DOD AcousTEC

The foot botton are a bit close together. EZ to program.

No matter how much effect I removed, this unit made all my acoustic guitars sound like very compressed and thin. One reviewer discribed the sound as playing in a 55 gallon drum, and I second that. Honestly veteran acoustic players will not use this pedal no matter how great the effects are because of this compressed coloring that this processor does to the signal.

I had it over for over 10 years, mostly stored in a box because I hate the way it sounds, but it always powers on when I get it out to check it.

Don't bother

This is a fairly user-friendly unit. It is very easy to switch between patches even without reading the manual (which is completely useless). In order to get the tuner to work you have to turn the input on the unit and the input on your guitar preamp all the way up. I've never tried to edit the patches, but It doesn't look easy. That's why I give it only an 8 here.

I use this pedal through my church's sound system (don't use an amp) and it sounds wonderful. The choruses are very clear and there are even some neat sound effects like flange and phaser that I wouldn't have expected. However, the reverb is kinda flat and there are many sounds that I NEVER use. I only give it a 9 because of the reverb issue. Other than that it sounds great.

Had the thing for about 3 years and I have NEVER had one problem with it. I have used it at least once a week for the last 3 years and it still is working perfect. Although it is made of plastic, it is very durable IMO.

Never needed to contact them (see above).

I play mainly rythym guitar styles like Dave Matthews and John Mayer. I play a Fender 47GDCE acoustic guitar and primarily use it at my church. For the money, this is a really good pedal, however there are better ones...They have since discontinued this pedal but if you can snag one off eBay for under $80 or so, it would definately be worth it IMO.

VERY ease to use. Manual (or should I say piece of paper) sent with it is of no use whatsoever (except packing material), but the equipment itself is VERY easy to use.

Sounds GREAT plugged directly into system. Tried going through an acoustic amp and it sounded like I was playing out of a 50 gallon drum. Plugged into the system, it sounds great !!!

Feels well-made. Does not feel cheapish.

Dunno....haven't had to use them.

The tuner DOES NOT WORK at all !!! It is a waiste of time to try and tune your guitar with this stupid tuner. Overall, this is a great product...but I'm a little disappointed in DOD for not putting a little more into a tuner that actually works.

Pretty simple to figure out. The manual is clear, but doesn't give enough detail. It doesn't even say what one of the settings--Contour--does. Nevertheless, it didn't take long to get it working well. Would be nice if you didn't have to scroll through ALL of the 10 bank categories to get back to a previous bank--there's no way to lock them out of the chain.

I use this with harp (harmonica), not guitar. A friend who thought it sucked for guitar let me use it and, to my surprise, it's quite nice with amplified harp. I run it into one of two small tube amps. The reverb sucks. It's very metalic and unusable. But I prefer delay anyway, and the delays are quite good for harp. I really like that a three level (low, mid, high) EQ is available for each of the 30 user programable banks. Really helpful for fattening up the tone. None of the default settings is worth a damn, but it was easy to program several settings that I like, which are easy to access with the foot pedals. I've programmed 4 levels of delay that I use, depending on the type of song, as well as a chorus and a phazor that I use when I want to get weird. No noise at all.

Don't know yet.

Haven't had to deal with DOD.

I'm not sure that I'd shell out $170 for one, at least not without comparing it to comparable units (I'm borrowing my friend's). But if you're a harp player and can get one used or on sale, you should really consider it. It's quite a bit better than the Danelectro pedal that I was using (a slap back echo mini pedal, I forget what it's called, maybe the Corned Beef?).

This unit was essentially a plug-in and play operation. No problem getting the presets to work after a little experimenting with the footswitching methods. But as other reviewers have stated, the tuner is absolutely worthless. A huge letdown.
The manual was underwhelming - it offered nothing that five minutes of experimenting on your own wouldn't do.

There are more sounds than the average acoustic player needs. And, many of them are just plain stupid sounding. Most of the effects are preset with too strong of a sound. Tweaking is needed if you want to retain any of your guitar's true sound. I had no problem with (white or pink) noise. However, switching from patch to patch is out of the question "live." There is a delay like I have never experienced on any other unit. If you plan to use this baby at gigs and alter sounds during a song, you might as well belch into you microphone while you are singing because between the delayed switching and warbling of your sound, you are going to get some awfully goofy noises.

I did not keep this unit long enough to know.

DOD got back to me rather quickly when I questioned them on several points. However, in addressing the tuning, issue I wish they would have just told me that that was a joke - it really doesn't have a tuner. You have to buy that separately. And to tell me that I have to tune on the 12 fret harmonic - I don't WANT to tune my guitar there!
I also asked about the noise and delay in switching patches to which they replied, "It's just like that." Wow, 1960's technology in a modern pedal. My $17.00 Rogue pedals are seamless; what's your excuse DOD?

This is NOT a good pedal for live applications unless you just set-and-play on one effect.

Everything I have to say about this will be divided between effects and the built-in chromatic tuner.

TUNER: I could more easily tune an instrument to the baying of my Basset Hound. The tuner is absolutely useless. Well, maybe not absolute. If you only need to tune your high E string and maaaaaaaybe the B, you're okay. It just does not register.

The instructions tell you to repeatedly pluck the string until the tone registers and reads a pitch. I hate to keep brining up my Basset Hound, but that's about like when she brings her ball and sits in front of me. I can read her mind through mental telepathy. She is saying, "Throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball." Why would I want to use a tuner that I have to keep hitting a string 15, 20 times to get a pitch? Even doing that, you are only going to get a couple strings, if you are lucky.

I contacted DOD who sent back email in less than 24 hours. I have to say I was impressed their response time. Here is their response, in its totality, cut and pasted right from the email message: "Try tuning with twelfth fret harmonics, and let the notes ring." I tried what they suggested. It sounds pretty, but has no effect on the tuner.

I don't understand why they would take a really nice effects pedal, and include a tuner that does not work. It would be better to leave it out. If it's there, I expect it to work. If it is not there, I'd be pleased as peach with the effects.

EFFECTS: The effects are very easy to use and edit. The manual is about as brief as it could be. More detail would be appreciated. There is nothing that tells you the individual settings for each factory pre-set effect. I asked tech support for one, and never got it. So, if you fool around with a factory preset and store the changes, there is no way to get back the factory preset, unless you reset the whole pedal. This puts all the presets back to factory default, and you lose whatever settings you created.

I took 15 minutes and ran through the pedal and made a chart of each setting so that I could always manually reset the presets.

A lot of the presets are not anything I would use, but they serve as a nice demo of what the machine is capable of. With time, you will find the right combinations to get the effects you are looking for.

Tuner Rating: 0
Effects Rating: 10
Documentation Rating: 3
Rating Average: 4.3
Sorry DOD, I round to the nearest whole

Guitars: Martin D25K2, Martin HD-28, Yamaha FG512 all with Markley Sweet Spot under-the-saddle passive pickup. (Great pickup, by the way!)

Amp: Played through Fender Passport 250

I don't use heavy effects. I look mainly for some coloring. For the most part, if you can tell there are effects, it's probably too much for me. I am satisfied with the effects. I notice no noise from the pedal.

You know the story with the tuner - don't have a backup, just have a real tuner.

I trust the pedal.

Tuner: 0
Effects: 10
Average: 5

I contacted customer support twice. They got back to me once. The time they got back to me, their suggestion was not helpful. Their response of less than 24 hours is the only reason I did not give them a zero.

I think I have pretty much said it all. It is a nice effects pedal, and it is nice that it is designed with acoustic players in mind. Even at retail price, this is a very good buy. I like it's compactness - I don't really want to have to drag around a bag full of pedals for the minimal effects I need.

I would have given this pedal an 8 or 9 if it did not have the tuner. The fact that a useless tuner is included leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If I could do it over I would buy the pedal again. My primary need was for a multi effects pedal, but I thought it was pretty cool that a chromatic tuner was built in. I plan to buy a Boss TU-2 stage tuner, Which, incidentally will cost almost as much new as the AcousTEC cost me used! -- which, goes to show that the function is more important to me than the price. If it is cheap and works good, like the AcousTEC effects, why pay more? But, if you have to pay a lot to have a tuner that works, well, then that's what you have to do.

I wish they would have left the tuner out so I could say I absolutely LOVE this pedal!

i find it wery easy to use .easy to edit.

there is some noise at some of the effects but it can as well be my pickup i suspect.

has worked so far :)

never needed them

im wery pleased whit it , i play in a band of three 1 gitar ,1 bass and drums and i must say it works just fine for me .easy to use, dependable and not overpriced. a great box :)

Super easy to use. One of the simplest editing programs I've seen.
Manual is straight forward and easy to read. No on-off switch, just
plug in and go.

I use this for all my acoustic guitars live. Tacoma 6, Godin 12
and a Yamaha Classical. These go into the AcousTec via a ABC
switch box then into the board. I don't know what's happening
with some other posters but mine is essentially noise free.
I believe this unit is made to go direct into a board. It has
plenty of effects in there already.

I think the effects are fine for what I payed for it. Some
of the parameters are not infinitely adjustable. These aren't
state-of-the-art but for a live application they're great. I
almost like the limits since you don't have to fool around
tweaking everything...set it and forget it.

I use the chorus and delay for the chordal stuff and a basic clean
(with a little reverb for the leads) sound. The noise gate is a bit
slow with the Classical, but this might be due to the Microphone
I have inside it. The EQ section is great. As I have a different program for each guitar, it's easy to get the most out of em without
pulling you hair out. The contour knob is great for killing the occational feedback freq.

Hasn't broke yet. Seems pretty well made. I'm not real abusive
with my stuff.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for about 25 years...all kinds of stuff but mostly prog rock. I bought this for a 3 piece acoustic band that I'm in. I might even try it in the full band. NO ONE steals from me.
I love the ease of programing, I can make adjustments in a couple of seconds. It makes sound checks very easy as I can do my acoustics righ
from my spot! Being that it's a small floor unit, the pedals are a bit too close for my feet. It's not something that you can just jump on.
I checked some other pedals but for the price and features this is it.
Again the effects are not stellar but for me it works fine for live use.

I do wish it had more space between the pedals.
If some other people are getting noise, I'd check the guitar pick up.
I don't know why anyone would need to run other effects in line with this one. I wouldn't run this through a guitar amp since all my electric amps take away from the acoustic sound. Go into the board and forget it.

I think that it was somewhat of a pain in the but unless you are happy with the factory presets. I couldn't get any patches from the company. And, the manual was a legal size paper with instructions on the front and back.

I was using a brand new Ibanez guitar and a 50 watt amp so I encountered no problems there. There was a minute humm on some of the flanger and a few chorus settings. But the effects came through very well (partialy because I was using just that). The only effect I found I couldn't get was distortion. The rest sounded very good with a little tweaking.

I haven't used it much so far but it always works great when I plug it in. I will probably rely on it a lot.

Customer service was friendly but not much help. Their web page was a royal pain in the but! 80 percent of the links were down or busy! They also said that they had no patches or updates.

It works well for me because I play rock, coutry, folk, and 60's music. It is very versatile which is good because I've been playing guitar for about two and a half years. I would buy it again if it desided to grow legs and walk away. I do like it because it sounds great. It helps me make good music.

Very easy to use, even the editing.

It can be noisy IF the preamp of the guitar you use it with is noisy. IMPORTANT POINT: I tried using it with a really good guitar pickup (LR Baggs in a Godin Acousticaster). This really helped, BUT what worked even better was putting this little guy into the effects loop on my guitar amp (not in line with the guitar/guitar jack). Apparently, the unit itself is very linear and noise free, but it will amplify garbage coming from an onboard guitar preamp (my Takamine... a lower end one...is the chief offender). I guess it is just doing its job! In any case, using the effects loop on my amp totally fixed it.I would have to give it a high rating...it sounds better than many WAY expensive units I've tried.Use that FX Loop!Also, the effects "sound" way more transparent in the loop. I thought I was imagining this until I hooked it up between guitar and amp again to check.

I gig with it regularly, about three months now. No pproblems. It feels pretty solid, especiially considering the low price.

I called DOD in Utah, and the experience was as follows:
I got through to a tech with about a thirty second wait. He was very helpful (in fact, he suggested the FX loop). He told me that these multi effects preamps don't like to be chained with other effects boxes. If you have another box, put the AcousTECH in the loop and the other pedal between your guitar and the amp (or, experiment...you can't hurt 'em). So, I would say I learned a lot in less than five minutes.

I never give "TENS"....but this little workhorse is pretty near that. The company (an American one based in Salt Lake City) was also very nice.

Wide variety of sounds available, most are overkill IMO. Editing parameters are too thin for my liking e.g. you can't select precise delay times etc. I have customized my patches so I have two rhythm options and a lead option for each bank.

This thing is too noisy. Works fine in a noisy enviroment, but when the band quits playing, the noise is loud. The more effects you use, the poorer the sound quality. Chorus effects are nicest. Compression is good. The reverbs are too reflective and bright. Noise gate is flakey at times.

I've been using it for 18 months with no problems other than the noise gate forgeting it's settings. It's not an essential part of my sound, my amp has digital fx in case I need a back up.

Haven't dealt with DOD.

I play in a wide variety of ensembles, country, classic rock, acoustic blues, church, acoustic and electric guitars. I play 3-4 times a week and always use this pedal. It gives me a lot of colors and textures to draw from in a band setting. I use few patches in duo or solo situations. I wouldn't buy this pedal again, because of the noise levels. I love the size though, and not having to buy batteries is a plus to me.

Relatively easy to use.

Noisy all the time. Messes up any downstream effects. Especially noisy when it is in bypass mode. I play with a band in church every Sunday. The noise makes this unusable.

I contacted DOD to come up with the earlier processor, the Acoustic 1, since I have it and it works relatively well. Very little help. The company referred me to the TX/OK rep, who couldn't help either. I purchased the unit from MARS in Dallas, and they were absolutely zero help in coming up with any alternative to this unit.

For high end reproduction direct to a board, the AcousTEC would not be my choice. I played it through both my Godin Multiac and Godian LGX.

This little box is very easy to use. You get 4 pedals, one to switch bank and the others to switch sounds. You get high, mid, and low eq to shape the sound to your taste. The manual is 2 pages but that's all you really need to learn how to use this thing. It doesn't take but a few minutes to learn the basics and start making some very good sounds.

This little monster has very good sounds for such a small price. I use a Yamaha APX-6 acoustic-electric and it really makes the sound so much better. I don't have an amp but i do record my music on a Tascam 414 and since i got this little box my acoustic screams bright,beautiful tones. So far I haven't heard any feedback or other unwanted sounds coming from my guitar. In my opinion, for the price I paid I wouldn't want another acoustic pedal. All of the sounds are great and are very easy to shape. My favorites are the reverb and flanger. Reverb has three room settings, three hall settings, and three stadium settings. Preset 73, "arena stadium" (or something like it) sounds so good i hooked up a mic (not sure if it damages the thing yet so try at your own risk) and sung the national anthem and it sounded like I was in a hockey arena. With the noise gate, reverb, and eq you can really make your acoustic sound beautiful. I have covered John Denver and Paul Simon songs and that is where this baby shines. The various other effects, delay, tremolo, flanger, and phaser are very good for covers of Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, or writing your own dreamy songs. Very useful for background atmosphere in a song.

This little box feels heavy duty, definitely not some cheap plastic. I don't play gig's but if i did, I know I could rely on my new-found friend. Just stomp it a few times and you'll see what I mean.

I haven't had any reason to call DOD yet,so far a pretty dependable piece of metal.

For my style of music, which ranges from finger-picking John Denver to strumming Joy Division are pretty wide in range, but so is this pedal. It has everything I need for right now. This was the first acoustic pedal I tried and definitely the one for my tastes. I've been playing on and off for 6 years until I recently became interested again and have been playing 6-string acoustic 5 hours a day for a year now. I've always loved the way some bands use effects and now I can do the same. The best closing I can give is that you're paying $149.00 for multi-effects, an eq, an on-board tuner (did I forget to mention that), noise-gate, compression, and creativity. Very well worth it for acoustic guitar players.