JHS Pedals Unveils the DOD 250-Style Overdrive Preamp

February 26, 2022 · 7 sources

JHS Pedals announced the Overdrive Preamp, a new overdrive pedal built as a replication of the earliest version of the DOD Overdrive Preamp 250. The pedal is based on the V1 "Big Box" DOD 250 circuit, a version JHS describes as unobtainable, and the company calls it "a faithful replication of this unobtainable V1 of DOD's most loved pedal"¹.

According to press reports, the circuit traces back to a prototype of the DOD 250 from the '70s found by JHS owner Josh Scott, and one review described the build as an exact replication of one of the first ten DOD 250s ever sold²³. Gearnews noted the unusual angle: the pedal is based on a version of the 250 that, in that prototype form, never reached the public².

The Overdrive Preamp has two knobs and a slider switch³:

• Level adjusts the overall output of the circuit, letting you boost or cut the signal to taste.
• Gain adjusts the amount of gain inside the overdrive circuit, creating more clipping as the op-amp is pushed into overdrive.
• Slider switch offers two variations within the DOD V1 clipping arrangements. In the down position it replicates the clipping from the earliest version of the 250 Preamp; in the up position it uses clipping from a later version, creating a more open, louder and clearer signal³.

Because the clipping is op-amp based, the pedal can act as a boost, preamp, overdrive, or even a distortion pedal depending on how the Gain control is set⁴. MusicRadar reported that it can be used as a tone-sweetening boost to make an amplifier sing, or as an overdrive pedal capable of thick, saturated drive tones⁵.

The pedal launched at $179 in the US and was available now at announcement⁵. JHS's own product page for the yellow version later showed a $100 discount off the list price⁶.

In that review, Horsley found the pedal offered more grit and gain, with more presence in the lower mids, compared with the standard 250 circuit⁷. Josh Scott himself has called the DOD 250 one of the greatest pedals ever made⁷.