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Uh, I bought a DOD FX17 volume-wah-exp on a whim.

This is an 80s or 90s unit with an odd circuit that never caught on. The circuit looks great on paper, since it minimizes mechanical wear. It works pretty well in practice, too. However, most online pundits agree that if you set it up as a volume control ithe travel is probably going to be wrong for wah use and vice-versa. YMMV, they say. My M didn't V.

Fortunately I don't want a wah-wah (especially a backwards one) so will happily set it up for swells. Does anyone out there use an FX17? Any long-term reports before I marry it?

It won't die, but the wah was always bleh and I didn't like the travel.

What I used it for was the CV control - it's not an "expression" pedal for my venerable Digitech RDS rack delays - they do VERY wacky shit with one in line.

I have one that is beat to shit and just recently realized it has cv control which I haven't tried yet, but I recall a buddy of mine raving about it and being able to tweak the settings so it's response worked on either bass or guitar. I don't hate the sound of the wah, but the weight. It's one heavy little fucker.

It is.

I also despised the 1/8" in power jack for location and footsweep - one of those "it's going to break sooner rather than later.

It was the only game in town for off the shelf CV you'd ever find at the time in the late 80s or pre-internet 90s, so I dealt wiht the clunky stupid but eventually moved beyond wanting to deal with it.

And for the record, I've never seen one that ISN'T beat to shit!

rfurtkamp wrote:It is.

I also despised the 1/8" in power jack for location and footsweep - one of those "it's going to break sooner rather than later.

It was the only game in town for off the shelf CV you'd ever find at the time in the late 80s or pre-internet 90s, so I dealt wiht the clunky stupid but eventually moved beyond wanting to deal with it.

And for the record, I've never seen one that ISN'T beat to shit!

Ha! its so true, you would swear mine was in a war. How did you utilize the cv? what did you hook it up to?

I hooked it up to a vintage Digitech RDS series rack delay (I still have several).

It had a CV in to adjust delay time. It did ugly things, as the loop and LFO are POST delay line, so you can warp a loop speed up/down with the pedal and return non-destructively.

There really weren't any other CV options then.

rfurtkamp wrote:I hooked it up to a vintage Digitech RDS series rack delay (I still have several).

It had a CV in to adjust delay time. It did ugly things, as the loop and LFO are POST delay line, so you can warp a loop speed up/down with the pedal and return non-destructively.

There really weren't any other CV options then.

HOLY SHIT! I have the RDS 3.6 and something is either loose or fried inside, but it sounds like one of those noise box synths on steroids. I've put CV through it in the past but not the FX-17. Time to have some fun.

Turn down the LFO and speed knobs (perhaps contact cleaner) would be the starting point there.

It's also possible somebody has fucked with the internal trimpots for delay time.

I've rarely seen ones that are fried that aren't totally 100% dead to the world (I've cooked a few, the early ones run HOT).

Used one for a couple years!

Reports are true, where its hard to find a happy in between for use as both wah and vol...but if you use it as a vol, you can tweak it and actually boost your signal (in a pleasing way no less). I kept mine on for that purpose. The sweep is a little odd too. Great overall design though IMO, and wah ahead of its time.