DOD FX13 Gonkulator Modulator

Very simple but of course, DOD had to go and put those stupid fucking names for each of the knobs on it. I had to look them up but probably could have done without it. This is one of those super creative boxes

Weird, I would say Sonic-Youthy sounding even though neither Thurston or Lee uses one but this is definately for those who like spacey sounds. This with an MXR Blue Box is just a badass combination. The damned oscillator tone for the ring mod is kinda a pain but sometimes I never notice it. What I run is (depending on how much shit I want inline): guitar(Yamaha Pacifica Lefty or Univox Hi Flyer righty turned Lefty)-crybaby wah-Proco Rat-Boss DS-1-Small Clone Chorus-Old Pearl Flanger-MXR Blue Box-DOD Gonkulator. Any of these going into the Gonkulator is cool, all of them at once is fucking crazy!

Nice metal case, knobs and pots feel pretty strong. I really don't like the stomp switch though.....

Don't need to deal with DOD, probably won't have to.

This thing is cool. If I had all the other shit I wanted it would make a nice round out to my package. If it were stolen, I would be pretty pissed and would rape with a blowtorch the person who took it. I supposedly got mine cheap off of eBay. But, DOD NEEDS TO STOP WITH THE STUPID NAMES OF THE CONTROLS!!!!! That has to be one of the dumbest gimicks I have ever seen. Mainly I play Nirvana and stuff like that but love to make strange sounds. This pedal is a must for strange noise (that and an MXR Blue Box).

Easy to to use. Not necessairily easy to get a good sound out of.

I use mainly an '80s Gibson XPL Explorer with this through a "69 super reverb with a 2-12 cabinet. A question such as is this noisy must be a joke! This is all about noise. Iwas hoping to get a sound close to the early Devo recordings but this seems to be a little off. I don't know how to describe it. It can sound like ringing bells, phone tones, or early computer noises.

It's very dependable. I'd be confident with no backup.

I've never had to deal with DOD. Don't know how they are. I have soldering skills developed enough to feel confident repairing it myself.

I play about anything except new country or teen pop. It's good for experimenting with new and bizarre styles. it's fun to produce sound effects with. If it were stolen or lost I would probably go for an EH Frequency Analyzer.

"Good Sound" isn't exactly the goal with a Ring Modulator. They are fuzzy, buzzy and downright nasty little bastards designed to deconstruct your tone, which the Gonkulator certainly does. The manual, such as it is, reads more like bad comedy, although it does explain how the thing works and what the control knobs do; without the manual, this box would be even more of a pain to use. There are really two parts to the Gonkulator; a simple Distortion circuit, and the Ring Modulator. The "SUCK" knob and the "GUNK" knob work together to control the Distortion effect. Think of the "SUCK" knob as a Level knob and the "GUNK" as Gain or Drive, and you have the basic idea. Neither of these controls do anything to the Ring Modulator sound. The "SMEAR" knob is basically a Mix control for the Ring Modulator; at the lowest setting you hear no Ring Modulator sound at all, at the highest setting, you bring on the noise. The "HEAVE" knob is sort of a Master Gain control for the whole box. I give the box a 6 for ease of use, because even though it does exactly what it was made to do, some players will have a hard time learning to control it. If you don't have the Manual, and don't know what the controls do, you're really screwed.

I don't feel like printing out my whole equipment list, but I've tried this box with pretty much every standard-issue guitar, from Strats to Jazz boxes, all with the same result; weird noises. This box was made for weirdness, and if you want some kind of pure, clean tone, don't even think about buying the Gonkulator. This thing can make Eric Johnson sound like King Buzzo. The 500k tone bleeds through, and unless you've got a Noise Gate in your system, get used to that whine. You could try using a Parametric EQ, notched out at 500k, but again, if you don't like the noise, don't buy the box. The Distortion is decent, if not impressive, but no one is going to buy this thing just for the Distortion. If you want a smoother, more managable Ring Modulator, buy the EH Frequecy Analyzer, or the Big Briar Moogerfooger Ring Modulator. I give the Gonkulator a 7 for sound quality because of the 500k tone; Ring Modulators are supposed to be weird-sounding, but that whine will drive some players (and most recording engineers) nuts.

It's metal, it's pretty solid-feeling, and it tries to deal with the two biggest complaints about DOD pedals; the switch seems to be somewhat better than on older DOD boxes, and the battery cover shouldn't fall off and get lost. As far as using it without a backup pedal, nothing else sounds quite like it; if you wanted a backup pedal, you'd have to own two of these things. If you like the Gonkulator, you may want to buy a spare. Even though I still see them in some music stores, DOD has discontinued the Gonkulator, which means that at some point, you're going to wind up paying "vintage gear" prices for it. (My opinion on the inflated prices of 20-year-old pedals is too rude to print here; imagine a long string of your favorite obscenities, in English, Spanish and Turkish, or make up some new ones.) Anyhow, I give the box an 8 for reliability, just because nothing has gone wrong with it yet.

Not a clue. I only own a couple of DOD boxes, and they all work just fine.

I'm a long-time player who loves weird stuff, from Spike Jones to Zappa, Devo, Elliot Sharp, even Moog Cookbook. When I bought the Gonkulator, it was the only Ring Modulator I could find, besides the Digitech Space Station, which I also have. (The Space Station has a couple of Ring Modulator effects built in, but it works, and sounds somewhat different than the Gonkulator.) Now, of course, Electro-Harmonix has reissued the Frequency Analyzer (I bought one), Big Briar has issued the Moogerfooger Ring Modulator (nice but $$$), and Lovetone has issued the Ring Stinger, a combination Fuzz-Octave-Ring Modulator for the truly fried. There's also the Charlie Stringer Mold Spore, a combination Wah-Ring Modulator. The Gonkulator gives me a sick, ugly tone when I want it, which is why I got the thing. If it were lost, stolen or broken, I'd probably get another, in part because it was cheaper than any of the other Ring Modulator devices out there. The 500k whine is a pain, but the box does what I bought it for. If I couldn't find another Gonkulator, I'd love to check out the Lovetone Ring Stinger, but it's way expensive, and you have to order the damned thing from England; not exactly an impulse item. For me, the Gonkulator gets an 8, but remember, I love weird noise. If you like anarchist effects, things like the MXR Blue Box, or the Digitech Space Station, you'll probably enjoy the Gonkulator. If you want a cleaner, pseudo-synth tone, look elsewhere.

Lets face it, look at the damn names for the knobs - you should win a prize if you guess what they mean. Having said that, this isn't a conventional pedal, and these names are as useful as any. You just fiddle, and good sounds come out. The manual does explain, but its better to make it up as you go along

I play a Fender Fat Tele through a Drivemaster, Fab-Tone, Boss Tremolo, this then Small Stone. This pedal fits in really well with the set up, its got a wide tinny sound that I can't get with the Marshall or Danelectro.I found it really good for stuff like the intro to Get Myself Arrested by Gomez. Its true, its a really noisy pedal, but I intend getting a noise gate, but anyway, thats part of its appeal. the range of weird noises it makes more than coompensates.
It can go from a beautiful lo-fi overdrive to something that sounds like R2-D2 puking into a skip. When its all turned up full, it makes any bass-string riff you know unrecognisable, but I love effects that make you do different things. It so unique that you'd have to use it sparingly, but I love this pedal. I want to be buried with it when it finally cracks open my skull and kills me.

Its seems pretty solid, but I've never got round to gigging with it - the only quibble i'd have is that old chestnut about DOD and their plastic switch - you just know one day that bad boy's gonna go in and not come out again. Til then, it has to get full marks.

Never had a problem with it. Maybe I should take this opportunity to praise Crocodile Rock for making my dreams come true!

I play mainly Blur, Pavement, lo-fi stuff, and this pedal is perfect for kicking a song into life, or throwing it sideways. I've had it 6 months, and pedals like this are a great weapon for getting out of a song-writing rut.If it were stolen, i'd buy it again, but any chance of getting it again for #35 when its been discontinued? Not fucking likely! I couldn't believe when I found it, and new as well! I'm a big fan of Graham Coxon, and bought this pedal just to simulate that briiiing at the start of On Your Own. I short - don't buy this if you're a wanky-widdler, but if you love experimenting, and have a strong stomach, try to find one beofre they become collectors items - but no-ones getting mine!

4 knobs....wierd ass names.....but cool....this is a fucked up pedal......:):):):):):):)easy to use.......the manual was a big help though

i use this with a bunch of effects thru a marshall valvestate 100 watt head and cab......this fucker is noisy......cuz it's a ring mod.......no prob....i have a noise supressor.....this pedal is truly the most fucked up pedal i have ever played......distortion and ring mod in one???? how fucked up is that, man??? i use just the ring mod cuz the distortion settings suck.....if you crave "fucked up" this pedal is seriously for you......the only prob......it's discontiuned......i bought mine off ebay for $152....kinda high, but i wanted thiis pupppy baddddddddd........i loved the sound mike enziger (incubus) got on the track "glass" (track 5, SCIENCE).......it was truly fucked up.....sounds great with delay and volume swells.....high notes sound more fucked up than low ones.......it's all good though...

hell yes i'd gig without backup......

n/a

i play the hiphip/metal crossover thing in my band dysrhythm.......i drive the guys in the band nuts with this pedal......you have to be creative to find good uses for it, but it's a fun challenge......there is no other pedal like it......totally FUCKED UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty easy to use. (It's a stompbox after all). Knobs are labelled with DOD's usual meaningless "cool" names- Suck", "Smear", "Gunk" and "Heave" (sheesh). I played with this pedal for 15 min. or so without getting anything decent except pretty-straightforward distortion, so the manual is a big help (luckily mine came with one). Once you get the basic positions down for ring mod effects and distortion-sounding effects, it's pretty simple.

I use this pedal on my Ibanez bass running to a Trace Elliot 100-watt Commando combo, along with a dozen or so other boxes (yeah, I know, I'm a freak). A word of caution - this pedal is NOISY!!!!!! Adds constant hum and line noise to your signal path. If you plan to use this pedal often, a noise gate is an absolute MUST. However, this pedal does not lend itself to being used often - it is great for experimenting with noise, and you might be able to use it for some industrial/hardcore tracks, but overall it is more of a curiosity than a practical effect. That being said, I was able to get a distortion quality out of it that I actually liked better than my Washburn distortion pedal or my (crappy) Yamaha overdrive. Put this on ring mod with a flange and your neighbors will think the Martians have landed. My roommate borrowed it and ran his Thinline Telecaster through it along with an MXR Blue Box and the idescrible sounds that came out made me want to vomit. In short: Really, really weird - I guess if that's good or bad is up to you to decide.

I have few complaints about DOD boxes - I have 6 of 'em, and they all seem pretty sturdy to me, second only to BOSS as far as construction goes. Lots of people complain about the switch being plastic, but unless you actually jump up and down on it I don't think it'll give you any problems. This particular pedal actually seems sturdier than my other DOD pedals - the knobs are "rubberized" where as on my other pedals they are just plain plastic, and the switch on this pedal is covered by a thicker, "spongier" material than my other DOD boxes. My only beef is that DOD doesn't use standard negative-tip barrel connectors like 90% of other manufacters, so my pedal power supply is worthless unless I make my own custom cables (someday I'll get around to it). I would use it without a backup, but like I said I doubt most people would ever actually gigwith this pedal, so that's a non-issue.

Never had to deal with them. Hear that they are accomodating, though.

I was looking for a ring modulator for a while, mostly at the Big Briar Moogerfooger and Electro Harmonix pedals. However, those models retail for well over $200. I had seen used Gonkulators once in a great while in the $75 price range, so I kept them in mind in case I saw one cheap. I happened to be at my local shop and they had a brand new one for $49, so I jumped on it. They had never heard of it - probably why it was priced so low (I have seen some shops selling their old stock of these for $100 or more). Overall, if you're looking for something purely to experiment with and can find one cheap, I would recommend picking it up. If your looking for a more useable, practical effect for hardcore/industrial, you might be better served by an Blue Box or another octave/fuzz type pedal. But if you want some truly weird noise and don't want to drop a ton of cash, this is it.

Like most pedals, you step on it and it switches on, step on it again, it switches off. There's also some knobs to turn.

I'm running an 86 Gibson SG through a Sovtek MIG 50 with a Marshall cabinet, but that's neither here nor there. It's noisy and irritating. It buzzes and feeds back at random for no apparent reason other than the fact that it's turned on. But this is what makes this pedal so damn wonderful. You can make your guitar sound like a telephone, a police car, or a mating whale. The only place I've heard this effect used is the track "Glass" by Incubus. I sat for months mesmerized (okay I'm exagerating a bit) by that weird verse riff, wondering how in the world someone got their guitar to sound like that and now I know. Terrible in a wonderful sort of way.

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WISH DOD WOULD REDESIGN THEIR PEDALS TO MAKE THE FOOTSWITCH ITSELF OUT OF METAL. Now that I've got that off my chest, let's just say that I can depend on it and I would use it at a gig without a backup...Just in my experience people who take the expression "stomp box" literally don't have much luck with DOD pedals. As long as you're like me and merely step upon your pedals you will be making hideous noises for years to come.

Never had to deal with them.

The only major problem with the Gonkulator is that it sadly is no longer in production. As someone mentioned in a previous review, this pedal justifies DOD's existence. After plaguing the guitar world with 2nd rate generic sounding effects, they finally accepted their lot in the industry, and made several pedals whose sole purpose is to sound crappy, and they are wonderful. I remember seeing them all over the place in music stores for about $25-30 right before they went out of production and now they are impossible to find. Good luck. (try eBay)

Four knobs, a few basic sounds. Most settings you find, it is possible to replicate the exact same sound with a different setting, with less noise, funny thing.

This is of course, not an easy device to review. It has two basic sounds, a unalterable ring-modulator-esque sound and a stereotypical "The Distorted Guitar" sound, which is very uninteresting. The ring modulator sound is pretty neat, and I like the fact that you can mix the two, because unless they are combined they dont sound that good seperately. The worst thing about this pedal is its range. It seperates the guitar into Trebel and Bass when you use the ringmod-effect, you cannot transition from one side to another. You either play the low E and A and D strings, or the high G and B and E(betcha i am the only person to buy this pedal who knows the names of the strings).

lalala

lalala

i am writing this because I read reviews previous to buying it, and hope that I can do justice to this marvelous pedal, because i am glad i bought it.
the $30-$60 dollar price range for stompboxes has furnished nothing but a great mass of useless, cheap, similar-sounding fuzz/dist./OD effects, and even more terrible and frustrating Phaser/Flanger/Chorus effects. Finally, DOD is taking advantage of the potential market for cheap, two-bit, ridiculous and insane effects boxes that seem to sound as though they are constantly breaking down and malfunctioning even though they are "working properly". This unit and the Buzz Box and the ridiculous Octaving devices that DOD has produced are examples of this. This is the most usefull of the aforementioned, I should mention, the buzz box is said to make your guitar sound like a vacuum cleaner.
certain setups make this pedal shine: run a wah into it and run that into a tube amp- you now have a budget guitarsynth! this pedal justifies DOD's existence. I put a 7 in this category because anybody can make it sound like a 7, after two days I made it sound like a 10 by altering my setup and other effects, if you have the time, you can too.

This is a simple pedal to use (most pedals are) after barely glancing through the manual I had the functions down: Suck (Distortion), Smear (Ring Modulation), Gunk (Gain), and Heave (Output Level). Still even if you don't know what they are you can twist away to your liking.

This pedal is dope as fuck!!! At first I was all doubting getting it cuz I remember the bad experiences with my MXR Blue Box which was like some slap happy circus fuzz/synth. People kept saying it was a freaky effect and I heard Wes Borland used it and it was a let down. It's not `freaky` in a good way, it was pretty damn gay sounding. People have claimed this to be an `oddball` and it is but it's actually cool. On the higher strings it sounds almost like some detuned bells or something. I love it. I like the synth-y ring modulation sound and I use mild distortion with it for some pretty cool stuff; however I don't like to use too much distortion because it sounds crappy and drowns out the effect of it.

As long as no fat obese Barney off the Simpsons flops down directly on the footswitch, I'll be straight.

I don't know DOD but the manuals for their pedals make for good child-ish reading when you're up at 2 AM in the morning with nothing else to do.

This thing rules the world, I'm never gonna let it go. I'm into hardcore and crossover/rapcore type music (KoRN, deftones, LB, (hed)p.e., Kid Rock, One Minute Silence, Incubus, etc). I like to use this to throw a touch of dissonance into things. Don't get this if you want a straight Ring Modulator though (you'll hate it as the others have in below reviews). I like to get pedals that are supposed to be for certain things and use them for other things if you can catch my drift. You can end up with some pretty cool sounds that way...

IT IS EASY TO USE SINCE IT HAS THE NAMES ABOVE IT.

THIS PEDAL I CAN'T GET MANY SOUNDS OUT OF BUT I MY SETTING IS PRETTY SWEET. IT'S A ENVELOPE FILTER TYPE SOUND WITH A BIT OF DISTORTION SO I USE IT FOR WEIRD SYNTHY SOUNDS AND MY SETTING IS GREAT FOR TAPPING HERE IS THE SETTING : SUCK 1 O'CLOCK, RING MAX, GAIN MAX, LEVEL MAX. I USE IT WITH A IBANEZ RG7620 AND A FRETLESS RG7620 WITH A MARSHALL PRACTICE AMP FOR HOME AND A MARSHALL 4X12 CAB FOR SHOWS. WHEN I FIRST GOT THIS THE VOLUME WAS WEAK SO I HAD TO TURN THE VOLUME UP ON MY AMP AND TURN DOWN THE VOLUME ON MY OTHER PEDALS WHICH DIDN'T TAKE LONG SO IT WASN'T A REAL BAD PROBLEM.

STURDY STEEL BUT LIKE ALL DOD'S THE ON/OFF PAD IT'S MADE OF PLASTIC

THIS IS A COOL PEDAL BUT I WISH IT HAD A WIDER RANGE OF SOUND BUT I ONLY USE 1 SETTING MOSTLY FOR ALL MY PEDALS BUT IT'S NOT A BAD PEDAL FOR MIXING THE SUCKY ASS GRUNGE WITH A RING MODULATOR.