What are your favourite DOD 250/Grey spec original/clones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
  • Start date Start date
Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

Well-known member
I've got an " Outlier mod" on my YJM sig pedal and it kicks all sorts of ass with a Marshall. I've been digging it so much lately that it sent me down the rabbit hole. What have you guys tried and liked? Maybe a 250 style with added tone shaping options? Mine has tight low response which makes it perfect for humbuckers and feels like an extension of the amp more than any of the other pedals I have. what have you liked/not liked that you have tried?
 
I have a bunch of originals. I had to change a cap in one as its slightly later and some idiot designer decided that they liked a mushy shit sound vs tight. ? Look for the green cap in the lower picture bottom?


1629749751205.jpeg

1629749793343.jpeg
 
I have a YJM DOD 250 with tweaks, sounds like caca with humbuckers but it’s just right with singles.
 
I have a bunch of originals. I had to change a cap in one as its slightly later and some idiot designer decided that they liked a mushy shit sound vs tight. ? Look for the green cap in the lower picture bottom?


View attachment 86561
View attachment 86564

Yes the diff between mush and cut is in that one cap and mine I know has a diff value as well to tighten it. It's perfect with humbuckers and singles. I have some clone I got off a guy who built his own years ago and it is mush city. I should dig it out and see what he has in that spot. What value did you use for the one that needed a mod? Impressive collection btw!
 
FWIW, the original greybox uses a 10nF input cap, yet for some reason, the YJM308 uses a 1nF input cap.
If anything, especially with singlecoils, you'd want that cap to be (a tad) bigger, not smaller!

I've built a few true-to-parts greybox clones (see PCB picture in attachment), own a 90's RI and an 80's serifed-font that sound nice.
Owned the YJM308 for a short while, but found it awful.
I've modded the 90's RI, with 5mm green clearlense LEDs as clipping diodes for more crunch and output, and a toggle-switch for the input cap (tight or full), depending on whether I use it as a lot of dirty boost (=tight is better), or just a gentle nudge of volume and Drive to min., which -when using singlecoils- sounds better with the fuller input cap (I think I used 22nF or 33nF). That *will* become bloated a bit with humbuckers though.

After experimenting with op-amps, the greybox uses LM(or UA) 741CN's, that are slightly hairier in tone than the TL061CP and LF351N.

If you're interested in the differences, see the attached Excel-sheet data image. I found that online years ago, forgot who the creator was, but my continuous image search/save (old Ebay sales in the early 2000's helped) of greybox PCB's all showed the 10nF input cap and either 2 ceramic disk caps or film caps for 2 positions and few different '741' iterations of the IC.
 

Attachments

  • 023.JPG
    023.JPG
    129 KB · Views: 240
  • dod250versions.jpg
    dod250versions.jpg
    107.3 KB · Views: 241
Yes the diff between mush and cut is in that one cap and mine I know has a diff value as well to tighten it. It's perfect with humbuckers and singles. I have some clone I got off a guy who built his own years ago and it is mush city. I should dig it out and see what he has in that spot. What value did you use for the one that needed a mod? Impressive collection btw!
Its a 102k like all of the others pedals had. I think it had a 103k stock? I swapped it out almost 30 years ago when I was really into Yngwie and these pedals.
 
FWIW, the original greybox uses a 10nF input cap, yet for some reason, the YJM308 uses a 1nF input cap.
If anything, especially with singlecoils, you'd want that cap to be (a tad) bigger, not smaller!

I've built a few true-to-parts greybox clones (see PCB picture in attachment), own a 90's RI and an 80's serifed-font that sound nice.
Owned the YJM308 for a short while, but found it awful.
I've modded the 90's RI, with 5mm green clearlense LEDs as clipping diodes for more crunch and output, and a toggle-switch for the input cap (tight or full), depending on whether I use it as a lot of dirty boost (=tight is better), or just a gentle nudge of volume and Drive to min., which -when using singlecoils- sounds better with the fuller input cap (I think I used 22nF or 33nF). That *will* become bloated a bit with humbuckers though.

After experimenting with op-amps, the greybox uses LM(or UA) 741CN's, that are slightly hairier in tone than the TL061CP and LF351N.

If you're interested in the differences, see the attached Excel-sheet data image. I found that online years ago, forgot who the creator was, but my continuous image search/save (old Ebay sales in the early 2000's helped) of greybox PCB's all showed the 10nF input cap and either 2 ceramic disk caps or film caps for 2 positions and few different '741' iterations of the IC.

Awesome thanks for the info! Yes the YJM was very tight and a bit sterile and the swapped board that I got made a huge diff. It is honestly awesome. I remember I went for a value between the 1nf and 10nf though because i knew I was going to use it with humbuckers and I didn't want the bloat. Ideally a simple mod to put it on a switch plus a few clipping options and you'd have an awesome OD. Surprised there are not more builders doing that.
 

Similar threads

cobrahead1030
Replies
25
Views
2K
grimmchaos
grimmchaos
C
Replies
52
Views
3K
Chubbs
Chubbs
A
Replies
159
Views
19K
shar-vell Dan
shar-vell Dan
G
Replies
14
Views
2K
gritstogroats
G
Back
Top