DOD FX22 Vibro-Thang

I have the earlier version of this pedal with the knobs labeled, "RMS","DROP","INTENSITY", and "IMAGE". The later version is labeled, "SPEED", "DEPTH", "DOPPLER", and "IMAGE". Both sets of names make this pedal difficult for me to use, because they do not immediately remind me of their actual purpose. So, I have taken a DYMO LetraTag electonic labelmaker, set it to its smallest font size and using white plastic tape, I have made my own control label. This reads: "SPEED", "TREM", "PHASER", "TONE" (with exactly eleven spaces between words).
This pedal is easy to get good sounds out of! However, you will probably need to spend an hour or two fiddling with it to get the exact sound you are looking for.
The manual for this pedal is fairly useless. This pedal is a LESLIE SIMULATOR (no matter what, other idiots, may say to the contrary) and there are no settings given in the manual for a proper LESLIE SIMULATION! I use "4 'o clock", "1 'o clock", "4 'o clock", and "2 'o clock" in that order. However, these pedals seem to vary a lot, so, your best "LESLIE" may be with somewhat different settings.

I use this pedal primarily with a Les Paul Classic and an '80s Ibanez Artist semi-hollow (both with humbuckers). I use it with a plethora of other pedals including a modded TS-9, Bad Monkey, modded Tube Driver, Boss Dimension-C, old YAMAHA chorus, Dunlop Uni-Vibe Stereo Chorus, Digitech Digidelay, et al. I like the sound this pedal creates, although, there is a slight loss of highs when it is turned on (not horrific).
NOISE: I have never had any noise problems with this pedal, but I never use it for high-volume hard rock or heavy metal. This pedal was never designed with this kind of "music" in mind. It is a "Vintage Sound" type of pedal. It works great for old rock like the Beatles, Beach Boys, Zombies, Moody Blues, Bread etc. It should also work fine for traditional country and traditional jazz (probably not fusion).
A FURTHER WORD ABOUT NOISY PEDALS: I am an electronics tech and have been for many years. Most of the companies I have worked for, have been audio electronics manufacturers. If you have a ton of pedals and they all work fine in your setup - then you get a new pedal and it produces absolutely ridiculous levels of noise... GUESS WHAT? You, yes, You, Dufus, have a DEFECTIVE PEDAL! Take it back, IMMEDIATELY, and get another one or send it to the manufacturer and have it repaired! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT ASSUME that every pedal of this model sounds like yours does. As the old saying goes, "When you ASSUME, you make an *** out of U and ME!"

I bought this DOD pedal quite well used and it has always worked well. I have an old, well-used, original, DOD FX25 (two knobs, dark metallic green) and it works fine. I have a much older DOD PHASOR/201 pedal (bright yellow, MXR type case, metal-button switch) and it works fine. The only trouble any of these pedals usually have is with the switch. If you have technical ability, open up the pedal and spray WD-40 or pot/tuner cleaner on the actual switch (NOT the UP-DOWN PEDAL you put your foot on) and work the switch in and out. If you are not a tech - find one! Have him do this or replace the switch! It's as simple as that!
Yes, I would gig with this without a backup!

I have never dealt with DOD. I have sent e-mails to Digitech (same parent company, Harmon Products) and they have, promptly, replied! I, usually, repair and mod my own pedals.

I, usually, play '60s and early '70s rock, some blues, Clapton, Robben Ford, Santana (It's hard to classify Santana) and I also like to play old hymns and other worship music. This pedal works well for these types of music. I've been playing guitar for about 30 years, now and, although, I'm not a great guitar player - I have learned a thing or two over the years. Besides the afore-mentioned equipment, I own several old tube amps (which I love): I have an ancient Magnatone 280 (with built-in pitch-shifting vibrato). I have a '60s VOX Berkley Super Reverb (with volume-shifting tremolo). Then there's the '70s Fender Princeton Reverb with volume-shifting trem (my favorite amp: loud, soulful and extremely portable). I also have a very old VALCO Chicago amp (small, white, gold control panel, uses 6973 output tubes). And last, and probably least, (my first amp) an amp I built myself by taking an old tube-powered Magnavox stereo amp and slightly modifying the circuitry and making my own, PAINTED BLACK, cabinet for it.
Now that I have utterly bored you with a recitation of my equipment........ This is not, by any means, the best Leslie simulator available. It is, however, a fantastic deal for the price! My favorite LESLIE simulator is my Dunlop Uni-Vibe Stereo Chorus (3 Tele style knobs, grey crackle finish, one metal-button switch). You can get a fat, very soulful, burbly, Leslie out of this, but it will cost you at least twice as much! There are probably, even better sounding boutique Leslies Sims out there, but you don't even want to think about those prices!
P.S. If you want to know a lot more about the CONCEPT of this pedal and those CRAZY KNOB NAMES see the review by "jimmy" dated 09/10/1999. He explains it all, incredibly well, and strangely enough, HE IS ABSOLUTELY, SPOT-ON, CORRECT!

Quite easy, it took me 5 minutes to figure it all out. Speed needs no explanation, Depth controls the amount of volume modulation, Doppler is the phasing (between 3 and 5 o'clock the biggest changes happen) and image is a very subtle high frequency control.

First of all, it's as noisy as any phaser when set to a fast rate. don't expect it to be noiseless, a univibe or a small stone aren't either.Concerning the sound itself: With doppler down you get a nice tremolo (which sounds quite fenderish to me, but I'm no expert. still, it really breathes nicely) and with doppler on full (try left to right 9, 12, 5, 5 o'clock) the sound is quite leslie-ish. But: don't expect black hole sun to creep out of your speakers, it's more a phasy, beatlesque rotary thing (as someone said before, listen to "if" by bread). In case you like it, great. by the way: with doppler at zero or on full there is no highfreq loss, only in the middle positions.

It's built like a tank, I really don't think I'll have to worry about this. Even though the switch is made of plastic...

No idea.

I usually play quite heavy music (not black metal though, more a doors/soad/tool/mucc/pink floyd mixture), but this one is for the more vintage-y moments. I'm after the real cool leslie sounds of, say, David Gilmour - and I'm afraid to say, this probably isn't it; there is no pitch modulation involved and no swirling hi-hi end, either. But still - I bought this for really cheap and I guess I'll keep it anyway in case I need a tremolo...

I find it rather easy to use but some people may have trouble with it.

First it is important to understand what this is. It is a rotating speaker simulation. It is not a phasor nor is it a tremolo or a univibe. If you using it trying to get a phase sound or tremolo sound you may be disapointed. Use it as a leslie speaker simulator, let that guide your settings, and you will be happy.

It uses a sine wave not a triangle which is what most tremolos use. The phase is meant to help give the doppler effect. It sounds much more convincing than the rocktron vertigo vibe for what that is worth. It could sound even more realistic if it included a bit of pitch shift.

Some people say it cuts volume. I use strats and jazzmasters and i find the opposite it gives i little volume boost, but maybe with high output pups it would cut volume?

It would be a 10 but there is a light hiss. It's not significant in my set up. Depending on you gain structure it could be too noisy. Most phasors do have some hiss.

It has worked for many years just like all my dod pedals.

DOD is digitech they are part of harmon which is also AKG and bunch of other stuff.

awesome rotary emulation which gives the illusion of 3 dimensional movement. Honestly it is the coolest effect DOD ever made and should get more respect than it does, but most people don't get it, DOD didn't help the matter by how they named and labeled it.

This pedal was not easy to figure out at first. It took some heavy experimenting to dial in the sound that I was looking for, but it was well worth the effort.

For my purposes the sound quality of this pedal is excellent. It does a very good rotating speaker effect (with RPM at MAX, Drop at 12:00, Intensity at MAX, Image at 2:00). Some people report that this pedal is noisy - mine is not. This pedal when adjusted properly creates a very warm, fluid sound reminiscent of the Leslie-ish vibrato on the BREAD song IF. I would say that if you are an all-out hard-rocker or heavy metal player you will not like this pedal, but if you are into bands like the Beatles, Beach Boys, CCR, Byrds, Bread etc. you will probably love it.
I play a Gibson Les Paul or Ibanez Artist Semi-Hollow into either a
VOX Berkley or a Magnatone Custom 280. Classic Rock all the way!

I bought this pedal used (well used). It works great even though it is several years old and fairly beat-up. I would say it is reliable!

I have never dealt with the people at DOD.

If this were lost or stolen, I would look for another one. I really like what this pedal does to my sound. I use it primarily for finger-picking soft ballads. But, HEY, all of the really good bands played soft ballads (like Yesterday) as well as the real rockers (like Helter Skelter)! SO THERE!

very easy. speed controls both Speed of vibrato AND speed of phaser. Depth controls the depth of vibrato. Doppler controls amount of phaser. Image controls regeneration of phaser(Fback).

This isn't a tremelo. It's a Leslie similator + phaser, one or the other , or both.
fretless Jazz bass->DOD FX22->SWR Workingman's amp.

Absolutely. Take care of your gear folks, and your gear will take care of you...Except for Arion! That stuff is 100% solid plastic.

...haven't dealt with them before.

Overall great pedal for modulation. It's not expensive, you get two pedals for the price of one, its well built...
The added phaser in this pedal is really what I like. It really colors the Leslie sim. nicely...almost like an auto wah.

Others I would consider in this category would be the Boss TR-2, Guyatone VT-3, or the EHX small stone.

Pretty easy to use. I originally bought this pedal for the tremelo feature, and if you zero the doppler and image knobs it will do a decent/straight tremelo with just a hint of tone loss.

That's why you've got to tweak the doppler setting until you hear those higher frequencies come back. I found that with the speed at about 12:00 and the depth at 2:00, and make sure the doppler is at 10:00, you will get a smooth trem with just a hint of phasing and very little tone-suck issues. Anyway, it's not your average stomp box, this thang needs some attention to make it shine.

Reliability wise, I have some DOD stuff from the 80s and it's held up. Sure, the weaky squeaky switch is plastic, but I take it easy on my gear so I expect no problems.

Considering that you can pay twice as much and get a EH Pulsar which is made in the good ol USA, and sounds a hell of lot more hi-fi, you might consider taking that route. However the Vibro-Thang is a different animal. I play mostly folk-alt-indie rock and every band I've ever been a member of has been compared to Camper Van Beethoven. I guess that means we couldn't play our instruments. Anyway, I'm thinkin a few effects will shake em up. We'll see..

Speed and Depth knobs are self evident. Doppler and Image required a trip to the manual. Once these were understood, it was easy to use the pedal. The pedal is versatile. You can get trem (0 Doppler and Image) and vibe (3:00 Doppler and Image as needed) as well as light phasing.

There is a loss of airiness when the pedal is kicked in. Sounds like a hi freq loss really. But I use it for bass so it doesn't bother me. It also pulses (whop, whop, whop) softly even when you are not playing. It's not bad with my dual amp set up (1 clean, 1 effect).

It sits in my music room. It will last forever.

No idea.

If you need a trem/vibe pedal that can stand up to the mid level units like Boss and Guyatone then give the Vibrothang a spin.

Not extremely easy to use at first but with some time a nice leslie effect can be achieved

The single most important thing about using the vibrothang (IMO) is you MUST run two amps. At some point you have to split the signal and let the VThang run through one amp while the other amp has no tremelo. The two signal together give you the cold-shot-band of gypsys-ish thang.

My set-up is this:

>Vibrothang>'49 Gibson GA-20 amp
strat>TS9>Stereo delay
>reverb>'59 tweed pro amp

It is not terribly noisy but can have a pop-pop-pop sound depending on how intense the signal is. But as usual, you won't hear it over your drummer!

so far-so good.
Yeah, I'd gig without a backup

not yet

I think the leslie effect is nice for almost any style of music though I play mainly R&B Funky rock and roll
If it were stolen, I'd probably replace it because it is relatively cheap and does what I need it to.
Haven't compared it to other rotorary effects other than a rototvibe (which I liked a alot)
No more than one would normally use this relatively dramatic effect, I probably wouldn't shuck out the $ for the more expensive similar effects. Tho I'm sure they sound fantastic.

I had to write a review after seeing some of the nutty reports here. Yeah, I guess it is hard to use!!

I'm glad someone wrote that it's not a vibrato or a tremolo, cause it's not really. It's not a leslie sim either. I think the name borrows from the the Fender Vibratone, which is somewhat infamously NOT the same as a Leslie cabinet either. But, it doesn't really sound like a Vibratone necessarily, SO...

What it is, actually, is an FX PEDAL. HMMM. MYSTERY SOLVED. And it's a unique one at that.

With "image" and "doppler" at zero, it does a fairly straight tremolo. It doesn't sound as creamy a nice dedicated tremolo but does go a LOT faster AND slower than others I've tried. I don't use it for this all the time, but it's an awesome asset, and beats the multi-effect trems, which settings may go from 0 to a million, but can sound like ass.

With "doppler" added it does a nice vibe, not like univbes but more color in the waves than trem alone. It's definitely more phase-like and very watery, but without that obnoxious chorusing tone that SO many similar units do.

With "image" it gets pretty ugly for my tastes. Maybe this is where others are getting so turned off. It's like a EQ filter sweep that's really tough to set with any usuable results. It does do a synth-like phasing impression with some settings, which is fine and fun but not all that great being that it's 25% of your effect control. the only time it's useful is that it can offset the hi-cut factor, which only seems to be a problem with extreme settings, which are not recommended for good results anyway.

so don't flood the effect, and won't need any added image.

It's a DOD. I've seen them last, I've seem them trashed. It's only rock and roll...

I think DOD might be heading the way of the DODo before it...

all right.

first, it's NOT noisy, but REMEMBER what we're talking about here and what you paid for it: not a lot, so any little improper powering or grounding or dusty cables or dirty environments... any number of things can hamper bargain-priced equipment... that said, i use this mostly in a clean recording space but have had it out several times to gigs and few sessions, and i have had zero noise issues with the vibrthang.

it's a great effect box. it couldn't replace my tremolo, but it gives a better tuned movement to my guitar playing than my old phaser, which it replaced. what's interesting is wondering what might actually replace it. i do i wish it had stereo and wet/dry options...

bottom line, you can get great sounding FX from this box no problem. expect amazing trills and spills with every setting and you're kidding yourself. but then again, you're always welcome to pay more for the boutique boxes that only do that one generic sound, if that's what you want.

as for the complaining, for what it costs, it's a steal. try firing up something that costs 12 times as much and getting hum, artifacts, and other assorted shittinesss, and then see how you feel.

Good sound? Read below. Ease of use? What? Cannot use it.

I read the reviews on this on these pages and bought one sight unseen or heard. My mistake. I am not a pedal guy, just wanted a "leslie" style soft whoosh or such, just a touch as I have no tremlo in my amp and missed that part. Using in my S/S practice (home) amp it was not that bad. It's a 10 watt small rig. The only thing I noticed was some tone loss, slight hiss. Take it to band rehersal with my 100 watt Duoverb.....oh boy. Sounds like single coils under florescents right over head. Now the noise on top of the tone drain....no way. I only use a modded ts9 and gain on my settings, even clean this thing was useless to me. Turn down my volume on my axe and it still makes noise thru the amp, and it is not a noisy amp at all. I can dial in about a hundred different settings, I use about 8/12 with the floorboard. I use a Strat Powerhouse (very quiet) and a Tex-Mex MIM (I cannot get over how well it plays). Even with my other players American Strat (with noiseless pups) it was like tinitis. Changed cords to no avail.I just wanted to be one of the folks who will tell you that if you do not use a lot of effects and count on tone as the idea, this might as well be a brick. I just wanted a slight imaging, a small verb.....my mistake. Next time I TRY IT OUT IN HAND. Live and learn

Just in the short time it lost paint, no primer under it. The pedal goes on when you plug in, and it is useless. I would gig with a brick with Boss painted on it before this would see the light of live playing.

I would upgrade to a Fire Engine Red brick with a glow stick on front of it.

Cover band. Rock and Roll. Blues. Soft to very loud. 4 piece standard 2 git/bass/drums. Simple. Scream and shout and make the girls pout.

Overall. If you are one of the players who actually don't process the bejeebers out of your sound, stay away from this. In a chain with eq and noise gate with 10 others in line how would you know? Not me. Save your money.