DOD · 250 · 1974 on, with many reissues

DOD 250 Overdrive Preamp

DOD's first hit came from David Oreste DiFrancesco, the DOD in the name, who started the company in Salt Lake City in 1974 with John Johnson. The Overdrive Preamp came out that year in a large box, then moved to DOD's compact case with 250 added to the name, first in gray and yellow and later in yellow and black. It's a light variation on the MXR Distortion+, with silicon clipping diodes in place of the MXR's germanium, and just two knobs, Gain and Level. Gray 1970s units with the LM741 op-amp are the most collected, with yellow early-1980s ones not far behind. Fans argue over which version sounds best, though Josh Scott of JHS has found the differences mostly come down to input capacitor values. The 250 was reissued several times after 1990, including with JRC4558 and KA4558 chips, and the 2013 reissue went back to the LM741 with true bypass. Buy a gray one for the collection. For playing, a 2013-or-later reissue gives you an LED and a normal power jack.