Distortion 555-A

The DOD "Perfomer Series" Distortion 555-A. This is pretty much a stinker of a pedal. There's nothing about it that we can point to as redeeming. Well, that's not true. The font on the pedal where it says "Distortion 555-A" is handsome. DOD made another version of this pedal in a grey colored-enclosure called the "555" without the "-A" designation. We believe that the 555-A came after the 555.

Controls

• Knob 1 - "Gain": Sets the level of distortion of the pedal.
• Knob 2 - "Tone": Sets the brightness of the pedal. Fully counterclockwise is dark. Fully clockwise is bright.
• Knob 3 - "Output": Sets the volume or output level of the pedal.
• Footswitch 1 - "On/Off": This plate turns the effect on and off in the signal chain.

There is a single input and a single output.

If using 9-volt batteries, to prevent them from being drained while pedal is not in use, be sure to remove any plug from the input jack.

General Information

We obtained this pedal simply for the perversely fond memories of the first Distortion 555-A that we had access to while young and stupid. This pedal would be the impetus for the Bad Device Chain Challenge. Back in the 1980s when this pedal was first introduced, it ate batteries like they were for lunch. If you want to spend a lot of money on batteries, use this pedal in battery mode, otherwise buy an 18-volt AC power adapter and modify the plug for a 1/4" male instrument cable end...

Phase Inversion

We have tried in vain to find a schematic to trace to determine if this pedal inverts phase, but we have found absolutely nothing online. We'll have to test this to see if it inverts phase.

Pedal Manual

There may have been a pedal manual that came in the box with this pedal. However, this pedal and all others like it that still exist from the early 1980s all seem to have lost the boxes that they were sold in, so there doesn't seem to be any manual that we can find associated with this pedal.

Schematic

None available!

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Additional Sources