Corrosion Distortion

I play through headphones not an amp.  This box creates much distortion and fuzz, with long sustain.  There is a low-Q bandpass filter, followed by a dual-diode clipping distortion section, followed by a dual bandpass filter.  So this pedal (like the Grunge and the Death Metal) is like a fuzz followed by a graphic equalizer.

DOD pedals are dependable.  Just don't put an adapter that has AC output into the power jack.

Straightforward to use.  If you plug it into an amp without having it plugged into a guitar, then it will feedback a sine tone.  Sometimes this leads people to believe that it is broken.

I've asked for three schematics from DOD and each time I've received the PDF file for the pedal attached to an e-mail.  Mostly I open each pedal that I get and map out the schematic.  I keep a collection for public download at www.geocities.com/alan_probandt/schematics.    Generally DOD will repair any pedal that they've sold for $40.  Most of the problems that occur with DOD pedals are broken and worn-out internal switches for the footpedal.  Sometimes but not often a solder joint on a capacitor will break because the components have to be bent in order to fit into the box.  But the box is metal and will not deform by stomping on it.

I believe that this pedal was special limited-edition cross-promotion with Guitar Center music store in the early 1990's.  I think that only 1000 or so were made.  They are uncommon but not valuable.   DOD made a whole series of pedals in the late 1980s and early 1990s that were combinations of distortion and one other effect.  FX54 was fuzz/compressor.  FX57 was fuzz/reverb/delay.  Meat box was fuzz/octave divider.  None was extraordinary, nor are they particularily collectable.

My main guitar is a late 80's B.C. Rich Warlock Neck-Thru with stock pickups.  I've been testing the pedal out mainly in front of my Crate GX212+.  However, I bought the Corrosion pedal to go in front of my rack, which houses my Mesa/Boogie Triaxis and Strategy 500.  I'm going to use it to beef up the medium gain Boogie tones into more saturated solid state high-gain sounds.  I have plenty of great tube tones in the Triaxis, but wanted to expand to a few more sounds with an overdrive/distortion pedal. This pedal can get a little bit of noise when it is on, especially if dissolve (output level) and rust (distortion gain) are turned all of the way up.  In comparison to my old DOD Metal X pedal though, this has a much fuller sound and is less tinny and less scooped sounding. After an A/B comparison between the pedals, this pedal is a bit louder overall but at the same time, is more controllable. With the rust (distortion gain) control at a low to medium setting, this pedal makes a great solid state overdrive to beef up your amp's gain.  At high settings it is a good standalone distortion pedal.  Even with the gain kindof high, this has a more controllable feel than the Metal X and does not feedback as easily. There is a bit of noise added in bypass mode, not much, but it is definitely there.  I plan on taking care of that by putting the Corrosion in some type of true bypass loop.

I have used the old DOD Metal X pedal on and off for seven years and have never had a problem with it.  As long as you don't drop these pedals off of a building, toss them into a fire or connect them to a 240 Volt power supply, you probably won't hurt this pedal.  Occasionally the input and output jacks do become loose, but that can be fixed with a quick turn of the nut on the jack.

This pedal is extremely simple to use.  After you plug in the power supply, a cable to your amp and another cable to your guitar, you only have five controls to deal with. The pedal turns the effect on and off (indicated by red LED).  Dissolve is a level control to adjust volume while the pedal is on.  Bottom is low frequency EQ adjustment.  Top is treble frequency EQ adjustment.  Rust is the amount of distortion that you want from the unit.  It only takes a few minutes of tweaking to find out what this is capable of.

I have been playing for ten years and have been in bands ranging from alternative and grunge to death metal, nu-metal, grindcore and industrial.  The Corrosion pedal is definitely geared towards the heavier end of the spectrum, giving a hard-clipping, high-gain distortion on it's own or a very high output overdrive to heat up amps with medium gain sounds. I'm still going to use my Triaxis for most of my main high-gain sounds, but using this pedal in front of the Triaxis's Rythem and lower-gain Lead 1 sounds will give me additional high-gain sounds to use. If this pedal were stolen or lost, I would try to find another Corrosion pedal to replace it.  The Metal X pedal will be my backup for this, but simply does not sound as full as the Corrosion and feels less controllable. I do wish that the pedal did have true-bypass switching or a better buffer in the bypass mode.  I don't like adding noise to my rig.  But I've come to expect that from DOD pedals and will solve the problem with an external looping box or switching system.

sounds great when wired through the dirty channel on my amp. it can add that extra boost to allow really amazing harmonics. settings: when played through dirty channel: dissolve: 10 top: 5 bottom: 5 rust: 0 when played through clean channel: disolve: 3.5 bottom: 5 top: 2.5 rust: 4.5 with these settings i can get some amazing sounds out of this pedal.

ive had problems initially when using this pedal in coordination with poorly made patch chords. now that i have new ones, there are no problems.

very easy to use. ive never had any problems here.

they basically told me to f**k off when i had problems with this pedal. i was told that it would be 8-12 weeks before i got my pedal back from them if i sent it in for repiars. i had it done by someone locally for about 25$.

i play aggressive rock/metal. this pedal works very well with my style of playing. it adds the depth and fullness to my sound without destroying my tone. i love this pedal. my only complaint is that it does not work with a common 9V ac adapter, so ive been using batteries instead. . . and this pedal drains batteries in about 10h of use, so i recomend rechargables.