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MountAnDewMe « A good replica of the old DOD 250 »
Published on 07/29/12 at 17:33 The DOD 308 Yngwie Malmsteen pedal was created for Yngwie based on a couple of his vintage DOD 250 overdrive pedals. While this is not an exact copy of the original circuit used in the DOD 250 it has proven to be a close copy and a very good overdrive. The pedal is simple in nature; it provides addition drive and gain to overdrive the front end of a tube amplifier. It is not to be confused with a distortion pedal. There are two 1/4 inch jacks for input and output and a 9 volt adapter jack available for an external power supply (sold separately). It is an analog circuit based on a 4558 op amp, the same as in the tube screamer; however it only uses half of the circuit to emulate the older 741 chip. It is a floor pedal with two controls, one for overall level and one to add gain.
UTILIZATION
This pedal should be used near the front of your signal chain and in conjunction with a tube based preamp. It is very simple to connect and use. By manipulating the overall level and gain you will be able to achieve an overdriven sound with minimal noise. The manual is basic in nature but the pedal is so straight forward that it serves its purpose.
SOUND QUALITY
This pedal is best used with a guitar but can be used with a bass as well. The pedal does not have a true bypass switch but the circuit that is used will only minutely color your original sound. By manipulating the gain control the overdrive characteristic will go from warm to harsh as you dial from minimum to maximum. The overdrive colors the sound slightly and is not a clean source of gain. The only real poor feature of this pedal is the lack of a LED to determine if it is engaged or not. When the settings are pushed the difference is noticeable but at lower settings may be harder to discern in a loud situation.
OVERALL OPINION
The best part of this pedal is that it does its simple job effectively without being encumbered with too many knobs and circuits. It is based on the old DOD 250 overdrive but uses some more modern circuitry due to either availability or price. The tone is reminiscent of a TS-9 with a more open nature, probably because they use the same 4558 op amp; only the DOD utilizes half the circuit. The pedal is built like a tank and will survive many years of use. I have used and own many other overdrive devices but sometimes there is beauty in the simplicity of a simple design and this pedal reflects that. If I had to I would replace it.
UTILIZATION
This pedal should be used near the front of your signal chain and in conjunction with a tube based preamp. It is very simple to connect and use. By manipulating the overall level and gain you will be able to achieve an overdriven sound with minimal noise. The manual is basic in nature but the pedal is so straight forward that it serves its purpose.
SOUND QUALITY
This pedal is best used with a guitar but can be used with a bass as well. The pedal does not have a true bypass switch but the circuit that is used will only minutely color your original sound. By manipulating the gain control the overdrive characteristic will go from warm to harsh as you dial from minimum to maximum. The overdrive colors the sound slightly and is not a clean source of gain. The only real poor feature of this pedal is the lack of a LED to determine if it is engaged or not. When the settings are pushed the difference is noticeable but at lower settings may be harder to discern in a loud situation.
OVERALL OPINION
The best part of this pedal is that it does its simple job effectively without being encumbered with too many knobs and circuits. It is based on the old DOD 250 overdrive but uses some more modern circuitry due to either availability or price. The tone is reminiscent of a TS-9 with a more open nature, probably because they use the same 4558 op amp; only the DOD utilizes half the circuit. The pedal is built like a tank and will survive many years of use. I have used and own many other overdrive devices but sometimes there is beauty in the simplicity of a simple design and this pedal reflects that. If I had to I would replace it.