effect pedal

It was a DOD Overdrive / Preamp that predated the “Gray Box” 250 pedals that everyone– myself included –had assumed were the first version ever made. The pedal was encased in a large gray folded metal enclosure that resembled Electro-Harmonix more than DOD, and it was conspicuously lacking the “250” model number. The typeset and DOD logo were different, but it still had the same charm and quirky feel of the vintage 1970s DOD. The sticker on the pedal’s backplate said “DOD Electronics Company” and listed the home address of founder David Oreste Di Francesco, as well as a number: 75. According to my interview with David himself a year later, I had found the 75th DOD pedal ever made and one of the first ten DOD Overdrive / Preamps (250) ever sold. This stompbox represented the genesis of “America’s Pedal.” For a pedal historian, it was the equivalent of uncovering the Dead Sea Scrolls.