Modding a DOD FX96 Tape Delay

[RupertB]

A while back bought a used DOD FX96 Delay, the old version with the painted-on tape reels. While not a bad-sounding pedal I was disappointed with the very short delay time which was in the vicinity of 200 ms. I found the HC review page and a reveiewer named "duderanimous" had posted the following mod:

 

" Here's the deal, folks. There were 2 versions of this pedal made... the orignal purple version with the tape reels painted, plus silly names for the knobs, and the later more blueish colored version with no tape reels painted around the knobs. Both versions are based around the legendary MN3005 bbd chip. This is the same chip used in the over-hyped Ibanez & Boss analog delay pedals. The maximum usable delay time with this chip is about 300-330ms before it starts sounding like POO!!! The DOD FX96 Echo FX sounds every bit as good as those over-hyped pedals in my opinion.

 

The original version does not have any internal trim pots to adjust the max delay time. Rather, there is a fixed 100k ohm resistor across the delay time pot. The maximum delay you are going to get out of this with the stock 100k ohm fixed resistor is about 200ms. To increase this time to the usable limit of about 300-330ms, increase the resistor value here to about 115k-117k, but no more. I personally modded mine with a 110k ohm & 5.6k ohm resistors in series here. Icreasing it more will make the max delay time go beyond the usable 300-330ms, and sound like POO!!!"

 

Well, I dug into my box of leftovers from amp-building and found a 15k resistor which I stuck in series with the 100k. Big difference. It has a good deal more delay time now. I'd guess 500-600ms (and doesn't sound like POO). It still requires some dialing in to get a really good sound. $40 bucks used and a 5 minute mod later, its an asset to my pedal board. If you have one of these pedals, I recommend trying this mod.

 

Thanks duderanimous