What's the verdict on the DOD YJM308?

[Meathead]

Yeah--the "gain" knob should be called the "noise" knob, but if you keep the gain down and use the level to dial it in, is does some pretty bad-ass things. Put it in front of my TriAmp MK II on channel 2B and I get mega-crunch rhythms... in front of 3A or 3B, fluid metal leads with sustain for days--just gotta take the time and dial it in. In front of a clean channel you get some great compressor-like effect. One of the best "budget OD" pedals out there IMHO.

On the clean channel you can really hear what it does, it colors big time. This is no transparent pedal.

 

[Meathead]

Greazygeo you're bang on, that is how I'd run it in front of an amp with some nice mid-gain.
Within one minute I settled on the volume cranked and the gain at 9:00 (before I even read what you posted, I was going to suggest those settings too)

This is a pedal where you're either gonna dig it a lot for what it does...or you aren't. It works really nice in front of a vintage, mid-gain type of distortion. This pedal will add the nice high mids, hair and pick attack.

I'm surprised...It's very cool.

Thanks for bringing up this pedal, I hadn't used it in awhile and forgot how cool it is in front of my 1959RR. Doing some heavier stuff for my cd with the RR and this will be perfect for it.

Cool, give a thanks on the album credits to 'Chickhead'

 

[Meathead]

I plan on changing out the stock DC jack to a standard (negative center pin) 2.1mm Boss style, and true bypass 3PDT footswitch with red LED on/off indicator.

That would be cool, those are my little beefs with this pedal.

 

[Meathead]

It makes you SHRED!!!!!!! I know a guy that does a mod that I met on the Metro forum and makes it like a grey spec OD250 if you wanna do a mod

It does!!
Don't think I'll mod it...unless everyone that owns one says it's the cats knees

 

[Meathead]

I'm not a fan. I had one for a few days and compared it to my original gray and early yellow ones, and it was bright and thin sounding. Right now, the original yellows are selling for cheap on eBay.

I like this pedal, it makes a strat sound really cool with gain. I'd like to try an older one some time to see what all the hub-bub is about.

 

[dstroud]

I really like them with a strat. They make my strat sound so beefy it's crazy. I have a stock one and one modded by a guy named John Evosevic. Evosevic is a Malmsteen fanatic and was obsessed with finding the exact right recipe that was in Yngwie's old gray DOD pedal. He focused on Yngwie early tones. He said he looked inside and listened to lots of the old gray ones before hitting on what he thinks is the right combination of parts. He said the old gray ones varied quite a bit. I think you can find John on the Metro board. He goes by the name Outlier.

yeah, I sent John a BYOC 250 that I built - seemed much more usable when I got it back - like you said with strats particuarly.

 

[dstroud]

It makes you SHRED!!!!!!! I know a guy that does a mod that I met on the Metro forum and makes it like a grey spec OD250 if you wanna do a mod

I've got a yellow reissue that could use a mod or something. I was less than impressed by it.
I also picked up one of those DOD FET Preamp pedals recently too and was not too thrilled either.

pm'd

 

[Steve Mavronis]

These guys do nice mods (and I do link them from my site) but like I said:If you know how to solder, no sense spending big bucks when for a couple dollars in parts and a few minutes you can easily mod your own YJM308 to gray specs. I have simple exact instructions here (scroll down the page) for the brave:

http://sites.google.com/site/snmavronis ... nd-repairs

Also do a Google shopping search for DOD 250. There are still a couple places selling the reissue yellow 250 for $38 to $40. That uses the same circuit board as the YJM308 but a couple part values are different. The mod process to a gray 250 is about the same; just match the part values. Also you won't be able to hear any difference between using a 1458 vs a 741 op amp, and you won't have to cut and re-route board traces. They both feature the same chip circuit inside. Mojo "NOS" parts are a complete myth. I have a 250 Overdrive research page on my site too so you can see the subtle differences between each 250 model.

Note - I do not sell any product or services.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

If you are using humbuckers, keep the mids down on your amp or it can get a little too compressed and squishy on the low end. I have one modded to grey specs and it is great with single coils for the yngwie vibe but a bit too much for humbuckers. I still prefer TS style for that or in my case, the cheapo reliablo bad monkey-o..

 

[Meathead]

Did a quick clip ...strat - DOD - Budda SD18

I am no Malmsteen, never played that stuff.

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Have John Evosevic mod it. Mine was stock and was noisy and rather awful. Analogman then modded it and it was an improvement but I never used it. I then sent it to John and he worked magic on it. I dont play strats so he put a toggle switch on it so I could choose between humbucker / single coil on the pedal. Stops it from being too bassy with humbuckers. I know nothing about what the mod entailed but the pedal has no noise and is awesome now.

 

[Meathead]

Have John Evosevic mod it. Mine was stock and was noisy and rather awful. Analogman then modded it and it was an improvement but I never used it. I then sent it to John and he worked magic on it. I dont play strats so he put a toggle switch on it so I could choose between humbucker / single coil on the pedal. Stops it from being too bassy with humbuckers. I know nothing about what the mod entailed but the pedal has no noise and is awesome now.

I don't find the stock pedal overly noisy, but I don't have the gain cranked up to high. Maybe on a gig at loud volumes I'll hear the noise more.
I'd like to keep this stock for what it does and maybe try another and have it closer to the original grey pedal specs.

 

[Greazygeo]

I don't find the stock pedal overly noisy, but I don't have the gain cranked up to high. Maybe on a gig at loud volumes I'll hear the noise more.
I'd like to keep this stock for what it does and maybe try another and have it closer to the original grey pedal specs.

Mine is noisy if the gain and level are set high. With level up and gain lower its not noisy. Any OD pedal set to max gain will be noisy.

Nice clip for a combo.

 

[Meathead]

I don't find the stock pedal overly noisy, but I don't have the gain cranked up to high. Maybe on a gig at loud volumes I'll hear the noise more.
I'd like to keep this stock for what it does and maybe try another and have it closer to the original grey pedal specs.

Mine is noisy if the gain and level are set high. With level up and gain lower its not noisy. Any OD pedal set to max gain will be noisy.

Nice clip for a combo.

Thanks!
I could see the background ocean sound being loud with this pedal at extreme settings due to the highs that it adds. But I wouldn't use extreme amounts of gain and level together so not an issue.
Have you tried the gain at 1:00 and backing off the level to 11:00. It removes more lows and gets a cool 'woody' tone, really fluid for soloing with a strat.

 

[Greazygeo]

Thanks!
I could see the background ocean sound being loud with this pedal at extreme settings due to the highs that it adds. But I wouldn't use extreme amounts of gain and level together so not an issue.
Have you tried the gain at 1:00 and backing off the level to 11:00. It removes more lows and gets a cool 'woody' tone, really fluid for soloing with a strat.

I probably did, but I'll try again. Most times I either have it with both at 2:00 or level cranked and gain @ 9 or so.

My 1959RR head has alot of low mids. Using the YJM tames that and adds a crisp edge that I like. I also have a Digitech Distortion Factory and it has a 250 setting which is pretty good sounding.

 

[Steve Mavronis]

Gain at 4:00 and Level at 2:00 work for me. Any noise in your guitar is gonna get amplified as the gain increases. Helps to shield your guitar cavity or use noise cancelling pickups like the YJM's or rail humbuckers in a Strat. Even Yngwie uses a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor:

 

[Meathead]

Gain at 4:00 and Level at 2:00 work for me. Any noise in your guitar is gonna get amplified as the gain increases. Helps to shield your guitar cavity or use noise cancelling pickups like the YJM's or rail humbuckers in a Strat. Even Yngwie uses a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor:

Oh ya, I'd be hearing the ocean big time with those settings, that's too much for what I'd need, it would sound like a pile of mush with my setup.
I have an amp already set for a nice crunchy rhythm tone, it just needs a bit more on top to put it over the top for soloing.

 

[Meathead]

Thanks!
I could see the background ocean sound being loud with this pedal at extreme settings due to the highs that it adds. But I wouldn't use extreme amounts of gain and level together so not an issue.
Have you tried the gain at 1:00 and backing off the level to 11:00. It removes more lows and gets a cool 'woody' tone, really fluid for soloing with a strat.

I probably did, but I'll try again. Most times I either have it with both at 2:00 or level cranked and gain @ 9 or so.

My 1959RR head has alot of low mids. Using the YJM tames that and adds a crisp edge that I like. I also have a Digitech Distortion Factory and it has a 250 setting which is pretty good sounding.

Same with my Budda here, it has full low mids. The pedal's voicing works good with amps like that.

 

[Steve Mavronis]

Oh ya, I'd be hearing the ocean big time with those settings, that's too much for what I'd need, it would sound like a pile of mush with my setup.

Yngwie basically has both YJM308 knobs at the max with the NS2. Hopefully on that DFX solid state backstage practice amp he's using the clean channel. That's what I do use the clean channel on my home practice rig since their's no tubes to overdrive, so I'm just getting the pure pedal's tone which does make it sound tubey and Malmsteen-esque all on it's own.

 

[Meathead]

Oh ya, I'd be hearing the ocean big time with those settings, that's too much for what I'd need, it would sound like a pile of mush with my setup.

Yngwie basically has both YJM308 knobs at the max with the NS2. Hopefully on that DFX solid state backstage practice amp he's using the clean channel. That's what I do use the clean channel on my home practice rig since their's no tubes to overdrive, so I'm just getting the pure pedal's tone which does make it sound tubey and Malmsteen-esque all on it's own.

Cool, I will try that with the clean channel next time I play. I never thought of doing that, since I have a nice sounding gain channel. The best pedal for me so far on a totally clean channel is the OCD ver. 4, it sounds and feels very tube amp-like.