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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
 Posted - 06/05/2009 : 04:06:12
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G'day! I picked up a broken one in a lot of pedals and now its fixed it sounds like crap. Harmony Central reviews are mixed, but they don't really explain how it should sound.
Anyone have one? Can you tell me how it should sound? Particularly interested in how much difference the "grunge" control makes. This control is the gain stage before a standard pair of back-to-back clipping diodes - similar to an MT-2.
In the pedal that I have the grunge control doesn't make much difference - there seems to be so much gain before the clipping stage that it doesn't really do much when you turn it from end to end. If you back off the input signal (guitar to about 4 on the volume) the drive drops down enough for the grunge control to have an effect.
EDIT: just tried playing around with the gain stage before the clipper and bringing the gain of that stage back closer to unity by putting a 39k resistor in parallel with the 220k feedback resistor (R12) cleans it up nicely. Makes the "grunge" control actually do something useful.
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Edited by - Laurie on 06/05/2009 12:15:28 |
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FrenchBOSS
Bronze Member
France
68 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 05:10:56
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| I tried one many years ago, all i remember is it sounds like crap as the other DOD pedal i tried the "Deathmetal" one, i really don't like those pedals, and i don't even want to try some other DOD ones, but i could be wrong! I don't remember the settings of the pedal so i can't help you, sorry |
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pawnshop_trash
Gold Member
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 05:53:25
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is it the newer FX69B, or the original "butt/face" FX69?
both are nasty/gritty fuzz pedals with very high gain (start with the Level control at 9:00 instead of noon like most pedals), but the Chinese-made FX69B is a little more nasal... kind of like the difference between a MIJ Boss SD-1 and a newer MIT SD-1. and as you deduced, the Grunge knob controls the amount of fuzz (clipping). finally, to my ears the name of the pedal refers more to bands like Mudhoney than Nirvana or Soundgarden. |
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pawnshop_trash
Gold Member
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 05:54:31
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quote:
Originally posted by pawnshop_trash
is it the newer FX69B, or the original "butt/face" FX69?
whoops, I guess I should read the title of the thread more carefully... |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 05:54:48
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laurie, what version is it?
there's like 5 diff generations of the grunge pedals.
original is USA made with loud/butt/face/grunge settings. there's another usa made with more standard control names.
there's 2 generations of overseas made ones.
the original is the only one that i can really stomach but it's pretty over the top gain (closer to an HM-2 on steroids, less compressed feeling than an MT-2)
the later ones all seem to sound kinda crappy with the newest version being the worst of them.
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 06:17:18
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| It is a quite recent FX69B. Guessing it is the current model. |
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FrenchBOSS
Bronze Member
France
68 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 06:28:50
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| Can anyone tell me what MIT and MIJ mean please? and wich is the best? |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 06:36:14
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quote:
Originally posted by FrenchBOSS
Can anyone tell me what MIT and MIJ mean please? and wich is the best?
http://www.bossarea.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4199
There is much debate, but generally MIJ is considered to be superior tone to MIT. |
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Goran
Double Platinum Member
Sweden
2203 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 07:01:04
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I have the original DOD (butt/face) and the gain knob does not do very much, but the butt and face do a lot!
I like this pedal, as a great noise maker, an extreme fuzz not very far away from a Big Muff cranked.
There is no way that someone could have this pedal as the only distortion, itīs a one trick pony.
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 07:17:08
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Thank you everyone! It's good to know I'm not going crazy with the "grunge" control doing very little...
I've played with it a little more and I can recommend to do this - solder a 39k resistor across the 220k feedback resistor in the first opamp stage R12 (don't even bother to completely dismantle the pedal - just tack it across R12 on the component side) and it changes the character completely - the "grunge" control actually does something useful. Turns it into a several trick pony at least.
Simplest mod with the most effect I've ever done 
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Edited by - Laurie on 06/05/2009 12:15:46 |
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tunghaichuan
Bronze Member
USA
77 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 19:55:10
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Laurie,
I have one of the FX69B Grunge pedals. Mine is gritty with a "cocked wah" character.
Keep an eye out for the DOD FX70 Metal X pedal, I believe it was the predecessor to the USA DOD Grunge pedal. The Metal X sounds just like it, but has different graphics. Knowing DOD though, the USA Grunge is probably just a repackaged Metal X.
tung
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 23:01:20
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I believe the Grunge is most closely related to the "Thrash Master," "Metal Maniac," and "Hard Rock Distortion" as I think those were the last generation to come out before the grunge, buzz box, and meat box generation of pedals.
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tunghaichuan
Bronze Member
USA
77 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 23:08:21
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quote:
Originally posted by zentropa
I believe the Grunge is most closely related to the "Thrash Master," "Metal Maniac," and "Hard Rock Distortion" as I think those were the last generation to come out before the grunge, buzz box, and meat box generation of pedals.
You're probably right. I have all of the aforementioned except a USA Grunge. Interestingly enough the PCB in the Metal Maniac is marked FX 56 which is the number for the American Metal pedal. I'll have to check the other two that I have.
tung
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 23:24:37
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the Thrash Master was my primary distortion pedal during an era i'm not super proud of tone-wise hehe.
funny thing is that the thrash master and metal maniac were barely different from one another... and the grunge pedal was so close to both of them as well hehe. and yah, the FX57/58/59 were at most 1 notch away from an FX56 :)
i remember going to the music store the day after x-mas and DOD pedals were 60% off list and i tried all of them... ended up taking home the thrash master. |
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tunghaichuan
Bronze Member
USA
77 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 23:41:34
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quote:
Originally posted by zentropa
the Thrash Master was my primary distortion pedal during an era i'm not super proud of tone-wise hehe.
Actually, I like the tone of the Thrashmaster through one of my home brew amps. I used a Marshall Lead 12 as a donor chassis and cabinet. The 10" speaker is kind of bass shy and cuts down on the bass frequencies produced by the overly-bassy Thrashmaster. It sounds like crap through the rest of my amps though. 
quote:
Originally posted by zentropa
funny thing is that the thrash master and metal maniac were barely different from one another... and the grunge pedal was so close to both of them as well hehe. and yah, the FX57/58/59 were at most 1 notch away from an FX56
I've got a Super American Metal, but not the standard three-knob American Metal. Now you've got me interested. I'll have to take off the backs of the Hard Rock Distortion and Thrashmaster to see if they have the same PCB as the American metal.
tung
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2009 : 06:47:14
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i like the thrashmaster through solid state amps.
if you are going for the gain type sound of a tube amp cranked to 10 boosted with a distortion+, that pedal will definitely do it at any volume.
boss really hasn't had very many pedals that are able to have fully saturated gain without needing to really be opened up level/volume wise to get it.
going purely off memory, the hard rock distortion may have been based off of the supra distortion or classic tube. it had less treble than the metal maniac and thrash.
the maniac was more of a pure distortion whereas the metal maniac had more of a super duper saturated overdrive sound if i remember correctly. |
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Topic |
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DOD "Grunge" (FX69B) ... anyone have experience?
