DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp

Ease of use? it has 2 knobs Einstein.
bought second hand.
however it gets an 8 here for not having a led.

The guy that claimed it sounded like crap in every possible way probably was hearing the crap in his ears. come on. it drives so well. i know that "did you even think of replacing the battery" sounds corny but that's how dumb and based-on-nothing reviews are born. no offence.

Very nice subtle drive, it's safe to say that it blows away its price. I mean that. Money wasn't exactly much of an object when I was looking for a drive pedal.

Imagine a solid brick of metal.
then imagine it breaking down.
hard to imagine? Thats my point.
Even the cable plugins lock tightly.

this is the only DOD item I own and so far I haven't needed any customer support.

I wish it came with a led to check if it's on or off. that's all. it's a keeper to which is a good thing. *looks at his pile of 14-years-gathered guitar junk that just sits there being useless*
lot's of distortion pedals on that pile tho. this is just a keeper along with the mesa sound that I will always love. not sure how it goes with the marshalls. have yet to try.

This box is underrated. Please read this through if you are looking for exactly what I use it for: a pre-amp boost.

Its simplicity is probably what makes it nice. A gain knob to set the amount, a level knob to set the blend (or, if you REALLY use this just for overdrive, its a volume knob)

I do not advise this as a single drive. It's really nice as one, but I'm a perfectionist and if I wanted a drive I'd probably use my fulltone. Not perfect either, but damn does it get close.

I use this to boost a particular Mesa distortion. The distortion has great character and is possible "the" distortion for me, all it lacked was balls. Basically, this DOD box is a pair of balls. And then some. It really boosts the sustain and punch, and, to my greatest surprise (especially when looking at the cost of this box) it didn't even slightly change the sound character itself. With so many of the more expensive tools, you pay more only to get options you don't want in the end. It was advised to me by a local guitar dealer as "sounding great" so I gave it a try. I'm rather happy to see this thing NOT end up on my pile of useless expensive garbage.

Oh, and for those that love dirty cleans, man, this subtle drive makes a clean cut through like crazy! Perfect amount of break-up. All in all, this is a matter of taste and opinion, but I bought this thing expecting only a little, but it serves its purpose indeed.

I'd rate it a 9 but some guy in this section decided to rate it a "1" (come on, not even my 20 year old 15 watt starter amp deserves a flat 1), I'm guessing this is just to downrate rather than giving an honest exact rating. The most horrible thing I've ever reviewed got a 3.

Anyway, back to the facts.

Basically, this DOD box is a pair of balls. And then some. It really boosts the natural sustain and punch, and, to my greatest surprise (especially when looking at the cost of this box) it didn't even slightly change the sound character itself. With so many of the more expensive tools, you pay more only to get options you don't want in the end. It was advised to me by a local guitar dealer as "sounding great" so I gave it a try. I'm rather happy to see this thing NOT end up on my pile of useless expensive garbage.

Oh, and for those that love dirty cleans, man, this subtle drive makes a clean cut through like crazy! Perfect amount of break-up. All in all, this is a matter of taste and opinion, but I bought this thing expecting only a little, but it serves its purpose indeed.

I wouldn't be prepared to pay MUCH more for this thing as it is not really stand-alone equipment, but some items out there just don't need to be expensive to pull their own weight. Please note that I almost NEVER choose products by pricing, I take what sounds best to MY ears. Matters of opinions.

I hope you other reviewers can appreciate this, rather than posting worthless reviews like "how can you possibly say it's good, are you stupid or something". No I am not stupid thank you. I think after doing studio work for 19 years I know what "sound" is.

It's an iron box! Two plastic knobs, who cares. I don't see this breaking anyday... Standard Boss/Ibanez reliability on most older DOD's.

Not dealt with.

Nice.

However, NO review I write comes with only positive things hehe so here goes: the power input jack sucks monster c**k. Pardon me for my language, as I am not bothered by it (it's a standard jack thats used to power it, rather than an adapter plug) cause I got adapters with switchable plugs, but I can imagine lots of people getting frustrated by any kind of not-so-usual cable/power specifications on any kind of gear.

However, I do wish ALL gear had this same power input jack, since it plugs in very tight! But then again adapters are adapters. Still not a bad idea to make plugs that actually don't fall out by itself. Mesa, are you reading this?

very easy to use,but it sucks all the way!

I play 15 years and have a lot of good quality gear.To be honest,i bought the 250 yellow re-issue,because it was cheap.My main gear consists of a Gibson L.P. st.(P 90-neck p.u. and Rio Grande BBQ bridge)played over a Laney L.C.50(2-channel all tube)or a Peavey deltablues 2-10(equipped with Weber alnico sp.)My back-up guitars are Lag ROXANNE (French quality l.p.sound without the ridiculous price)and an Ibanez AM-200(fantastic 335 model).So,trying to play jazzy,to heavier blues(Robben F.,Andy Timmons,Carlton,...)i got the sounds i wanted.But,i wanted to overdrive the clean channels with a pedal,as i thought it would go quicker with the same, or at least a comparable sound quality.Guys,what is wrong with you?This is THE WORST O.D. pedal i have EVER heard.Do you all have no ears? It sounds sharp,synthetic,shitty,...I first thought i had a broken-one,so,i got another one,the same CCCRRRAAAAPPP!!! After that desillusion,i informed some musicians what they use,and besides my amps o.d.,i am using now an S.I.B. varidrive ,whitch sounds like heaven.O.K. it was more expensive,but it is o.d. from T.S.808 till full boogie-sound,impressive!Although i read H.C.-reviews before i buy stuf,and most of them are accurate,i really DO NOOOOOTTT!!!! understand all these people giving these rates.BE CRITICAL!!(you pay,its your right to obtain good stuff for your hard earned money!)

I never use it again! I guess it is reliable

It puts a garbage to shame

It is hard NOT to get a good sound out of it...its a perfect clean boost, which is mainly what i use it for...

i have it first in my distortions on my pedalboard... i'm running wendler electrocoustic guitar> Boss Volume> Dunlap535Q wah> DOD 250 Preamp> Boss Ds1> Jacques Fuseblower II > '74 Maestro Stage Phaser> Marshall Supervibe Chorus>Boss Bf2 Flanger>Danelectro Dan-echo Analog delay>Guyatone MD3 digital Delay> Ampeg SJ-12R tube amp....sometimes i use the preamp 250 to boost the piezo on my guitar ( its passive), sometimes i use it to kick in the other distortions for long feedbacked notes

the sucker is 25 years old, i got it at goodwill at the same time that i got the maestro phaser, for a buck apiece..

this little hunk of lead is irreplaceable..REMEMBER this is the GREY one, dont know anything about the yellow ones...

Well, it's pretty easy to use...can't argue with that!

I can't really complain about the sound quality...it certainly does what it says it will! Nice creamy overdrive, blusy breakup or mild distortion. Not a lot of gain on offer, but then, thats not what it's for. Very transparent tone, which in my opinion is very important. I didn't spend a fortune on a great sounding amp so that a cheap ass pedal can come along and ruin the wonderful tone!
I mainly use a 57 reissue Strat with Kinman noiseless pickups (incidentally, the best single coil pickups in the world!). This goes into a Fender pedal Stage tuner (CRAP!) the DOD250, Boss Blues Driver, Zoom PDo1, Dunlop Univibe and Boss RV3 Digital Reverb/Delay.
All these pedals are run throught the effects loop of a Boss PS5 Power supply and footswitch which lets you bypass all your effects for pure amp tone with one switch...cool! My amp is a Vox AC50.
I use the DoD for a nice crunchy rythmn tone and it's great for that. The blues driver is used for clean boost and the Zoom (gain on 10)is used for a thick mild distortion. if I need more gain I jump on the DOD and Zom at the same time and hold on to your undies cause off we go!! Very blusey and rocky (not metal!)

Well it's reliable enough, solid, simple (kiss!)keeps going and does it's thing, so I can't really fault that, but I do have a couple of problems with it, I'll elaborate below!

Who knows, never contacted them!

Unfortunatly, I live in a place where the music stores are small and do not stock a huge variety of equipment(Hobart, Tasmania), so most stuff you need you have to order and once you've ordered it, you're pretty much stuck with it! For this reason, I bought this pedal based on a magazine review and the reviews posted here. I wanted a transparent pedal to help me get into crunch territory without huge volume and this pedal certainly does that. The problem I have with it is this, firstly, the switch is a piece of crap! When you turn it on at anything like stage levels it makes a huge CLUNK sound that my amp and speakers (and bandmates and ears) don't like! Second, it has no on/off LED! A real pain in the ass in a live performance situation! Third, for some bizarre reason, the power suppy jack is on the LEFT side! Unlike just about every other pedal on the planet which has the jack on either the top edge or right hand side! The problem is that if you use some kind of daisy chain power supply (like me)you can't plug it in cause the plug won't reach!! So, it's back to battries! Oh, also, the power supply has it's own kind of plug so you have to use a DOD power Supply (that sucks!)Oh, and the battery compartment has four bloody screws to get into it so don't forget your screwdriver!
Consequently, because of this complete lack of thought for the end user, I have modified my pedal! I Installed a cool blue led, moved the power jack to the top edge and changed it to a boss type jack and put a decent quality switch in it with rubber washers between it and the casing to isolate it...now I have a great pedal!!
I wish reviewers in magazines would mention things like this as I doubt I would have bought the pedal had I known about it's short commings! Maybe the DOD ad on the following page of the magazine had something to do with this ommission! Oh Well, you pay your money and you take your chances! Anyway, my rating...hmmm 5 before the mods, 9 after.

easy as.

i use this in partnership with a boss overdrive and assorted other effects. i think this pedal is best used (for me) as a gain boost in conjunction with other O/D units, as i found the gain past 1 o'clock on the dial to be harsh and brittle WHEN USED ON ITS OWN. its first in the chain, then boss OD2. the boss gives me a good warm break up sound that i use for rhythm and i use its tone knob to match with the tone of my clean sound. if i want distortion i then run the 250 thru the boss, so the 250 simply is pushing more gain thru the chain without affecting the tone (or volume), and the boss then warms the distortion up nicely. used this way, i get lots of distortion without an overbearing sound inflicted the rest of the group. very cosy setup,that, and i believe thats what this unit was designed for, cos it doesnt have much tonal character of its own. thats just the way i found it to be with my les paul/fender amp combination, good luck to you if you dont. So the boss controls the overall O/D TONE, and the 250 merely pushes more GAIN thru when i need it. Good & cheap, and im glad it doesnt have a tone knob cos that would make things more complicated, and would colour the tone un-necessarily as well as make it more expensive.

no probs yet

ive played blues and other stuff for 12 years, mostly use just a slightly broken up sound with reverb/delay/tremelo and distortion every now and then. ideal for its purpose. too many tone knobs in your chain make your tone suck.
a simple, useful tool for adding gain without taking away from your other effects. i would get another. i dont like the effect on its own, but thats not why i got it, and dont use it as such.

All you have to do with this thing is to plug in the guitar cord and set the two knobs until you get the desired level of gain and boost. Just as you would do with your amp.

I use a relic telecaster (alder neck/ash body) with a P-90/neck and a Bill Lawrence single coil on the bridge. I have tested the 250 with a '70 Fender Princeton Reverb with a Jensen 12" speaker and a '67 Vibrolux Reverb. I don't pay so much attention to the noise, because my setup is so minimalistic, but I have to say that the 250 is pratically noiseless. The important thing to me is that the 250 doesen't alterate the guitar/amp tone with compression, as usually do the distortion boxes.
I found out that the 250 tone is the same as the Princeton's at high volume, except for a beautiful light high frequencies cut that makes everything sound warmer.
The tone is really affected by the strongness of your picking, so you can play an entire tune with the 250 always on, adjusting only the guitar volume knob to get what you need.
I play electric old style blues, and the 250 is the only thing I needed to add to my guitar to get a warm and transparent tone.

I could use it as a weapon, if necessary. It's solid like a rock.

It is worth the expense. I think it is more transoparent than a ts9, and it is the right choise for a warm tone not so much distorted. I have been playing for 10 years, and play only old blues tunes, so I use only one tone, and the 250 is perfect for this purpose. I'd buy another one, if necessary.

They don't get much easier than this. Two knobs....pretty much self- explainatory.

I bought this pedal at Guitar Center in 1979 and have used it on everything from Marshall half and full stacks to dinky, solid state practice amps and it works great with anything. It can sould very harsh on full overdrive, especially if running direct into the board. Using it with any amp, it works great without coloring the tone.

This thing is probably the crudest ever assembled by any company. It looks like a high school science project on the inside, with the rough soldering and cheap circuit board, but this pedal had proved itself to be totally indestructible! Twenty years of use and it has pretty much outlasted every other piece of equipment that I owned. Unlike most other effects pedals, the battery lasts forever.

I have never needed customer support.

I don't use this pedal too much anymore, but when I did, it worked great for hard rock. It doesn't look like anything to get excited about, but it really is, in its simplest form, everything that you need in an overdrive pedal.

Easy?My cat taught ME how to use it!

I owned two of these gadgets back in '79.I orginally went to by an MXR
distortion plus.The dude said,"You must be crazy...check this shit out!!"When I did,I broke out in a COLD SWEAT!I was 2 dollars short,but
but he let me slide.The DOD preamp 250(original grey)had a sharp,but fat searing gain thats hard to beat.With barre chords or open chords all the notes ring through with bite and clarity(i.e.Chandler tube).It
was also very transparent when used as a boost.
To this day,a cranked Twin Reverb,DOD 250preamp and Cry-baby is THE SOUND I"M STILL CHASING!!

They lasted for many years without a glitch.

??? Should've gotten them repaired.Instead I sold them...WAAAAAHHHH!!!
I'm still kicking myself in the ass!

Before I got the DOD 250,I owned the EH Hot Tubes(too raspy).Then the EH Big Muff Deluxe(not enough clarity).I used the DOD 250's exclusivly
from '79-'86!My other guitar player bought one also.In the mid 80's I got into "SHRED".So I bought a RAT(NOT AN OVERDRIVE)which was very good.But I sold my DOD 250's to get another axe..."JEEZ"!
The new (yellow)250's have too much bass reponse and not enough bite for my taste.But I think I'll buy one and have it modified.I WILL NOT GIVE UP!! These DOD's are classics for sure!

No manual, if you can't figure out the two konbs you should be beaten over the head with a tack hammer. Sound is great, very bluesy on lower gain settings.

Using a '98 California Strat with Dimarzio Heavy Blues pickups and crankin it through a Mesa Boogie Mark IIC and a Fender Blues Junior. Only complaint is about the noise on the higher gain settings but that is typical of all distortion pedals

No problems yet and the thing is really old.

N/A

My style is very bluesy a nice rock edge to it. I've only been playing for about 3 and a half years, but I love the blues and have played a few of "great" boost pedals and I think this one might be one of the biggest secrets out there. TS-9's are weak and I think that if you want a good boost don't buy one they are overpriced and overrated. This pedal is my second favorite that I own because my Blues Driver is my favorite and probably the best sound for my setup and preferneces. My favorite part is the ease of use and the sturdiness that it is built with. This pedal is an awesome value for the money and I wish more people would respond.