DOD FX59 ThrashMaster

As with most pedals, instructions are overkill. Three knobs adjust the level, distortion & presence. Plug guitar in, plug into amp, put in 9v battery or plug in AC adapter and go. Kick plate to turn on or off. It's that simple.

This is where this pedal gets a bad rap in the reviews i've read. I think that it is basically misunderstood. I got this pedal in 1991 as a replacement for a ProCo Rat. I wanted a much hotter, brighter, fluid and dynamic sound - and I got it with this pedal. First, i was running through a 'Realistic' (not sure of the vintage or true manufacturer yet) '70s era tube combo amp with spring reverb, tremolo, and four channels (two hi, two lo) and two 15" Jensen speakers. Although it's odd for a guitar amp, it sounds really good. Makes a really nice bass amp. When combined with the DOD FX59 ThrashMaster, this amp comes to life. VERY NUNO! The guitar i used was a Kramer Striker 300st (H-S-S) with a Bill Lawrence 500xl humbucker and a 'brite' sounding Fernandes Floyd copy. Body is basically heavy multi-layer ply with low-to-mid tonality. Also ran an ART SGE multi-effect rack processor and sometimes a Digitech Chorus/Echo/Delay pedal. Overall, the combination was the right formula to cover EVH/Lynch/Rhoads/Nuno/Zakk heavy rock very well. With adjustments this pedal was versatile enough to do Metallica/Testament/Megadeth/Nirvana. Harmonic range and access was incredible in this setup, which is why I loved it so much. Eventually moved to 5150 212, Jackson PS-4, '78 HB, and Dime wah. I still have this exact setup and my son goes nuts playing it. Valves in amp are nearing a retube and sound their best right now. I have to give it a nine due to the fact that, at the time, there were no pedals that could touch it's harmonic range.

indestructible case. knobs still act new. dissapointed in battery cover (keeps opening) and jack mounts (keep unscrewing). pedal plate still acts new. brite pink paint has feded some.

never had a problem.

overall, this is a niche pedal that needs to be mated to the right combination of guitar, amp, player, and music style. not for everyone, but my assessment of this pedal's range of sound doesn't seem to agree with some of the others. Probably due to the overall setup, i guess. anyways, i'll keep mine because it fits right with my Kramer and bassy amp.

very easy.

level, tone, distortion.

simple.

although it's called a 'THRASH MASTER', it really sucks for playing thrash. My style was pretty grungy when i bought this, and it suits grunge well, it's very fuzzy & bassy, but when you play chords through it they don't just turn into audio mush...

as my playing style developed to be more thrashy I had to replace this with a Boss MetalZone, I just couldn't get a sharp enough sound out of the Thresh Master for the pinch harmonics.

It's quite noisy as well - constant squealy feedback. I got it so many years ago that I don't know if this has happened over time or if it was always like that and I just never noticed...

It's built like a tank. I've gigged it without backup before.

I got it secondhand, after a few years the switch got a bit temperamental.

the battery clip detached itself, I had to replace that.

Bought it secondhand, never dealt with the company.

Great for a dirty fuzzy grunge sound.

Bad for Thrash.

I don't think DOD make these anymore. The Boss MetalZone is a much better pedal, even if you don't play metal.

When I first bought the pedap 8 years ago, I had a blast playing withit. Of course I was an amateur and it was my first and alst pedal. This thing was amazingly simple to use. I enjoy the simple things in life.

I was using a cheap 10 watt amp at first and it gave a nice fuzz sound when I cranked that little amp. Later I acquired a 30 watt Crate amp. I like the choppy, rough sound that came from this pedal whne cranked up loud. IT gave a different feel and sound to the Nirvana grunge I used to love playing. It is not the best rating because I know there is better sound quality, however I love the cheap sound.

After 2 years of use this thing started cutting out on me, and it really pissed me off. After 2 years it did not work anymore. I dont quite know why it stopped working, I guess it is because it is a really cheap pedal. As, someone has said before. How the hell did this thing pass quality control. Total piece of crap when it comes to reliability.

I like choppy rough sounds. I like the cheap sound that came out of it. It went well with the crazy erratic sounds that emanated from my guitar. However, it went dysfunctional way too soon.

Sure it's easy to use. three knobs... i've seen simpler. but it's easy to use

here's where the shit hits the fan ladies and gentlemen. this thing doesn't stand a chance of not being pawned off in the next three weeks. i can't find a decent tone even with a vox and a fender twin. it was a mistake to buy this. i wanted something to give me a metallica type distortion, nothing too great tonewise, but neither of my amps could deliver on any reasonable distortion (i play mostly blues so i didn't care too much)

the switch broke within the first week. bad soldering. otherwise it is tank-like in terms of the casing.

all in all, i wouldn't even bring this to a gig in the first place. i'm either going to pawn it or gut it and make a fuzz face out of it.

well after it broke the first time, i HAD to open the bottom panel, thus voiding the warranty, but lo and behold DOD does not like us canucks so they didn't even give me a warranty to begin with. congratulations DOD, you've managed to get worse customer support than fender!

this would get a better rating if it's purpose was as a doorstop.

I dunno, what else can I say! 3 knobs and 1 input and 1 output. Plug it in and go.

I don't use this pedal near as much as I used to, as a matter of fact, I only break it out about once a month at best if a song I'm recording needs that certain sound I'm looking for that I know I can only get with this pedal or if the band I'm in is working on older material from when I did use it all of the time, I'll plug it in for sh!ts and giggles. My primary distortion source comes from my Big Muff reissue and at this point and with the style of music we play, I can't see my depending on that old hot pink war horse for a number one, but for a back up or even in my signal chain for standby or whatever, yes.

I've had this pedal for 10 years, I bought it used at a pawn shop. It was the very first effects pedal I ever bought. Though it looked pretty decent, almost new when I got it, I can't say the same about it now. It looks like it's been used for a door stop at a halfway house. It's got more dings and abrasions than the Millenium Falcon and it's got the spirit of John Wayne coursing through it's wiring. As a matter of fact, from here on out, when I use this pedal, I'm gonna call it 'The Duke'.

For what I paid and as long as I've had it, I have to say I'm very satisfied. If I had a nickel for every 9 volt battery it's dined on, I could probably eat well at a 5 star restaurant, leaving there feeling like a fat tick, but that's all part of the 'pay to play' ethics of it I suppose. I wouldn't take another Thrash Master for it. My nephew bought one a few years back and it sounds nothing like mine. Though it's not in full commision anymore, it's not due to anything being wrong with it by any means, it's just I've moved on to another style of music that doesn't always call for it's service. I'm about to get a powered pedal board, and it's going to be a permanent part of my chain though, that way, when I need 'The Duke' it will be there.

its an easy pedal to use, just 3 knobs, straight forward. sometimes you need to play about with it a bit so its not too trashy a sound, but asides from that, its a fun beginners pedal. also, comprised with a boss ds1, some really thrashy dirty sounds can be produced.

im using this with a (i think) 130W laney solid state amp. the guitar im using is a dan electro, which is ok, i just got rid of a purple stage master with 2 double seymour duncan pickups fitted. the effects always sound ok, due to it being a thrash pedal, it can have a really dirty sound, so if there are any beginners out there, its a good one to pick up. the one downfall is that when distortion is on, there is always a loud hum, which can be annoying, also if the pots get dusty, its a pain in the ass. major crunchy noises.

i wouldnt gig on this pedal without a backup, the pedals i have at the moment are this thrash pedal, a boss ds1 and a boss dd3 digital delay. its strong enough, can be dropped a few times and be ok, but the nut on the input side came loose and its noisy if not corrected. the battery on mine went and its really dodgy, and the adapter nut loosened really bad after a while and needed fixing.

overall, like i have said, it is a good pedal for a beginner, the only reason i have it is basically as a mess about pedal as one of my other dod pedals broke on me (the electrics messed up insde) i have been playing bass mainly for 3 or 4 years, guitar for about 5 or 6 years on and off and recently got back into the swing of things again, gigged with my old band a bit, got a bit more experience under my belt. im in the process of getting a cry baby wah pedal. lastly, if anyone was a beginner, i would suggest a ds2 turbo distortion, in fact to anyone i would suggest that rather than this pedal. but all round its not bad, i wouldnt pay too much for it though...

It's a peice of cake. Three knobs, lots of sounds

The sound is amazing. Dirty roaring lows, drivings mids, peircing highs. Treble chords, double-stops and arpegios peel off this thing like your amp is made of glass. It's a beautiful crystal sound that's ready to get back down and dirty when the next verse rolls back around. I use peavey guitars, and everything from 10 watt practice amps to crate stacks. This pedal performs great no matter what you play it through.

It shuts off when unplug the cables to save power, but really drains batteries. Your going to want an adapter for it. Past that, it's incredibly reliable.

I've never had any problems, so can't rate the customer support.

Buy this pedal. You will not be dissappointed. I play lots of types of music. This pedal can do it all, from Tom Petty to Ozzy. Some times I feel like this pedal was made for Crazy Train. It does great with classic rock (Aerosmith's Pump), and the Seattle sound(STP's Core, Pearl Jam's Ten). I lost one of these (I think to a theif) after a show. I bought another one, and if I loose this one, I'll get yet another one of these.

Its very easy to use, three knobs, about as simple as effects pedals get. I bought this second hand on eBay so no manual but you dont really need it anyway. I deduct some points for ease of use as this pedal doesn't really sound that good with guitars.

I used this pedal with a les paul standard and a marshall amp and it sounded ok. It basically does what it says, it's a basic thrash distortion, nothing else. Where this pedal comes into its own is actually not with a guitar, but with a keyboard. I ran a nice soft strings patch from a Korg electric piano through this pedal and it sounded absolutley incredible. Think of that distorted keyboard sound on Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" or Basement Jaxx's "Wheres your head at".
I've ran a number of different sounds from various keyboards through this pedal and you can get some huge sounds. It actually sounds a lot like a distorted guitar played with an eBow, but because you're using a keyboard you can play chords.
I'd give this pedal 8 out of ten, not much of a guitar pedal but great for really dirty keybaord sounds.

I've had this 2nd hand pedal for 6 months and no problems so far. Its a DOD peddle so it's built like a tank.

I've never had to contact them.

I play slightly acoustic rock with lots of electronic influences and effects, something like Radiohead, Mogwai or Sparklehorse. I've played guitar for about 8 years. I've written a few songs using this effect with keyboards so if this was stolen I'd probably look for another one second hand to recreate the sound. I havn't tried that many distortion pedals with keyboards apart from this but this can give you some unique sounds if you play around with it.
If you see this going cheap and you want to play around with some different sounds through a keyboard, I would recommend it. If you want to just get a distortion pedal for guitar, unless you like a cheesy thrash sound, buy something else.

sounds pretty obnoxious. Good or bad, take your pick. I don't like it too much, but then again I probably shouldn't have bought a Thrash pedal.

it's ok.. the battery door is broken. The LED only works intermittently. You have to stomp on it a few times to get it to switch.

It's an ok pedal, but I wouldn't recommend it or buy it again.

3 knobs...the usual stuff

I don't know what kind of metal do you listen to but as have never heard metal with such a crappy sound, this pedal really sucks, it has a good rock or grunge sound, but metal?!? not really, buy something else really, i bought it because of the other reviews, but i know i think that most of those guys couldn't tell metal from country!

IT REALLY SUCKS, IF YOU WANT TO PLAY METAL GET SOMETHING ELSE

Simple. 3 knobs. Level, Gain, Presence.

Has basically one sound, full thrash. Great pedal for thrash/metal
RHYTHM playing, but for soloing, this pedal sounds very thin.

I bought mine brand new in the early 90's. The first day I had it, it started acting up. With both a battery and a wall wart power supply, the pedal would start cutting out randomly while it was switched on (loss of distortion effect & volume), as though some internal component was failing (the LED indicator remained on while this happened). I continued to use it for a year or so, frustratingly, until I ended buying a new Carvin SX-200 solid state amp. That amp's distortion had a huge range of tones, and could sound so much HEAVIER than the FX59 (if I wanted it to) that I never used the pedal again.

I never bothered to get it fixed.

A pedal has to work when it is brand new from the factory. No excuses.
How could this piece of shit get past quality control?

After a while you can take the sound where you want. It`s no big problem.

With a good amp it`s no such problem.

Always reliable but you have to turn it off quickly if you dont wantaching feedback.

Got it repared two times and now it sounds just great, i bought it second hand and it wasn`t that well treated i think.

I play fucking hardcore thrash. And yes it helps me to create music/noise. I use cheap and second hand equipment. I would really like to have an heavier amp than a 120w yorksville combo.

This is the most amazing pedal ever ripping off sepultura hits has never been so easy, I have been blasting away with it for ages.
It is so easy to get the best metal sounds out of with only 3 knobs

You can plug this rocker in and turn the knobs anywhere to get the best distortion from any pedal ever. Why buy a $80 boss when you can get a thrasher for only $40. The sound absolutely rocks the house, playing along to metallica never sounded so good and it's so good with my samick amp and BC Rich warlock, the three were made for each other.

This pedal is so sturdy and strong I dropped it down the stairs 15 times and it still releases that great distortion that you need with originals. Not like those pussy rock bands play. Death metal is the only music that has meaning. When I got it i had no problems as the above reviews. The only thing that keeps the reliabilty from being so good is that it will be followed by a better Thrashmaster

What more do i need to say

This is good for any music although i prefer metal, But it runs absolutely perfect when you want that small clean riff into the heavy distortion. Styles don't matter when you have this baby cranked it has the best distortion ever, The only thing i dont like about it is.................well.....nothing it kicks ass

How hard can it be? There's only 3 knobs. Easy to get great tone out of straight away. Crank the gain and presense control for a cutting modern metal tone, or back off a bit for something a little lighter. Simple to get good tone out of.

Fantastic! This is where the thrashmaster really shines. I'm using it to replace my Boss Overdrive, my Ibanez tubescreamer and my Boss Blues Driver and it's got all the sounds. It even makes a great solo boost for your clean sound. Great cutting tone for all you metalheads, and you can even back of on the gain control to get something more bluesy. I usually use it with the presence most of the way up, the gain on 8 and the level full on. Fantastic tones all around.

Reliable, I've dropped mine in a swimming pool, driven over it with a steamroller, dropped it of the roof of a scyscraper, spilt beer all over it more times than you can count and it works fine. No annoying crackles or pops, just pure, hardcore metal distortion.

I've never had to deal with them because the thrashmaster is so good, but I'm sure they're very nice people so I give them a 10.

Absolutely fantastic, I'd use it to replace all my pedals (including a digitech RP-21). Has all the sounds any metal player could want. Even good for all you alternative and blues players. Every guitarist should have one.

This pedal doesn't fuck around with lots of fancy-schmancy knobs. You get Level, Gain, and Presence. What the fuck else do you need? Personally, I don't like having to do math when I'm trying to get good tone out of my axe. That's why the helpful folks at DOD have removed numbers from their knob dials, and just use black dots. Why the fuck should i have to remember "Presence 3, Gain 10, Level 10" when my little brother's jagoff friends come over and fuck with my shit? When I plug in my Signature Randy Rhoads Jackson V, I only want to think about one thing: rocking my ass off. The THRASH MASTER gives me that
hardcore metal edge I want without all the pussy crap. Turn the knobs and turn it up!

I wish I could explain it. It's like Kerry King and Scott Ian went
cannibal, killed and ate the members of Diabolic Intent, jacked off their Diabolic Intent-infested spooge all over the second Type O album, and played it through my Eddie Van Halen 5150 half-stack at top volume. This pedal is METAL through and through. Sometimes I have to stop and slam my head into the wall because I can't believe how fucking amazing my axe sounds with the Thrash Master. After I regain consciousness, I can hear this heavy grinding noise through my amp, and i realize that even when I was knocked out, the Thrash Master KEPT ON ROCKING WITHOUT ME. That's how good this pedal is.

You can beat this thing like a cheap back-alley whore and it'll keep
coming back for more. No matter how EXTREME you think you might be, the THRASH MASTER can take all you dish out and more. It never stops pumping out the fist-pounding metal, even if you kick it like some pussy BUSH fan who showed up at the last Dark Legion show because he thought it was a D&D tournament.

If you don't get the point by now, maybe you never will. The THRASH
MASTER is ready to give massive strokes to all your neighbors and those people who are unlucky enough to be walking by your home when you're playing through it. If you want, I will come over and thrash on my amp on your lawn, and you can install some new windows after you pound some craters into the walls with your head, because it's just that intense. And it's only like $59, so it only takes like 5 lawn mowing jobs before you can buy it.

I don't really know how hard it can be to use a distorion pedal. It only has 3 knobs: Level, Presence, and Distortion. It's not really hard to get a good sound out of it.

It is pretty noisy, and gets really cool feedback easily. On most settings. My setup is Fender strat, Ds-1, thrashmaster, big muff reissue, a boss flanger.You can get a pretty good sound, but the only problem is there only is 1 or 2 sounds in it. You can get a lot of local h sounds, this is because they use this pedal

I would depend on it, it's just that if you slam the switch to hard it will go silent, or the sound will be very tight and have no sustain

I hvaen't ever dealt with DOD, but I'm sure it wouldn't be bad

Read above

Three knobs...volume, presence, and distortion. Input jack, output jack. As simple as it gets.

Egad, the NOISE! The distortion is very high-end. No depth to the sound. Feedback is terrible. I've heard better distortion on a $70 Samick amp. Adjusting the knobs on the pedal and on the amp does little to alleviate the noise, unless you turn the volume waaayyyy down, but then you don't hear any distortion. Probably a good thing when using this pedal. Maybe they sound better new. A great unit if you like playing loud and annoying stuff filled with feedback and treble, otherwise terrible.

It's built pretty solid, but I immediately had problems with the wiring. I had to open it up and reattach some wires that were practically severed. Even after fixing the wiring, however, the sound was still pretty bad. I only used it to mess around with, I would never trust it to gig with.

Great for experimenting with feedback. That's about all it's good for.

Have you ever SEEN a distortion pedal? You can plug it in and make it do its thing. Very easy.

Okay, here's the deal. It makes one distortion sound, ultra-overdriven with a nice V, and a real limitation to your overtones. Never have found a way to change the overall effect. If ya like a no-brainer tone, here ya are...

The pedal works every time, though the switch is a bit worn (needs a good stomp)

Never dealt with DOD, seems to be well-built

Here it is...if its anything but a completely over-the top, no nuances slimy drive yer after, pass it up. I use it for cheese factor (its painted Hot Pink!) A much better name would've been the AssMaster

No Brainer, three knobs. I never had a manual.

This pedal has TONS of gain and low end. If you keep the distortion setting turned all the way down, you get a pretty good overdrive sound that I find very useful. If you turn it up, you go into full thrash mode, with screaming scooped metal distortion. Distortion knob is actually more like a switch. The presence control gives a more continuous range of sound variation, but gets noisier the higher you go.
I just love the really full sound with lots of low frequency boost that it gives. I've played other metal type pedals, and they just can't quite touch what the Thrashmaster does. Put a chorus or delay after it and it really smooths out nicely into almost a Van Halen type sound (depending on your guitar, I guess...I use a fake strat)

Well, mine has always had a problem where if you whack it it goes into this ultra high gain mode with the mids exaggerated (if you have the knobs turned up when it does this, it just oscillates). A good whack puts it back to how it should sound. Always a crapshoot to use it live, but I think thats just mine and I'm pretty sure I bought it that way.
DOD battery doors suck. They never stay latched. And I gave up actually using batteries in it long ago. But I like it so much that I'm about to start looking for another one.
Physically, its built like a tank. You would have a tough time hurting it without a gun.

Maybe I should try.

Great pedal with a bigger sound than most. It can even do some pretty good blues or Zeppelin I sounds with the Presence backed off or your guitar volume turned down a bit. Plus, its pink!
I'll give it 9 because I think the reliability on mine is probably a fluke.

Very easy to use 3 self explanatory knobs: Level ,presence, and distortion. I wish there was a fourth knob, I prefer more adjustibility over simplicity.

The sound is very big. You can't adjust the distortion very well though, but if you turn it all the way down you get this really sharp sound. If your looking for subtle distortion the only way you can get anything close is by turning your guitars volume knob down.If you want nothing but a thrash sound this pedals great.

This pedal is very solid. the only problems I've had are when I'm using a bad wire in it it makes this annoying squeeling sound.

I love the sound of this pedal. I don't plan on getting any other distortion pedals in the future as long as I have this one. I still would prefer it to have a fourth knob.

3 knobs, Level, Presence, Distortion. It doesn't get much simpler.

You want thrash? This is it. Gives the raunchiest, most crackling sound on the market. I also got a surprise from this pedal. If you turn the presence all the way down you can get a real good blues crunch from it. The only thing that is bad is the overabundance of feedback.

I bought it without a battery cover and with the wires almost falling out and it still works like a dream. Like all DOD's, it sucks batteries dry. Dont leave your guitar plugged in.

I would buy it again for the price I got it for. I'm using it now just for the bluesy tones and I'd prefer a Fuzz Face to this. If you want thrash though, this is your pedal!

This thing is pretty basic. Step on , step off. It's really hard to get any thing but total thrash distortion , though.

Like I said , there's only one kind of real sound you can get out of it, TOTAL THRASH. Not bad if you like that kind of stuff, but it sucks for anything else. WAAAAAAY too much feedback, and the distortion is really nasal-sounding.(Not enough low-end)

It's DAMN reliable, I'll give it that much. You could run it over with a Sherman Tank(Well, maybe not, but you get the idea). The one thing I can say is BUY A POWER PACK. This thing is a 9-volt vampire.

Never Dealt With 'em. Never had to.

I wouldn't buy it again, cuz I don't play Slayer/Pantera/Megadeth total thrash music. But if you do, then I guess tis pedal was designed with  you in mind.The feedback is really annoying, but nothing a tweaking of my EQ highs wouldn't fix.

Like all distortion pedals, it just a tap to use, and the knobs are self explanatory.

It's a pretty good pedal fopr what it does, but that's not that much. The total downside of the pedal is it's versatility. you can't get a grunge distortion or a medium blues distortion with it. All you can get is total disortion. Another problem I have is when I turn the distortion knob past 5, I get a small humming noise, but that's not muich of a problem.

I've dropped it and dropped things on it by accident plenty of times, and it still works fine. The only problem for using it at gigs is that good batteries don't last very long in this. It's smart to get an AC adaptor.

I've never dealt with the company.

I wouldn't buy this pedal again. I'd shell out the extra bucks and get a BOSS Metal Zone, since it is so much better with it's versatility. I'd rather this DOD pedal had a wider range of distortion levels available.

It is probly the easiest pedal I ever used

It's real noisy, and that's just what I like.

Mine got ran over by my kid brothers bike, and it still sounds perfect. Only thing is it sucks the batteries like a vaccuum.

It's so good I never have had to deal with them.

I like this pedal so much that I bought another one to keep at my office. I love this pedal it's from heaven, BATTERIES ARE FROM HELL

it very easy to use because it doesn't does anything

Don't buy it, if someone gives it to you sell it or trow it it is simple horrible, my amp's distortion is better

I'd rather use my amp's distortion infront of someone than this

Don't buy it, if you do i'm sure you'll be thinking about suicide