The DOD Envelope Filter 440, however, hits the sweet spot for me. It’s simple enough to plug and play. I can easily find the sounds I want and dial them in with accuracy. Better yet, the DOD 440 has its own personality—a distinct warm voice that sets it apart from the competition—as well a long history behind it.
What’s Old Is New
The Envelope Filter 440 was first introduced in the ’70s, and you may have heard that unit on the pedalboards of sonic pioneers like Jonny Greenwood or Steven Drozd. It was reissued by DOD back in 2014, before the company’s temporary demise. But now that they’re back, so is the 440.
While the 440’s colors have changed occasionally, this pedal has always had a simple, retro look to it. That aesthetic is in line with the pedal’s utilitarian controls. The original version’s knobs for sensitivity and range are duplicated here (though the sensitivity control is called level, it performs the same function). With such simple features, any addition is dramatic, and the reissue includes a voice switch, not found on the ’70s iteration, that reverses the direction of the filter—a welcome and crucial addition.
Fun Funk
There’s something inherently fun about envelope filters, and the DOD is no exception. It’s a responsive unit with a wide range of sensitivity, so I was able to find the sound I wanted as I switched around on different guitars. And the range of the two knobs led me to some great sounds.
The sweep of the 440’s filter can be smooth and fairly quick. It’s fast enough to reward high-energy melodic playing, where a note’s attack gets an assist from the filter. But it’s not so quick that you don’t hear the sweep, and a big part of the fun is finding the settings where that sweep can be coaxed for dramatic effect. Using the 440 in combination with overdrive and delay amplifies that sweep into a synth-y goo, a great reminder that envelope filters are great, not just for funk jams and Jerry-heads, but also for cathartic noisy adventures.
The switchable voice direction elevates the 440 from a super-basic two-knob unit to a still-basic pedal with twice as much functionality. It’s a cool, useful feature that lots of envelope filter tourists, myself included, would love to have without going all-in on something more option-heavy like a Mu-Tron, fantastic as those might be. I loved contrasting the light-to-dark/dark-to-light voices and finding inspiring tones that kept me writing riffs and layering my sounds.
The Verdict
Simplicity is a key for a lot of envelope filter users. The 440 absolutely nails simple, sticking closely to the original’s user experience and adding one really cool control in the voice switch. In both settings, the 440 delivers a warm, responsive tone with a just-right filter sensitivity that will scratch the itch for most players. Other brands offer more features to varying degrees at a similar, reasonable price. But if simplicity is key, the DOD still sounds great right out of the box. PG
Much is made of the DOD 250’s very direct relation to MXR’s Distortion +. But while the circuits have much in common, I tend to find the DOD 250 more open and airy—particularly in the low-gain zones where it shines brightest. It’s also in these not-too-dirty regions that the DOD 250’s “preamp” designation makes the most sense. When you keep the gain level just about anywhere left of noon, the DOD adds a beautiful touch of body and sparkle to any tone equation. Just to be perverse, I hooked up a Fender Jaguar—with the bass-strangle switch engaged—to a somewhat lifeless tube amp, and it was astonishing to hear how it brought that otherwise thin-and-tinny-sounding combination to life. In healthier guitar/amp combos, the 250’s capacity to summon extra dimension, mass, and color is no less impressive—particularly when you set an amp up at the brink of distortion. High-gain applications are less flattering. Here, the 250 can sound a touch raspy—particularly with single-coils. But if low-gain drive tones and value are top priorities, this revisitation of a DOD legend is a killer deal indeed.
Marshall Gallagher is typically seen onstage adorned with a classic Fender. Above he’s posing with his current main squeeze (and the heavy lifter on 2021’s Earth Is a Black Hole)—a Fender Ultra Stratocaster HSS. Gallagher mentions that the noiseless HSS setup may lack a bit of the Strat’s tonal hallmarks, but he really enjoys how quiet the guitar is even when plugged into a his two-amp setup.
To cover the all the material on their two LPs and two EPs, Gallagher says he employs several tunings—standard, drop D, D standard, and drop C. And for moments within Earth Is a Black Hole, he’d place a capo on the 2nd fret to unlock more inspiration.
“This is my signature model,” jokes Gallagher. It’s actually a 1981 Ibanez Roadstar II that was a hand-me-down from his pops and the first electric Marshall ever owned. The stock bridge single-coil didn’t have enough gain for his teenage angst, so he dropped in a Seymour Duncan Invader.
If you liked Teenage Wrist’s 2019 EP Counting Flies, then you’ll be familiar with this Fender Player Series Jaguar (read our review with video) that inspired much of the package’s three songs. During the Rundown, Gallagher jokes that “this time period was where I learned how to use a whammy bar [laughs] … that lives somewhere between Kevin Shields and EVH.”
For recording Earth Is a Block Hole, the most-used amps were a ’70s Marshall Plexi and a Friedman BE-100. In order to approximate that Marshall heft on the road (plus keeping costs and worries lower), Gallagher landed this 1987 Marshall JCM 800 and matching 4x12 cab.
To complement the JCM 800’s beef, Marshall is still relying on his trusty Orange Rockerverb 50 MkII for its strong, creamy midrange.
Marshall Gallagher’s pedal playground keeps it simple and only has room for tone-changing stomps. The signal hits the Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner that then feeds into the Ernie Ball VPJR. He positions the volume pedal ahead of all the coloration so he can fully rein in the dynamics with the sweep of his foot. The fun begins when the VPJR goes into a trifecta of trouble—Xotic BB Preamp, Fuzzrocious Heliotropic, and Way Huge Swollen Pickle. The spacy, ethereal note bending occurs when he engages the Strymon blueSky and an ’80s DOD FX65 Stereo Chorus. Everything rests on an OG Pedaltrain PT-1 board and is juiced up by the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.
Click below to listen wherever you get your podcasts:
 |  |
 |  |