up. At lower settings, it's a mild dirt with a little hint of touch sensitivity (only when you play loud!). Midway, it's a crunch monster retaining much bottom end inclination. Maxed out, the 250 adds fuzz into the mix & it's rather apparent, please take note. Also, at max gain, you'd hear more top end so the overall voicing is a raspy fuzz-induced drive with lots of top end definition.

The 808 will always be my little darling. It's not quite the Ibanez manifestation albeit the obvious association (& Maxxon manufacturing the Ibanez at a point in history), it's a sweet sounding overdrive with loads of clarity. No midrange bump at upper gain settings but more saturation instead, fantastic for someone with a light touch & need for speed most of the time. The 808 is the most outstanding member used with an already driven amp so that's the reason it's my gem. :-)

DOD: Grind

This DOD Grind pedal is defunct. It sounds menacing, yes? But its tonal ferocity isn't as extreme as you'd expect. It has that amp voicing which makes it rather appealing but it lacks a midrange control. The Bass + Treble features are adequate but it scoops out the tone too much at higher volume settings & sounds undefined thereafter. It isn't too different from the current BOSS Power Stack offering but I guess BOSS did their homework with the PS- the definition is more attractive. 

The pedal you see above isn't mine, it belongs to a friend, Mr. Azhar, who is more bass inclined but a keen DOD buff. The pedal here was bought at a very good discount because it's not in 100% working condition. I couldn't power it up with a battery but once it's juiced by an adapter, it can't be switched off.

DODs

DOD pedals were firm alternatives to the BOSSes back in the '80s - '90s. What I like about them were those super sensitive switches which would activate the unit via a mere touch. Battery access was also via a flip hatch as opposed to the BOSS access where unscrewing is necessary. The DOD brand name ventured into digital applications & gave birth to a sister brand name, Digitech. Ironically, the Digitech label took over proceedings at the turn of the century reproducing many of the DOD tones but manifesting them in the Digitech pedal design.

I own 4 DOD units, 3 of which are seen here (I can't seem to locate my Death Metal unit in the mean time...) the Supra Distortion saw missing knob caps exposing the screw heads inside. The DD/ Sampler pedal was my attempt to steer away fro the BOSS digital delays which were battery eaters because back then, acquiring a PSU for any pedal wasn't as easy as buying a 1-Spot unit today. The DOD EQ was also another BOSS digression, I prefer this EQ unit due to its wider range; -18/+18 vs BOSS' -15/+15.

Death Metal: The pedals...

I used to own BOSS' Metal Zone (MT-2) once, it was my first distortion pedal, I believe I was the very few to have bought it when it first debuted at Davis guitar store (back then Davis was located at the tailor unit, next to the eatery both of which are existing Peninsular Hotel basement floor shop units). I respect what the MT-2 had to offer (still does but it's not a personal favourite) but I was constantly searching for worthy rivals. It was years later that the DOD company (now owned by Digitech) introduced the Death Metal pedal; the very name would suggest the level of distortion intensity in store.

So being a fan of all things extreme, I bought this pedal for variety's sake (at that time, my amp was a Peavey Rage 108 whose default drive is of a get-by calibre at best). The pedal's intense, no doubt, but the level of intensity is uncontrollable- you can't reduce or increase the distortion; it's there, love it or move on. Everything about the pedal's ace less the bass control; at maximum level, it's still drowned by the overwhelming midrange & treble. DOD took things too invariably back then; they duly replicated the very tone of the death metal bands at that point in time which were largely propelling a bass truncated tone & shrill upper frequencies.

Thankfully, the pedal was revised by Digitech to actually feature a functional bass response without a loss in distortion ferocity, but the distortion intensity control remains unreachable to us mortals; it was not meant to be tweaked by worldly hands. Nevertheless, I like what the current Death Metal pedal has to offer but generally, this pedal would appeal to a limited camp due to its limitations & inherent voicing.