00:00in the mid-1970s DoD came onto the scene
00:03and almost instantly became a guitar
00:05pedal powerhouse so much so that they
00:08were referred to as America's pedals
00:10I've collected these for years and years
00:12and I love them but recently something
00:15caught my eye it seems that there's a
00:17sub series within the normal releases
00:20that they put out in the 1990s and today
00:23I'm gonna walk you through what I refer
00:25to as the lam series
00:35in the 1990s as digitech the digital
00:40partner company to DoD continued to
00:43expand the leader of DoD John Johnson
00:46decided to go fully into digitech and
00:48commit all of his time
00:50to its growth in doing so he handed over
00:53the entire DoD pedal line to a punk
00:56rocking skateboarder named Jason Lam
00:58hence why I called this series we're
01:01about to look at the lam series let's
01:03look at each pedal why they're cool why
01:05they're weird and some quirky facts
01:09Jason Liam's first contribution to DoD
01:11comes through the FX 69 grunge let me
01:15hold it up against a rather normal DoD
01:18pedal from around the same era and kind
01:20of point out the blaringly obvious
01:22contrast that caught my eye kind of
01:24turned me on to this Jason Lam sub
01:26series DOD is kind of known for their
01:28plain-jane aesthetic real simple colors
01:31normal fonts and typical knob controls
01:33that you would have seen on a boss pedal
01:35or whatever you have level tone and
01:37distortion on this one but when you look
01:39at the grunge you see something really
01:40really different a multicolored
01:42enclosure that's airbrushed crazy
01:45graphics and knob controls that don't
01:48make a lot of sense at first glance like
01:50what is but what is face what is the
01:52grunge knob actually do this is
01:55absolutely Jason Lam and his amazing
01:58personality going right into a guitar
02:00pedal and kind of forever changing DoD
02:03this pedal was really really successful
02:05it came in on the hills of grunge and it
02:08sold about 2000 units a month I need you
02:12to know that that's crazy that's
02:13actually insanely good and really really
02:17impressive well Kurt Cobain gets it puts
02:19it on his board because honestly he's
02:22just fascinated that there's a pedal
02:24that says grunge they're the ultimate
02:25grunge band and he puts it on there kind
02:28of to troll people you know just to just
02:30to have some fun his text says it was on
02:32there for several months and he never
02:35but MTV interviews him at a live concert
02:38and says Kurt why do you Nirvana's
02:41guitar sound so cool why are they so
02:44awesome and he holds up the dod grunge
02:46and he says well it's the dod grunge
02:49of course from that moment on they went
02:51from 2,000 cells a month which is
02:53amazing to 8,000 cells a month this is a
02:57massively successful pedal at this point
03:00Jason Lam is not yet over the dod pedal
03:03line but because of this when John
03:05Johnson moves on to take his reign at
03:08digitech he knows he can put Jason Lam
03:11over the pedal series and it'll be
03:12massively successful let me read from
03:15the manual and we're gonna listen to it
03:16the FX 69 grunge is a hyper-charged
03:20high gain preamp so nasty and so heavy
03:23it'll have all your bandmates screaming
03:26for mercy even its distortion is
03:29distorted the circuit is primarily a
03:31heavily modified and very fancy cool rat
03:34circuit let's listen to it
04:05the second petal from the series comes
04:08one year after the grunge in 1994 it is
04:12the buzz fox FX 33 it asks controls
04:16labeled heavy buzz-saw and thrust and a
04:19crazy yellow splattered paint job this
04:23is a pretty crazy pedal and honestly it
04:25does sound broken and people had issue
04:28with this a lot of dealers were getting
04:30returns they couldn't explain it
04:32so DoD actually added the tagline into
04:35the marketing it's not broken it sounds
04:38that way this isn't a tip for DoD to
04:41capture the sound of buzz Osborne of the
04:43Melvin's guitar sound and that's a
04:46really smart thing because a young Kurt
04:48Cobain really really loved the Melvin's
04:51and with the success of the grunge a
04:53this is them diving in and trying to
04:55capitalize on that same market I do have
04:58a really fascinating quote from the
05:02here it is this is King buzzers reaction
05:05in a Guitar World February 95 interview
05:08they asked him if he had anything to do
05:10with the dod buzz box and he says I had
05:14nothing to do with it
05:15I mean does my guitar really sound that
05:18the guys at DOD are kind of crazy and I
05:21have to give him credit for that a guy
05:23there was always bugging me it shows
05:25about how we got the sound on the eggnog
05:28record that's Jason Lam I used this
05:31thing called a blue box it's an old
05:33octave from the early 70s so this guy
05:36says I want to design a pedal we'll call
05:38it the buzz box and we'll get that sound
05:41out of it but it wasn't so much that he
05:43wanted to do an endorsement or anything
05:45I think he just likes the sound so he
05:47came to one of our shows he looked
05:50he kind of duplicated it and he can bind
05:53it with the grunge pedal and made a new
05:55pedal I have to admire DoD for putting
05:58out something that insane yes the buzz
06:01box is totally worthless it sounds like
06:04a vacuum cleaner let's listen to this
06:39well that was really interesting really
06:43great sound let's move on to the same
06:47year if you can do that
06:491994 again we have the FX 86 death metal
06:53so death metal is a genre it started in
06:56the mid 80s and it reached its height in
06:58the mid 90s when this pedal came out
07:00Jason Lam being a punk rocker and a big
07:03part of the music scene metal scene all
07:06he knew this genre well so put a pedal
07:08into it and market to those people I'm
07:10gonna read from the manual because with
07:15rest in peace of course guts pain and a
07:18screen knob we got to see what this
07:21it says the FX 86 creates a grinding
07:26wall of noise perfect for harmonic
07:28corruption of the highest order the FX
07:3286 emulates the death metal and grind
07:34core sounds of napalm death carcass
07:37brutal truth pungent stench and others
07:41one advantage of the FX 86 is that it
07:44will oscillate when the rest in peace'
07:46control is turned up I need to turn that
07:49up allowing oscillation at any amp
07:53volume there is no distortion control we
07:56just turned it up and ripped it all
08:22one more pedal from 1994 and this series
08:26is the meet box FX 32 it actually says
08:30u.s. DoD prime meet box this paint job
08:36is extravagantly beautiful it is a slab
08:39of marble meet the box came with a
08:42little set of fly stickers you can see
08:45one here basically you just put some
08:48flies on your slab of meat you move on
08:50this is a really crazy pedal that was
08:53designed for bass guitar but found
08:55itself being used by more electric
08:57guitarists it's an octave distortion
09:00fuzz kind of really bizarre octave
09:03device that goes really really low in
09:05the frequency range with controls like
09:07meat rump flank and pounds I really
09:11really think it needs to be heard and
09:13that's what I'm here to do to hear this
09:15to play this so you can hear this the
09:43the next pedal comes from 1995 it is the
09:47FX 76 punkah fire 76 is actually a
09:51tribute to the year that punk rock went
09:53mainstream 1976 and I think this pedal
09:57was a lot of fun for Jason Lam because
09:59he was a punk rocker he was in a lot of
10:02local bands in Salt Lake and it had to
10:05be really really fun for him there are
10:06two different versions of this
10:08cosmetically one has a different
10:10undercoat and if you're super nerdy and
10:13you're kind of like me and you don't
10:15have a problem it's gonna haunt you that
10:18you don't have all the colors not that
10:20I'm being haunted that I don't have this
10:21other color I just want to throw that
10:23out there this pedal is also kind of
10:25well-known because the guitarist of blur
10:28used it on several records along with
10:30this proko rat the knobs are punk slam
10:34spikes and one of my personal favorite
10:37knob controls ever even in the future
10:40probably never seen anything this good
10:42Minnis you turn the minister on its
10:44menacing it's a menace itself I don't
10:47know what it does it just changes stuff
10:49and that's what the knob should do I
10:51want to turn it and stuff different
11:06the next pedal was released at Winter
11:08NAMM 1996 and it was DoD's first
11:12overdrive pedal in a long time since the
11:14FX 53 classic tube so that's pretty
11:17significant there are two cosmetically
11:20different ones I'm not bothered by that
11:22and it's pretty much a straight ahead
11:24overdrive with controls like sweet pulp
11:27tang and juice it's kind of normal for
11:31this line but it's not really normal
11:33because we all know what normal isn't
11:57another winter man 96 release was the FX
12:0113 donkey later modulator this was the
12:05second pedal of this series I ever owned
12:07and it's really crazy it is once again
12:10the grunge pedal in parallel with a ring
12:15the controls are suck smear gunk and
12:17heave those are really easy to
12:21understand what they're gonna do and it
12:23was used and kind of made famous by
12:24Incubus on a song called glass these
12:27basically were not successful and then
12:30they became very very expensive on the
12:32used market there is a reissue of this
12:34that they did later so you can check
12:36that out as well I want to read from the
12:38manual it says the FX 13 gonk you later
12:41modulator is a ring modulator and
12:44distortion in one the ring modulator or
12:46smear adds Gong like Gong tones to your
12:51guitar sound with the suck and smear
12:53knobs you can create a multitude of
12:55bizarre distortion sounds that will not
12:58only enhance your solos but it'll keep
13:01the audience's wondering
13:22this pedal also came out in 1996 it is
13:25the FX 101 grind rectifying overdrive
13:30with echo I hate to tell you a DoD but
13:33this is not an overdrive it is a
13:34full-blown distortion that rips your
13:38it basically is letting you get that
13:40Mesa dual rectifier triple rec sound
13:43that's what they're going for here
13:45they're going for that crowd those kind
13:47of people and the knobs are blast Rumble
13:50burn and fear that's a good knob name
13:52you also see something that kind of
13:54starts happening here in this year some
13:57of these pedals show the normal labeling
13:59like level those highs and gains so
14:01they're kind of marketing to to crowds
14:03the people that want to turn the fear
14:04knob or the guy or girl they just want
14:06to turn the gain knob this photo came
14:08out on the same day as the fx100 they
14:11share the same circuit board they're
14:13nearly identical they both have a really
14:16cool cab emulator which was kind of a
14:18big deal for the 90s this is definitely
14:21a Jason Lam era design he helped design
14:23it was a big part of it but the knobs
14:25are not labeled crazy so I'm really torn
14:28on even showing it even though I just
14:30showed it I think we need to just listen
14:32to this and I'm gonna play what comes to
14:35mind with a triple wreck double
14:37rectifier by Mesa I liked I liked Reed
14:40for a while I'm not ashamed of it I
14:42don't talk about it unless it's to
14:44thousands of people at this moment which
14:46I'm really second-guessing I hope you
14:49enjoy what's about to happen cuz I am
15:18the next pedal comes from 1997 it's
15:21simply called the corrosion it is this
15:24pedal which was released a year earlier
15:26and didn't really do that well so they
15:29put the circuit in this case and they
15:32gave it controls called dissolve bottom
15:35top and rust it has no paint which is
15:40it's really odd and there is another
15:41cosmetic version of this this is the
15:43most rare looking one and I'm proud of
15:46that I do want to say I work hard to to
15:48gather these things you know I feel
15:50better myself and stuff it's probably a
15:54problem I really rely on the pedals too
16:27also from 1996 is the supersonic stereo
16:32flange FX 747 pause 747 supersonic
16:41anybody but mean connecting the dots
16:44it's probably just me it's fine it has
16:46controls payload Mach altitude and
16:49thrust it's a really good modulation
16:51pedal it actually is analog
16:53bucket-brigade as an image 3:07 it is
16:56essentially a recast FX 75 but I don't
17:00care and mine has little stickers and
17:02there's fish and turtles there's like a
17:04squirrel riding a paper airplane frogs
17:07and capes you're not gonna have that you
17:10can find this but you're never gonna
17:11find the Frog cape thing I have
17:14something you'll never have none of you
17:16have that I'm sorry he forgot to eat
17:42winter Dan ninety-six gave us a lot of
17:45things here's another one
17:47it is the FX 84 milk box compressor I
17:51have to hand it to them a guy who has a
17:54compressor called the white eat ID they
17:57have a compressor called the milk box
17:59with cow udders and knobs labeled such
18:03as this Court's cream and you get to
18:08choose between skim 1% 2% or whole milk
18:12you have pasteurization level and spill
18:16I can't describe how happy this pedal
18:20makes me it's really it's a good one
18:23it's it's full of puns it's full of
18:25magic I actually have the box here
18:27nobody cares and this is worth staring
18:31at for a moment let's all just just look
18:33at this with me I love this I love this
18:37stuff I love pedals whoever told you
18:40guys that I love them now the beauty
18:57from 1996 is the FX 64 ice box stereo
19:02chorus there's actually a deep freeze
19:04chorus I don't have that one
19:06I don't need it though I don't need it
19:09it has controls called ice cold ice cold
19:13deep and freeze deep freeze anybody just
19:17me it's fine this also you see level
19:20speed depth and high EQ up there because
19:22some people they don't want to turn the
19:24deep knob they want to turn the depth
19:25knob yeah this is bucket brigade that's
19:30a big deal I don't know what else to say
19:32it was like 130 bucks new in 96
19:35maybe my pillows are priced pretty
19:37fairly maybe yeah I think they are
19:58the last pedal is one that I didn't know
20:01existed until about two weeks ago I
20:03found out about it went on to reverb had
20:07it shipped here and it's in my hand it
20:09was made for one year only for musicians
20:11friend it is the FX 70p because it's the
20:17big pig fat distortion just look at that
20:20color it's like a dirty pink pig color
20:23it's amazing it's basically the grunge
20:26the corrosion the metal X it's like that
20:28same circuit that they just kept using
20:30it's a good circuit use it that's what
20:33they did I'm gonna turn that wallow
20:35snort wheeze and mud knob and we're
20:38gonna get down and dirty because dirt
20:41pedals are dirty and pigs are dirty pigs
20:45are dirty and I'm gonna play this dirty
21:08today's record time is brought to you by
21:11grunge not the pedal we keep talking
21:13about today but these genre I'm going to
21:16show you two of my favorite albums from
21:18the era definitely albums that inspired
21:21and kind of fueled DoD and its growth at
21:24this time in the 90s first up is Nirvana
21:27nevermind if you're watching this
21:29episode it's highly unlikely you don't
21:31know about this if you have it it is a
21:34must it's so important that I can't even
21:37I need like three hours and I'm gonna
21:39move on but listen to it and in the
21:41comments let's talk about our favorite
21:43songs what it meant to you when it came
21:45out all that good stuff my favorite
21:47track is in bloom and on a plane there's
21:51a song on here called territorial
21:52pissing x' as well and it actually had
21:54settings in the grunge manual that told
21:57you how to tune the grunge pedal to
21:59sound like that song and next up is my
22:01absolute favorite album from this era it
22:04is Pearl Jam Vitalogy Pearl Jam is the
22:08reason I play guitar and this album is
22:11massive for me it's super super
22:14important musically I love it it gets
22:16overlooked but it is a masterpiece
22:19record if you know Pearl Jam from songs
22:22like Jeremy alive even flow that's a
22:25good record those are good songs but
22:27this is a whole other level the
22:29songwriting is phenomenal
22:31instrumentation Brendan O'Brien's work
22:34the whole thing is this really really
22:35epic in the comments let's talk about
22:38these two records if you haven't heard
22:39them I want to hear what you think about
22:41them if you have heard them and love
22:43them let's talk about the songs and then
22:45you tell me your favorite records from
22:47the 90s in that grunge Seattle scene
22:51thanks so much for watching this episode
22:53I had an absolute blast diving into this
22:57history and into this story I want to
23:00dedicate this to the great amazing work
23:02of Jason Lam who sadly passed away in
23:052016 just as he was starting a new petal
23:09venture his work in the guitar industry
23:12is really really amazing
23:14and it's so easy to overlook the fact
23:17that companies don't do things people do
23:20it's easy to look at fender or Gibson or
23:23Marshall or DoD or boss and really put a
23:26big big kind of cloud over these
23:29important people that did things Jason's
23:31work is pivotal to this industry it's
23:33pivotal to why I have a job it's pivotal
23:36to why we love guitar pedals so because
23:39of that I dedicate this episode to him I
23:41also want to give a big huge thanks to
23:44John Johnson to Thom cram and Bob Bailey
23:47all involved with DoD in this time
23:49period or a little bit after and they
23:52really helped me getting a grip for this
23:54story there's also an epic website
23:56called America's pedals DoD just google
23:59that and you'll find it so much
24:00information I want to find the guy that
24:03put that together if you're watching
24:04this please contact me I want to do
24:06something with you these are the notes
24:08from this it is page after page after
24:11page I was on phone calls and just an
24:14intense amount of information diving
24:17into this and this is a really good
24:19example of the things I want to share on
24:21our patreon page because I can't cover
24:24everything in these historical episodes
24:27there's so much cool stuff that's so
24:29important so I'm gonna be putting
24:31content on that patreon once we get it
24:33launched and it'll be things like this
24:35you're gonna get to hear a lot more
24:37really cool stories and I'm excited for
24:40if you liked this episode hit like
24:42subscribe to the channel and hit the
24:44bell icon to get notifications of future
24:46episodes also go check out the JH s Show
24:49website in the description below have a
24:52wonderful day bye some DoD and remember
24:54Jason Lam other than that let's get out
