In the 1970s, there was an explosion in electric guitar and bass effects that many call the golden age of effects. During that time many of today’s best-known pedal manufacturers got their footing, creating pedals you’ll still find on pedalboards worldwide. Since then, there’s been a tidal wave of pedals, rack gear, and other effects.
DOD and DigiTech have been right in the middle of it all the entire time.
John Johnson and David O DiFrancesco started it all with $100 and a vision to be the best.
Fifty years ago, the effects pedal market wasn’t like today’s. Instead of an internet worth of pedal builders, you had to head to your local guitar shop and choose from two or three brands they carried. DOD was almost always one of them.
Named after our co-founder, David O. DiFrancesco, DOD launched our first pedals in the middle of the golden era. It wasn’t long before you started seeing models like the DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp and the DOD 201 Phasor in front of some of the biggest names in electric guitar. Why? Because DOD pedals have always been designed by musicians, for musicians and built tough to withstand gigging night after night. Maybe that’s why we earned the moniker “America’s Pedals.” You might say we were boutique before boutique was a thing.
And we haven’t stopped. The 1980s saw the release of the FX series pedals. For many musicians, these were the go-to effects throughout the ’80s, ’90s, and beyond. The first pedals in the series were the standard FX pedals. They included many cornerstone designs, including the FX10 Bi-FET Preamp, the FX25 Envelope Filter, and the FX60 Stereo Chorus.
In the 1990s, the FX Series grew to include what JHS Pedals’ Josh Scott refers to as the Lamb Series. The brainchild of our late, great Jason Lamb, the series took everything players loved about the FX Series and turned it on its head. In doing so, he created some of DOD’s most extreme, experimental, and beloved models.
Pedals like the FX69 Grunge, the FX32 Meat Box sub-octave, and the FX13 Gonkulator Modulator were no-holds-barred explorations in classic guitar effects. Instead of a tube-like breakup, you got an over-the-top grind. Instead of controls like treble and bass, you got Butt and Guts. And instead of monochromatic colors, the Lamb Series was the first to cover pedals in graphics as extreme as the pedals themselves. Undoubtedly, the Lamb Series carved our place in the era’s history books.
The DOD tradition continues to this day. Whether discussing our line of vintage-inspired reissues or forward-thinking designs like the Rubberneck Delay and Carcosa Fuzz, we remain committed to crafting great-quality analog pedals for every player out there.
Classic DOD Pedals:
- Overdrive/Preamp 250
- Phasor 201
- Gonkulator ring modulator
- Meat Box
- Grunge distortion
- Death Metal distortion
- FX25 envelope filter
- FX-84 Milk Box compressor
- FX-10 BiFET Preamp boost
THE DIGITECH PATH
The next revolution in guitar tone came with the explosion of digital signal processing (DSP). DOD answered the call with the formation of our DigiTech brand. These products let musicians, for the first time, access multiple pro studio quality effects from the same devices, save and recall preset tones, and get it all in compact, convenient housings.
This time, we weren’t in the middle of the revolution; we were leading the way.
DigiTech DSP-128
DigiTech’s early days were shrouded in secrecy. While DOD was cementing its legacy in analog effects pedals, our engineers were also hard at work pushing the envelope in DSP. Fascinated by its power and the endless options it afforded, they wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible for electric guitar tone. And with the release of the industry’s first actual multi-effects processor, the DigiTech DSP-128, they did just that.
Though forever linked to its sister brand, DigiTech has always pursued its own vision; to offer cutting-edge digital technology that inspires musicians to create the tones of the future. A quick look through our list of iconic products shows that we’ve gotten pretty good at it.
- We released the industry’s first multi-effects unit.
- Our Johnson line of modeling amplifier and effects products, named for our other co-founder John Johnson, was at the very genesis of modeling technology.
- The Whammy series of pitch-bending devices were the first ever to bend pitch digitally and are among the most iconic effects of all time.
- While others based their looper pedals on delay effects, our JamMan loopers were among the first designed for the job.
- DigiTech’s Vocalist products created an entire new category of Vocal processing with intelligent harmony.
And we continue to innovate with products like the Trio+ Band Creator, FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator, and more.
The pursuit of innovation continues to drive everything we do at DigiTech. Not only do we give musicians ultimate control over incredible tones, but we still push the power of DSP to create tools to inspire the next generation. If DOD is America’s analog pedals, DigiTech is the world’s leader in progressive digital-based tone and effects.
Classic DigiTech Effects:
- DSP-128 multi-effects – First true multi-effects unit for musicians
- Whammy Series – Iconic pitch-bending effects
- RP Series – Early amplifier modeling/multi-effects
- Hardwire pedals including the RV-7 Reverb pedal with onboard Lexicon reverbs
- Space Station – Invented String Swell, Pixelator, Resonator, Reverse Delay Warping
- iStomp – The first pedal that lets you completely reconfigure it with any effect
- Jamman loopers – Pioneered non-delay-based looping technology
DOD & DigiTech: A Legacy of Progress
The DOD and DigiTech legacy continues with a renewed commitment to the values we built our brands upon. From the 100% analog tone of DOD to DigiTech’s innovative signal processing, we honor the people and products that got here while constantly breaking new ground.
The two may seem like very different brands, but nothing could be further from the truth. They were both created by the same family of musicians with the same goal: to help you create great music. They’re America’s pedals. They’re America’s tone.
Here’s to the next fifty years from the Rock and Roll underground of Utah.