DOD FX90 Delay

lather rinse and repeat. or delay mix and repeat. delay seems to be backwards. not hard to dial up good settings. sounds neat in all settings.

I use a Tele and a Strat through a Bassman. This pedal was a shock to me. When I first turned it on, I was using a universal adjustable adapter that I bought from Big Lots. I was just curious to see if it would work like that. It sounded like a machine gun and it started feeding back like crazy. That was cool. Then I put a fresh battery in it and put it to the test.
The pedal was truly shocking. It is extremely wierd and unpredicatble, yet it has that analog vibe that is so cool. When you are playing and you turn it on in the middle of a phrase, the delayed notes bend in pitch for some reason. Crazily unpredictable. Keeping the mix half-way and the delays and repeats cranked offer some terrific feedback sounds. Hours of fun.
Then there is the subtle side of it. It does a nice subtle analog delay impression. Very impressive. This makes it one of the most versital pedals i've ever used. These things are so cheap! look on eBay! Wide range of sounds, and decent delay times! Granted, the repeats are kind of grungy as opposed to sweet like other analog delays. but to be honest, the grunge can be covered up by toning down the mix knob--then even a faint reverb can be silumated!! Beats anything close to it in its price range. especially the morley emerald echo (needless to say). the emerald echo has the sweet repeats, but it is incredibly weak. weak is the LAST thing this wierd 80's box is.

This is another surprising part . . . I have a Boss ce-2, some 70's MXR pedals, and a soundtank tubescreamer, and have owned many others in the past. The bottom line, is this: I am positive that this is at least around 15 years old and it still operates perfectly. The battery cover still sort of stays on too. All my other pedals either look like crap, or have something wrong with them except for this DOD pedal. Everyone complains about DOD not being as tough as boss, but i've used a couple Boss pedals that have little things about them that don't quite work . . . like my ce-2 that i have to put a nickel inside of for the switch to engage. The switch on the fx90 works fine, but it does seem sensitive and probably could break if stomped on too hard. Sometimes I brush my foot by the pedal and it turns on. I have to stomp the ce-2. My MXR Distortion + switch is kind of crazy too. I thought they were supposed to be reliable!

9+8+8 divided by 3 is not 10, but this is one of the greatest values i've ever seen in an effects pedal. Sure you could shell out $150 for a Memory Man or a DM-2, but you'd be broke and you still wouldn't have that crazy grungy vibe that you get from this pedal. I don't know much about the delay chips used in it, and yes it's a tad bit hissy, but for the money (often 35-50 dollars), it can't be beat. The only thing that I would like to try is the new DOD delay that has the high end eq knob. that sounds cool, but i would never get rid of this versatile and crazy box. I would keep it for unconventional sounds and crazy overlapping repeats.

Well, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it, nor will I ever finding anything like it again, When it works, it sounds like crap, just the kind of natural unprocessed sound I was looking for. It is extremely easy to use, just set it to the way you want it to sound and let it do its thing

Oh it sounds bad alright, but it a very good way, its noisy, its unpredictable and it can take a beating. Really adds interesting sonic anomalies to my Rickenbacker 12 string after running a bunch of other Reverbs through it.

Its a tank, and as long as I keep a spare 9 volt around I have no Problems giging with it.

never delt with them

While it has its problems its the cheapest analog delay sounding pedal I could find, I've actually set my boss pedal to the same settings, because its just an unusual sound, for the price you can buy them for they are great!

Well, It only has three nobs on it, so getting a usable sound from it is pretty easy. All you need to do is get the right delay time, set your repeats, and then adjust the mix control to get the right wet/dry volume that you need. Piece o cake.

I really love the tone out of this little, beat up, blue metal box. I have tried out other delays and I have found out that analog is definitly the way to go. I used to have an old Boss delay, but I really never used it as anything more than what I use this pedals as now. Most delay sounds you want are going to be naturally short, so why do we musicians fork out hundereds of $$$ for 2+ seconds of delay? Well, at least I know where to find the deals. I use this thing with my Les Paul Standard, an old 70s tele, and a Fender VI (an old jaguar-ish fender which has 6 strings, but is a bass-type guitar) into my Marshall 100 watt half stack. It sounds great with all of those guitars, allowing the guitar itself to speak with the delays, instead of processing them all the same like a digital delay does. I was really suprised how good it made the Fender VI sound, I can't use many pedals with that thing, but this delay is definitly one that will sound good with any instrument. Even my bass player steals this thing every once in a while because it sounds so good!

I don't know how old it is, but it looks better than my buddy's TS-9 and it will probably last longer too! I am a little unsure about the batteray cover, though, but that is the case with most pedals.

Never had to deal with an effects company.

This thing is great. I love the way it makes a guitar sound like a guitar. I used a lot of time to select my guitars so that they all would sound "different" from each other. It is great to know that I have found a delay that won't strip away those tones that I have carefully hunted out. One great delay, as long as I can get it away from my bass player...hey, where is he now...uh, oh...gotta go...

I never though of checking out th ereview of this pedal, even though I have been using Harmony central's effects database for a few years. I bought this pedal in the early 80s, and it sat in my pedal box at home until I sold it. What a bad mistake...
The pedal is really easy to use, I have compared a used on and my memories of the one I had and they both were real easy to use. 3 nobs - delay - mix - repeat: very easy to get a good sound out of it. Some settings are weird and frankly unseable for me, but I only need one sound out of each one of my effects.

I don't know why I never used it, it really has a great sound to it! i guess I was shoved into the entire "rack delay" mentality. The sound is very smooth on the delay, but really tickly and sweet on the echos.

DODs usually withstand the test

never had to call DOD about anything, they leave me alone, I leave them alone.

This has to be one of the best delays that I have found out there, and i have tried them all. unfortunatly, because it is analog, you nly get about a second of delay time, but that's all i need!!! the pedal is liquid--yup, liquid. When I use it, I can get my string bends to sound slike they were sliding across the floor! Man, I should have never let go of this pedal. I really want it bad, but I can spend $100 on it, even though I'll probably get it as a Xmas gift from my entire band. This is one great anaolg delay! If you can find it for under $90 take it and start bending your way into bliss...

I found this pedal sitting in a used pedal box at a local music store. After seeing the reviews below, I though I might give it a try...and yup, this thing is good! 3 nobs: delay, mix, repeat. Very easy to use.

I really like the sounds I can get out of this box! Now, a lot of people want a "tape delay" sound, but they are kicking themselves on the repeat quality. This pedal is a very mellow delay, but the repeats are really clear! Short delay time, but hey, that is what analog delays are...short. A great delay. I use it with my Fender American Telecaster through my Vox, and it really sounds great! it is true, it can sound noisy, but you just have to know how to work it.

It was sitting in a box of this music store for as long as I have been visiting there, so it was not taken care of at all. I had to tighten the footswitch, but that was real easy. Its scratched up, but it really looks cool.

I looked at the DOD website, but there "full product line" page is a bit short on pedals (there are only about 10 of them if that listed! I know DOD made more than that!)

The owner tried out the pedal to make sure that it worked, and after he got done with it, he didn't look like he wanted to sell it! I really like this delay. I think that it will last in my rig for many years to come!!!!!

3 nobs, very easy to use. No manual, I got it used. Nobs are touchy, but so are most delays that are this old!

Oh, hot damn!!! This is a treasure if I ever did finf one! I wanted an analog delay, but still wanted a "shine" on my repeats, and this thing has it!!!! If your not careful, the repeats can get out of control, but again, that is with every delay. Sounds great, can't believe what a find it is!!!

This thing is major league old. I guess you could even call it vintage. It hasn't clonked out on me, and I doubt it will.

I don't think DOD even remembers this pedal.

This is a great pedal. I would have gladly paid twice as much for this delay. It really has the best of both worlds as far as tone/repeat quality goes! Great pedal, if you can find one for under $80, take it and run baby!

Very easy. usual mix, decay and delay times. the only thing that I wish this had was a 2nd output. I bet it would sound right fine in stereo.

Although in general I don't like DOD pedals because of the poor quality of their sound, I do like this pedal's sound. I owned an FX90 before and was somewhat underwhelmed. I think I was expecting some pristine 2 second delays and got the analogue warmth. And the fact that the unit didn't work properly didn't help in my assessment. But, I found it again for $35 (can't beat that) and picked it up. This time I had a better understanding of the different flavors of delay and could appreciate this pedal for what it could do. Probably as far as really good analogue delays go, this isn't very high on the list because of noise and the definition. But I like it because it compliments a Boss DD5 I have. With one I have the accurate long delays and with the other I have a nice sploosh of color and reverbyness...I particularly like it for the fact that it makes solos and the like more spacious (especially for someone like me that has little skill)...
it's not quite a 10 because of the noise and my general prejudice against DOD pedals.

DOD pedals seem to be pretty rugged. The only part I don't like in their overall design is that bloody battery door that gets lost. My solution was to use an AC adapter.

none

It took me a little while to appreciate what an analogue delay can bring to the table in terms of texture and ambiance. Although I haven't tried out many top-notch analogue delays, this one seems to fit the bill for me now. This is a very good pedal for spacey SP "Soma" and Radiohead stuff. in conjunction with a good digital delay one can create a lot of different moods and soundscapes.

Same as other review

This is just an update on my other review, I have bought a DOD FX-96 Echo FX pedal, and I now use that instead of this one. I now use this one for my vocals and I traded in my old BOSS PS-3 pedal that I used to use on my vox for the FX-96. I hate BOSS pedal, farwell to sterile old garbage, hello analog color. Works fine, can't get that super delay, but who really needs that anyway? This pedal works fine on vocals...