FX53 Classic Tube

I bought this back in 1991 because I couldn't find a Tube Screamer, and as a TS substitute, it's kinda lousy. It's muddy and thick and little else. BUT... when I did finally get a TS, I plugged it in front of this DOD. I run my amps pretty clean and generally use the TS to slam the preamp for chunky sounds... but then I step on this DOD for leads and the thing just SINGS! (The skies open up, the chorus of angels sounds.) At last, I've found it's special purpose!

I gigged with that combo of pedals for about ten years before the DOD started to get a little raspy-sounding. I found another one in a used bin for $15 just recently and everything sounds great again.

It's a pedal. Turn all the knobs to 12 o'clock and tweak from there.

DOD is out of business, right? If it breaks, buy another one. Geez.

Again, I like it. It's inexpensive, looks great in all it's candy-apple-redness and gave me years of good service. It's not great for everything, but try it for single-note solos, especially with the neck pickup. Sweeeeet.

So far I have used this pedal (for a week or so) with my two DOD delays, my flanger, and my crybaby - in my opinion this pedal works best with humbuckers as opposed to single coils, and just straight into a solid state amp, delivering the added warmth you would need. I have, as I said, used it in all sorts of configurations, and I've found it to be very warm, pleasant, full of lower end gutteral voicing, and almost on parr with the more boutiquey sounding Rat. The only difference (other than about $50) is that - as with all DOD boosts - when you crank it it turns to a bit more noise - which isn't necessarily a problem, more I haven't really found a purpose for it yet:) Great sustain - again, like a poor man's Rat - but not broke poor, just a little poorer than a full price Sustortion pedal.

Okay: this feller was shipped to me in a bubble mailer envellope. It withstood the journey - intact - and straight out of the flimsy paper bag it satred to scream, soar and all sorts of other great things. I know - as with all DOD pedals - that there's a chance the switch might go; and the battery compartment is a pile of something unfortunate; but I find the DOD switch to be really one of the better switches ever devised, and I use my DOD multi-power supply for as many pedals as possible, so there's never any hassles with the battery door. (also, there's a guy on eBay who sells the covers for $3us including shipping!)

Okay, at twelve o'clock on all three knobs, you're basically good to go - right? Yes. From there it's all a mattter of taste and experimentation... i don't think this pedal was meant for juct one sound - it is after all a classic TUBE pedal, and so it's kind of like having a little tube amplifier sitting there on the floor under your feet:) and you wouldn't just leave a good classic rocker amp at a single setting - would you?

these guys are starting to get under my skin, not replying to my emails - but these are not the same people anymore - DOD is no longer a solely American company, nor has it existed in any major form for much of the last five years - they probably should have gone even smaller than they were back in the later eighties rather than sell out to larger Japanese manufacturer (maybe moving their works to canada and only pumping out 100 or so of each pedal every year...) these are mute points. regardless: if your pedal dies, you should be able to replace it for as much as you paid for the first - and these pedals were not very numerous, nor have I ever seen one cracked out.

I play support, I play singer-songwriter, I play rock and roll. I play a lot of instruments - I gotta tell ya: this pedal was made for guitar!!! Probably one of the better, finer, more accurate mass produced overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals out there. If it were to be modded I'd say smooth out the higher boost end, maybe with a longer, wider taper on the pot or something - just more room to play before getting to the rough and the raw.

I feel that some have given this thing an overtly bad rap. It's true that it will not give a real tube sound so it may be badly named. However It makes a fairly filthy rythm sound almost like the current Alex Lifeson sound (Rush) and can do a reasonable Hendrix noise. It makes a pretty good bass fuzz if you set it up properly (better than some dedicated bass only stuff) So it has a kind of overdrive come fuzz sound about it. Yes, it can sound blurly. Yes, it can sound tinny. No, it will not really sing! I've used through Fender and Roland amps and through single coils and humbuckers, and it will sound a bit different with various setups. If you want a real good overdrive, Its not this pedal. If you want a grungy fuzzy blury overdrivey thing this could be your pedal! I'll give it the marks for what it is, not for what it was supposed to be!

It's been good. I know that the switches can fail, but the switches are cheap and easily replaced.

Three knobs but you still have to fiddle a bit.

Never had to deal with them. On my dod pedals the switches failed long after warranty had expired.

I play styles from Folk to Cyberpunk and have been playing for around 17 years. I have too much gear to list, but if we are talking pedals I have brands such as Dod, Boss, Real tube, Ibanez, Danelectro, Tech 21 and others. Yes there is much better ODs about but this one has a kind of filthy in your faceness that I kind of like. If I lost it I would either eventually get another one or or just leave this one as a happy memory. It does what it does, I'm happy with that.