Hi everyone, today is my bday and my little brother got me a DOD Death Metal Distortion pedal. I plugged it in and it sounded pretty cool, but my only concern was that maybe it was too heavy. I like to play mostly rock (PJ obviuosly) type stuff and was wondering if I should take this back and get something like a Boss DS-1. I have read some reviews and everyone loves their Death Metal Pedal and praise it, but I am just nervous as I don't really play too much heavy metal. Any info. is greatly appreciated.
DOD Death Metal Distortion
- Thread starter Scoot82
- Start date
bongolation
New member
The usual DOD pedals seem to be very heavy on the distortion.
Someone was asking me about the circuitry in the Grunge and I couldn't find a schematic, so I just bought one to check it out. Surprisingly, it's a very complex circuit compared to something like the DS-1, with not one - not two - but three dual OpAmps, in this case 4560s, which is a higher-fi, lower noise unit than the usual stompbox OpAmps, at least according to the engineering sheets for them.
The distortion was just unmanageable with anything in my studio other than a Telecaster, which sounded OK and almost useable. Anything with humbuckers was just too much, even with the distortion on "1" and the volume pot on the guitar at "5."
In fairness, the Grunge is intended to be the heaviest-distorting stomp in the universe, a wall-of-noise effect.
I may pick up a Death Metal tomorrow to do some more circuitry research.
On the whole, the DS-1 has a better reputation than the Death Metal and I believe the street price is less - though the more comparable Boss effect to the DOD Death Metal is probably the MT-2 Metal Zone.
DOD effects don't get much respect, but I must say that at least in terms of the electronic designs they are not trivial devices. I was impressed. The sound is of course a matter of personal taste.
Someone was asking me about the circuitry in the Grunge and I couldn't find a schematic, so I just bought one to check it out. Surprisingly, it's a very complex circuit compared to something like the DS-1, with not one - not two - but three dual OpAmps, in this case 4560s, which is a higher-fi, lower noise unit than the usual stompbox OpAmps, at least according to the engineering sheets for them.
The distortion was just unmanageable with anything in my studio other than a Telecaster, which sounded OK and almost useable. Anything with humbuckers was just too much, even with the distortion on "1" and the volume pot on the guitar at "5."
In fairness, the Grunge is intended to be the heaviest-distorting stomp in the universe, a wall-of-noise effect.
I may pick up a Death Metal tomorrow to do some more circuitry research.
On the whole, the DS-1 has a better reputation than the Death Metal and I believe the street price is less - though the more comparable Boss effect to the DOD Death Metal is probably the MT-2 Metal Zone.
DOD effects don't get much respect, but I must say that at least in terms of the electronic designs they are not trivial devices. I was impressed. The sound is of course a matter of personal taste.
cellardweller
New member
I guess it would only be fair to say I like the Boss metal zone, being as I have two of them...
I don't shop around much, and am more prone to "stay warm in a comfortable pile of shit", than venture out. I've been kicking around the idea of a POD lately, but that'll probably take a decade for me to break down and drop that much cash on something I've never even played with before.
I don't shop around much, and am more prone to "stay warm in a comfortable pile of shit", than venture out. I've been kicking around the idea of a POD lately, but that'll probably take a decade for me to break down and drop that much cash on something I've never even played with before.
bongolation
New member
Someone ought to check the date on the original post.
The DOD "Death Metal" has been discontinued for some time, so there'll be no exchanging it at the store.
It has been redesigned for DigiTech to use a robotically-produced PCB with micro-miniature surface-mount components. The "conversion" of the Grunge and Death Metal to these new circuits under another Kaman brand name is sort of an interesting development. Production costs have been drastically reduced and I think the new stomps are more consistent. The new "Bad Monkey" in the same series is an extremely popular new overdrive.
To the original question, though, the Death Metal (either DOD or DigiTech) is distinguished by having no distortion control at all. Distortion is 100% at all times. I can't think of another stomp like that, offhand.
The DOD "Death Metal" has been discontinued for some time, so there'll be no exchanging it at the store.
It has been redesigned for DigiTech to use a robotically-produced PCB with micro-miniature surface-mount components. The "conversion" of the Grunge and Death Metal to these new circuits under another Kaman brand name is sort of an interesting development. Production costs have been drastically reduced and I think the new stomps are more consistent. The new "Bad Monkey" in the same series is an extremely popular new overdrive.
To the original question, though, the Death Metal (either DOD or DigiTech) is distinguished by having no distortion control at all. Distortion is 100% at all times. I can't think of another stomp like that, offhand.
I had one and sold it, it's REALLY noisy, the gain is 100% at all times and it sucks batteries like crazy. I'll admit it IS fun to play around with, especially if you have a soft spot for tuned-down riffing, but it's not really usable, studio or otherwise. The 3-band EQ on the pedal is cool though. I own a DS-1 now and like it a hell of a lot more.