FX85 Harmonic Enhancer

I used this in the mid/high part of my ridiulously complicated bi-amped bass rig in the 80's. It added high end completely unlike an EQ. It does raise hiss a little (despite the process going through a 570 compandor) but it may just be amplifying the inherent hiss in my rig. With the banks of tweeters I used, his was inevitable. However, I also used a DNR (Dynamic Noise Reduction) circuit which got rid of all the hiss. My rig consisted of a modded tube Bassman preamp going into a crossover and EQ. 500Hz and above went through an Ibanez flanger, the Harmonic Enhancer, and the DNR into the Bassman's 50 watt tube power amp, which drove two 4X8 cabinets and two banks of tweeters. The low end went into folded horn 15" cabinets. I had the best bass tone in the valley! But who really cares what the bass sounds like other than the player. This pedal added a "professional" quality to every thing I tried it with. It is a GREAT acoustic guitar preamp, especially if you use an in-the-soundhole magnetic type pickup. With piezos it might be too bright, but it worked great with a no-preamp Ovation 12 string with a piezo bridge. We also use it with mandolin and it's GREAT with digital pianos. It adds high end and presence to any instrument in the mix, and can make an instrument stand out live or when recording. I loaned one to a keyboard player who played that old 80's Yahama piano (with strings and piezo pickups) and he loved it so much, he bought one and mounted the board in the piano. One gig, our guitar player was frustrated because his guitar sounded muddy in the room we were in. His strings were a bit old and tired also. I plugged in a spare FX85, and the first song he commented, "This thing rocks!" Indeed it does, if you understand what it does and how it does it.

I've repaired switches in others' DOD pedals, but none of the dozens we own have ever failed. Support from DOD has been excellent, and they've provided me with schematics just for the asking. Unless stolen, I can't imagine having to have a backup. But I love these things, so I have a couple extra...just in case someone needs to lifted in the mix.

This effect has two controls, presence, and level. How easy could it be. The presence sets the level of the enhancement and the level controls the overall level of the pedal. I have had 3 of these things, but didn't get a manual. But I'm familiar with enhancers, owning BBE's, a Rocktron RX10 Exciter/Imager, an Aphex Aural Exciter, Boss enhancer pedal, DOD Edge (reviewed in that section) and an Alesis exciter.

Excellent. I have a good collection of schematics that DOD provided me. We have dozens of DOD pedals, and the support has been great. Try getting the schematics for Boss pedals. This ain't Boss. The folks at DOD, especially Dean Athens, have been available and most helpful. Maybe a move to Utah is in the future.

I'd give DOD's pedals a 10, if it weren't for the occasional switch failure or lost battery cover (where do these things disappear to?) I have enough DOD pedals that if one disappeared, I'd have something similar to take it's place. That being said...I don't lose equipment to theft or misplacement. Thanks to GPS technology, it's possible to recover a stolen item in mere minutes (maybe an hour or two.) If you value the use of your fingers, don't steal from me. Steal from me, and your playing days will come to a close. DOD nearly has an effect for every occasion. I can only think of a couple Boss pedals that don't have a similar pedal in the DOD line (or vice versa). I love the professional "sheen" this pedal puts on the tone of an instrument.

I wanted to update the review I gave awhile back.  Since I've started playing more with a band (as opposed to practicing by myself), I've found the need for some type of lead-boost.  After pondering several options, I realized that the Harmonic Enhancer would be great...AND IT WAS!  If you need to switch back and forth between rhythm and lead, this pedal--placed AFTER the distortion--will make the difference.  They should start making these again.

see below

see my review below

see below

Again, I found it works great when used as a lead-boost after distortion.  I'd update my rating to 10.