Stompbox Blog: DOD FX13 Gonkulator Modulator

Stompbox Blog

Welcome to the guitar effects virtual museum. I have been collecting stompboxes for the past few years and wanted to share some thoughts. I will continually add more pics and opinions. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

DOD FX13 Gonkulator Modulator


What is a Gonkulator you might ask? In 1968(the year I was born) Hogan's Heros came out with an episode called Klink vs the Gonculator about a fictitious device used to fool the Germans. Years later computer geeks coined the phrase representing the most undesirable piece of equipment they owned. Had it not been for an up-coming band called Incubus the pedal would have been obscure but they used it all over their album S.C.I.E.N.C.E. especially on the tune Glass. Next, what is a ring modulator you might ask? How about this explanation then..
Ring modulators frequency mix or heterodyne two waveforms, and output the sum and difference of the frequencies present in each waveform. This process of ring modulation produces a signal rich in overtones, suitable for producing bell-like or otherwise metallic sounds.
Two oscillators, whose frequencies were harmonically related and ring modulated against each other, produce sounds that still adhered to the overtones of the notes, but contain a very different spectral make up.
If the same signal is sent to both inputs of a ring modulator, the resultant harmonic spectrum is the original frequency domain doubled (if f1 = f2 = f , then f2 − f1 = 0 and f2 + f1 = 2f). However, some distortion occurs due to the forward voltage drop of the diodes.
suffice it to say ... it's one of the most radical sounding effects out there... The unit was only around for 1 year from '96 to '97 and has since become popular just to it's rarity.

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