DOD: Gonkulator

As time has gone by some of our favorite effects pedals have left a lasting legacy, some more infamous than others. Introduced in the 90's by DOD, the Gonkulator was a wacky mix of ring mod and distortion. Like the DOD Meat Box despite being discontinued, the Gonkulator had developed its own reputation, increasing in value and inspiring multiple clones. Well, Pedals and Effects is here with not one, not two, not three, but four different versions of the Gonkulator! Let Nick Reinhart be your guide, as we explore one of the weirdest pedals to come out of the 90's. 

Photo credit: Reverb

In Nick's own words: 

"in the mid-late 90’s DOD released a handful of bizarre pedals that were discontinued shortly thereafter. The Gonkulator was one of them. It’s a wild ring mod combined with a distortion. The distortion is something similar to the DOD “Grunge” circuit 

I’ve had a couple Gonkulator-related options for my pedal board in the past- the Digitech iStomp, loaded with a DOD Gonkulator modeler and the Mantic effects “Gonker” clone, both of which are discontinued. I think the Mantic guys made between 10-20 Gonkers in total, and the iStomp is very un-user friendly, being that you need to link it with a shitty iPhone 4."

These three Gonkulator pedals are joined by the recent 2015 Digitech/DOD reissue. The Gonkulator reissue has the added benefit of being able to tune the ring mod tone, which opens up a lot of new sonic options! Nick and I take turns A/B/C/Ding each of the different Gonkulators. Are they that similar or are they that different? You decide!

Special shout out to http://www.americaspedal.net which has been an invaluable resource for knowledge on these old DOD pedals. Don't sleep on "cheap" pedals, like records in a record store you might stumble across a diamond in the rough!