DOD

DOD takes its name from its founder David Oreste DiFrancesco, who started the company in the 1970s with business partner and musician John Johnson; sources give 1973 or 1974. The 250 Overdrive Preamp is generally treated as its first pedal and is often described as similar to the MXR Distortion+ but with a mellower sound. Collectors prize the early gray-box 250s with LM741 op-amps, and the yellow versions from the early 1980s.

DiFrancesco and Johnson sold the company to Harman International in 1990 or 1991, and DigiTech began as the digital arm of DOD. Harman employee Tom Cram started a skunkworks project to revive the DOD brand in 2010, and the revived 250 and 201 Phasor appeared in 2013. After Samsung acquired Harman in 2017 and 2018, Cram said the experiment ended, with staff laid off in 2018.

DOD and DigiTech were later sold to Cor-Tek, the parent of Cort Guitars. Cort has issued a 50th anniversary edition of the 250 with switchable silicon and germanium clipping. Guitar Radar follows new DOD pedals and reissues.