Ugh, hot turds in a bucket you're right. Not sure what happened to that distortion + schematic there. I've updated it. I've also made the schematics public, so feel free to check it out: www.circuitlab.com/circuit/jz7s3vzd2kbp/mxr-distortion-schematic/ and www.circuitlab.com/circuit/a2nhd4b9zzt8/dod-od250-schematic/
I started out with an MXR Distortion+! Back in the late 70's. The Distortion+ and the Big Muff were really the biggest names in town back then, it was not like the ridiculous number of effects pedals we have today. I used the MXR for many years and I'm surprised that no one talks about it anymore.
Even in the late 70’s, there were many different pedals. There just wasn’t any way for folks to easily know what all was out there, and who used what. There were already what, at least 6 different Muffs by 78’? That’s just one company, and just one pedal they kept tweaking for different artists. I mean Gilmour was using, compressors, a drive pedal(or two), a muff, a phaser or univibe, a flanger, and then an Echorec and Leslie speaker, by Animals. That’s seven different effects he was using. The biggest difference is small builders just had little chance of making a living building pedals, unless they were making them for an artist.
I think what a lot of people forget is when the DOD 250 and MXR Dist+ came out, nobody gave a flying monkey about stage volume, they were designed to be for gigging musicians who would happily crank their amps, people trying to re-purpose them today as "preamp in a box" type distortion pedals will be sorely disappointed. I love these old classics 250, Dist +, DS1, SD1, TS808, TS9 etc to be used on top of an already LOUD and dirty amp, they absolutely rock in that context and I'm 100% certain that's how they're designed to be used.
I used a Deluxe reverb for 15 years in my heavy club days. Great pedal amp for me. I had and MXR D+ but scrapped it and bought the rat when it came out. Still have the rat. Played everything through that amp from country, to Judas Priest and it worked just fine.
anxiously awaiting the MXR Randy Rhoads edition of the Distortion Plus, they recently analyzed his pedalboard with his sister's permission and (reading between the lines) it seems they found some special mod that was unique to his pedal
Agree 100% with the philosophy of use here...Neither is great on front of a clean amp. However, the MXR dist+ or OD250 in front of an already overdriven Marshall Plexi or JCM800 is the classic EARLY 80's Heavy Metal sound as in Dio, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Quiet Riot, Yngwie, etc.. 1980-1984 era. Once I tried these pedals out I had a realization that a lot of what I've always assumed was the amps power section blitzed or a modded amp was probably just one of these in front of a stock Marshall on a lot of those recordings. I use each on occasion with a JCM800, running the level 100% and the distortion on 40-50%. The Marshall providing maybe 80% of the clipping and the pedal just adding more hair and sag, bordering on fuzz-like with a flubbier bottom than a tube screamer which is cleaner and tighter. The OD250 definitely sounds warmer pushing more low mids through the amp and the MXR is brighter. Noise gates help with these as well, they are inherently hissy.
Back in the 70s when these circuits were first developed and sold, there weren't high gain amps to be had. You couldn't buy a Diesel or an EVH, or a Triple Rectifier or anything like that, so guitarists were using these pedals to get more gain from their amps. With that in mind, it is likely that they were intended to be in front of a distorted amp to get more distortion. You are demonstrating that when using the pedals how they were designed to be used, they sound better. To my ear, they sound way better.
Randy Rhoads famously used the Distortion Plus exclusively and he only used it through an already dirty amp which is the only way I'd even remotely use it. Couple that pedal with an EQ pedal and it's magic. Great info in this vid!
I see this video.... then I seen that Instagram post... Brian... are you about to put out a 250 with a full active E.Q???!!? Is that what you're about to do? I need it if that's the case... oh my God... you are aren't you.
My first pedal was the Ross Distortion. I still have it in tan. I got into the DOD 250 when I was into Yngwie and have his YJM308. That led me to DIY my first pedal I call the Neo-Classic 741 Overdrive which is based on the 1979-1980 grey 250 circuit. It’s still my go to pedal. I also have a box logo MXR Distortion+ that I made a replica PCB repair because the guy who gave it to me had fried it bypassing the battery. Need to find a new enclosed stereo input jack for it.
I will never understand the draw of a modeling amp. Probably because I have tube amps and the idea of using something that tries and fails to capture what makes them great isn’t a good one.
😁It wasn't intentional, but I don't use digital modeling amps unless I can't bring or use a tube amp. No slight against them really, I just like tube amps 🙂
LOVE the 250. Super versatile in what it can do depending on how you set it. I like it for basically a harmonic boost on my heavy rhythm tone. Gain most or all the way down, and the output up towards full, and back off the amps gain. It gets really tight and compressed but is pretty saturated still, so it records heavy guitars REALLY well and isn’t all messy sounding like a TS
Been using both for years. I use mine as a lead boost. Level full up and dist rolled in until I get the desired saturation I'm looking for. Love 'em both used this way. Great vid. Cheers!
I used the MXR Distoriton + back in the mid 70's and always found it a bit too thin and fizzy, A really underrated MXR pedal however is the Distortion III, less fizzy.less thin, less raspy, tighter and more modern sounding but still in classic rock territory, not scooped chug metal. Its up there with the best boutique distortion pedals in my opinion, but at a fraction of the price, and it works very well into a clean Fender style amp and makes it believe it's a dimed Marshall.
Great video. And it reminds me how much I wish people would stop making content about how OD/distortion pedals made in the 70s/early 80s "suck." They were designed to mesh with the natural distortion of an amp, not to be played through clean "pedal platforms," today's prevailing method. It was a different era -- context matters! Thanks a mil.
The DOD 250 uses a 100K output volume pot which is High impedance output compared to the MXR Distortion+ which uses a 50K output volume pot which is considered Low Impedance. Most tube amplifiers would PREFER the 100K output pot high impedance because its more like a guitars pickups plugging direct into the amplifiers input. A major different is C12 is rolling off the high frequencies and cut off point the DOD 250 uses a 4.7uf compared to the MXR distortion+ uses a 1uf. This is going to change the cut off point and roll of high frequencies at different SHIFT POINTS. The older 70s 741 have a different SLEW RATE specs compared to the newer 741 slew rate specs. You didn't mention anything about the Slew Rate specs because this is what type of distortion characteristics is slew rate distortion.
Love the A-B comparison. One thing I noticed, especially for me, is how much difference the guitar you are using makes. I have an MXR, and it's not near as brassy with the highs with my humbucker loaded guitars. I've used other distortion pedals and can't seem to get enough highs. P90's seem to float in the middle but my tele and 59 strat copy, both do get kind of chimey. So much good info from you that helps us all shape our sound. Thanks.
In the 1970s and early 1980s I had a Ross Distortion, which I understand was a clone of an MXR D+, fed into a Twin Reverb and it sounded great. It was an early one in an MXR-style enclosure. Probably would have been worth a little money today, but it's been lost for decades.
I think the real question here, is when do we get the Wampler version of the OD250? Double stacked like the Pelican Noise Works? Would be cool to see and hear your take on the circuit, if you were to build one!
I love your work Brian! It is confusing to me that in nearly all of the coverage of the current 250 clones there is an overt avoidance of the most influenatial use case: Yngwie. Josh sort of addressed it in a very dismissive way during the launch of his pedal. If there’s any confusion about how to use the 250 just listen to Yngwie with Alcatrazz and his first three solo albums. That’s it. That’s what the pedal is for. Strat with noiseless pickups > DOD 250 cranked > Marshall Super Lead.
@@teacuppermike2568 I also noticed on this thread there are folks pointing out Randy having used the Distortion +, and again, I don’t see much discussion of that use case either.
I’ve got the brown DOD Yngwie edition of the 250 pedal, and it sounds great. Sweetwater blew them out them for only $19. I wish I purchased 100 because I could have made a lot of money selling them off slowly.
Finally, someone shows what these pedals were really designed to do best. It drives me crazy when people always demo them into a clean amp. They don't sound very good in that setting. But slam the front end of a dirty Marshall with these pedals, and you are in sonic heaven!
Pretty timely video as I just got the JHS Overdrive Preamp a week ago. I love it right in the front of my chain in the switch up position with gain around 2oclock. Sets a nice dynamic tone that gets gritty when digging in hard to a clean Super Reverb. However what I love is what it does to my down chain pedals like the Browne Protein and especially the Rat. This into the rat is a glorious tone through the 4x10!
To my ears, both pedals sound better into a clean amp, but that's simply a function of the kind of OD tones I prefer. I recently acquired a used Fender Bassbreaker 30/18, which at about 9 o'clock on the 30 Watt channel is very loud. The amp can get so loud in fact, that it needs to have the bass control dialed back as volume is increased. That 9 o'clock volume is about right for jamming and gigging (in a small room, unmic'ed). At the same time I bought the amp, I also got a used TC Electronics MojoMojo, which has turned out to be just a _killer_ OD/distortion. It has really responsive EQ controls and can provide quite a bit of gain, if needed. I use it almost exclusively for my driven rhythm tone. In order to take things to the next level for a solo or heavier moments, I've placed an EHX LPB1 _before_ it in the chain, which provides a thick, singing, percussive tone that is saturated just enough, and only provides what I'd call and "apparent" volume boost. This comment may not be completely relevant to the video, but I like your channel, and I want to share a story of great tone.
Yeah I'm doing distortion + right. Both knobs on max. My 80's dist+ has maybe 14 components inside. It looks like a high school electronics project. My new one is packed full of components, and takes 9v power supply. The new one isn't as noisy, but sounds shrill by comparison.
Back in the day, a Distortion+ into a Marshall (either Super Lead or 2203/4) was the standard for hard rock and heavy metal. Tube Screamers and the BOSS overdrives were just coming out and hadn’t caught on yet.
I've never been a big lover of full-on distortion, but DOD (inspired) pedals or a RAT always sound greatt to me. Something in the way they clip the signal just sounds really sweet and balanced but punchy to me. Don't like it with the level up and gain on 0 though. Sounds flimsy. Then again, if you want a boost, buy a friggin boost I guess. It's clearly not what these are designed for.
ln the 70's l had the cursive script dist+ and 180 watt rms Fender Super Twin Reverb. l used a Sunn 4 ohm 4x12 cab. That amp sounded better than the JMPs of the day and had so much headroom at loud volume it made the amp sound huge. Ironically l love the JMPs today. The DOD clone pedal sounds like every other pedal l hear today IMHO. WAAAAAYYYY too much midrange drive. Guitar tone has lost a lot of its depth by trying to splatter thru mixes with low wattage high gain amps that drive the middle. Great guitar tone like Gilmour's and Pages live tone doesnt rely on middle to cut thru a mix. l used to think randy rhodes sounded horrible. Now its like everyone uses that midrange excessive tone.
i used my grey spec dod od250 last night, i built my od250 modded to be slightly thicker in tone, and used silicon diodes, ran my Dean ML into the od250 into my dirty jtm45 and it sounded like heaven. normally i play either a mk2 tonebender or a mk1.5 tonebender but wanted to try something a little different
I love my DOD250! I use it at the end of my effects chain to add a little grit to my signal and it really tames some fuzz pedals and makes them sound much heftier!
I'm fairly certain Alex lifeson used the dist+ into clean hiwatts and Marshall club and country amps for his classic 1979 to 1982 era. It doesn't sound like it to me.. but there you go. Must be Alex...
For what it's worth my AxeFx II XL+ makes for a very good pedal platform. Yeah you don't wan to slam the front input with volume, but if you set it just under clipping the input, you can boost the signal internally with an input gain trim setting. These probably would sound excellent through and AxeFX, but I've never owned and Distortion + or 250
Hey, Brian, I've never been able to find a schematic for confirmation, but I've been told that the Distortion+ and the 250 are so similar because they're both based on the Dan Armstrong Blue Clipper, which was the overdrive in the famous jack-plug line with the Green Ringer, Orange Squeezer, et al.
D+ reissue, volume maxed and gain set so the lines are about parallel, into a dimed Dual Showman Reverb has been my jam as long as I’ve been playing in bands. People love to hate on these pedals, but it’s because they just are not made for bedroom volumes; used right, there’s nothing quite like it for that raspy, mean grind.
I have two vintage Distortion+ Pedals. One is from 1980 and has no LED and no external Jack for DC supply. The other one is from 1981 and has LED and a DC Jack. They sound significantly different, the one without LED is more smooth and creamy, while the second one with the LED and the Jack sounds more harsh. IMO this would be an interesting topic to discuss because e.g. the Big Muffs originally also came without LEDs. The second thing is that hardclippers always sound better when they run in front of an already overdriven tube amp. E.g. the Bos DS-1 and the ProCo Rat. Thank you very much for your interesting videos!
I use the mxr in front of a Carl Martin Plexitone single channel, with volume up and gain down to get that little extra for early Van Halen style tone. It also can gets you to Yngwie's or Eric Johnson's territories with a strat on neck position, getting that violin style tone!
I love the Distortion +, it's like a secret weapon for 70's Judas Priest and Blue Öyster Cult. Even the modern one but I should really have bought the germanium one when it was briefly reissued. I feel like it sounds best before a driven Marshall and with pickups that don't have too much output. It gets really compressed if you use it with hot pickups but that can be a good thing for the priest tones. It's also great for Doom Metal because it can get quite fuzzy and fat without getting too fuzzy. Increasing the gain control seems to add high end and increasing the volume seems to add low end, these pedals really are kinda unique in their behaviour.
Absolutely love my Dist+. It's perfect into my overdriven Laney SuperTop. Gain on 9 o'clock or more, level on 9 o'clock, up or down a little bit acting as tone. I'd certainly wouldn't use it with a Tele into Fender amp, but that's me. I agree it's a misunderstood and misused pedal. Like most classic circuits, it sounds much better into overdriven amps. The idea of "clean platform amp", in my opinion, only works in very specific contexts and yet it's the mainstream approach among pedalnerds.
Love the Distortion+. I use it as my main heavy distort channel, hitting the front with a TS. Magic. I recently bought a Daredevil Drive-bi to see if a boutique take would make me even happier, but I've ended up back with my original. Must have just got a good one. And now I note that Markus Reeves of Reeves Electro is making a point-to point D+. Oh dear. There goes my savings for this month....
Thanks Brian, I love your in-depth videos! This is such great information and you have a beautiful way of explaining it. I wish I'd known this 40 years ago when I had a Deluxe Reverb and a D+ that I built with the help of my guitar teacher, who had the schematic. But boy are those DRs loud when you turn them up!
I acquired a beat up old ‘80s DOD 250 from some guy’s junk drawer. “It don’t work, you can have it.” A little contact cleaner and elbow grease and I discovered the joy of this great and underrated pedal.
"Underrated" tag sure hard to pin on pedal which costs 1000+ usd now and have a zonds of clones in the production lines of the top boutique pedal companies.
I would say looking at it from "all time sales" perspective skews the data. For the first couple decades of distortion pedals, those were the options, so it's no surprise they are the top selling of all time. By the time more options came on the scene, there were so many options the sales got spread out across them. In other words, those 4 got a really big head start on "all time sales". What I think Brian is saying is that in the present tense, people tend to look down on these classic options as being inferior to modern pedals, but in reality, they are still great pedals if you understand how to use them in their intended way.
That is how I understood the MXR Dist+ was designed to be used, I'm 66. It's how I still use it. The first time I discovered that I heard a D+, was on this track from 1976. ruclips.net/video/00fxcGPtfBQ/видео.html It's Ed Kuepper on The Saints "No Time", B side on the I'm Stranded Fatal Records Single (while I'm Stranded got the glory, I preferred No Time). That is an SG through a cranked Twin Reverb and his Script Dist+ on this recording. Back then Ed played live through a solid state EDA PA amp with the Dist+. They were blistering and like no one else back then.
Brian, Thanks! Yes, the pedal/dirty amp combo sounds a lot better. Also, I agree that your JHS pedal sounds better than the MXR. Do you get similar results with the standard OD250?
Your schematics do not look correct. The MXR should have a 4.7k and 47n where you show a 560ohm and 4.7u. That will make a huge difference.
Ugh, hot turds in a bucket you're right. Not sure what happened to that distortion + schematic there. I've updated it. I've also made the schematics public, so feel free to check it out: www.circuitlab.com/circuit/jz7s3vzd2kbp/mxr-distortion-schematic/ and www.circuitlab.com/circuit/a2nhd4b9zzt8/dod-od250-schematic/
@@wampler_pedals LOL hot turds in a bucket indeed! My favorite: "Holy crap on a pita!"
Hot Turds in a bucket?! Love it. Hope you are feeling better Brian
Is there a difference between the new ones and my ‘75?
Also the original MXR have germanium diodes, right ?
Everyone is doing everything wrong according to YT !!!
I have never lost my love for these circuits. Don’t forget about the Ross Distortion!
I need to find my Ross Distortion it's hiding somewhere in my parents loft I keep looking for it but I've not found it yet.
I don't know why but I love the OD250 for a lead boost. Same reason I love the rat distortion.
The distortion+ is the sound of Bob mould in husker du and his solo albums. The sound on 'copper blue' is excellent
Is that what Bob used? I LOVED his tone on both of the Sugar albums.
Don’t forget Randy rhoads too
I started out with an MXR Distortion+! Back in the late 70's. The Distortion+ and the Big Muff were really the biggest names in town back then, it was not like the ridiculous number of effects pedals we have today. I used the MXR for many years and I'm surprised that no one talks about it anymore.
Me too.
LoL, EVERYONE talks about it...
Yep, there's so many today that when I'm looking at buying a new dirt pedal I spend hours on research, to ensure it's not something I have already.
Me three. Got mine in 1980.
Even in the late 70’s, there were many different pedals. There just wasn’t any way for folks to easily know what all was out there, and who used what.
There were already what, at least 6 different Muffs by 78’?
That’s just one company, and just one pedal they kept tweaking for different artists.
I mean Gilmour was using, compressors, a drive pedal(or two), a muff, a phaser or univibe, a flanger, and then an Echorec and Leslie speaker, by Animals.
That’s seven different effects he was using. The biggest difference is small builders just had little chance of making a living building pedals, unless they were making them for an artist.
I use a DOD250 clone made by Dunn Effects on my bass pedalboard (after seeing Al Cisneros uses one); phenomenal bass sounds.
Randy Rhoads used a Dist+ to boost his very cranked (and modded) marshalls.
Well, that tone was just killer.
Cheers.
HM
I think what a lot of people forget is when the DOD 250 and MXR Dist+ came out, nobody gave a flying monkey about stage volume, they were designed to be for gigging musicians who would happily crank their amps, people trying to re-purpose them today as "preamp in a box" type distortion pedals will be sorely disappointed.
I love these old classics 250, Dist +, DS1, SD1, TS808, TS9 etc to be used on top of an already LOUD and dirty amp, they absolutely rock in that context and I'm 100% certain that's how they're designed to be used.
200 % true.. agree
The 250 is such an underrated pedal. Definitely takes some experimentation but there's nothing like it.
I used a Deluxe reverb for 15 years in my heavy club days. Great pedal amp for me. I had and MXR D+ but scrapped it and bought the rat when it came out. Still have the rat. Played everything through that amp from country, to Judas Priest and it worked just fine.
This was my first pedal, and that was exactly how we used them, cranked into a cranked amp. Still love that sound!
All the Yngwie fans like me use the DOD250 every single day
I wonder if I could get a Randy Rhoads tone from a JHS overdrive preamp into a tech 21 GT2 into a tech 21 Q Strip into a PA ſpeaker?
Lol… these are two of my favs. The distortion + was the inspiration for adding clipping circuits to amplifiers… leading to the JCM 800
anxiously awaiting the MXR Randy Rhoads edition of the Distortion Plus, they recently analyzed his pedalboard with his sister's permission and (reading between the lines) it seems they found some special mod that was unique to his pedal
Same. I'll get that as soon as it's out.
I'd just look for a period correct dist +
It will be more authentic probably cheaper too.
A dimed DOD250 into a 50 or 100 Marshall plexi was the sound of early 80's Yngwie Malmsteen.
Agree 100% with the philosophy of use here...Neither is great on front of a clean amp.
However, the MXR dist+ or OD250 in front of an already overdriven Marshall Plexi or JCM800 is the classic EARLY 80's Heavy Metal sound as in Dio, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Quiet Riot, Yngwie, etc.. 1980-1984 era. Once I tried these pedals out I had a realization that a lot of what I've always assumed was the amps power section blitzed or a modded amp was probably just one of these in front of a stock Marshall on a lot of those recordings.
I use each on occasion with a JCM800, running the level 100% and the distortion on 40-50%. The Marshall providing maybe 80% of the clipping and the pedal just adding more hair and sag, bordering on fuzz-like with a flubbier bottom than a tube screamer which is cleaner and tighter. The OD250 definitely sounds warmer pushing more low mids through the amp and the MXR is brighter. Noise gates help with these as well, they are inherently hissy.
It took too long to get to this comment. 100% this.
Back in the 70s when these circuits were first developed and sold, there weren't high gain amps to be had. You couldn't buy a Diesel or an EVH, or a Triple Rectifier or anything like that, so guitarists were using these pedals to get more gain from their amps. With that in mind, it is likely that they were intended to be in front of a distorted amp to get more distortion. You are demonstrating that when using the pedals how they were designed to be used, they sound better. To my ear, they sound way better.
Spot on assessment
Great sounds on dirty solid state also , better too me on a clean solid state then tube,...its all taste though...Luv Peavey Tube amps and Bugera
Randy Rhoads famously used the Distortion Plus exclusively and he only used it through an already dirty amp which is the only way I'd even remotely use it. Couple that pedal with an EQ pedal and it's magic. Great info in this vid!
I see this video.... then I seen that Instagram post...
Brian... are you about to put out a 250 with a full active E.Q???!!?
Is that what you're about to do? I need it if that's the case... oh my God... you are aren't you.
My first pedal was the Ross Distortion. I still have it in tan. I got into the DOD 250 when I was into Yngwie and have his YJM308. That led me to DIY my first pedal I call the Neo-Classic 741 Overdrive which is based on the 1979-1980 grey 250 circuit. It’s still my go to pedal. I also have a box logo MXR Distortion+ that I made a replica PCB repair because the guy who gave it to me had fried it bypassing the battery. Need to find a new enclosed stereo input jack for it.
look at brian, with his, "what does it sound like through a kemper? i don't know." subtle analog flex.
i see you there.
I will never understand the draw of a modeling amp. Probably because I have tube amps and the idea of using something that tries and fails to capture what makes them great isn’t a good one.
😁It wasn't intentional, but I don't use digital modeling amps unless I can't bring or use a tube amp. No slight against them really, I just like tube amps 🙂
LOVE the 250. Super versatile in what it can do depending on how you set it. I like it for basically a harmonic boost on my heavy rhythm tone. Gain most or all the way down, and the output up towards full, and back off the amps gain. It gets really tight and compressed but is pretty saturated still, so it records heavy guitars REALLY well and isn’t all messy sounding like a TS
Been using both for years. I use mine as a lead boost. Level full up and dist rolled in until I get the desired saturation I'm looking for. Love 'em both used this way. Great vid. Cheers!
I used the MXR Distoriton + back in the mid 70's and always found it a bit too thin and fizzy, A really underrated MXR pedal however is the Distortion III, less fizzy.less thin, less raspy, tighter and more modern sounding but still in classic rock territory, not scooped chug metal. Its up there with the best boutique distortion pedals in my opinion, but at a fraction of the price, and it works very well into a clean Fender style amp and makes it believe it's a dimed Marshall.
Great video. And it reminds me how much I wish people would stop making content about how OD/distortion pedals made in the 70s/early 80s "suck." They were designed to mesh with the natural distortion of an amp, not to be played through clean "pedal platforms," today's prevailing method. It was a different era -- context matters! Thanks a mil.
The DOD 250 uses a 100K output volume pot which is High impedance output compared to the MXR Distortion+ which uses a 50K output volume pot which is considered Low Impedance. Most tube amplifiers would PREFER the 100K output pot high impedance because its more like a guitars pickups plugging direct into the amplifiers input. A major different is C12 is rolling off the high frequencies and cut off point the DOD 250 uses a 4.7uf compared to the MXR distortion+ uses a 1uf. This is going to change the cut off point and roll of high frequencies at different SHIFT POINTS. The older 70s 741 have a different SLEW RATE specs compared to the newer 741 slew rate specs. You didn't mention anything about the Slew Rate specs because this is what type of distortion characteristics is slew rate distortion.
Love the A-B comparison. One thing I noticed, especially for me, is how much difference the guitar you are using makes. I have an MXR, and it's not near as brassy with the highs with my humbucker loaded guitars. I've used other distortion pedals and can't seem to get enough highs. P90's seem to float in the middle but my tele and 59 strat copy, both do get kind of chimey. So much good info from you that helps us all shape our sound. Thanks.
In the 1970s and early 1980s I had a Ross Distortion, which I understand was a clone of an MXR D+, fed into a Twin Reverb and it sounded great. It was an early one in an MXR-style enclosure. Probably would have been worth a little money today, but it's been lost for decades.
Garcia did the same set up!
I think the real question here, is when do we get the Wampler version of the OD250? Double stacked like the Pelican Noise Works? Would be cool to see and hear your take on the circuit, if you were to build one!
If we get enough people asking about it I’d love to do it!
I love this channel for being this comprehensively technical. Thank you Brian.
Btw, I just bought a Tumnus Deluxe for my bd
How do you like the tumnus?
I love your work Brian!
It is confusing to me that in nearly all of the coverage of the current 250 clones there is an overt avoidance of the most influenatial use case: Yngwie.
Josh sort of addressed it in a very dismissive way during the launch of his pedal. If there’s any confusion about how to use the 250 just listen to Yngwie with Alcatrazz and his first three solo albums. That’s it. That’s what the pedal is for. Strat with noiseless pickups > DOD 250 cranked > Marshall Super Lead.
Glad someone is saying that. I’ve been scratching my head over that elephant in the room.
@@teacuppermike2568 I also noticed on this thread there are folks pointing out Randy having used the Distortion +, and again, I don’t see much discussion of that use case either.
I’ve got the brown DOD Yngwie edition of the 250 pedal, and it sounds great. Sweetwater blew them out them for only $19. I wish I purchased 100 because I could have made a lot of money selling them off slowly.
Finally, someone shows what these pedals were really designed to do best. It drives me crazy when people always demo them into a clean amp. They don't sound very good in that setting. But slam the front end of a dirty Marshall with these pedals, and you are in sonic heaven!
Pretty timely video as I just got the JHS Overdrive Preamp a week ago. I love it right in the front of my chain in the switch up position with gain around 2oclock. Sets a nice dynamic tone that gets gritty when digging in hard to a clean Super Reverb. However what I love is what it does to my down chain pedals like the Browne Protein and especially the Rat. This into the rat is a glorious tone through the 4x10!
Love my Dist + it’s as close to fuzz as I’ll get.
Thank you, LoL... I hate fuzz... I just don't get why SO many people like it...
To my ears, both pedals sound better into a clean amp, but that's simply a function of the kind of OD tones I prefer.
I recently acquired a used Fender Bassbreaker 30/18, which at about 9 o'clock on the 30 Watt channel is very loud. The amp can get so loud in fact, that it needs to have the bass control dialed back as volume is increased.
That 9 o'clock volume is about right for jamming and gigging (in a small room, unmic'ed).
At the same time I bought the amp, I also got a used TC Electronics MojoMojo, which has turned out to be just a _killer_ OD/distortion. It has really responsive EQ controls and can provide quite a bit of gain, if needed. I use it almost exclusively for my driven rhythm tone.
In order to take things to the next level for a solo or heavier moments, I've placed an EHX LPB1 _before_ it in the chain, which provides a thick, singing, percussive tone that is saturated just enough, and only provides what I'd call and "apparent" volume boost.
This comment may not be completely relevant to the video, but I like your channel, and I want to share a story of great tone.
Yeah I'm doing distortion + right. Both knobs on max.
My 80's dist+ has maybe 14 components inside. It looks like a high school electronics project. My new one is packed full of components, and takes 9v power supply. The new one isn't as noisy, but sounds shrill by comparison.
Back in the day, a Distortion+ into a Marshall (either Super Lead or 2203/4) was the standard for hard rock and heavy metal. Tube Screamers and the BOSS overdrives were just coming out and hadn’t caught on yet.
I've never been a big lover of full-on distortion, but DOD (inspired) pedals or a RAT always sound greatt to me. Something in the way they clip the signal just sounds really sweet and balanced but punchy to me.
Don't like it with the level up and gain on 0 though. Sounds flimsy. Then again, if you want a boost, buy a friggin boost I guess. It's clearly not what these are designed for.
ln the 70's l had the cursive script dist+ and 180 watt rms Fender Super Twin Reverb. l used a Sunn 4 ohm 4x12 cab. That amp sounded better than the JMPs of the day and had so much headroom at loud volume it made the amp sound huge. Ironically l love the JMPs today. The DOD clone pedal sounds like every other pedal l hear today IMHO. WAAAAAYYYY too much midrange drive. Guitar tone has lost a lot of its depth by trying to splatter thru mixes with low wattage high gain amps that drive the middle. Great guitar tone like Gilmour's and Pages live tone doesnt rely on middle to cut thru a mix. l used to think randy rhodes sounded horrible. Now its like everyone uses that midrange excessive tone.
Oh wait. I still need to build myself a 250. I never got around to it 🤣
i used my grey spec dod od250 last night, i built my od250 modded to be slightly thicker in tone, and used silicon diodes, ran my Dean ML into the od250 into my dirty jtm45 and it sounded like heaven. normally i play either a mk2 tonebender or a mk1.5 tonebender but wanted to try something a little different
Appreciate you, my dude! I love your videos with circuit breakdowns/history/information. Thank you.
Hi. Is the JHS more similar to the original Big box 250 Overdrive-preamp? Is the Distortion + very similar to the DOD 250 ? Thanks
I love my DOD250! I use it at the end of my effects chain to add a little grit to my signal and it really tames some fuzz pedals and makes them sound much heftier!
I'm fairly certain Alex lifeson used the dist+ into clean hiwatts and Marshall club and country amps for his classic 1979 to 1982 era. It doesn't sound like it to me.. but there you go. Must be Alex...
I love love love my OD250. I have the gain around 1 o'clock. Sounds good with any amp I use, especially my Gen 1 Model T.
For what it's worth my AxeFx II XL+ makes for a very good pedal platform. Yeah you don't wan to slam the front input with volume, but if you set it just under clipping the input, you can boost the signal internally with an input gain trim setting. These probably would sound excellent through and AxeFX, but I've never owned and Distortion + or 250
Is the JHS Overdrive Pre Amp true bypass or buffered?
Hey, Brian, I've never been able to find a schematic for confirmation, but I've been told that the Distortion+ and the 250 are so similar because they're both based on the Dan Armstrong Blue Clipper, which was the overdrive in the famous jack-plug line with the Green Ringer, Orange Squeezer, et al.
D+ reissue, volume maxed and gain set so the lines are about parallel, into a dimed Dual Showman Reverb has been my jam as long as I’ve been playing in bands. People love to hate on these pedals, but it’s because they just are not made for bedroom volumes; used right, there’s nothing quite like it for that raspy, mean grind.
Yngwie Malmsteen's OD/Boost pedal of choice (dimed, of course).
I think the beautiful grittiness of this type of circuit should be investigated more in high-gain way in future!
I have two vintage Distortion+ Pedals. One is from 1980 and has no LED and no external Jack for DC supply. The other one is from 1981 and has LED and a DC Jack.
They sound significantly different, the one without LED is more smooth and creamy, while the second one with the LED and the Jack sounds more harsh. IMO this would be an interesting topic to discuss because e.g. the Big Muffs originally also came without LEDs.
The second thing is that hardclippers always sound better when they run in front of an already overdriven tube amp. E.g. the Bos DS-1 and the ProCo Rat.
Thank you very much for your interesting videos!
Maxon had a similar design around that time period too. I forget the name prefix but i know it as an 880. Maybe it's an OD-880
I use the mxr in front of a Carl Martin Plexitone single channel, with volume up and gain down to get that little extra for early Van Halen style tone.
It also can gets you to Yngwie's or Eric Johnson's territories with a strat on neck position, getting that violin style tone!
The JHS is definitely smoother.
I love the Distortion +, it's like a secret weapon for 70's Judas Priest and Blue Öyster Cult. Even the modern one but I should really have bought the germanium one when it was briefly reissued. I feel like it sounds best before a driven Marshall and with pickups that don't have too much output. It gets really compressed if you use it with hot pickups but that can be a good thing for the priest tones. It's also great for Doom Metal because it can get quite fuzzy and fat without getting too fuzzy. Increasing the gain control seems to add high end and increasing the volume seems to add low end, these pedals really are kinda unique in their behaviour.
Absolutely love my Dist+. It's perfect into my overdriven Laney SuperTop. Gain on 9 o'clock or more, level on 9 o'clock, up or down a little bit acting as tone. I'd certainly wouldn't use it with a Tele into Fender amp, but that's me. I agree it's a misunderstood and misused pedal. Like most classic circuits, it sounds much better into overdriven amps. The idea of "clean platform amp", in my opinion, only works in very specific contexts and yet it's the mainstream approach among pedalnerds.
I use them to boost other pedals. I boost my ds1 with a dod clone I made just to get more volume and some gain.
mxr should come out with a # band eq double gain stage gated controlled version
Stack em, high! stack em you get that god ol oscillation gain.
Dont play them single, stack em...
I still have my 1980 MXR Distortion+ that I got in 1986 and I always loved that pedal.
Well, I like to push it into other dirty pedals. As a third gain stage. Like using a clean boost in front but with a lot more character
The 250 is one of my favorite pedals that I rarely use because I can never find the right context to use it in.
Please make a Yellow Spiral clone called Yellow Snow.
Love the Distortion+. I use it as my main heavy distort channel, hitting the front with a TS. Magic. I recently bought a Daredevil Drive-bi to see if a boutique take would make me even happier, but I've ended up back with my original. Must have just got a good one. And now I note that Markus Reeves of Reeves Electro is making a point-to point D+. Oh dear. There goes my savings for this month....
with altec speaker ?
@@liys540 I'm sorry I don't fully understand. My rig goes, roughly: guitar, tubecreamer (EQD Dunes) Distortion+, Marshall Origin 50 Head, custom made 1x15 cabs. Sounds absolutely brutal.
I think KK and Glenn (Judas Priest) used the MXR in the early days
I own a mxr distortion plus script reissue, at this point I use it to "color" the tone but not really for distortion
Oh yeah, definitely need a dirty amp with these IMO! Sounds less China Grove more Runnin' With the Devil ;)
Thanks Brian, I love your in-depth videos! This is such great information and you have a beautiful way of explaining it. I wish I'd known this 40 years ago when I had a Deluxe Reverb and a D+ that I built with the help of my guitar teacher, who had the schematic. But boy are those DRs loud when you turn them up!
Awesome into as always. The more I watch this channel the more inclination I feel to try some DIY, whatever ugly it may turn out.
if you have 1000 dollars for me to get a tube amp that can be cranked, sure, ill try this
The MXR Distortion + is what Randy Rhodes used primarily along with his Marshall.
My DOD 250... the only pedal that I sold and I regret.
I like running those type of distortion pedals as a preamp, either in the effects return, or into an IR loader
I acquired a beat up old ‘80s DOD 250 from some guy’s junk drawer. “It don’t work, you can have it.” A little contact cleaner and elbow grease and I discovered the joy of this great and underrated pedal.
"Underrated" tag sure hard to pin on pedal which costs 1000+ usd now and have a zonds of clones in the production lines of the top boutique pedal companies.
4:44 The cranked amp sounds so good
my left hand makes a huge difference than my right, takes off some high end…
I use the JHS for my slide tone. It’s dope.
Brian when did you get youir Paisley Tele i love mine So damn light
Why do you keep playing "Know Your Gear" ?
The DOD 250 is amazing. True swiss army knife boost/OD/drive that can go anywhere in chain. It's great on bass too with parallel clean
Use my DOD 250 as a clean boost before my dirt and modulation pedals for some extra mojo, truly awesome pedal
2 of the top 4 selling distortion pedals of all time. I would say they are rated, not underrated.
1) DS-1
2) RAT
3) Distortion +
4) DOD 250
Right?
I would say looking at it from "all time sales" perspective skews the data. For the first couple decades of distortion pedals, those were the options, so it's no surprise they are the top selling of all time. By the time more options came on the scene, there were so many options the sales got spread out across them. In other words, those 4 got a really big head start on "all time sales". What I think Brian is saying is that in the present tense, people tend to look down on these classic options as being inferior to modern pedals, but in reality, they are still great pedals if you understand how to use them in their intended way.
me before the ad even finished: "yes, probably"
That is how I understood the MXR Dist+ was designed to be used, I'm 66. It's how I still use it.
The first time I discovered that I heard a D+, was on this track from 1976. ruclips.net/video/00fxcGPtfBQ/видео.html
It's Ed Kuepper on The Saints "No Time", B side on the I'm Stranded Fatal Records Single (while I'm Stranded got the glory, I preferred No Time).
That is an SG through a cranked Twin Reverb and his Script Dist+ on this recording.
Back then Ed played live through a solid state EDA PA amp with the Dist+.
They were blistering and like no one else back then.
Brian,
Thanks! Yes, the pedal/dirty amp combo sounds a lot better. Also, I agree that your JHS pedal sounds better than the MXR. Do you get similar results with the standard OD250?
Probably similar to a vintage od250, the JHS really hit it out of the park though, sounds fantastic.
Do you have a pedal based on this circuit?
Yeah I am. Just like everything else.
Do a stereo reverb with midi and presets....
I like running an OD into the DOD250 to boost it. It gets a pretty heavy tone into a clean amp.
My god what have I been doing this whole time
Very DS-1 in theory of use, not in circuit.
TS9 I’m not D+ works great for me
There is NO wrong way. Period.
Differently, ineffectively, inconsistently, etc, yes. But not wrong
Sticky title, eh? 😉
The video could stop at 3:20. Bliss!
Love that paisley tele!
Thanks for this video
This is so Yngwie!! haha