DOD 250 GREY SPEC MODS

[Tone Slinger]

I totally agree with your post Dave. This IS the GREATEST forum on the web !

Outlier, A couple questions about tose two 'Killer' guitars. The floyd on he red one is top mounted right ? I can see that the yellow one has the 'recessed' space to sit the floyd down a bit. Which one do you prefer ?

Also, what type pu's are in there. I always thought Akira maybe used the jb/jazz combo. Whats the ohm readings. Great guitars by the way, Ash bodies, maple necks = super attack and clarity. I am certainly very jealous of those two guitars .


Again, sorry for my misenterpretations. I like to feel that there is more to these forums than the standard 'cyber space' fare. I can FEEL the passion and love of guitar here.

[outlier]

Both Killer guitars have recessed Floyd Roses. Pickups are a Killer Dyna-Bite in the bridge and an is it LQ-500? in the neck. The ohm reading on the bridge pickup was around 13k as I recall. That said, it's a bit of a brighter pickup than that reading would have one think.

Akira was using Seymour Duncan '59s for a while. He may still.

"Super attack and clarity" is also quite an apt description for Akira. I was fortunate to work with them in Japan in 1995 and I'm thanked in the SPECIAL THANKS column in the Japanese pressing of "Loud 'N Raw."

Long story short, there was a chance that was I going to move to Tokyo to work there, but things didn't quite work out as expected. It'd been cool to live there though. Tokyo just has an energy about it and they have quite a cool music scene.

[Tone Slinger]

I have alway's loved the orient. Uli Roth was a great influence to me with all those 'japanese' type vibes/colors he used.

[hollywood]

Hey guys. Not to change gears on your posts, but I am new here and would like very much to get in touch with outlier if he is infact the guy that builds and sells these modded YJM pedals. Man I have heard KILLER things about these. Gotta have one. Well , I should say, I hope to have one luck permitting. Hope I am in the right place. From what I have taken in from limited reading time, this appears to be a solid forum. Very pleased to find my way here. THANKS GUYS!

[outlier]

PM sent.

About Uli Roth — been meaning to add something about that. When I'd first heard the solo on "Kojo No Tsuki" on the Tokyo Tapes album, I thought, "Hmmm, there's something to this..." Uli just has such a style to him and to hear that Far Eastern-style solo — I'd just never heard anything like that before.

And then when those Japanese bands started to emerge like Loudness, I was all the more intrigued. Just saw an interview with someone from Death Angel in one of the guitar magazines and he said something about how Japanese musicians just completely immerse themselves in their music and have such an intense crazy energy to what they do. I couldn't agree more. Enthusiasm isn't considered bad form there.

Listening to some of the old Loudness, the guitar tones and playing still hold up. Then I listen to some other stuff like a prominent shred instructional video from way back and think, "What in the world did I hear in this? It's nothing but a lot of racket, just notes flying every which way, nothing makes sense, just noise..."

[Toneguru]

Here is Deuterium's post on the private YJM forum, I'm sure John (Deuterium) will not mind me posting this. Outlier(John) who does the mods never expected the reception he has recieved and greatly deserves!!
Posted by Deuterium on Aug 9, 2008, 23:27
Hi folks!

I had sent my stock Dunlop YJM 308 pedal to John E. (Outlier), so he could perform his diabolical, evil genius pedal modding skills, and upgrade my stock 308.

Outlier's skunkworks division was able to turn my pedal around in short order, and I received the modded pedal back in the mail, just the other day. Unfortunately, I was not able to test it out until tonight.

I just spent 3 hours playing guitar and testing out my newly modded 308 pedal from Outlier.

My God, this pedal SMOKES !!! It has been converted into a 205 Grey Spec on steroids.

Outlier has turned the stock pedal into something quite magical. I do feel that the stock DOD YJM 308 pedal is quite a fine OD/distortion stompbox, in it's own right. However, there are definitely room for improvements...especially when it comes to resurrecting the vintage glory of the old DOD 250 "Grey" Specs.

Outlier replaced the 308's stock 4558 Op-Amp with an LM741CN, as used in the original 250 "Grey" Spec... along with other 250 tweaks, such as the input cap, diodes in the audio path, etc.

The result is a pedal with much more musical gain, and a smoother, tubey tone. Gone is the "shrillness" and unpleasant highs of the stock 308 pedal.

Even though the gain (and quality of the gain) has increased, Outlier's mods have resulted in a somewhat quieter pedal, compared to stock.

This is the real deal folks. Outlier's wonderful pedal mod compares favorably to my AnalogMan 308 with their 741 "mojo mod". They both have similar sonic qualities...with Outlier's mod being slightly quieter overall. I believe that is the result of John using superior quality caps in the audio path.

The Outlier modded 308 has established itself a primary position in my main pedalboard. I have it installed in the Loop of my NS-2, and go into the low gain channel of my Marshall Vintage Modern. The Vintage Modern just loves this pedal, by the way.

THANKS JOHN, for turning my stock 308 into a 250 vintage grey, with Megaton yield! I can know Unleash some most Righteous Fury

PLAY LOUD PLAY LOUD PLAY LOUD PLAY LOUD!!!!! yngwie308

I just received my "Evosevic" modded YJM grey mod, simply put, STELLAR!
I first purchased the Vision Music Jason Whitt modded Yjm to "grey spec" mod and it is a KILLER orgainic monster. Im keeping sid by side by my "Evosevic" grey mod, as I plugged into THAT pedal today its SMOOTHER with the added gain Ive been searching for, and its basically BEYOND pleasing to the ears. I give Vision Music's mod a 10 out of 10 and Johns mod a 12 out of 10. Kudos to BOTH gentlemen on these mods Jason and John both. I have to own both as they are both unique to tone of the grey mod era but John's a is bump above

[hollywood]

Guys I am like that kid on the Talledaga nights movie, ' I'M ALL JACKED UP ON MOUNTAIN DEW!' HE HE....... I tell ya where you guys could help all us tone guys out in the way of a pedal. Come up with something that has gain on tap and great articulation, like with the cameron vintage mod. WHEW! They would line up for them puppies!

[hollywood]

Then again, after re-reading my previous post. This pedal you guys are talking about may give me this very thing? Hhmm???? Especially driving the front of a Splawn, rodded marshall, or even an Elmwood modena 60. Exciting times gentlemen, very exciting times.

[donbarzini]

I just received my "Evosevic" modded YJM grey mod, simply put, STELLAR!
I first purchased the Vision Music Jason Whitt modded Yjm to "grey spec" mod and it is a KILLER orgainic monster. Im keeping sid by side by my "Evosevic" grey mod, as I plugged into THAT pedal today its SMOOTHER with the added gain Ive been searching for, and its basically BEYOND pleasing to the ears. I give Vision Music's mod a 10 out of 10 and Johns mod a 12 out of 10. Kudos to BOTH gentlemen on these mods Jason and John both. I have to own both as they are both unique to tone of the grey mod era but John's a is bump above

Cool! What kind of amp are you running them into?

[hollywood]

Hey Don. Toneguru is running them into a Splawn Nitro.

[donbarzini]

Hey Don. Toneguru is running them into a Splawn Nitro.

That sure is a ton-o-gain in that set-up.

[carlygtr56]

I did a short demo of the Reinhardt V-100, Ultimate Attenuator, Analogman modded YJM-308 and my Tom Anderson Drop Top-

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6938033" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tone Slinger]

Great as always Carl. Great tones and playing all the time there.


I agree with Outlier about Roth and how his playing really made me take note to Japanse bands, Loudness in particular. I agree about the passion and enthusiasm that Japanese musicians seem to have. Akira certainly did alot of homework, in his style I hear Blackmore, Schenker, Roth, EVH, Rush, Malmsteen. Akira still had that unmistakable 'foreign' type sound, that was very JAPANESE. I loved that. His playing covers alot of ground. He is fast, melodic and has 'feel'.

[yngwie308]

Hey John are you out there?? Sent you an email??
Dave

[outlier]

I am in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. I've picked up someone's unsecured wireless connection... We're in the beach home of a prominent Country Music figure that offered us the use here.

Saw Atlanta Rhythm Section last night at the Destin Seafood Festival. We're big fans. As you can tell, my musical tastes run in a lot of directions. We know them too, so it was cool to hang out with them in the backstage area.

I may wait to open any emails when I get home only because I use my email account quite a lot and I'm not 100% confident that entering my password would be safe on someone else's wireless connection. So if there's something you want to say to me, PM it to me here.

Tone Slinger has some good comments about Akira. He definitely has something in his playing that sounds Japanese, without necessarily resorting to using Japanese pentatonics to get that across. That said, there is a lick in the solo to "Danger of Love" that would seem to draw from a Japanese pentatonic. Off the top of my head, I think it's "S.D.I." that has some tapping that similarly draws from a Japanese pentatonic.

It's easy to get that sound with the use of the Hiro Joshi pentatonic: R, 2, b3, 5, b6. Another way of thinking of it would be considering it as a pentatonic derived from the Aeolian scale that omits the 4 and b7.

Marty Friedman would get similar Japanese sounds by using minoradd9 arpeggios. Cool stuff.