History of the Gray DOD 250

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Continuing on with the NO Demos video series, the newest episode looks very, VERY deeply into the origins of the best overdrive pedal of all time, the DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp.

This is something I have been breaking my brain researching over the past few years, and decided it was finally time to put all of these facts, theories, guesses, and conjectures out there in the form of a two-part video series.

So here is Part 1! It's really for the true nerds, so get ready...🤓

*Update! Here is Part 2 //

Thank you for watching!

-ed

A White (BUD Box) DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp?

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I'm not sure how well I have made it known over the years, but to me the best overdrive pedal ever made is the DOD 250. I can honestly gush for hours about how good they sound, and even longer about their history and all the different versions over the years (but we'll save that for a later post).

One thing that has been rumored to exist, in nerdy pedal collector circles, is a very briefly-lived DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp housed in an off-white colored "BUD" box enclosure. We know for sure that two or three years after DOD officially launched with their original big box pedals, they decided to move in the direction of a trending style at the time. And that trend was all about MXR and the smaller enclosures that took over the latter half of the 70s.

And while I have never personally owned one of these "Bud" box DOD pedals, I have seen photos of a few existing units over the past couple decades.

If you don't already know the story; around 1975/76 in an attempt to capture the new small-pedal market, DOD and ROSS decided not only to use suspiciously "similar" circuits to MXR, but also the exact same enclosures! 

The BUD box (which was basically a generic metal electronics project box) was the enclosure of choice. In fact there are a slew of pedals from the 70s that are all the same size and shape precisely because BUD were the go-to.

But unfortunately for ROSS and DOD, they just got a little too big for MXR's liking and a cease and desist was issued.

So in 1977 (which coincidentally was the same year MXR stopped using BUD boxes themselves) DOD came up with their own enclosures, which we all recognize now as THE 70's enclosure associated with the brand.

This ad from the Fall of 1977 is the earliest one I could find that not only shows the classic DOD enclosures, but also announces them as the "new" 200 series, and highlights their "extra rugged pressure die-cast case(s)".

So... this all begs the question, Was there a DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp that was built and sold in the BUD box era?

At this point it is hard to know! If I were to go by serial numbers alone my earliest grey 250, from around the very beginning of 1978, should be the 1,001'st unit ever made. 

Should be.

But I have discovered grey 250s from 1980 that have EARLIER serial numbers!!! So after seeing this (the earliest being 250-0559) my first thought was that maybe they printed the serials for what was supposed to be BUD box 250s, but after getting the cease and desist from MXR they decided to hold off on production until they could make a new enclosure. And then for some reason they just kept a few hundred serial stickers until 1980 when they decided to recycle them way out of order??? but who really knows!

The corners of the circuit boards in the BUD box DOD pedals are all cut at an angle, just like the old MXR pedals. And so far I have yet to see one of the classic DOD enclosures utilized those cut boards. Which hints at one of two conclusions; either they decided to sell through all remaining stock of the BUD box pedals, or they trashed them and started fresh in the Fall of 1977. There's also the possibility that they just never existed at all...

(I'm sure there is a 4th option too, like they do exist and I have just never seen one, but I needed to add some kind of drama to keep you on your toes)

As of now, this one above, which is my oldest 250, is the earliest I have been able to find. 

And while I have heard stories from two separate people who swear they have seen/owned a BUD box version, I have to hold out belief until I see one for myself. 

Even if it's just a photo, I'll take it!

Come on universe! 

Give me something!!! 

Well, as we always do about this time, if you happen to have ever seen or owned any of the BUD box DOD pedals I would love to hear from you; (Email / Instagram) but especially if you have any information about the BUD box 250 Overdrive Preamp.

*a big thank you to all the owners of the BUD box pedals above. I appreciate your documentation for posterity. 

Thanks for reading,

-ed

The Peace Maker

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I came across this weirdo "pedal" a little while back, and because I'm me and can't resist super obscure vintage fuzzes, especially ones in plastic enclosures with woodgrain tape, I had to nab it! This is the Kelco 'Peace Maker 70' from 1972(ish). 

After doing some heavy online investigating I was able to find, well, just about zero information on it. But when I posted a few photos on my instagram the other day a friend of the blog, and unrivaled vintage Electro Harmonix collector Daniel Danger, sent me the below advertisement that he recently discovered in an old Guitar Player magazine from the early 70s!

The ad definitely cleared some things up for me. First, it was meant to be used as a portable headphone unit and the amplifier output seemed like more of an afterthought. Second, and probably more interesting, is that the "Fuzz Control" knob shifts between a low-gain gated fuzzy/overdrive to a (very loud) clean boost! Lastly, there was speculation that the Peace Maker 70 was possibly made by a Serbian brand, Kelco. But after reading through the entire ad, it's clear that Kelco Electronics were actually from the slightly less exotic land of, Florida's Panhandle.

Another cool detail that I picked up from the ad was how they described the boost section as a "linear power booster", which is obviously something that is typically reserved for Electro Harmonix and their effect of the same name (released in 1968).  I haven't dove into the circuit yet to see if it's some kind of LPB-1 that's been modded, or if it's something completely different, but either way I'm into it. :) 

The final thing you'll notice from the Kelco Electronics advertisement is that they made another unit, the Duplex Mixer-Booster. Unfortunately it looks like neither product ever really took off, despite their solid Guitar Player magazine marketing push; and combine that with the plastic/bakelite enclosure, very similar to the ones used in the original Seamoon pedals, and I can only assume that not too many of these are still around... 

But if you happen to have one yourself, or any other Kelco products, please feel free to reach out to my email. I'd love to know more!

Thanks for reading,

-ed

Disc Destroyer

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Just found this demo for the super rare fOXX Power Machine plugin from the early 70s. What a cool sounding drive! 

The craziest thing about these, that you can't really see in this video, is the enclosure... It's like a small metal recycled flimsy snuff or coffee can disc with a bottom plate that was literally just a thin piece of plastic, or sometimes even cardboard, cut into a circle. 😂 The one I have is so fragile that it's amazing any of these survived!

It is unknown how many of these were made, but from what I can tell they came in Red, Blue, Black, and Purple. So there's at least 4 different units out there (but we're probably looking at somewhere between 15-100).

Check it out in all it's boosty and overdriven glory!

Thanks for reading!

-ed

Box-o Tone

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So lately I have been digging through some old photos and came across these; an amazing example of the super rare and legendary distortion pedal, Astro Amp's "Astrotone" (by Universal Amplifer Corp). Somehow this pedal survived all the way through the mid-60s and into the 2020's, where I assume it now resides in some other pedal nerd's collection...

Probably the most interesting thing about this is what we can read from the instruction manual and it's emphasis on the fact that it uses silicon transistors instead of germanium; Temperature Instability? NO MORE! I'm not sure how common this was for music gear in 1967, but it does seem like a legitimate selling point. I'm also into the final hyperbolic sales pitch that states the pedal "will last and sound better than any distortion generator you have heard before!".

 Thanks for reading!
-ed

D.O.Damn!

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This month I am thankful for the DOD Overdrive / Preamp 250.

mmm...
so good/

-ed

Ibanez The Dirt Box (1976)

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Look how cool this is!

Unfortunately it's not mine...(

Ok so what do we know about this skinny green weirdo of a pedal?
I for one had never seen or heard of the Ibanez "The Dirt Box" until about a year ago when one randomly surfaced on ebay; and although it definitely piqued my interests, I decided to stay out of the auction because the seller was less than helpful over our emails.

I hate letting something cool get away, but as fate would (almost) have it, a few months later another "The Dirt Box" popped up! But this time I didn't set my bid high enough, and again it went to someone else. Feeling down about the whole experience I eventually told myself that time heals all wounds and to just move on...


So after many sleepless nights and a river of tears, let's fast forward to last week when I saw some amazing photos of "The Dirt Box" posted on the D*A*M forum, by user Lucy-Guitar. I knew even though I couldn't own this sweet pedal, I could at least try and get something cool for the Tone Machinests! So I shot Lucy an email and a couple days later I was graced with all of these awesome pics (including gut shots!).
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So what does it sound like???

Well upon closer inspection it turns out that it is the same circuit as the Ibanez Overdrive II! Which itself was the precurser to the Tube Screamer. This is not to say that it sounds like a Tube Screamer, because it really doesn't; and it definitely doesn't sound like the Ibanez Overdrive OD850, which is more of a Big Muff (discussed at length in an earlier post). Nope, but it does have a pretty cool gritty dark overdriven tone that isn't too far off from the op-amp version of the Electro Harmonix Muff Fuzz plugin.

So although it may not be the most groundbreaking pedal, or even the best sounding, it at least looks really cool!!!

The pictures below compares the Ibanez The Dirt Box (top) and the Ibanez Overdrive II (bottom), both made in 1976:

So why did Ibanez choose make two pedals with the same exact circuit at the same time but with different names? We can only speculate, but here's my theory:

The original Ibanez Overdrive OD850 was a flop for the first couple of years it was out, purely because it was a fuzz and NOT an overdrive. So, in my opinion, Ibanez decided to distance themselves from that original mistake and create a totally new pedal with a name that gave a better indication of what it would sound like. The problem is a "Dirt Box" can be anything from a Fuzz to a Distortion to an Overdrive. So instead of making it more shopper friendly, they actually made it HARDER to figure out what the hell it did?!?!///
And in the face of failure they decided to go back to the "Overdrive" moniker and realized that they could bill it as a completely NEW and IMPROVED version of that crappy old OD850 (that they continue to make to this day under different, but not any less confusing, names).


My guess is that this pedal is somewhat of a prototype or test version, which subsequently failed the test. But that is is what makes it a perfect fit here at Tone Machines! So this is me putting out the mental and digital vibes that someday I will have one of these little babies for all my own.
In fact, how about a The Dirt Box for everyone!!!

also, don't you just love the way they spelled "Amplifer"/

A giants Thanks! to Lucy for all of the awesome photos,

and thanks to you for joining us again!
-ed

Viking Student Amplifier AS75 (1960s?)

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A few months back this really odd looking vintage tube headphone amplifier came up for sale on ebay. The seller described it as having a good fuzz tone so I was pretty interested in it...

Well unfortunately I lost this auction because I was overconfident that no one else would think it was that cool.
The good news is that my friend Jerms was the one who beat me out on it, so we are at least blessed with this awesome demo!!!///

check it out.






Thanks for watching
-ed

Audio Matrix Mini Boogee (1980)

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Our friend Jerms just posted up another demo vid. of a mega cool (and rare) pedal, the Audio Matrix Mini Boogee.


The Mini Boogee was the first offering from B.K. Butler of what was to become his legendary Tube Driver pedal. It was a badass overdrive with fuzzy tendencies that, in 1981 when he received notice from Randall Smith/Mesa decided to change the name to the "Mini Matrix" so no legal toes where stepped on. The pedal lasted until 1984 when it took it's final incarnation as the Chandler Tube Driver.

There are technically 4 versions of the Mini Boogee, although all of them have the same pcb:

version 1: White Bud Box - No Wood Panels - "Mini Boogee" 1980

version 2: White Bud Box - Wood Panels - "Mini Boogee" 1980

version 3: Black Bud Box - Wood Panels - "Mini Boogee" 1981

version 4: Black Bud Box - Wood Panels - "Mini Matrix" 1981-1984

Pictured above is the Mini Boogee from my collection, exactly like the one in the video. Another road we will travel down more deeply in the future, but know that it stacks amazingly with other pedals/fuzzes! My favorite combination is probably the Maestro MFZ-1 (posted last week) going into the Boogee.
Pure Chunky Squelching Fire.


Thanks for reading!
-ed