DOD pedals?

[Canucker]

I know the construction isn't that great on DOD pedals (open one and all of the hair thin wires disconnect) but are the effect designs considered inferior? Compared to how many things they made over the years you barely see layouts for a fraction of them online. Maybe the fact that they were overproduced in still pretty cheap/worthless on the "vintage market"? You guys seem to know everything else so I thought I'd put the question out there.

[mwynwood]

I thought the early DOD stuff was supposed to be pretty good build quality.
Like the Envelope Filter 440 or the Overdrive 250?

Later on, they changed their foot switch  in to a little black one, that looks lower quality.

Is that right. Happy to be corrected 

[Kesh]

i built a 280a clone, optical compressor. very sound one knob compressor (two if you count the volume control)

[timd]

The DOD Grunge has several runs and is seemingly everywhere. This pedal makes an excellent paperweight. Other DOD stuff like the Buzz Box will cost you around $200 with the perceived rarity. I've used DOD stuff here and there and I have the Big Pig Fat Distortion on my pedalboard now. Back in the day, DOD was known as "dead on delivery" in my circle of friends, but I've personally never had one give out on me.

[Canucker]

The grunge pedal is a joke. I bought one and a DeathMetal pedal at a pawn shop for $40 each tax in...For some reason the guitar shop in town took it in as a trade towards a four track I bought (around 2001?)...they gave me $50 credit and that meant I saved the tax on that fifty bucks too! So I ended up with $57 towards my purchase. I Loved the Death Metal Pedal...but it squealed like a piggy...you can't turn down the distortion....probably a pretty easy mod...I opened it up just to take a look and saw the thinnest wires on earth...I guess that was my first time working on a pedal (graduating from soldering patch cords)...I'm sure if DOD put five more cents into wire then some of these effects would be highly sought after today.

[amptramp]

The grunge pedal is a joke. I bought one and a DeathMetal pedal at a pawn shop for $40 each tax in...For some reason the guitar shop in town took it in as a trade towards a four track I bought (around 2001?)...they gave me $50 credit and that meant I saved the tax on that fifty bucks too! So I ended up with $57 towards my purchase. I Loved the Death Metal Pedal...but it squealed like a piggy...you can't turn down the distortion....probably a pretty easy mod...I opened it up just to take a look and saw the thinnest wires on earth...I guess that was my first time working on a pedal (graduating from soldering patch cords)...I'm sure if DOD put five more cents into wire then some of these effects would be highly sought after today.

Thin wires are actually a good thing.  They reduce the capacitance from the wire to everywhere else and they permit the wire to be flexed without damage.  I have used AWG 30 wire wrap wires for a build i am doing.  You can stick several through one hole in a perfboard, they are designed to be bent and the capacitance is low.  Also, the Kynar insulation resists heat without the meltback you see with Teflon.

[petey twofinger]

i LOVE my dod250 clone . also the pds1002 i got from pjp is excellent , one of my all time favs .

the newer stuff , like the df7 and the bad monkey .. i find nothing worng with them whatsoever , but i have never felt the need to crack em open / mess around in there . i really dig the mix out jacks as well .

[Canucker]

The grunge pedal is a joke. I bought one and a DeathMetal pedal at a pawn shop for $40 each tax in...For some reason the guitar shop in town took it in as a trade towards a four track I bought (around 2001?)...they gave me $50 credit and that meant I saved the tax on that fifty bucks too! So I ended up with $57 towards my purchase. I Loved the Death Metal Pedal...but it squealed like a piggy...you can't turn down the distortion....probably a pretty easy mod...I opened it up just to take a look and saw the thinnest wires on earth...I guess that was my first time working on a pedal (graduating from soldering patch cords)...I'm sure if DOD put five more cents into wire then some of these effects would be highly sought after today.

Thin wires are actually a good thing.  They reduce the capacitance from the wire to everywhere else and they permit the wire to be flexed without damage.  I have used AWG 30 wire wrap wires for a build i am doing.  You can stick several through one hole in a perfboard, they are designed to be bent and the capacitance is low.  Also, the Kynar insulation resists heat without the meltback you see with Teflon.

I can see it being good in theory but if it falls apart easily it isn't doing anyone any favors. If the board were held in place by something more stable it'd be cool. I've heard about more dead DOD pedals over the year then any other brand...I'm guessing this was probably the issue with most of them. I've also had switches give up and acquired two for two bucks each because of dead pots (not just scratchy).

[Steve Mavronis]

I can see it being good in theory but if it falls apart easily it isn't doing anyone any favors. If the board were held in place by something more stable it'd be cool. I've heard about more dead DOD pedals over the year then any other brand...I'm guessing this was probably the issue with most of them. I've also had switches give up and acquired two for two bucks each because of dead pots (not just scratchy).

The boards in the older style DOD pedals, like in the photo above, were held in place very securely being suspended by PCB mounted pots. I used that iin my 2 DIY projects. I have a DOD FX-series Stereo Chorus pedal that a co-worker gave me but I think it is ugly and the footswitch panel and plastic battery door are both flimsy and cheap looking. I should re-house it onto another enclosure. My DOD YJM308 Overdrive is built solid like the 70's/80's style DOD's.