DOD FX25-B Envelope Filter

At first play, it really sucks, it takes about two weeks to understand the knobs, but with practice it can be made to sound good and funky, add distortion and your in heaven if you get it right.
The manual sucks makes not much sense. If this is the B(version2) I'd hate to see the first. Too Complicated. Also the switch is way too small.

5 string bass and anything lower than my middle A sounds crap. There is a loss of volume that can only be made up for with practice. This thing needs a volume knob. Apart from that it makes a funky supurb sound on the high end.

It won't break, solid as.

It needs a version C with A volume knob.
They should make it in black.
The sensitivity knob is he only one that seems to do anything.
The switch is too small and often I miss it and stuff up performances.
I have seen better but if the price was halved I accept it but now?

Well well. There was onlyl one reason i bought this pedal and it was that i saw flea play it in his starlicks video. Well if you've ever seen that video, you know that the envelope tone he gets with this box is ABSOLUTELY INSANE and sounds so funky that you just feel like dancing right when you hear it. the first time i heard him play it, it was a funkalicious experience; the best envelope tone i'd ever heard. so i bought it. it's actually VERY hard to get a good sound out of this box. almost none of the settings are usable. but once you find that sweet spot... ohhhh maaaan! it's truly arousing.

i play a stingray, a warwick, and a fender jazz through my gallien krueger rig. it far and away sounds best with the stingray, followed by the jazz. there are two sounds i like with it. if you turn sensitivity down all the way, you get a pretty bitchin dubby sound with no treble to speak of, which can be pretty cool. and then of course, you turn it up to about 2 o'clock and just enter funk heaven. this box is extremely sensitive to playing dynamics and you have to be very aware of your attack to get it to do what you want it to do. the rating for the sound of it is assuming you've got the knobs in the right places and you're playing perfectly.

There's a REALLY BAD signal cut when the effect is on. i'm looking for a way to solve it, but just keep that in mind.

it's a dod so i'm not expecting a whole hell of a lot from it. get some pretty bad radio station signals from it. it's difficult to turn on. i'll give it a 3 because occasionally it turns on.

n/a

well this is a pretty sad box. it's impossible to get a good sound out of it, it's built like a piece of shit, and there's a terrible signal cut. But i still don't let all that shit distract me from the fact that THIS IS MY FAVORITE PEDAL. those petty grievances take nothing away from me and my stingray absolutely laying down GREASY FUNK with this box, because once you get to that sweet spot it has, once you get past the inadequacies, this is the funkiest envelope filter you'll ever play. in my opinion, it's all about the sound.

This is the "Extreme" series model, which most likely just means a "cool" paint job. I think it's hysterically ugly. Oh yeah, ease of use. Totally simple. I basically set the 3 dials to 12 o clock for clean stuff, and I dial the sensitivity down a touch when I go for distortion. The first trick with this (and probably all envelope filters, but this is my first) is to learn to dial in just the right volume on your guitar and really pay attention to your picking dynamics. I won't quite give it top marks here though, because it did take me a couple of weeks to learn to interact with it.

OK, for those reading the opinions that say this pedal gives them a big volume drop, or they can't get the wah happening, I had that problem too at first and I would bet these people are using it on the front end with single coil guitars. My Strat wouldn't trigger the wah effect unless I turned the volume all the way up to 10, and then it was too loud and piercing. The solution I came to: effects loop. This thing acts a lot more like it's supposed to in the series effects loop, the estra gain from the preamp must help it along. Those without effects loops, I suspect a dist pedal with the gain up a couple notches would help also. Of course, none of us would have this problem if DOD had put an input gain knob on the thing! At least humbucker players have nothing to fear, my ES335 copy does great with it with no extreme measures.

The sound quality is pretty good for a cheap used pedal, on clean tone it's great but it gets kinda nasally on the OD channel. I know there's better envelope filters out there, but they cost 10 times what I paid for this one and most likely don't sound 10 times better.

It's done pretty well so far for used. I've had it about 2 months, gigged with it several times with only a little trouble in the beginning. Had a little connection problem in the output plug, but simple tightening of the jack has fixed that. The battery door seems flimsy and I don't know how that will do over time, but you can't beat the convenience if you need to make a quick battery change.

No contact, and since I doubt I'm covered under any kind of warranty there probably never will be. At least on this box.

My band has started doing some extended solos and Grateful Dead-style jams, and I just bought this on a whim to have something a little different to kick on for solos. Possibly the best $30 I ever spent. I use a lot of phase and chorus, and the envelope filter makes for a great complement and contrast to the phaser. If this one broke or was stolen I would probably go with another FX25, maybe even a brand new one, for the simple reason that it is a great value for the money. Plus very few people make a true envelope filter as opposed to an autowah, which I have one of and really don't use it much now. This is what I wanted that pedal to be.

This is one of the "extreme" series which I presume is the same pedal with some cheesy marketing geared towards 13 year olds. Easy to use. The battery cover is attached with a hinge, a great improvement over the old design. You can find these for under $20. Mine was an out of box return at GC, not a scratch on it.

I used to have the 2 knobed version. I like this one much more. The blend knob is very useful and I feel there is less of a volume drop. Like others have stated, you have to peg the sensitivity to get a good sweep but I disagree that bass respone is diminished. I found the low end to resonate very well. I wish there was more control over attack, decay, and envelope shape but that would add $100 to the price. All in all good for the price.

Seems sturdy.

At the price I paid, the pedal gets a 10 in each category. It does what its supposed to and there really isn't anying in the under $70 category that I've heard that's better. This is a great bargan pedal, but if you bump you price to under $120 you can find a few that will eat the DOD for lunch.

Easy. 3 knobs. just twiddle for 10 seconds and you've seen what it does.

This thing is crap. The sensitivity has to be at 9.5 to get the full range of sound, but it becomes tinny at 9, so you can't get the full effect and still have that full sound. I recent;y tried a Q-tron and it was perfuct, full, and warm. It makes this sound like a peice of trash. The volume loss when activated is ridiculous. Totally unnecessary. DOD could have fixed that, but it's pretty typical of their pedals. I was a big fan of them in high school, but now they just suck.

Who'd want to rely on it? I use it shoot for the Jerry Garcia sound, but this just doesn't have it in it. I understand, it may just be a lemon, but mine is a peice of trash! Maybe yours won't be. I bought mine through musician's friend. The next one I'll buy where I can try it. The battery connector came broken. Had to rig it to play.

I've dealt with DOD once, and felt put off. The associate may have just had a bad day.

I wouldn't buy it again. There is a Q-tron stomp box version out that gives the original 70's sound for a reasonable price. DOD will be hard pressed to get my business back after this.

Getting to learn what knob does what takes a little time, but it's not rocket science by any means... Basically 3 knobs - Blend (of direct and effected signal) Sensitivity (how loud you have to pick to activate the WAH sound) and Range (from WA---> to <---AH)

The "Sensitivity" setting pretty well always has to be set at 9 or 10 to get a really goo "WAH" going. It's nice to have the range setting, just to adjust just hown much of the effect you hear. Using with the blend knob will take you to your desired sounds...

Overall, it has a good range of sounds, but it is somewhat limited.

I use this pedal with the following setup:

Strat Plus --> Real tube Overdrive --> BOSS OC-2 Octave --> FX25B DOD Evelope Filter --> BOSS DD-5 Delay --> BOSS CE-2 Chorus Ensemble --> Fender VibroVerb Amp.

When used with the OC-2, there is a real noticeable drop in output. This really seems to be the only stumbling block in the setup. For some reason they both sound fine with out the other being on, but once both are turned on, you get the output drop.

The pedal isn't noticeably noisy, but you do lose some output, as well as the bottom end (it is a wah after-all...) and is only really applicable in certain situations. In other words - it is good for what it is made for.

The bonehead at the music store dropped it before he packaged it up for me. The Range knob was bent and was difficault to turn. It still worked fine however. Eventually I just bent it back with a pair of pliers, and it was almost new. The footswitches are better than the last design they had for this series, however, the foot switch does seem a little cheap with the plastic being used the way it is. I'd say that the footswitch is my only complaint, but that is more of a DOD issue on the whole, than for this specific pedal. It hasn't broken yet in two years, but I don't trust it as much as I do my BOSS gear.

Never dealt with them.

Over all I would have to say that it is a good pedal - not my favorite by any means, but a nice thing to play with. I does have an overall good sound for a WAH type pedal, and it has been very reliable for me. As with most effects, I wish it would hold on to the output, but I'll keep on dreaming for now.

This pedal is not an integral part of my sound, but does provide a refreshing change every-so-often, and does inspire.

If it was stolen, I'd buy something else with the insurance money only because I feel I've gotten everything there is to get out of the pedal...

I was thinking of selling it a little while ago, but I won't get much for it. I'd recommend buying used, as you'll probly only pay about 60% of what I paid for it. Have fun - you'll probly like it if you are into different sounds...

I found it very, very hard to use in my Post EQ FX chain. When I played hard the unit made my 250W amp clip when the envelope would "close" at very low volume, which worried me because i had at least 230 watts RWS of headroom! But I hardly use it anymore- I bought it for fun and my band and I hardly require the funk sound. Although when it was placed in front of the amp it sounded pretty good.

I use a Yamaha P/J bass, 250W combo amp with a 1x15. When I turn it on, it actually makes my the hum from my J dissapear, although it really cuts the volume. In general I find the sound pertty good, but I've heard better.

It's always been a great performer, I rely on it from rehearsing, practicing to huge gigs without back-up.

Overall, I'd never buy another wah/envelope filter again. Not because it sounds bad- just because I've moved away from the whole idea of using it with my music. It's handy to have around, I love to let 2 notes ring out and get an awesome close.

It was fairly easy to get a good sound out of it, I tried it on one of Dean's Edge-4 Bass, And On A Alvarez 60F series Acoustic Guitar, it sounded good on both guitars, but I will more than likely play it more on my Bass.

I am playing this pedal through a small Peavey. The amp is Probably 7 years old and is only 30 watts, but the pedal sounds awsome through it, and switching the pedal on and off is a lot quieter than with more of the basement brand pedals, The harder you play your instrument the louder and better the effects get!!
It kinda makes you wanna grow your hair out. Like a fro or something.

Yes I would use it in a gig without a backup, with its hard metal case I don't think you could brake it!!!

I have not had that problem yet, but then again I have only had for two days!!!

I think this is an awsome pedal, it really makes me want to get the funk on, go out and buy some platform shoes, and some plaid checkered pants.

The thing that is awsome about this pedal is that it's effects are very random, but they always seem to fit in, if you work it just right.

It has an awsome effect that if you hold a note it will kinda seem as if the tone kinda starts to come at you, like a spaceship landing type thingy.

I'm using this on bass, an ibanez SR405 and a Roland DB-500 amp. This gets a low rating because it's taking me a few months to get the perfect sound out of it. Before now i'd be ripping this thing all over. The sensitivity is VERY sensitive, and it took me a while to get the right sound that wouldn't very too much with how hard i played (i hate that twangy high pitched sound it makes when you hit the strings harder than you mean to)

A lot of factors go into this. Yes there is a volume drop, but to me it is negligible. I also have an ibanez pd7 i may use for a clean boost after the fx25b to even the sound out. Anyway, any eq you have anywhere, on amp, pedal or guitar/bass will affect the sound, and i've found out that the ratio knob on my Boss LMB-3 which is right before the FX25B, has a large effect. Also, my bridge pickup sounds a lot better with it. However, with these settings i have found a great tone:
pickup balance completely on bridge pu
bass eq: mids flat, bass and highs maxed
Limiter ratio knob on 12:00
on amp, mids on 3:00 and midrange frequency on 3:00
on the actual envelope filter:
Blend: 9:00
Sensitivy: 3:00
Range: 5:00

Now obviously things may be tricker for you since you don't have the same setup as me (well, not likely). This pedal just takes a lot of fiddling with EVERYTHING, but it's worth it. Great sound.

Hasn't broke yet, but i haven't gigged with it yet, and DOD pedals have bad reputations (my crappy dod flanger lost a pot lid in like a week or two). Will have to wait and see. No comment on batteries; i use a daisy chain from my boss ns-2.

Never dealt with em.

Not bad for the price - not bad at all. Obviously the Boss AW-3 has tons more options (up/down/sharp/tempo/humanizer, exp. pedal input), but i like this sound better now that i have finally found it. Much cheaper too

Fairly easy to use. 3 knobs for Blend, Sensitivity, and Range. The manual explains the controls but you're better off experimenting.

I've generally not been a fan of DOD effects but this pedal I like. By adjusting the range and sensitivity knobs you can dial up everything from shrill quacking to more subtle underwatery tones. As others have mentioned here, there is a noticeable decrease in volume when the effect is on. It also seems to cut out some of the bass frequencies. Due to these shortcomings, I don't use it regularly in my chain of effects but it will dial up some trippy sounds when needed. It responds amazingly well to your picking technique and is quite expressive. As with any effect, sounds better on a tube amp.

DOD pedals all suffer the same ills. The cheezy battery cover is always the first to go. The flimsy plastic footswitch will last for quite a while if you don't abuse it, but otherwise will wear out on you at some point.

Never had a DOD pedal repaired. I've always bought them cheap and trashed them when they quit!!!

I've been playing for about 12 years and own all kinds of stomp boxes. DOD generally makes crap but this pedal is useful and can be bought rather cheaply, which is a plus. It wouldn't be a big deal if it were lost or stolen but I still dust it off every now and then for a hoot!