DOD FX17 Wah Volume

Takes a few minutes to get used to. Mine was bought secondhand from a guy over ebay who sold it as is since he bought it from a garage sale and couldn't test it. The trim pots thta adjust the range and depth of the effect were off center of the holes so I had to remove the front plate to adjust them. Once you figure it out though, it's pretty straightforward.

The switch is kind of annoying - you REALLY need to give it a stomp on the back to engage/disengage the wah.

Wah: DELICIOUS! Personally, I find classic crybaby wah's sound to be really gross. Just my personal opinion, I find them too trebly thin to be used for anything apart from mindless wanking above the 12th fret. This wah, if adjusted nicely, can really let you shape your sound in a much more pleasing way.

Volume: Once adjusted, works perfectly. Nice and smoothe.

Well, it looks to be about 20 years old. Oldest pedal in my board, and it will probably outlast some of my newer stuff. The case is thick, the parts appear to be solid. I can't really forsee it crapping out any time soon. And if it does, I could probably find another one in even better condition if I tried.

The manual is still available online... apart from that, your best support would probably be on these forums :D

I play everything, have been playing for 3 years. If it were lost/stolen, I would find another one. I love the distinctive, warm wah sound it has - and the volume is solid too.
I wish DOD still made these - exactly the way they made this one. I would buy a new one and treat it with care. Though my used one is holding out fine.
If you see one of these on a table on somebody's lawn, take a chance on it.

Tricky, had some problems trying to get it to work... then suddenly it did, but i have no clue why. As mentioned, tweak the hidden pots with a small screwdriver to get the wah sweep u want.

Err, i think this pedal is really cool, prob a little bit of a collectors item just because it's so unique... it's certainly one of the most interesting ones i use. People go on and on and on about how much tone a dunlop crybaby will suck out of you're rig, but i would say that this pedal is slightly worse for that, so i have to take it out of my chain when not in use. Otherwise it's a nice wah sweep, sounds good with distortion.

Seems to be built well, and as it uses some kind of non contact optical cicuit to produce the wah sweep, there are less moving parts, so no wear and tear.

no

I would recommend this if you're into wahs, because it gives a different flavour than your dunlop, i think this would prob work great with a bass because the pedal tends to emphasise the bass frequencys where as crbabys tend to cut a bit more... if u can find one of these they tend to go for a few ?????? less than dunlops on ebay, so def reccommended.

Not easy at all.
Wah-Volume button in the side.
Ajustment screws to small and difficult to handle.You must choose your setting once and for all.
Too small for almost any foot.(When you're on stage some times you get confused.)

To get the sound that you consider good you MUST ajust it.It has two small holes in the front side under the logo.If you put a small screwdriver in the left hole you can ajust the width of the effect(wide-narrow)while in the right one you ajust the range (bass-treble).
If you select a narrow and rather bass adjustment you will be near a classic wah that can be played with a distortion.If you choose a wide and treblier ajustment you'll get a funkier result.But you must make up your mind what is that you want, because this is not a procedure that can follow all the time.
I think thow it has its own respectable sound.A very distictive one.No sudden changes.Nothing like the s***** VOX I had 25 years ago(that acted more like a switch than a potensiometer).
Anyway if someone needs a Dunlop sound then he better get a cry baby.

It??s made out of 2mm sheet metal(not 1mm like someone said).I think you may be able to even nail something with it.I have it for more than 12 years I think.It has been treated bad enough and it??s stil here.No loose screws no nothing.

I dont know.I dont care.

This is this Pedal's weakness, the Wah side of it that is. It can easily be adjusted to sound bad, which seems to be what happened to some of the units reviewed here, or to sound very, very good.

If you're not a tweaker this in NOT your Wah Wah! If you don't mind spending some time adjusting it to get a great sound than you'll be amply rewarded.

YOU MUST ADJUST THIS PEDAL FOR IT TO SOUND GREAT AS A WAH!

This is SO SUBJECTIVE and everybody gives 10's that I don't know if it means anything anymore, but there it is. As a Wah a 10.

This is NOT a CryBaby! Which to me is great. It has a different sound. One that I really, really like. But if you want one Wah to do the classic sounds, this probably isn't your choice.

THERE ARE TWO ADJUSTMENTS ON THE FRONT OF THE PEDAL AND BOTH AFFECT THE WAH SOUND! There is some wrong info on the WEB about this pedal and that might confuse some owners/users. Some reviews say only one of the adjustments on the front affects the Wah, which is incorrect. IT DOES adjust the Min/Max Volume of the Pedal if you have it switched to use as a Volume Pedal, but it also adjusts the Sharpness/Smoothness of the Wah Peak. If you don't like the sound of this pedal at all, chances are the adjustment in question is set wrong. It can sound VERY BAD if set wrong, and VERY GREAT if set right.

As reference I've played extensively with these Wah's: Budda BudWha, Clyde (Original One), Vox CryBaby, Thomas CryBaby, Dunlop CryBaby(s) (many varieties), Ibanez Weeping Demon, Boss PW-10, and many boutiques. Many of these are excellent Wahs, some of them aren't. I like the FX-17 better though.

Built like a tank.

They are still around and easy enough to work with.

Prices are shooting up for these on Ebay, so word must be getting out. If you haven't tried them and love Wahs, like me, it's well worth your time!

Very easy to use and easy to carry because it is almost size of a stomp box.

First I hated the sound, but after tweaking the pots i could get the good wah sound. I plugged my Squier into this wah then into DS1 and holly crap!!!! I could get EXACTLY the sound of early Joe Satriani!!! But the best thing happened when i tried to play with this wah in my band - it sounded perfect!!! once i decided to sell this wah and get Crybaby Classic but after comparing these two i took Crybaby back and i think i will never get another wah!!! it blew Dunlop wah away!!! it sounds very very very modern and thats what i like in it!!! it is easily switched on and off and does not have that awful on/off sound like Crybaby has.

it is built like brick!!! no pots to ware

N/A

If you are into modern music and like to experiment with sound this is the pedal to get!!!

The trimpots are quite difficult to access. I find that I have to rock on the wah to hear the settings, then bend over with the screwdriver to re-adjust to taste.

Then there's the switch. It takes a while to get adjusted to the "backwards" on/off, and if you kick it back to far you can accidently switch it off. but i've found a way around that, i glued some rubber to the base, switching it on/off would require extra heel-grease ;)

This is where it wins. You can approximate a cry baby/vox -like tone, but when you dial in the right frequencies, this wah has an amazing "chew" factor. I love it! It may not have the warmth of the potentiometer design, this is more modern and cleaner. great for funky stabs. If you require dirt in the frequencies, I found it good to place a light overdrive after it.

I'm using this with a souped up MIJ fender tele loaded with EMG-T's, a Barber Direct Drive and a locally modded BAMFX "Sushi" DS-1, into whatever amplifier i can plug into. The tone i get from it never fails to raise eyebrows, considering how under appreciated this wah is.

I set the wah sweep wider than usual,to I can back of the treadle into bassy frequencies (like a heavier robben ford wah tone), and just high enough so it doesn't shriek. if you're skillful, you can play through two ranges, by rocking your feet minimally within a frequency area. Lovely lovely!

The only beef I have with it is the loss of volume when you engage the wah. I'm finding a way to have it modded to give a bit of a boost when activiated. but it's a small issue, i'm just fussy about my sound ;)

Absolutely dependable! The specs ooze toughness. No scratchy pots, easy to service parts, and... a casing that is Ford tough!

I gig with it without a back up.

Great customer support! When I got mine two years ago, I emailed them for a copy of the schematic, got a reply within 12 hours. Great stuff! Friendly folks

I play a whole mess of stuff. I like to use this wah for color, and sometimes when I go through one of those psychedelic episodes, heheheh... I've been playing for.. damn, lost count, 16 years I think. It's been blues, jazz, and the beckian/landau school for me lately. I have owned countless wahs over the years, and this one has stuck because its been the most impressive.
I just wish it had a better unity gain / boost volume, and that the trimpots would be easier to access. that could be easily done through modding. come to think of it... its the only piece of gear that has stayed on my floor considering the revolving door of gear I have!

highly recommended, give it a stomp :)

Has a nice wide sweep-not for everyone, but having used it for 12 years now, I find it makes it possible to use various types of ranges simply by using different parts of the pedal's physical range. Just found out about the trimpots...due to the above, I don't have a need to tinker with them, but a novice to this pedal may want to tweak it in order to obtain the desired effect. I haven't used the volume function much, but it seems fine. Never used the voltage control at all.

Epiphone Les Paul, Yamaha Pacifica, into a Laney VC100 (used to use a Peavy Envoy 110). This wah is an integral part of my setup, and has been so in many acts. The only noise I've experienced was in the exremem treble position when I fed it into a very high-gain setting. At clean and resonable gain levels, it's super quiet. Noise is negligible. Never tried to use it as an imitation of anyone's sound: it doesn't really lend itself to that. The upside is that it's unique. I think it's a one-of-a-kind in my hometown. I love the honky mid-range stting as a filter. It accentuates harmonics in a beautiful way. The pedal works well for filter applications across its range, in fact: Heel=smooth, buttery, santana-esque. Center=good for melting people's faces. Toe=Good for giving people tinitus, creating an am-radio affect (played quietly)...without adjusting the trimpots, this setting can be painfully sharp (soundmen hate me), but used in moderation-well, more variety!

Dropped it once. Sent it back 'cause I thought I'd broke it. Now I think I was wrong, and just plugged it in wrong that day or something. Reason is that I've since used it on a zillion gigs, and it';s sustained more abuse than that ten times over. I'd love to have a backup, but don't feel I need one. That's saying a lot, since there hasn't been another piece of electronic gear made for thirty years that's built to last (other than Boss Pedals and this beaut). Score one for DOD! Why aren't all their pedals this rugged? It's worth mentioning that once the rubber pad wore out (the one that stops the pedal just shy of heel position, keeping you from switching it unintentionally). I just replaced it with a small pice of rubber-boot-sole. No problems since.

Above mentioned repair. I was dumb enough to purchase it from a dealer heundreds of miles from home. When I dropped it, I sent it to them. I don't know if they sent it to DOD or not, but it got fixed. It cost a bunch, and took a year. I feel fortunate to have gotten it dealt with, given the geographical issue. PLEASE NOTE: I do not know if this was DOD's fault or that of the dealer, so do not base customer service judgements on this alone! I'm just telling my story.

Funk, Blues, Rock, Metal-Good for all.
Playing 12 years. Simple rig: (paranthetical items represent gear no longer in use or used for rehearsals only) Guitar-FX17-(DODFX7)-(Boss Delay)-(Ibanez Tubescreamer)-LaneyVC100.

Would definitely replace it, were it lost or stolen!

I, for one, love the rear-end switch!!! I find it makes the swtiching of the effect less conspicuous...tone is dark when switched on, rather than jumping from neutral to bright as in front-switched units.

Pretty easy to use except that the on/off switch is in the heel position which is oposite of most Wah Pedals. Also, sometimes I accidentally turn it off while using it as a Wah Pedal which I need to find a way to fix.

Also, some trim pots are located on the opposite side from the battery compartment. You will need a micro miniature flat-head scredriver to adjust them. The left trim adjusts the Wah Sweep. The right trim adjusts max volume.

I also own a modified Dunlop Crybaby GCB95, so let me try to explain how they differ in sound. The DOD FX17 has 2 trim adjustments, left trim for sweep & right trim for max volume.

The Dunlop Crybaby GCB95 that I own as a very creamy, classic Vox-like tone especially when plugged into a tube amp. The Crybaby has a very vocal "Wah" type sound. It has a bit of hiss noise in the toe position. It has a true bypass switch mod which makes a loud click when turned on or off, but eliminates tone sucking.

The DOD FX17 can be adjusted to sound subtle almost similar to the Crybaby "Wah" sound, but the overall tone is much more compressed. I adjusted the trim pot on my FX17 to make more of a "Wow" sound. I really like the sound of this effect, but at times, I do wish it sounded less compressed. Yet, the compression can be useful at times & I have gotten some great recordings using this pedal.

The FX17 has pretty low noise especially compared to the Crybaby. Also, the FX17 does not seem to suck much tone when in bypass mode. Before I modified my Crybaby with a true bypass switch it was a horrible tone sucking device. And, the true bypass switch makes a loud "Click" sound when turned on or off. The FX17 Wah switches on and off very quietly in comparison.

The volume pedal also sounds great on the FX17 if you have the trim pot adjusted correctly. Although, I use a different pedal for volume now, I got some great recordingd using the FX17 as a volume pedal.

The FX17 will probably last me forever. I have owned it since it was first released....more than 10 years ago. It started to get scratchy sounding last year which surprised me because it has no potentiometer to wear out. I opened it up and blew out the dust with a can of compressed air and it works like new.

They still have the instruction manual for the FX17 at the DOD website even though it is discontinued. I don't really expect much support from companies these days, but I was surprised that they still offer information on a unit they are no longer making money selling....pretty cool.

I have been playing more than 20 years. I use a number of guitars and effects. My main amp is a 60 watt all tube 1995 Fender Blues DeVille 4x10 made in the USA. My main electric guitars are a USA Fender Deluxe Strat & Gibson MIII.

I play blues & rock. I record some of my own music and covers of old classic rock.

I wish the switch was located in the toe rather than the heel. I wish the Wah didn't turn off sometimes by accident, but I think I can easily fix it. I wish it sounded less compressed and a bit more musical.

If it were lost or stolen, I would look for another on ebay. I guess I have grown attached to this quirky pedal. :-)

Push-button on the side for selecting wah or volume. Little microswitch underneath the heel end of the pedal for on/off- which looks fragile but I never managed to break it. It did bend though, to the point where it became difficult to switch the effect on/off. Two trimmers on the toe end of the box for adjusting the type of wah you want- I think one shifts the entire range of the wah, while the other controls the sweep from flat to peaky. The wah is bass on the heel and treble on the toe, I don't know if that's different from/the same as crybabys/etc, but it means you're switching in/out via the bass end of the sound instead of the treble end, which might throw some people off. Battery compartment in the heel end of the pedal, easy to get to.

I never had a problem with the sound quality. Excellent pukey treble, but also great for filtering/slow wah effects. I was using it with my 76 Ibanez strat clone into a tubescreamer, then into a Peavey Classic 50 with the normal channel maxed out. Once I'd set those presets up the way I liked them, the pedal itself was very sensitive to where it was positioned. Great overtones. I recorded with it once and did an overdubbed cascading wah-noise type thing over the ending of a song, and it reminded me so much of the ending of Faith No More's cover version of 'Warpigs' from The Real Thing, the tones were so close.

Well, it got to a point where the microswitch was needing a real kick to turn it on/off. It's easy enough to fix it with a little engenuity, but I wish DOD could have put a higher grade switch into it.

The wah isn't based on a potentiometer either- the piece of metal on the left of the rocker pedal is actually part of a capacitor, which is slid in and out of it's wedge as you rock the pedal, physically altering the value of the capacitor itself. This means the wah won't ever 'wah-out', but probably also explains why the tone is so very different from vox/crybabies etc. I've always found those wahs are too dark anyway! But that little switch... sorry, it has to get a 5.

N/A

It's a good wah- different from the rest. Definitely worth a listen, but not for everyone.

I bought this pedal used, with no manual. I got a great deal, because the store and I both thought it was broken. The wah would cut in and out SEEMINGLY for no reason. And when it worked, it was very weak and trebly (more on that later).

But after I took it home and messed with it for a while, I discovered how to tune the sweep to get a good sound, and how to turn it on and off.

So, I have to give it a low mark for "ease of use". It's not very intuitive. To turn the wah on and off, you push the heel end of pedal all the way down (the opposite of most wahs). There's a button under the pedal that gets pushed then. Rocking it too far accidentally shut it off. That's why it kept cutting in and out in the store. I fixed this by adding another rubber pad next to the switch. Now I have to bear down a little harder to turn it on and off.

There's also a push button on the side that changes the FX17 from a wah to a volume pedal. It's nice to have both functions in one small pedal (it's about 2/3 the size of a Crybaby). But I wouldn't try to hit this button during a gig. It's not in a good location. You can't see it from above, and it's too close to the input jack.

After I took the case apart to explore, I found 2 trim-pots on the circuit board. The one on the right seems to adjust the range of the wah. The one on the left seems to adjust the intensity. After a few seconds of tweaking, I was able to get a great sound. I like my wahs a little on the bassy side, with just a slight treble boost when the pedal is all the way forward. I was able to dial this in perfectly.

There *ARE* two holes in the front on the case to let you adjust the trim-pots without taking the pedal apart. But they aren't labeled. You need a tiny screwdriver and you can't really see what you're doing. I found it easier to just take the front panel off.

Nothing was too difficult to figure out, but it's definitely not intuitive.

I'm using it with a Fender Strat, Epiphone SG, and a silverface Fender Pro Reverb amp. There's a tiny bit of noise when the pedal is all the way forward. But just about every wah I've ever used (Crybaby, Maestro Boomerang, Fender Fuzz Wah, and various Morleys) has made a little noise.

When I first bought it, the sound was weak. The sweep went from thin and trebly to MORE thin and trebly. But after a few turns of a screwdriver, I got a nice warm, classic wah tone. I just read a few of the other reviews here. I'm surprised that everone says you can't get a Hendrix sound out of this unit. I was able to get pretty damn close. But my ideal wah sound is a little deeper, and I was able to dial that in. I'm really happy with it. I did a side-by-side comparison with my Crybaby 535. The Crybaby has a slightly more vocal quality, but the DOD sounded pretty good.

I didn't notice any tone-sucking when bypassed.

Since it's an old pedal, and it's lasted this long, I think it'll hold up. It squeaked a little at first, but some WD-40 took care of that. The casing is solid steel, and it's held together with several heavy-duty machine screws.

Of course, it's missing the battery cover. I think that's a law for used DOD pedals. (How could so many people manage to lose them?) But this doesn't affect anything. The battery actually stays in place without it.

Now here's the best part. When I opened it up, I discovered that it uses some kind of sensor instead of a pot. So I don't think it will ever get scratchy (like my Crybaby is getting). Very Cool. I bought this as a backup for my Crybaby, but it may become my main wah.

I never dealt with them. I've heard that they're a typically unresponsive multi-national corporation.

I doubt anyone would support something this old anyway.

I play just about everything except country and opera. It's a good all-purpose pedal. The wah is great for rock and funk, and the volume function is great for any style. It has a jack for "Control Voltage", so I'm thinking it may be useful as an expression pedal too. (For what, I don't know.)

It's not quite as sweet sounding as the better Dunlop wahs or expensive vintage or boutique gear. But it's a great little pedal that you can find cheaply. It sounds better than any of the Morleys I've tried. It takes up less space than a standard wah. It's only slightly bigger than a typical stompbox.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd immediately look for another. I may pick up another one anyway, just as a backup.

So, it gets a 9 for being an incredible value. If the controls were a little better thought-out, and the sound SLIGHTLY better, it would be a 10.

I use this exclusively as a volume pedal; very easy to make it sound good.

I use the FX17 on a couple of pedalboards, one full sized for gigging, the other a smaller board for jamming or side jobs. I put it in my effects loop before the delay and solo boost pedal on any setup I play with. No noise to speak of.

Very reliable. Keep it dry and it'll last forever. Until I established the second pedalboard, my original made it through 50-75 gigs a year for a decade.

DOD is okay. Never contacted them about this pedal.

I'll play anything, and have been playing since 1972. This pedal is a secret weapon that allows you to get a killing sound and then attenuate it to a useable volume, allowing you to get the tubes really cooking. There may also be a subtle bit of signal attenuation because when the FX17 is not in my signal chain my amps (Mesa, Budda, and Rivera) tend to sound a little harsh. I'm glad some people like the wah side of the pedal; it's an interesting and unique approach to an old guitar effect, but the heel switch was always hard for me to quickly and conveniently engage, and the tone of the wah is a little to eccentric for my taste. I have two of these and will probably pick up a third as an extra, because you simply can't find volume pedals this reliable with the small footprint this one has. It fits easily on the smallest pedal boards and has many uses, whether for swells or for the applications I've outlined above. This and the BiFET FX10 are real underappreciated DOD pedals IMHO. I use FX10s as clean volume boosters to kick my solos out front; at a fraction of the price of a Fat Boost or SHO they're a great deal.

I got mine used so it came with no manual, which u don't need anyway. just two plugs and the pedal.
As a wah pedal it has no additional features, as a volume pedal it just has the minimum volume setting knob (which is normal for a volume pedal, though).
Use it as you like at the flick of a switch.

As a wah pedal it's been a total delusion. The wah effect is too weak and too linear, it sounds more like The "Dynamic Filter" from BOSS (which sounded better anyway) than a wah.
I also hate the on/off system they have developed, it needs too much strength and it looks weak (and it died eventually).

Better buy a Cry Baby, or a Bad Horsie if u can stand the optical engagement system (which I don't).

As a volume pedal it is too expensive and because they implemented a different technology in the pedal (capacitive rather than resistive) your guitar tone is actually being "filtered" by the pedal.

Really the worst of both worlds. It's a waste of money, u better save some and buy a Cry Baby pedal.

I remember that when this pedal was first released the sales guy in the stores pushed alot on the peculiar feature of this pedal, which is actually using a variable cacacitor instead than a potentiometer. This should introduce a far better reliability in the pedal (no scratchy sounds and no need to replace the pot after a while). In a way they were right, the variable capacitor is the only component that is still working on my unit..... The small pad which was engaging the on/off switch detached almost immediately, the jack plugs got usoldered several times, actually I'm no longer able to turn it on because the on/off button itself died.

What a hunk of junk! I wouldn't even use it as a brick to throw against someone cuz I think it'll get more broken than it actually is.

I'll give it a 4 just because it had just (millions of) minor failures.

Dunno, if the R&D department is that crappy I really don't wanna know what they are able to do in the Customer Service

I used to play wah just a very little. This pedal made me refuse to use wah's anymore.

Worth nothing, less than nothing, for the tone it delivers it's not worth the money and if it were a gift it'd still be unusable due to reliability.

If it were stolen I wouldn't be bothered for the money, which is lost anyway because even if I fixed it once more no one but me would be fool enough to buy a non-Cry Baby used wah, but I'd feel sad because I woud have lost a reminder. The only thing to remind me that u always have to try before u buy, and that if a Cry Baby costs twice than a DOD pedal there may be a reason why.

On/off switch is at rear - not intuitive if you're used to dunlops.

I use this with a Maton Mastersound Electric into a Yamaha DG60-112 Digital Amp.
Pedal is clean noisewise.
Volume is weak. Wah is expressive, but needs coaxing. Sucks my tone and gain a bit too. Bypass is okay tho.

A Brick

the trim pots below the two mysterious holes on the front panel are EXTREMELY useful infinding the sound you want. the right one is the range, from crispy broken-crybaby sound to low inside-out trippy psychadelic envolope-filter style sound. the trip pot on the left sets how smoothly it trasitions, weather it flips back and forth between high and low, or if it transitions very smoothly. the bypass is eqilly tempermental as a crybaby, less violence is needed, but no click.

oh my goodness does this thing sound unique. this is a pedal for people who don't like crybabys. real pure but not in the boring way like morleys. like a non-boring crazy magical morley. if you've heard people do really cool trippy stuff with wahs and envelope filters, but could never get anything cool like that to happen with a crybaby, it will hapen with this pedal. it will get all crazy resonant and flip inside out and it's really nice. if you want expression but don't want to sound like anyone else. sound alot like a wah I made out of an old volume pedal that would overdive a little op-amp circuit, but nicer warmer sound, very pure and profesional.
it's volume feature seems like it sucks volume and is worthless.

I got it broken and it took me literaly years before I got it working. I could never figure it out untill I finnally found a bad solder joint on the side sensor board deal. that other guy was right, it does work via veriable capacitence and therefore has no pot to wear out and no pot noise. however, there is a few thigs that can go wrong with the circit on the side. if it won't wah, re-solder all the stuff on the board, some parts can be sushed loose, and don't bolt it in too tight or the nut will make contact with the sensor tracing deal and stop the wah again. the case is sturdy enough that I can't imagine it breaking like it was when I got it, but don't expect it to wah or volume or control with perfect accuracy, you can push it all the way forward and wiggle your foot and it will wah a little that way. this isn't bad, it's a characteristic of the sensitivity of the variable-capacitence method of control, which by all I know about elctronics should be way more noisy and tempermental, I truly think it's almost magical that dod managed to tame this technique and get it to behave at all, let alone as well as it does.

man have I been looking for a wah that has this sound. it's not like any other wah except for a friend of mine's morley that sounds less boring then they usually do, and this beats that piece. nothing like a crybaby, but that's what everyone uses and that's boring too. this thing will really make people's jaws drop at a show, you can make it sound so trippy, you can get sweet resonant warbles like a crazy envelope filter, or get a trebly lo-fi crunch, or, use it like a normal wah and get everyone at the show to go "whoa what the heck kind of pedal is he using?" but in a good way. I had to build a wah to get this sound, but it died, and this is better anyhow. the people that don't like this sound need a good VOX wah, this is for crazy stuff. I don't trust how well I fixed it though, and it is breakable, and it's not perfectly accurate, like it may not stay the same all the time, but you can adjust it to do whatever you want toneally. it's made of magic and I barely get how it works at all, let alone as well as it does.

yes you can plug it in and start playing, but to get a good sound is difficult. trim pots in front help, but no info about these came with the unit. i'd like to know more about them.

the sweep is too wide. i'd rather have a pedal that was tunable for the sweet spot i'm looking for. this pedal does not "talk", but simply sweeps. but like others have said, it's different. too sterile and linear for me, tho.

mine's broken. soft stuff on the inside (felt?) got all ripped up from the action of the pedal. don't know why it doesn't work anymore. should work, but it doesn't. real squeaky too, probably from the messed up soft stuff.

don't know. i just emailed them. we'll see how it turns out.

I played funk, and this pedal was a poor candidate for that style of music. I did get interested in the trim pots in the front of the unit. they could alter the sound and the sweep slightly. i would not buy this unit again, however. i think that anyone who thinks this thing is built to last is more impressed with the weight of the unit than i am. like i said, mine's broken so i'm pretty unhappy with it. other than messing with the trim pots, i did not put it through any excessively rough situations.

Really easy wah, if you use it as a volume pedal it's quite difficult

I don't like the wah sound with the distortion, it's better than the cheap multiFX wah, like Korg ax1g or Zoom gfx 707, but it's much worst than a Crybaby or a Vox

You can trust on this pedal, it's metallic strong heavy pedal

Buy it only if you find it really cheap, if not it's better pay a little more and buy a crybaby

I got mine second hand, no manual. Fairly self explaitory. It changes the volume or it's a wah. Even non guitar players know what a wah and a volume control does.
It takes many people a while to understand how useful a volume pedal is and do all the "tricks" with it like backwards sounds.

This is really two pedals in one, as you can't have them both at once so I'll describe it as such.

The Wah is very unique sounding, it is very subtle compared to a crybaby or any other. However that means that it often gets lost before the distortion pedal, you can't have it after the distortion or you get the "wind" sound. Some people might prefer the sound of this wah (as someone said it's useful to avoid sounding like Hendix) but it's a bit too subtle for me. It's unique but not in a very good way for me.
The switch is under your heel rather than your toe in this pedal and it is very sensative and it is very easy to turn the wah on and off without meaning to. I even broke the switch off so it would allways be on because it annoyed me so much. I use the switch at the side to turn the wah on and off now.
The pedal doesn't have much range either. I don't really use Wah anyway when I play. I never use the wah on this pedal, but that's only because I have no need for one.

A volume pedal is a volume pedal and only requires a few things: Quiet operation (no crackles or anything which mine is quiet) and to stay in the same position when you leave it (ie not to flop down on it's own) This is also fine. The lack of range is a bit annoying but it just means that you have to move it subtly. It's easier than using your guitar volume pedal.

It is the weight of a house brick. It is a second hand DOD so (surprise surprise) it has no battery cover.

Big Company. You don't matter in their eyes. Profit does matter.

I've never used the Wah. That's because I don't like Wah though, you may or may not like it. I wish you could increase the volume of the effect because it is too quiet. You can only adjust where the sweep is using the pots inside.
The volume pedal is very useful and you can do all sorts or reverse sounds and swells with practice. I wish it had more range but it's still pretty good. But how can you mess up a volume pedal? It's not hard, even #5 walkmans have volume controls.
Still it's worth the money I paid for it. This pedal sat there for months until I realise just how useful a volume pedal is.
One this to add is that is has a bizzare AC adapter totally different from the Boss style. You can use this pedal to power other pedals with this style adapter, but I've never seen one. It is also 10 volts instead of 9 so I've never been able to find an adapter for it. Batteries do not last very long, but they still last a few weeks though. It's not too bad.
This pedal is pretty good if you see it in the second hand shop (now discontinued) but don't pay too much for it.

Duh! Just plug it in and play! I just give it a 9 because i need to calibrate it if i want to change the wah sound. And it-s a pain to toggle the wah/volume switch; you can't do it with your feet!

The volume setting sounds good. The WAH setting sounds very fine and "hi-fi", no distortion, no noise. But i got to tune it to sound like i want to. ATTENTION ALL FX17 OWNERS: The pedal has two TRIMMERS (variable resistors, pots) that can adjust the wah squeakiness and the maximum volume (i think), so if you complain about wah sounds with this pedal then GET A SCREWDRIVER and locate the trimmers, they are behind two little holes on the opposite side to the battery. I give it a 8 'cause i wanted Hendrix sounds, and it is not too good in that kind of sounds. But i'ts a good wah.

This pedal is like a ROCK. ATTENTION FX17 OWNERS again: there are NO WAH POTS inside the unit!! So NO SCRATCHY POTS or POT CLEANING: I thought the pedal was electro-optical, but it seems that the steel that rocks with your pedal acts like a variable capacitor. OPEN THE BOX! it's VERY interesting to see inside 'cause you see no damn wah pots! It has two leds inside, a green one and a red one, the green lights as you move the wah. For you people that complain for the bypass switch: open the unit and fix it!! If you pay >$50 for such a small thing, you should work on it!

As it has no wah pots, i expect it to last forever.

Never dealt with them

It's a very good volume pedal and a good wah. And it has no wah pots so it's reliable. I give it a 9 because i miss the fatter tones that you can get with a Jimi Hendrix wah pedal. This pedal has more brilliant tones, and that can be good for some songs and bad for others, but if you calibrate it you can get away with some different sounds from it.

First up, I want to say why I'm bothering to contribute my 2 cents. It seems everyone that has written reviews so far are guitarists. Although I do play guitar -- and in that regard tend to side with the folks who don't like the wah too much -- this pedal is MY SECRET WEAPON as a keyboard player. I'll explain below. As for ease of use, the only concern I have is that the bypass switch can be hard to trigger, and you can't switch from wah to volume easily without bending down--the button on the side is too small for a foot.

The reason I prefer a Crybaby to this for guitar is exactly why I use it for keyboards (my Rhodes elec. piano). I almost traded it immediately after realizing it was "too chorusy" for my guitar. I couldn't get that "classic sound" I was looking for. That was almost 10 years ago, though. And since then it's been a staple for creating my own, unique sound on keys. I can get an effect that is very much like a synth filter sweep. When the battery starts to go, the pedal also starts to emit a nice grittiness that sounds really good to my ear as well. (Too bad it doesn't last forever like that!) I also think the frequency response is better and more flat (if you can say that about a wah pedal!) on this than Crybabys and other wahs I've tried (the Vox, although I liked the warmth of that).

I've never had a problem with it. As others have said, it's built like a tank. I've heard people complain about DOD quality at times, but I've had no trouble. Of course, I also have no other DOD pedals, and there's a reason for that....

I guess musicians aren't supposed to reveal their secrets anymore than magicians, but I think this is a great site and the more info we exchange the better. I hate people who say "this is better than that" as if it were gospel. All I can say is my opinion: that this is the most UNIQUE wah pedal I've heard, and it is has become a staple in helping me get a really cool, unique sound as a keyboard player that inspires both me and my audience. If you want to sound like Hendrix, get a Crybaby no question. But if you're trying to AVOID sounding like you're trying to sound like Hendrix . . . check this one out.

It's ery easy to use. Just Move your foot on the pedal to get the desired wah or volume effect. No messing with knobs and you can easily change the wah while playing. It sticks just a bit (I emphasize a bit, only when you're trying to get exact tones do you notice) and it doesn't let you get the very exact tone you want, but retty close. The manual expalin what needs to be told how to use this product, which isn't much. I found it difficult to find an AC plug to power the pedal up with out batteries, and once I had one, it's hard to get that thing in there. It also gives you the option of switching from wah to clean guitar by pushing the pedal hard enough, but you have to do it fast and hard and it's too hard to go from wah and back for me to use that feature.

Pretty good. There's no fuzz or unwanted distortion I got with this. It has a nice wah sound, not as good as a Crybaby but very good. I usually only use this pedal for it's volume, which is what I love about this. I'm using it with a Champion 30 amp and multiple guitars. I play a lot of grunge and classic rock, and this things let's you move from a low rythym volume to a loud, lead guitar easy as hell. When playing "sliver", I just let that sucker ring and come right in. I don't use Wah that much, so you'll have to talk to someone else to really learn about this pedal's wah capabilities.

This is a tank. When I'm playing in the garaga and tossing this guy on the ground, or when I'm playing at a gig and being stepped on, it holds up. I don't usually play with a backup guitarist on gigs, and this thing works fine.

I haven't any need to talk to the company or get it repaired because it's so dependable.

With my grunge, classic rock, and all of that, this pedal works fine. Even when I play clean guitar, it sound perfect. If it were stolen, I'd steal it back, especially since I got about $50 offf the price of mine, and I wouldn't pay too much for a simple volume/wah pedal like this. Don't get me wrong, if I had enough money, I'd buy one as soon as it was stolen. I haven't had a chance to compare it with other wah pedals besides the crybaby, and the volume sounds the same as every volume pedal I've heard, only with a little less fizz than a couple. I wish the AC was regualr female ended and was somewhere no so close to the input plug, but I've worked around it. It helps me play any type of music I need it with and help elimintae some of the fuzz I get by turning by Champion 30 up too much. If you've got the money and you want a reliable wah/volume pedal, definatly get this.

The travel on this beast feels completely different to that of a Cry Baby, having both a shorter base and a larger travel. This means that things you have to apply more movement in order to achieve some effects.

Why can't people accept that some things are just different. Compared to a Cry Baby there is far less distortion in the FX17 and I've found it great for VAI type sounds. Where the Cry Baby scores for me is in the honk and boost that occurs as the pedal is depressed - this is what makes an overdriven amp really talk. In comparison the FX17 is very polite and more uniform. Also the FX17 is active, even when off, which is great for driving cables and other effects but not so good if you expect your stomp box to round off the sound a little.

This little bugger has been a heap of junk - proving that so called noiseless wahs are not necessarily better. I've lived with annoying friction and squeaks from the metal plates which slide against the felt pad, as well as the PVC liner wearing out, and intermittent failure of sound altogether. Now it's completely dead after very little use.

Arbiter in England wants #45 just to look at it so bye bye FX17.

Although this thing has caused me grief I'm still attracted to the alternative voice of a clean/active wah but I'll try a Morley next time.

easy easy easy...it's not rocket science.

This is a good wah, and if set up properly, it is a GREAT wah pedal, and IMO, it can sound considerably better than a Dunlop. However, like most other wahs, it has to be set up in the right position, before the distortion, but after the compressor. This pedal is less forgiving than a Dunlop when it comes to positioning. The DOD wah, with a decent overdrive sound, sounds fantastic. Very crisp and clean and better than my experiences with Dunlops.

The volume part of this pedal is the big disappointment for me. It seems that with the volume switch enabled and the volume cranked, it is slightly quieter than the normal signal. It also seems to steal away my "edge" or some of the dynamics of my tone. While the volume feature might someday be used in the studio, there is no way I'll use it otherwise. It is a tone killer. Then again, I may be overly anal about my tone. It definately does, however, affect it.

I accidentally spilt some bong water on the floor when I was 19, and a TINY bit of water splashed on the pedal. The thing stopped working! I got it fixed right away, and it was okay. Other than that, this pedal is solidly built but, not a solid performer. I found the switch rather difficult to activate for the first 2 years and I had to jimmy a small piece of plastic to make up for dead space. Now, strangely enough, the pedal works fine without it. It also used to squeak, but it doesn't anymore. Grease fixed that.

Despite all these things, it has a very nice metal chasis and seems very solid. It is much better than Dunlops, which always seem to be in rough shape.

It's a very good wah, and a so so volume. I can't really compare it to any of other volume pedals in terms of what they do to your tone. I think one gets a better sound by learning to use your guitar volume knob with your pinky, than you do with this pedal. The wah, however, is killer when dialed. It also looks a hell of a lot better than those generic Dunlops. This pedal, however, is finicky, and may have limited capabilities with some setups. For examply, I can't get it to work well with heavier distortions, or with my Big Muff. But with a fuzz face, and a compressor, it is pure silk.

Very easy to use in all modes.

Ibanez RG570G, various distortion pedals, and various amps. The FX 17 wah sounds nasal thin. As a volume pedal it was great. Noise was an issue as well when in wah mode however I haven't found a quiet wah pedal yet. It was ok but nothing special. It didn't send shivers down my spine like some other wahs out there.

This pedal quit working about 5 months after I bought it. I fixed it, but it kept breaking so eventually I gave up on it. I will think long and hard about buying DOD sweep type pedals from now on.

I didn't deal with them. Even though I bought it new the shipping cost wasn't worth the trouble as I was overseas.

At the time of purchase I was a metal head but also enjoyed playing classic rock. I didn't really feel that this pedal suited either category. My playing style is vastly different now, but this pedal still would not meet my tone requirements. It mostly got in the way of tone. Not the worst pedal I have heard, but certainly not in the top 25.

Rediculously easy. Side switch to toggle between volume or wah function. Rock the pedal back hard all the way to turn the wah off or on.

Good volume pedal. Mediocre Wah Wah. Just wasn't to my liking. Just squeaks a little.

This thing is built to last. It's a metal brick. How the hell do you break that?

Never had to deal with them.

I give it a 8 for volume, 5 for wah wah. I mainly bought it for the Wah function. It's ok, but I liked the sound of a Dunlop Crybaby better.

It's relatively simple to use, just rock back and forth on the pedal and you get a great sound out if it. I gave it an 8 because I don't like the activation switch, it doesn't CLICK like the Dunlap so sometimes it's hard to tell if you turned it on. Plus it's located near the rear of the pedal instead of the front which takes a while to get used to. Also, to switch from wah to volume, you have to push a little button on the side of the unit, kind of a pain in the ass. I don't remember anything about a manual, I bought it 10 years ago.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Custom and a Fender Jag through a 70's Fender twin reverb and a whole slew of effects. This thing sounds awesome. It's not noisy and I LOVE the tone range it has, it kicks Morley and Dunlap's ass. I run it after my BOSS DS-1 and I get a really cool Swervedrivery wash-wah sound.

All I can say is this, I have had the damn thing 10 years, its been through 5 bands, 100's of gigs and I haven't had a problem with it. The only bad thing I can say about it is that when it gets really hot in your practice space, the glue that holds the little rubber grippy thing on the pedal melts and it slides off. DUCT TAPE!

This is the main reason I wanted to post this, DIGITECH is extremely helpful and friendly. I took the pedal apart a couple months ago to clean it out the sticky beer ooze in it, I somehow managed to lose the rod that the pedal rocks on. After feebly attempting to replace it with a bolt, I ended up calling the company expecting no help at all. The guy said they don't even make the pedal anymore but he went back to the warehouse, found the damn thing, and sent it to me at \ no cost. I read a lot of these entries about people bitching about Digitech products, call them! They are super helpful.

The sounds I get out of this pedal are so versatile. When I first got it I was really into playing funk and I got really great wah's out of it. My style has gradually changed to a dream-pop, shoegazing style and I still get really cool wah sounds from it, plus the volume pedal lets you do cool volume swell effects. I have compared it to the Morley Wah (i thought the tone range sucked) and the Dunlap Wah which I thought was way too noisy. Plus, our other guitar player went through 2 Dunlaps in 2 years. If it were stolen, I would be devastated because I don't think they make them anymore and I haven't seen too many used.

The DOD FX-17 Wah/volume pedal.
Using it as a wah or volume is a no-brainer except that the wah/vol switch is positioned so that you really have to know which you are going to use beforehand. It's a shame that there's no LED to let you know whether the wah is "on" or in "bypass" *before* you tear into that lead break. I bought this unit primarily as a continuous controller pedal. (Basically, for those who don't know, a CC pedal sweeps zero to 5 volts as you press the pedal and allows an analogue to Midi-digital converter to control a midi effect unit's parameters). I use a Rolls MidiWiz. One of the side effects of this being a multi use pedal is that to use this unit as a CC with a battery, you still need to plug a lead into the 1/4" input socket even though you are not going to attach a guitar to the pedal. Without it, nothing works. Pretty dumb! A switch&LED would be better. I used a dummy plug without a lead while testing the pedal on battery. The manual is dreadful, out of date , often incorrect and contradictory.

As a volume, it does the job. As a wah, it's a matter of taste so try it out in the shop. As a CC pedal, the unit should not affect sound quality, however.... When using a battery, I noticed that I was not getting the full range of parameter change I'd expect. Using a DOD FX125 Power supply (bought with the unit) I did get the full range. Using a voltmeter showed the the pedal was only going zero to 4.3 volts when on battery but zero to 5 when on the supply. Consequently, it's use as a CC pedal is not feasible while on battery unless you can live with not reaching the high end of the parameters. I tried all battery types, zinc, alkaline and Ni-Cad(fresh charged). Testing DOD's FX125 supply (labelled 10Volts) and found that it supplies 14Volts (huh??!) to the unit while under load (plugged in to the pedal and in-use). More about this later....

Don't drop it, you'll break whatever it lands on. The unit looks and feels bombproof! 1 millimetre folded steel. Weighs a ton! You could probably drive a 4x4 truck over this unit with no damage. However... The unit's 1/4" input jack nut came loose and fell off. I had to tighten all of the jacks up (they were all loose). Opening the unit up is simple. It's just one circlip, then slide out the pin plus 4 philips screws at the corners and bingo! it's open. The unit is made up of 2 PCBs, one flat the other vertical. The nut holding the vertical PCBs in place was 90% of the way off the screw. (If it had come off, It'd have dropped right onto the flat PCB and could have shorted the unit). I tightened it up, pleased that I'd opened the unit. The is no potentiometer to wear out. The vertical PCB is covered by a plastic (mica?) film that seems to act as a variable capacitor as the "wing" of the pedal sweeps across it. I can't see any moving parts that won't last years. Now that I've tightened it up, I think I can trust it 100% however, the rating reflects the tightening up I had to do (and the potential consequences of not doing so).

RE: "Low Controller voltage". Called the number, got the "Harmon group" help line. Was asked whether DOD or Digitech. Got hold of a DOD guy who was somewhat familiar with the pedal. Talked through the problem. He suggested either "try alkaline batteries", "Use the power supply" or "send it back to us for recalibration". Pretty happy with the response. If I hadn't found another way to power the pedal, would definitely have sent it back.

I've got over the power problem by powering the FX17 from my Midi pedal board which is itself phantom powered over it's Midi-Out cable by my home-built supply. (I *hate* AC voltage and a box load of wires under my feet). This does invalidate the warranty but I'm going to risk it. The CC voltage really gives this pedal plenty of potential. So much more that just a wah/vol pedal. I don't like the .35 phono (mini headphone) jacks that DOD use as power supply and "CC voltage out" jacks. They spark as you plug them in which the DOD tech says is nothing to worry about. If you're a whisky/vodka drinker, keep your poison away from this pedal unless you want to risk instant, unplanned pyrotechnics. Will probably replace these with regular coaxial 2.5ID/5.5OD power jacks.
Submitted by : Smegz (Sorry, no email address I can use for this type of stuff yet)

It's very easy to use, but rather inconvenient. If you want a volume pedal, the switch needs to be pointing on the in position, but the switch is in a very inconvenient place on the side & if you want to switch to wah it needs to be pointing out & in order to do any of this you have to stop in the middle of the song & pick up the damn thing & press the switch. not very convenient, but my friend is going to wire it into a different place for better convenience. The bypass is a little to sensitive too. If I rock back on the wah/volume, it can click off. That's my reason for the 5

I think it sounds great. I think the people who say it sucks are elitist Crybabys (no pun intended). The crybaby is not the only wah -- get over it! This one is just as good if not better. Very interesting wah sound & great volume pedal (I assume all volume pedals are pretty much the same. I can't imagine any other one doing something different). Sounds really good through the effects send & return, not with my guitar!

It is very solid (tank even.) Very heavy. Very solid. Very trustworthy. The battery cover is a bitch to get on & off. i still don't really understand how to do it, but who uses batteries?

Seems like a great wah. It'd be better if the bypass was better & the convenience of the switching between wah & volume was better, but that'll be fixed soon.

No manual. It's a wah pedal. Its easy to use. It doesn't have a whole lot of sweep range, though, so it is easy to accidentally shut it off

Not too noisy. Sound horrible with distortion after it. Treble is a little weak. It doesn't work for lead stuff at all. This is no crybaby. Its more like a squealing hog. It does OK on Marleyesque rhythym stuff, though. Also, it has a noticable volume drop through the wah. Works ok as a volume pedal, but too touchy for me.

It broke. I fixed it. I don't really care much about whether my stuff breaks, I just fix it. I wouldn't use it at a gig except to scare the audience into running away.

I would buy it again for $50 dollars because I plan on converting it into a crybaby. Hopefully. I hate PCB boards, though, but it shouldn't have too much stuff in it.

You would have to be a moron not to understand how to use it. However, I think a moron designed the instruction manual. Boring!

Good Volume pedal awful wah pedal! DOD should exclude the word WAH from the title of this pedal!

I submitted mine for nuclear testing and it came back without a scratch.

No contact, but I would not want to talk to the moron that designed the instruction manual!

Not for a wah pedal. I would buy a Dunlop Crybaby instead. In fact I have with a Beckman Pot and it jams. Two years without any scratchy noises. Now that is a true Wah pedal and for only $70.!

Very simple to use, who needs a manual?

For use as a volume pedal, it's great. Smooth and predictable. But as a wah pedal, it stinks. It "washes" out real early, and not as wide a range as other wah's.

This thing weighs about as much as a whale. No backup needed for this unit, short of nuclear fallout, you're safe.

Don't know, never had a problem.

I'd buy it if you can't use your little finger to control the volume on your guitar, or if you like a foot controlled volume. I wouldn't even think about using it as a wah. Buy a real one.

Let's just say you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Not too challenging for your average idiot.

At last, an alternative. The Crybaby is a good pedal, but I think the DOD is a good choice. Excellent wah. Even better volume control. One damn fine pedal.

Didn't they shell Iraq with these during Desert Storm? I was taking this block of steel out to my van and slipped on the ice on my driveway, releasing the pedal to a breif flight through the cold Michigan air. It landed end first on the cement, and NOT A SCRATCH! I had to put the battery cover back on, but other than that, it worked fine. Unfortunatley my butt had a rougher time on the ice, but hey, that's life.

A little pricey.... But worth it. Miy freind's Crybaby makes so much noise from it's stupid pots its not funny. A pedal for the electronically challenged or for those of us who are too lazy too clean our WAH pedals.

What can I say......it,s a wah-wah pedal...... it,s not to complicated The manual isn't very interesting, but like I said.....it's a wah-wah and not to complicated. The on\off switch has to be broken in but once your used to it, it's a breeze. It definantly has an advantage over the crybaby because when you turn the wha on your not in that annoying super treble\extended position that can cause an abrupt, rough entry.

It's a wah-wah, it sounds like a wah-wah is supposed to sound like.

This thing is built like a tank! It's solid brick of steel! Lets just say that you could kick this thing across the room, hit your bassist in the head then have it bounce back to you and it would barely scratch it.

Yes, I would buy it again. One of the best things about it is the way it's built. The company designed it so that there is considerably less distance for the pot to travel which in turn causes much less wear and tear. The crybaby wah's pot has to spin several times in one sweep of the wah. If your looking for this purchase to be a way of taking care of both of your wah and volume pedal needs you need to take caution. The volume aspect of this pedal gives a very uneven, "non-smooth" response. Therefore, I give the volume funtion a low rating. But, as for the wah.......It's great!

The person who just blew this pedal off in favour of the crybaby is obviously not open to a new and better whah than Jimmy's (god (small g) rest his soul.)

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