The Ugly Truth: DOD Gunslinger MosFET Distortion

A few days ago DigiTech posted on there website that the DOD Gunslinger is available for sale. I was unaware that this pedal was even in the making. I can think twitter to bringing it to my attention. Checking YouTube gave me an idea of what it sounds like. I am a bit of a MosFET fan. I really dig my EHX Glove MosFET OD. Throw in High and Low controls along with 9v/18v switching and you have a lot of features in a nice little box. DOD always put their pedals in a nice sturdy box with attractive designs. They now throw in LEDs for no extra charge. (although DOD now charge $99 for remakes of pedals that used to sell at about half that) I have to admit that I am excited about this pedal, but everything isn't so great.

It's Another MosFET Drive

When I hear MosFET I think of Fulltone's Fulldrive2. I've never really enjoyed using that particular pedal, but I really like my MosFET Glove. Just like "Tube Overdrives" the market is getting a little crowded with pedal makers putting out their MosFET pedals. This one tries to separate its self with some neat features and it seems more saturated than other pedals of the same type. I don't know that anything I've seen about this pedal makes me think that it is anything unique.

 It's DOD

I don't want to put any particular brand on blast, but Harman/DigiTech/DOD (mostly DigiTech) has let me down more than other pedals. (Boss is number 2 if you were wondering and my board is about 40% Boss). So DigiTech is DOD and they are remaking these classic pedals which is fine. I think I like these DOD pedals more than anything that Digitech has put out in the recent past. I've never use the originals, but the remakes that I've played have been solid. They just have that stigma about them. If I bought this pedal, I'd be looking for it to fail somehow.

It's Overpriced

Like I mentioned before, the reissue of the classic DOD pedals have come with a decent price hike. I'm not saying that they have to be dirt cheap, but pedal that are as simple of the DOD 250 is a little hard to justify at $99. I will say that Musician's Friend has put them on their SDOTD for half price, and that seems like a great deal. EHX put out there dirt pedals for a little more than $50. Being as cheap as I am, it was like Christmas. I have to wonder how many units they are selling. Out side the reissues of classic pedals, is the DOD brand even relevant any more?

In Conclusion

This pedal is worth a look. It may or may not be worth the full price tag. I think if you can catch this pedal on sell, then the flexible EQ and great sounds (that I've only heard via Youtube) are worth you adding it to your line up if you are looking for a MosFET Drive and the EHX Glove didn't float your boat.

**With a little reading I've found that this pedal might be a reincarnation of an old DOD pedal of olde. The FX100 Integrated Tube was basicaly a ModFET distortion with the same type of tone controls. Like the other Reissues, they are 100% faithful. Still, very interesting strategy DOD (Harman... or whatever) have adopted.