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DOD FX69 Grunge

21 ratings | read 10 reviews

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6 Artists Use This
Kurt Cobain

It is used throughout the MTV Live and Loud show at Pier 48 in Seattle. Its next to his Tech 21 Sansamp pedal. You can get a fairly good view of it during Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, Drain You, Rape Me and Blew. The closest shot you get is a couple of times during Endless Nameless when some fans get onto the stage, which I've provided screenshots of for the source. Later, in 2014, it was [tried to be sold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC0EZ7-IcrI) on the infamous Pawn Stars show.
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Moby

Sold for charity on Moby's official Reverb shop.
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Kerry McCoy

"When I was 14 I bought a DOD grunge pedal and was so stoked about it. That's really all you need to know about that."
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Mylets

In this image from Mylets' Facebook page you can see a DOD FX69 Grunge.
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Tim Lash

Tim: Ibanez Power Lead distortion, MXR Phase 90, DOD Grunge, Sans Amp GT2, Boss Super Chorus, Tube Zone Overdrive
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Masonna

A DOD Grunge can be seen in this gear photo posted to Maso Yamazaki’s Instagram
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More Distortion & Overdrive Effects Pedals

10 DOD FX69 Grunge Reviews

Michael

Admin

3151

Budget Distortion

This was my first effect pedal. Primarily, I got it because my Fender Frontman 15W amp didn't have very impressive gain. However, I don't own the Frontman anymore and this thing is collecting dust.

Anyway, it sounds decent, but not great. It doesn't have the warmth I was hoping for, but it works for 90's style rock and metal with heavier distortion. The build quality is good- the pedal has plenty of heft and feels well-made.

It will do the job if you're on a budget or want this very specific sound, but I would instead prefer something like the Big Muff Pi for more versatility and analog warmth.

+6

over 5 years ago
- 0 Comments
- edited about 4 hours ago
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rab33z

37

Better than some people say

It sounds good through my amp, but when using headphones its way too harsh

+3

over 4 years ago
- 0 Comments
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victor_santana

146

It's all in the name.

It is one of the most obnoxious pedals ever. The distortion is so nuts that at times you don't even know what your're listening too. But some times when I'm all alone I crank it up and then instantly turn it down cause I don't wanna mess up my speaker. It's funny to play with but I honestly don't think I would ever use it seriously.

+2

over 1 year ago
- 0 Comments
- edited over 1 year ago
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noved

132

It's a alright overdrive like fuzz pedal.

I don't really buy many effect pedals but this one stood out to me i've always seen my dad have it and i knew i had to have it so i went to a flea market found one and bought it for around $15 and I honestly like the feeling of it. I know a lot of famous people used it such as kurt cobain etc, the more i looked into the more i had to have it!

+2

9 months ago
- 3 Comments
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jimmarchi1 Moderator

wow, we live in an era where dads were using this pedal... I remember being in highschool whenit came out and me and my guitar friends were all snickering that they slapped grunge on a dirtbox, I mean grunge was like a big mudd or a DS1, not hard to come by at the time or even now LOL

9 months ago

jimmarchi1 Moderator

andno, kurt didn't use the grunge, he did however take them ons tage and throw them into the audience once I'm told.. its not like kurt had aspectacular guitar sound or anything, that's not why we all liked nevermind in 92

9 months ago

noved

my dad was in college in the early 90s, and kurt did use it that show and throw it in the crowd. mocking that grunge can't be a effect.

9 months ago

nathanherd

156

Gain city bitch, gain gain city bitch

This pedal is... I don't know what to do with it. I can't dial it in in any way that I enjoy. The gain is ridiculous. It's a unique, screamy pedal and I've used it in a noise-band jam session to make my feedback outrageously powerful so I could manipulate it, but as far as serving the purpose it was created for? ehhhh...

+2

about 3 years ago
- 2 Comments
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jimmarchi1 Moderator

its an 80s opamp big muff circuit with a very different frequency response due to the 2 band tonestack... the big muff is not for everyone, the op-amp version is for an even smaller group of players and the stock grunge pedal is for no one.... but they were kinda funny when they were first released when I was a kid. EVERYTHING was 'grunge' back then.

about 3 years ago

jimmarchi1 Moderator

you can mod these though... there are 2 pairs of back-to-back diodes creating hard clipping distortion marked on the board as D1 thru D4.... try removing D1 and D2 to make it into an op-amp driven supa tonebender with treb and bass controls (this can sound pretty cool, your distortion will be a bit more open and fuzzy with more output from the 'loud' control and the pedal will clean up a bit better with your volume knob)... you can also make the diode clipping assymetrical at either diode pair by clipping one leg of one diode from a pair and then soldering another diode (typically a germanium diode like on the boss SD1 and fulltone pedals) between that leg and the board (or you can replace one of the silicon type diodes in a pair with a higher or lower clipping threshold diode like a germanium diode or LED)... the rest of the pedal's faults are based in cheap components and its a lot of trouble to upgrade things without burning the traces off the PCB and even then, its more cost effective to just build a BYOC large beaver kit or something

about 3 years ago

pedalman111

130

great

it was my 3rd pedal. I use it on "Rebel Girl" originally by Bikini Kill, and Pat (our rhythm guitarist) used it for the rhythm riff for "Complaining in the Key of A Minor". it has been a pedal notorious because, well, its name tells you what it sounds like, and that is why I use it.

+1

less than a minute ago
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pablo_brazos_peludos

116

piece of shit!!

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

+1

about 4 years ago
- 0 Comments
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molomaniac

136

A real tone shaper, you can duplicate lots of memorable sounds with this box of rock, besides kurt cobain's main distortion.

A real tone shaper, you can duplicate lots of memorable sounds with this box of rock, besides kurt cobain's main distortion.

+1

over 2 years ago
- 1 Comment
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jimmarchi1 Moderator

I am pretty sure that kurt was a DS1, DS2 and sansamp guy and never actually had the grunge in line, though he had it on stage as a joke once or twice... the gronge is an opamp bigmuff circuit with 2 band tone controls, more of a smashing pumpkins thing

over 2 years ago

sandra_lee

326

Bad guitar pedal

This was my first pedal I bought way back when I first was learning guitar. Even then I knew it was kind of junky. Although, years later, I'd mess with it on a bass guitar and discovered it was a lot better being a bass distortion pedal than a guitar distortion pedal.

+1

about 3 years ago
- 1 Comment
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jimmarchi1 Moderator

To the ebst of my knowledge its circuit is the op-amp big muff of Siamese Dream fame.... just witch vastly inferior componentry (not that an 80s muff is anything to write home about in that dept) and a baxandall/james type tone network (treble and bass, flat in the middle, stock muff tone knob @5 sound available with the treble and bass up for those scooped mid tones heard on early mudhoney, pumpkins, etc)

like an actual big muff I feel like its a better bass effect stock, and then its still cheesey.... if you go into it and look at the board you will find 2 pairs of clipping diodes. If you clip the 1st pair (marked D1 and D2) you will get less compression, more output and a more interesting sustain (in my opinion). You will also hear more of the opamp stages clipping eachother than just squared off diode clipping making it sound more fuzzy in a 60s sense of the word. The old Supa Tonebender used this topology only with discreet tranistors like most big muffs and in my opinion sounds VASTLY superior to the big muff.

about 3 years ago

sole_technician

215

Solid Sound

Very solid, crunchy, fuzzy sound. Sounds great paired with amp overdrive and/or Metal Zone distortion.

+1

over 2 years ago
- 0 Comments
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