The problem with cheap chynees knockoffs is the low quality switches and jacks that break down so much faster than quality parts on name brand pedals. I had a $40 RAT clone with a foot switch that I could not replace because its 9 pins could not be soldered with consumer tools. A quality pedal would have a normal switch that could be easily repalced. So my $40 + the $11 I spent on a new switch were wasted.
I actually love it! I need to get one... I always wanted an SX Liquid but with two humbuckers in that color never was much of a P90 fan. I have to see your review on this one. I need to search your reviews, I have had great luck with the options from Rondo music SX, Douglas, Hadean and of course Agile. I just scored a Douglas Corvus (Jazzmaster clone) $100.00. I was blown away how good it was and like you I think the tail piece is the weak point. The humbuckers are amazing I thought someone swapped them but they are stock. Edit: I guess I did see the review in the SX.
@@TrafVal DOD keeps dying and being resurrected to reissue some old schematics. Nobody who makes money from these pedals had anything to do with develloping the Gonkulator. The only right they have on them is that they had lots of money to begin with. That's not a strong ethical argument. At least not enough to make me defend them against "thieves" who want to sell me the exact same product at a price that is both sustainable for them, and not 300% overpriced. I'd argue the OEM has more rights to claim ownership of those pedals than some shareholders who never saw one and just dumped a ton of money on a safe business venture; but that's my latin ass speaking. The way intellectual ownership works is vastly different here, and, to sum it up briefly, slapping people with wads of cash will never make you the rightful owner of an intellectual property here. Nobody in this story designed the pedals, but at least the OEM is actually making them, unlike DOD shareholders who do nothing but count their bills.
@@Clebardmanthe people that bought the DOD rights, paid either the original company, or the receivers who were paying off the companies owed money by Digitech. This continues each time it gets sold on. Debts are paid and the new company gets the rights to use those designs in exchange for paying off the debts. If some Chinese company just steals the designs, then the company that bought the rights are ripped off. They too could go out of business leaving debts that no-one wants to buy, or they just don’t have the money required to produce new DOD and Digitech pedals. If you buy “stolen” intellectual property, then that’s your decision.
Nice theory, except that the 2013 and onward designs are new. they include true bypass, LED, power filtering, new chassis, and new features. Also the "Modern" series (Carcosa, Boneshaker, Looking Glass, Gunslinger, Rubberneck, etc.) are entirely original designs. And yes, somebody in this story designed the pedals - ME. @@Clebardman
DOD / Digitech was bought by Cor-Tek (Cort guitars) right? Isn't Cor-Tek basically the world's biggest OEM in the guitar world? This makes sense to me.
Interesting find. I did a little Google and Reverb research. The Ginean Factory Fuzz, Hairy Show Fuzz, Massive Overdrive, RigMod Modulator and Phaser all appear to be Chinese grey market clones of DOD Electronics pedals, presumably from a Cor-Tek factory.
"Third Shift" is the term you're looking for. Its basically the unoffiical manufacturing run going after hours and selling grey market. Oftentimes itll just be another line right next to the mainline using the same staff but with a different component source to keep it off the books.
I've been a long-time fan of the geetarist SNAKEFINGER, who was a member of the obscure band "The Residents" during their early years...and he often drenched his axe in Ring-Modulation...so here I am...somebody who didn't wanna shell out for the Gonkulator...but you're goddamn right I just ordered that clone from AliExpress. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Third Reich and Roll, baby! Ralph Records = Buy or Die! I’ve been a fan since 1980, when I found their 7” comp in the back of Rolling Stone. MX80 is STILL one of my fave bands ever! Duck Stab!
Ralph was a earth cracking record label. The crust broke apart. If u missed it, for the Eagles or TP and the (fake) Heartbreakers w/ no Johnny Thunders or Jerry Nolan... do I gotta spell this shit out?....
the color of the circuit board can have a lot to do with the slight differences in sound. The ginean sounded more blue, whereas the DOD sounded more green to me. And now we know why...
I tried to google this, but I guess I’m bad at it. Can you speak more about board colors and effects on sound, or cite where you learned about that? Really interesting to me
Hell yeah. Mine is coming in 12 days! I ordered before finishing the video, haha. I always wanted now and that price makes it make sense! There's a trick that Prince did where he blends Ringmod in next to his non-Ringmod tone with an expression pedal. First thing I'm gonna do when I plug it in.
Honestly tempted to buy the whole DOD line from Ginean rn, just to send a message to US "brands" who resell asian manufactured products at 20 times the production cost. And I say this as someone who loves his Carcosa and Rubberneck, and DOD pedals in general.
I'm suuuuper curious about this trick... you've completely piqued my interest. I'm going to look this up. Do you have any advice where to look for info on the setup? might have to order an expression pedal now for it too... I think it's what a jazz fusion keyboardist did once, the name and the song escapes me right now, but I've always tried and failed to recreate that.. and I think you've put me on to the right path!
@@trev_mcnaughton Dude breaks it down in the video. I got mine and have been jamming on it for a few days. It's pretty rad, but it's low volume. I can work with it.
@@jpm9628 I just got mine today and was seriously enjoying it.. especially just after my tube zipper in the signal chain.. the envelope set right lets a bit of the ring mod out more with just the right attack.. thoroughly happy having this on the pedalboard!
@@ClebardmanJan Hammer then w Mahavishnu Orchestra used a ring modulator w his Electric Piano to sort of bend notes. After he got a Mini Moog he used that for leads , where he actually could bend. I was around when they played and heard them live lots of times , once twice on the same tour. Every time I was amazed humans could play at that level. Jan, Yan, also wrote the Miami Vice theme.
Nice affordable version of the DOD Gonkulator. Plus any effect named after a Hogan's Heros episode is good in my books (i.e. Klink vs. the Gonculator, Season 4, Episode 2, even though the spelling is different)
The Gonkulator distortion is supposed to be the same circuit as the FX-69 Grunge. But you can dial the gain a lot lower on the Gonkulator than the Grunge.
Sorry if someone else mentioned this (or you did -- I'm only halfway through the video). Tommy Iommi apparently used a ring mod sometimes -- e.g. the opening to "Iron Man". Some early Devo (of course), as well. :)
The story I heard is that Iommi came back to the studio one day to discover that his solo on Paranoid had been drenched in ring modulator, and hated it. Wether it's a fact of one of the many myths of rock n'roll, I don't know.
No ethics problem, i think, on Aliexpress it is mentioned that they cloned the 90’s version of the DOD ring modulator, which was over 20 years off the market. Only if DOD kept the patent to themselves , there would be a problem i guess, but DOD has been away completely in between ..
Fairfield Circuitry makes a high quality ring modulator called Randy's Revenge. The CV /frequency can be controlled by an expression pedal. And it's a superior product to the ones in this video by far. The lower oscillator frequencies create rich trem/vibe effects, excruciatingly slow or chopped up rhythmic flavours. As the frequency goes up, thick bells, tuned intervals, low-fidelity synth-like effects are only the beginning. Experimenting with the low-pass filter cutoff frequency and the dry/wet mix will yield tones as strange or subtle as desired. Featuring expanded control voltage (CV) capabilities that allow for interactions beyond the simple stacking of effects, Randy can be used to control and be controlled by other CV capable devices. The stereo CV is switch-programmable for use with an expression pedal or as a 2-channel CV port. Both the oscillator and low-pass filter frequency are voltage-controllable. The internal oscillator is also available as an output, turning Randy into a stand-alone voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO).
@@UnitedEffect I have a Randy's Revenge. Although it's not an effect I use a lot... when I do need or want certain sounds it can't be beat. So many options too! You definitely want the voltage control accessed by an expression pedal. The Gonkulator's okay as a starter... but it's mostly a distortion that has a bit of ring mod built in.
Business 101 in China - There are no ethics, sales only matter. It's clearly a DOD factory that made some pedals using leftover DOD parts that they probably had left over as DOD was exiting the market. A similar thing happened in 2019 with the Kirkland 4 Pc golf ball at Costco a few years back when they used leftover Pro V-1 cores in a factory in Korea. They used a slightly different exterior and added the Kirkland branding of course, but when the balls we cut open the truth came out and the lawsuits began. The same thing apparently has happened here. Ryan's super sleuth skills are second to none 😆
My favorite Chinese clone story is when they reverse-engineered a bmw x5 and made their own version which was almost identical, and then bmw sued them and lost!
I find it ironic when US companies have a non-domestic company completely built their stuff for cheap then get mad when the actual manufacturer sells the exact same product at a lower price as an off brand. Then the US company is shocked, surprised and offended when this happens. Wake up.
All intellectual property in China becomes community property. I shed no tears for companies outsourcing for cheapness and then getting undercut themselves
I own one - mostly just bought it for playing Incubus songs with and stacking with the Boss PH-2 (again, Incubus). Flanger is another pedal that seems to create some interesting effects when used with the Gonk. Thought it sounded pretty close to what I was expecting and to my surprise, it's exactly the same thing!.
I think the only 2 times a ring mod has sounded good, are the voice of the Daleks and the lead on Black Sabbaths Paranoid. On a serious note, I work in marine electronics in the UK and asked why we manufacture PC boards in-house, not in China, the answer was the B#####s will copy them, and years of R&D go down the drain.
It's called graymarket, and it is a big deal to us. Also the white thing isn't a trim-pot, it is a stand-off. The trim pot is on the left labeled P5 - it is the null control.
@60 Cycle Hum Ahhhh, it's good to be back home (with a new handle) These pedals are almost music to my ears, lmao. They take perfectly good chord tones and make them into perfectly Hideous Chord tones. Maybe you should try playing some of the "Forbidden Hideous Chords" through them, Maybe they'll sound great! I mean, I doubt it, but it's worth a try. (re-subbed today) Thanks for once again making me smile and laugh!
I've never understood why there aren't more auto-tuning Ringmods, it's not far off how some octaver pedals work IIRC. Even if the tracking is jammy it'd still be vastly better than just having to have a static drone.
It’s because the sum and difference of the input frequencies which is by definition what a ring mod does is naturally inharmonic… what you’re describing would not be a ring mod but just a weird pitch shifter… but I mean… yeah that could be cool
that's exactly what ring mod does on a Synthesiser, though. if it's combining an AM wave it's still ring modulation regardless of the pitch changing@@hollywood4834
don't really care either way, but to get you thinking. Is it ethical to over charger people for a product, and wouldn't that prove D.O.D is over charging everyone? Just some food for thought, and I do like D.O.D products.
100% on board with you here. It's not goodd not just for DOD, but for pretty much everybody who gets their crap manufactured in Asia before reselling it 250€. I think we all know electronic components are dirt cheap and no regular pedal should cost the prices some brands ask.
I like the way the ring mod on the boss gt1b works. It goes in steps so you can set it to a 5th, 7th, or octave ect. It makes it easy to find the harmony you are looking for. You can also blend it and there are two modes. Auto and manual. I like to mix it with fuzz and an fx25. Sounds wild.
My initial reaction is the same as yours. It's unethical for a manufacturer to straight up repaint pedals they make for US brands and resell them at 1/4 of the price. My second reaction is that it's also unethical for US brands to get their pedals manufactured in Asia for 3$ each to then resell them 150$ to broke teens and tonedeaf stepdads. I think you're on point with "there is no ethical consumption in capitalism". Current DOD owners didn't spend a penny in R&D either for the Gonkulator. They bought a dead brand, then got already existing schematics manufactured at the other side of the world by the lowest bidder. If it is indeed what it looks like, then Ginean are thieves, and DOD are crooks. As I see things, if I buy from Ginean, some DOD shareholders who had nothing to do whatsoever with these 70s pedals development lose a relatively microscopic amount of money, while if I buy from DOD I lose 100$ out of some imaginary moral obligation towards people who'd sell me sand in a desert without blinking once. edit: just read the description, ofc the official DOD/OEM version is dumpster-diving. I'm not suprised one bit...
The entire purpose of any company is to make money. If you don't like their practices don't buy their products. It isn't difficult. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything from anyone. It's called capitalism. If you don't like it feel free to move to a socialist or communist country and let me know how much better it is. I'll wait.
- Theorie - They bought the discontinued revision 0 boards and shoved them in overstock enclosures. They probably can't actually produce the boards from scratch. These will most likely be gone when they're gone. These are most likely legit Version 0 Gonk reissue boards, bought on the open market, so DOD made their money either way in that case. In fact, they did great because otherwise, they were going in the trash
This could be right at home on a Flaming Lips, Dukes of the Stratosphere, stoner doom rock, and you were only moments of away from Smoke on the Water to my ears... I'd love to hear what keyboard Bernie Worrell might have plugged it into!!
You can get a Fake Martin D45 made in China actually saying Martin on Allie Express made out of laminate. Not the first time they pull stuff like this.
If you want a ring mod to compliment what key you're in you need to play a major scale. Ideally pentatonic. So tuning it to c would have made A blues licks sound better.
It's obviously the same pedal. Unless DOD is somehow in on it, they are being ripped off. The ethics: The Gonkulator isn't worth $150 ... and the Ginean is unethical. I can't buy either one.
7:47 this is the point in the video when I went to AliExpress and bought one. I’ve bought things from them before, they are legitimate. Kind of. The price can’t be beat.
Might have to buy a gonkulator just so I can run around telling everyone I have a gonkulator! Other than that, I don't need one to sound like the out of tune, fat fingered guitarist that I am... But I do like the the word gonkulator!
Btw, thank u 60-C Ryan for these clone vids. I live in Philippines, spend a lot of time browsing Ali E, Lazada and Shoppee looking at random clones and unique China made pedals. Interesting stuff! Thanks for demoing this AND the Mosky fuzz, as I had been curious about that one. If you could recommend your FAVORITE fuzz or do a fuzz shootout, that be a great vid that I think we’d all enjoy. 😊🎉
Just read what you wrote in the description and had to change what I'm going to say lol. If DOD knows nothing about this then either the factory that makes the pedal for them (or someone there) has produced them "under the table" or someone has got ahold of the original and simply reverse engineered it. If it was "dumpster diving" by someone from another factory in the area producing similar things, then they'd likely know already where all the parts have been sourced from and so would probably be able to produce such an exact clone relatively easily
Is the OEM claiming someone raided their garbage bin and stole the EXACT screws of the pedals? Let's be honest. It sounds like DOD just got caught red-handed selling 40$ pedals at 4 times the price. Wich is what all these brands do, so I'm not against a little scandal to drive the prices down.
@@Clebardman If the bin was raided by someone local who worked in another factory producing similar things, they'd know exactly where to get the same screws, along with all the other parts. Otherwise it's just as likely that someone working at the factory that produces the DOD pedals simply built a batch to sell under the table. The Gonkulator is DOD's design, they can produce them wherever they want. If they don't know about this going on, they'd have a clear case to make over IP infringement With any brand name pedal you are paying for that name. I've built a lot of pedals, for myself and others and most come out at around that $40USD cost to make in terms of parts. And that's sourcing the highest quality components and buying in small batches. It's really only crazy high end stuff with digital aspects and lots of options that cost much more than that to make. So yeah, your paying a markup for any brand name pedal you buy. What DOD is doing is hardly the most egregious example of it
@@danmc_2783 They'd have legit no need to get the same enclosures or screws. In fact, if it was indeed dumpster-diving, it would have been logical to CHANGE those things as to not make it more suspicious than it already is. Those are the same boards, the same pots, the same screws, the same enclosures. Those pedals 99.99% come out of the same factory. I feel I also must point out that DOD isn't a person, DOD didn't design any pedals, DOD died and came back multiple times since those pedals were designed. I can pretty confidently say that nobody who gets a share of the sales at DOD had anything to do with develloping any of those pedals, so I'm really not feeling the ethical obligation to buy 150$ from them pedals that actually cost 10$ to produce and can be sold 40$ in a sustainable way for the manufacturer. But here we're getting into a cultural clash, because the latin and anglo-saxon intellectual rights work very differently, and it's legit impossible for me to imagine anyone owning intellectual rights because they BOUGHT them. Which doesn't even matter because as I understand there is actually no intellectual property over circuits, and anyone can reproduce a pedal 1:1 and sell it without problems.
@@Clebardman I didn't argue that it didn't come out of the same factory, indeed I said that's probable. The Gonkulator is an original pedal. It's their design, no matter which individual created it. And the IP isn't in the circuit itself but in the layout and design of the board. Again, DOD owns that IP. I could make clones of other pedals all day but I'd have to design my own pcb etc. for it. It having the exact same PCB design and DOD not knowing about it is where the case is here
The dod is out of my price range so that answers the ethics for me and everything else. That said what is the state of the afford a board. Are all of the pedals still obtainable?
On my channel i checked this out a few days to a week before anyone else on youtube had. Not a flex i literally did it because no one else checked it out at the time. Its nice to see someone more reputable with a budget to actually produce a decent video on it do it. I didnt question why they cloned it. I was just glad it wasnt something cloned a billion times and rebranded kmise, cuvave, donner, azor caline whatever lol. I dont get why there are a billion muffs, or timmys, or 250. I mean to an extent. Different price points or whatever but i build pedals so.. i mean i can make a distortion plus for like 20 bucks myself. I didnt see a bunch of cheap ring mods and i used to have a frequencu analyzer i loved so when i saw a cheap pedal not commonly copied i jumped on it. Like if a company choose to clone a danelectro black coffee id buy it. Not because i love how a black coffee sounds but just simply because its something different.
Since the board has a different silkscreen, it's probably not stolen factory rejects or ghost shift parts. You'd also think DOD's production/quality engineers would notice if there's enough rejects to make a business around. Ironically, it looks like the clone has the markings sanded off the ICs, which is done to - you guessed it - prevent cloning (or in some cases, to obfuscate the origin of stolen parts.)
Я купил жёлтого оленя. Гитара рычит, как дикий зверь! Теперь я могу вызывать адского сатану прямо в свой дом! Мои соседи себе приготовили верёвку и мыло 😂
@@60CycleHumcast I don't have a Carcosa to side by side, but the Ginean Factory Fuzz I have definitely works like a Carcosa...I wonder how they are different?
its not the same company. According to Tom from DOD the Hairy Show fuzz is not the same circuit as the Carcosa and it actually has more parts than a real carcosa. I keep meaning to get one to do a shoot out though.
I would by a circuit clone, but art work used in board production is a tool cost. That looks like stolen tooling. I think the artwork is under copy-write, not patent, and is enforceable. We know there are only so many ways to do a lot of pedals and people are offering their weeks. But do your own work. Trace the circuit, print the same circuit in the artwork/tooling you did or paid for. Then print away.
I'm genuinely impressed by how random and meaningless that deer graphic is on the clone. It's so strange haha
Those very features and qualities generally impress me as well.
I think it kinda fits, just something kinda cute on it contrasting with such an ugly sounding pedal lol
I bet it was someone at the factory that just said, let's use the doodle that girl drew the other day, it was good...
I like the deer. It’s so Chinese.
The problem with cheap chynees knockoffs is the low quality switches and jacks that break down so much faster than quality parts on name brand pedals. I had a $40 RAT clone with a foot switch that I could not replace because its 9 pins could not be soldered with consumer tools. A quality pedal would have a normal switch that could be easily repalced. So my $40 + the $11 I spent on a new switch were wasted.
I actually love it! I need to get one... I always wanted an SX Liquid but with two humbuckers in that color never was much of a P90 fan. I have to see your review on this one. I need to search your reviews, I have had great luck with the options from Rondo music SX, Douglas, Hadean and of course Agile. I just scored a Douglas Corvus (Jazzmaster clone) $100.00. I was blown away how good it was and like you I think the tail piece is the weak point. The humbuckers are amazing I thought someone swapped them but they are stock. Edit: I guess I did see the review in the SX.
They both make the worst sound I’ve ever heard, and I own a Rainbow Machine.
Isn't DOD one of the companies which spent an absurd amount of money on this Proposition 8 attempt in 2009?
Buy the cheap one, that's what DOD did.
But they developed it too
@@TrafVal DOD keeps dying and being resurrected to reissue some old schematics. Nobody who makes money from these pedals had anything to do with develloping the Gonkulator. The only right they have on them is that they had lots of money to begin with. That's not a strong ethical argument. At least not enough to make me defend them against "thieves" who want to sell me the exact same product at a price that is both sustainable for them, and not 300% overpriced.
I'd argue the OEM has more rights to claim ownership of those pedals than some shareholders who never saw one and just dumped a ton of money on a safe business venture; but that's my latin ass speaking. The way intellectual ownership works is vastly different here, and, to sum it up briefly, slapping people with wads of cash will never make you the rightful owner of an intellectual property here. Nobody in this story designed the pedals, but at least the OEM is actually making them, unlike DOD shareholders who do nothing but count their bills.
@@Clebardman fair!
@@Clebardmanthe people that bought the DOD rights, paid either the original company, or the receivers who were paying off the companies owed money by Digitech. This continues each time it gets sold on. Debts are paid and the new company gets the rights to use those designs in exchange for paying off the debts. If some Chinese company just steals the designs, then the company that bought the rights are ripped off. They too could go out of business leaving debts that no-one wants to buy, or they just don’t have the money required to produce new DOD and Digitech pedals.
If you buy “stolen” intellectual property, then that’s your decision.
Nice theory, except that the 2013 and onward designs are new. they include true bypass, LED, power filtering, new chassis, and new features. Also the "Modern" series (Carcosa, Boneshaker, Looking Glass, Gunslinger, Rubberneck, etc.) are entirely original designs. And yes, somebody in this story designed the pedals - ME. @@Clebardman
I like how the blue cased Gonk has a green circuit board and the green cased clone has a blue circuit board.
DOD / Digitech was bought by Cor-Tek (Cort guitars) right? Isn't Cor-Tek basically the world's biggest OEM in the guitar world? This makes sense to me.
I thought digitech is Harman's ?
@@juanfichtl2011 was…
Exactly@@telekhal
I think I love the idea of a Gonkulator more than actually using it. I wouldn't pay 150 bucks for one, but for 50 I would consider it for sure.
My thoughts exactly
This is the exact reason this 'clone' will sell.
Andy's demo of the Gonkulator makes it sound like an amazing tool to have in my kit. Ryan made me realize what I would probably make it sound like. :D
Interesting find. I did a little Google and Reverb research. The Ginean Factory Fuzz, Hairy Show Fuzz, Massive Overdrive, RigMod Modulator and Phaser all appear to be Chinese grey market clones of DOD Electronics pedals, presumably from a Cor-Tek factory.
they are different,you can check out their circuit design.
Stealing America's intellectual innovations: the one thing that China is good at.
@@derek14653 No: the circuit board layout is exactly the same, and so are the visible components.
"Third Shift" is the term you're looking for. Its basically the unoffiical manufacturing run going after hours and selling grey market. Oftentimes itll just be another line right next to the mainline using the same staff but with a different component source to keep it off the books.
And they use crap switches that break and can’t be replaced easily.
Extended princeton jingle LETS GOOOOOOOO 💥💥💥💥
I've been a long-time fan of the geetarist SNAKEFINGER, who was a member of the obscure band "The Residents" during their early years...and he often drenched his axe in Ring-Modulation...so here I am...somebody who didn't wanna shell out for the Gonkulator...but you're goddamn right I just ordered that clone from AliExpress. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Third Reich and Roll, baby! Ralph Records = Buy or Die! I’ve been a fan since 1980, when I found their 7” comp in the back of Rolling Stone. MX80 is STILL one of my fave bands ever! Duck Stab!
I also bought one just now.
My T shirt has its eye on you, but it does give a tip of its Top Hat. I caught the Elvis was a baby tour w the Casio Electronic Sax toys.
Ralph was a earth cracking record label. The crust broke apart. If u missed it, for the Eagles or TP and the (fake) Heartbreakers w/ no Johnny Thunders or Jerry Nolan... do I gotta spell this shit out?....
I am also a fan of The Residents and Snakefinger. Managed to see The Residents twice in my life--I have to revisit some of their music soon.
What, no clip of Henry saying "I can't wait to gonkulate"? Unsubbed.
the color of the circuit board can have a lot to do with the slight differences in sound. The ginean sounded more blue, whereas the DOD sounded more green to me. And now we know why...
I tried to google this, but I guess I’m bad at it. Can you speak more about board colors and effects on sound, or cite where you learned about that? Really interesting to me
@@willhockstein119 sounds are just colors that are projected into air waves. So every different color adds a different ''color' to the sound...
@@-jank-willsonbro 😂😂
cant wait for pedal manufactures to talk about their toneboard pcbs
Hell yeah. Mine is coming in 12 days! I ordered before finishing the video, haha. I always wanted now and that price makes it make sense! There's a trick that Prince did where he blends Ringmod in next to his non-Ringmod tone with an expression pedal. First thing I'm gonna do when I plug it in.
Honestly tempted to buy the whole DOD line from Ginean rn, just to send a message to US "brands" who resell asian manufactured products at 20 times the production cost. And I say this as someone who loves his Carcosa and Rubberneck, and DOD pedals in general.
I'm suuuuper curious about this trick... you've completely piqued my interest. I'm going to look this up. Do you have any advice where to look for info on the setup? might have to order an expression pedal now for it too... I think it's what a jazz fusion keyboardist did once, the name and the song escapes me right now, but I've always tried and failed to recreate that.. and I think you've put me on to the right path!
@@trev_mcnaughton Dude breaks it down in the video. I got mine and have been jamming on it for a few days. It's pretty rad, but it's low volume. I can work with it.
@@jpm9628 I just got mine today and was seriously enjoying it.. especially just after my tube zipper in the signal chain.. the envelope set right lets a bit of the ring mod out more with just the right attack.. thoroughly happy having this on the pedalboard!
@@ClebardmanJan Hammer then w Mahavishnu Orchestra used a ring modulator w his Electric Piano to sort of bend notes. After he got a Mini Moog he used that for leads , where he actually could bend. I was around when they played and heard them live lots of times , once twice on the same tour. Every time I was amazed humans could play at that level. Jan, Yan, also wrote the Miami Vice theme.
It's not right. Report it to DOD in case they don't know yet. :) Just sayin.
loser cop
Nice affordable version of the DOD Gonkulator. Plus any effect named after a Hogan's Heros episode is good in my books (i.e. Klink vs. the Gonculator, Season 4, Episode 2, even though the spelling is different)
genius!
The Gonkulator distortion is supposed to be the same circuit as the FX-69 Grunge. But you can dial the gain a lot lower on the Gonkulator than the Grunge.
Sorry if someone else mentioned this (or you did -- I'm only halfway through the video). Tommy Iommi apparently used a ring mod sometimes -- e.g. the opening to "Iron Man". Some early Devo (of course), as well. :)
The story I heard is that Iommi came back to the studio one day to discover that his solo on Paranoid had been drenched in ring modulator, and hated it. Wether it's a fact of one of the many myths of rock n'roll, I don't know.
Well, hell, we need DOD to make a stereo Gonkulator…the Redonkulator!
im still waiting for a miku clone
I’ve got a miku
No ethics problem, i think, on Aliexpress it is mentioned that they cloned the 90’s version of the DOD ring modulator, which was over 20 years off the market.
Only if DOD kept the patent to themselves , there would be a problem i guess, but DOD has been away completely in between ..
Heard the one had 45sec. Ad block then came the next one man ads make it so hard to watch guitar UA-camrs
I have the DOD one ('90s OG and reissue). This one sounds really close. But I already have two OG Gonkulators, so, do I need another one? 🤔
Yes
@@joebodynobody764 Perhaps I will... about €58 including shipping is not a bad deal.
Do you ever stack them?
Man you're so close to quadriphonia gonkulating, don't stop now :o
Y not
For a second I thought you might be the singer for the Spindoctors.
Thanks, I hate it
You, sir, are a gonkul-hater.
OMG, gonkulators in stereo are awesome! What a sound! 😊😊😊
Would love to have that Freq knob effect on an expression pedal
The strymon mobius has an effect called quadrature, you can set it up to be a ring mod with expression, you can also do an lfo and envelope.
Fairfield Circuitry makes a high quality ring modulator called Randy's Revenge. The CV /frequency can be controlled by an expression pedal. And it's a superior product to the ones in this video by far.
The lower oscillator frequencies create rich trem/vibe effects, excruciatingly slow or chopped up rhythmic flavours. As the frequency goes up, thick bells, tuned intervals, low-fidelity synth-like effects are only the beginning. Experimenting with the low-pass filter cutoff frequency and the dry/wet mix will yield tones as strange or subtle as desired.
Featuring expanded control voltage (CV) capabilities that allow for interactions beyond the simple stacking of effects, Randy can be used to control and be controlled by other CV capable devices. The stereo CV is switch-programmable for use with an expression pedal or as a 2-channel CV port. Both the oscillator and low-pass filter frequency are voltage-controllable. The internal oscillator is also available as an output, turning Randy into a stand-alone voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO).
@@UnitedEffect
I have a Randy's Revenge. Although it's not an effect I use a lot... when I do need or want certain sounds it can't be beat. So many options too! You definitely want the voltage control accessed by an expression pedal. The Gonkulator's okay as a starter... but it's mostly a distortion that has a bit of ring mod built in.
i've needed a ring mod precisely zero times but that deer artwork is cute
Really appreciate the detective work you did!
Business 101 in China - There are no ethics, sales only matter. It's clearly a DOD factory that made some pedals using leftover DOD parts that they probably had left over as DOD was exiting the market. A similar thing happened in 2019 with the Kirkland 4 Pc golf ball at Costco a few years back when they used leftover Pro V-1 cores in a factory in Korea. They used a slightly different exterior and added the Kirkland branding of course, but when the balls we cut open the truth came out and the lawsuits began. The same thing apparently has happened here. Ryan's super sleuth skills are second to none 😆
My favorite Chinese clone story is when they reverse-engineered a bmw x5 and made their own version which was almost identical, and then bmw sued them and lost!
I find it ironic when US companies have a non-domestic company completely built their stuff for cheap then get mad when the actual manufacturer sells the exact same product at a lower price as an off brand. Then the US company is shocked, surprised and offended when this happens. Wake up.
@@sunn_bass Hypocrites with a capital H
All intellectual property in China becomes community property. I shed no tears for companies outsourcing for cheapness and then getting undercut themselves
I own one - mostly just bought it for playing Incubus songs with and stacking with the Boss PH-2 (again, Incubus). Flanger is another pedal that seems to create some interesting effects when used with the Gonk. Thought it sounded pretty close to what I was expecting and to my surprise, it's exactly the same thing!.
I think the only 2 times a ring mod has sounded good, are the voice of the Daleks and the lead on Black Sabbaths Paranoid.
On a serious note, I work in marine electronics in the UK and asked why we manufacture PC boards in-house, not in China, the answer was the B#####s will copy them, and years of R&D go down the drain.
Cheap Sunglasses had a ring mod on it, and to me that had a fantastic tone
2 princetons jam is a highlight of your vids. This extended version was a treat.
I’m curious if you match up the trim pot on the cheaper model, either forward or backward, if it’s identical to the DOD.
that is what i was thinking
It's called graymarket, and it is a big deal to us. Also the white thing isn't a trim-pot, it is a stand-off. The trim pot is on the left labeled P5 - it is the null control.
Are you implying you work for DOD?
I've worked for DigiTech/DOD since 1996.
@@TC-wr9pk No idea what those are supposed to be, we weren’t working on a chorus.
It might not be useful at all on a live setting, but this type of pedals is as useful as it gets in sound design.
"This is what we're in for here."
Me... 💭 I would definitely use that sound...
@60 Cycle Hum Ahhhh, it's good to be back home (with a new handle) These pedals are almost music to my ears, lmao. They take perfectly good chord tones and make them into perfectly Hideous Chord tones. Maybe you should try playing some of the "Forbidden Hideous Chords" through them, Maybe they'll sound great! I mean, I doubt it, but it's worth a try. (re-subbed today) Thanks for once again making me smile and laugh!
Didn't surf all the comments to check, but that's not a trim pot there on the board. It's a clip that helps secure the PCB to the case.
I've never understood why there aren't more auto-tuning Ringmods, it's not far off how some octaver pedals work IIRC. Even if the tracking is jammy it'd still be vastly better than just having to have a static drone.
It’s because the sum and difference of the input frequencies which is by definition what a ring mod does is naturally inharmonic… what you’re describing would not be a ring mod but just a weird pitch shifter… but I mean… yeah that could be cool
that's exactly what ring mod does on a Synthesiser, though. if it's combining an AM wave it's still ring modulation regardless of the pitch changing@@hollywood4834
Buy the cheap one, no paint job is worth 3x as much
don't really care either way, but to get you thinking. Is it ethical to over charger people for a product, and wouldn't that prove D.O.D is over charging everyone? Just some food for thought, and I do like D.O.D products.
100% on board with you here. It's not goodd not just for DOD, but for pretty much everybody who gets their crap manufactured in Asia before reselling it 250€. I think we all know electronic components are dirt cheap and no regular pedal should cost the prices some brands ask.
I like the way the ring mod on the boss gt1b works. It goes in steps so you can set it to a 5th, 7th, or octave ect. It makes it easy to find the harmony you are looking for. You can also blend it and there are two modes. Auto and manual.
I like to mix it with fuzz and an fx25. Sounds wild.
I think you need a good ear to set the "freq" (carrier signal) to the right hz for what you're playing. It's almost like a microtonal harmoniser
My initial reaction is the same as yours. It's unethical for a manufacturer to straight up repaint pedals they make for US brands and resell them at 1/4 of the price.
My second reaction is that it's also unethical for US brands to get their pedals manufactured in Asia for 3$ each to then resell them 150$ to broke teens and tonedeaf stepdads.
I think you're on point with "there is no ethical consumption in capitalism". Current DOD owners didn't spend a penny in R&D either for the Gonkulator. They bought a dead brand, then got already existing schematics manufactured at the other side of the world by the lowest bidder.
If it is indeed what it looks like, then Ginean are thieves, and DOD are crooks. As I see things, if I buy from Ginean, some DOD shareholders who had nothing to do whatsoever with these 70s pedals development lose a relatively microscopic amount of money, while if I buy from DOD I lose 100$ out of some imaginary moral obligation towards people who'd sell me sand in a desert without blinking once.
edit: just read the description, ofc the official DOD/OEM version is dumpster-diving. I'm not suprised one bit...
The entire purpose of any company is to make money. If you don't like their practices don't buy their products. It isn't difficult. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything from anyone. It's called capitalism. If you don't like it feel free to move to a socialist or communist country and let me know how much better it is. I'll wait.
Everyone should be able to afford to Gonk out!
Worth getting to rebox and put the freq control on an exp jack
- Theorie -
They bought the discontinued revision 0 boards and shoved them in overstock enclosures.
They probably can't actually produce the boards from scratch. These will most likely be gone when they're gone.
These are most likely legit Version 0 Gonk reissue boards, bought on the open market, so DOD made their money either way in that case. In fact, they did great because otherwise, they were going in the trash
This could be right at home on a Flaming Lips,
Dukes of the Stratosphere, stoner doom rock, and you were only moments of away from Smoke on the Water to my ears... I'd love to hear what keyboard Bernie Worrell might have plugged it into!!
I am about to purchase my second one. Stereo gonkin’ is the way to be. Nice video.
Gonked in stereo - may never be the same.
Ethics aside, I think the deer graphic is so awesomely contradictory to the sound of the pedal I just ordered one for 30 bucks from Aliexpress!!!😂
That made my teeth hurt
You can get a Fake Martin D45 made in China actually saying Martin on Allie Express made out of laminate. Not the first time they pull stuff like this.
I have a sneaking suspicion that many brands that sell through temu, and aliexpress are just OEMs reskinning official products
If you want a ring mod to compliment what key you're in you need to play a major scale. Ideally pentatonic. So tuning it to c would have made A blues licks sound better.
It's obviously the same pedal. Unless DOD is somehow in on it, they are being ripped off. The ethics: The Gonkulator isn't worth $150 ... and the Ginean is unethical. I can't buy either one.
Who you gonna call? Gonkulator! 🎶”Gonkin makes me feel good…”😀
Sounds like a cheap fun spooky horror music gothy pedal..id use it..Halloween sounds. Lol 😂
The clone gonk is now available on Ebay, well UK and Australian Ebay anyway.
Every time i hear "gonkulator" it reminds me of an episode of Hogan's Heros
I almost feel like writing a Gonk song now. Could be fun.
7:47 this is the point in the video when I went to AliExpress and bought one. I’ve bought things from them before, they are legitimate. Kind of. The price can’t be beat.
Does anyone have a Control Voltage IN mod for either of these? The RM1 Ring Modulator ( the first) also had a big toggle switch that was very useable.
Might have to buy a gonkulator just so I can run around telling everyone I have a gonkulator! Other than that, I don't need one to sound like the out of tune, fat fingered guitarist that I am... But I do like the the word gonkulator!
Had the OG back in the 90's. Never could use it well but loved it somehow lol
Well congrats Ryan, that product is no longer available in the US....
no patent no ethical dilemma....let the supply and demand determine the value....
26:00 Electro-Harmonix vs Mooer. Mike won the lawsuit.
Btw, thank u 60-C Ryan for these clone vids. I live in Philippines, spend a lot of time browsing Ali E, Lazada and Shoppee looking at random clones and unique China made pedals. Interesting stuff! Thanks for demoing this AND the Mosky fuzz, as I had been curious about that one. If you could recommend your FAVORITE fuzz or do a fuzz shootout, that be a great vid that I think we’d all enjoy. 😊🎉
“Private Label OEM” is the phrase u were looking for 3:38
Just read what you wrote in the description and had to change what I'm going to say lol.
If DOD knows nothing about this then either the factory that makes the pedal for them (or someone there) has produced them "under the table" or someone has got ahold of the original and simply reverse engineered it.
If it was "dumpster diving" by someone from another factory in the area producing similar things, then they'd likely know already where all the parts have been sourced from and so would probably be able to produce such an exact clone relatively easily
Is the OEM claiming someone raided their garbage bin and stole the EXACT screws of the pedals?
Let's be honest. It sounds like DOD just got caught red-handed selling 40$ pedals at 4 times the price. Wich is what all these brands do, so I'm not against a little scandal to drive the prices down.
@@Clebardman If the bin was raided by someone local who worked in another factory producing similar things, they'd know exactly where to get the same screws, along with all the other parts.
Otherwise it's just as likely that someone working at the factory that produces the DOD pedals simply built a batch to sell under the table.
The Gonkulator is DOD's design, they can produce them wherever they want. If they don't know about this going on, they'd have a clear case to make over IP infringement
With any brand name pedal you are paying for that name. I've built a lot of pedals, for myself and others and most come out at around that $40USD cost to make in terms of parts. And that's sourcing the highest quality components and buying in small batches.
It's really only crazy high end stuff with digital aspects and lots of options that cost much more than that to make.
So yeah, your paying a markup for any brand name pedal you buy. What DOD is doing is hardly the most egregious example of it
@@danmc_2783 They'd have legit no need to get the same enclosures or screws. In fact, if it was indeed dumpster-diving, it would have been logical to CHANGE those things as to not make it more suspicious than it already is. Those are the same boards, the same pots, the same screws, the same enclosures. Those pedals 99.99% come out of the same factory.
I feel I also must point out that DOD isn't a person, DOD didn't design any pedals, DOD died and came back multiple times since those pedals were designed. I can pretty confidently say that nobody who gets a share of the sales at DOD had anything to do with develloping any of those pedals, so I'm really not feeling the ethical obligation to buy 150$ from them pedals that actually cost 10$ to produce and can be sold 40$ in a sustainable way for the manufacturer.
But here we're getting into a cultural clash, because the latin and anglo-saxon intellectual rights work very differently, and it's legit impossible for me to imagine anyone owning intellectual rights because they BOUGHT them. Which doesn't even matter because as I understand there is actually no intellectual property over circuits, and anyone can reproduce a pedal 1:1 and sell it without problems.
@@Clebardman I didn't argue that it didn't come out of the same factory, indeed I said that's probable. The Gonkulator is an original pedal. It's their design, no matter which individual created it. And the IP isn't in the circuit itself but in the layout and design of the board. Again, DOD owns that IP. I could make clones of other pedals all day but I'd have to design my own pcb etc. for it. It having the exact same PCB design and DOD not knowing about it is where the case is here
@@TC-wr9pk I meant DOD knowing as in approved by, not just that they know that someone is doing this
The dod is out of my price range so that answers the ethics for me and everything else.
That said what is the state of the afford a board. Are all of the pedals still obtainable?
I may have to thumbs down for not investigating the trim pot. Just kidding👍
maybe if dod didnt over price the gonk ...
Do not waste your money on this awful sounding pedal. They are both equally terrible.
If there were any bugs in your house before you started I’m sure they are long gone now , but this stuff is fun
I call that a repaint. Like GFS repaints Biyang pedals.
On my channel i checked this out a few days to a week before anyone else on youtube had. Not a flex i literally did it because no one else checked it out at the time. Its nice to see someone more reputable with a budget to actually produce a decent video on it do it.
I didnt question why they cloned it. I was just glad it wasnt something cloned a billion times and rebranded kmise, cuvave, donner, azor caline whatever lol. I dont get why there are a billion muffs, or timmys, or 250. I mean to an extent. Different price points or whatever but i build pedals so.. i mean i can make a distortion plus for like 20 bucks myself. I didnt see a bunch of cheap ring mods and i used to have a frequencu analyzer i loved so when i saw a cheap pedal not commonly copied i jumped on it. Like if a company choose to clone a danelectro black coffee id buy it. Not because i love how a black coffee sounds but just simply because its something different.
thats exactly why i bought it, who the heck clones a gonkulator?
paranoid black sabbath uses a ring modulator on the guitar solo
Since the board has a different silkscreen, it's probably not stolen factory rejects or ghost shift parts. You'd also think DOD's production/quality engineers would notice if there's enough rejects to make a business around.
Ironically, it looks like the clone has the markings sanded off the ICs, which is done to - you guessed it - prevent cloning (or in some cases, to obfuscate the origin of stolen parts.)
You had me trying to reach in & plug em up to speed you up
Why do you do this to me Ryan?!?!? I just bought one! Thanks.
I just started the video and the word that comes to mind is, as the kids say, ;sus'.
Prices for the aford a gonk now dropped to € / $ 38 …
Я купил жёлтого оленя. Гитара рычит, как дикий зверь! Теперь я могу вызывать адского сатану прямо в свой дом! Мои соседи себе приготовили верёвку и мыло 😂
only problem with this clone is the lower volume output.
Love your work mate!
The DOD has a better sound stage. Sounds more 3 D
I want the whole Ginean line reviewed. They have a caracosa pedal
According to Tom cram the Guinean carcass clone is not the same circuit. I might get one to investigate though.
@@60CycleHumcast that’s interesting. I wonder why?
@@60CycleHumcast I don't have a Carcosa to side by side, but the Ginean Factory Fuzz I have definitely works like a Carcosa...I wonder how they are different?
@@TC-wr9pk the circuit is different ,Tom is right
Excellent guitar choice to showcase the Gonkulator!
'Conservative' ....... not a phrase I have heard before to describe any part of the gonkulator! 😆
THIS IS A CHRISTIAN GONKULATOR! lol
Stereo Bass VI is siiiick!!!!
I like the pretty Chinese deer.
The same company is producing the DOD Carcosa for U$ 30. It's not a clone. It's the real thing with a different name: Ginean "Hairy Show Fuzz".
its not the same company. According to Tom from DOD the Hairy Show fuzz is not the same circuit as the Carcosa and it actually has more parts than a real carcosa. I keep meaning to get one to do a shoot out though.
Fun!!! ❤️🔥
I would by a circuit clone, but art work used in board production is a tool cost. That looks like stolen tooling. I think the artwork is under copy-write, not patent, and is enforceable. We know there are only so many ways to do a lot of pedals and people are offering their weeks. But do your own work. Trace the circuit, print the same circuit in the artwork/tooling you did or paid for. Then print away.
The term is "sub-generic".