Pedals and Effects: Gonkulator by DOD

As time has gone by some of our favorite effects pedals have left a lasting legacy, some more infamous than others. Introduced in the 90's by DOD, the Gonkulator was a wacky mix of ring mod and distortion. Like the DOD Meat Box, despite being discontinued the Gonkulator had developed its own reputation, increasing in value, and inspiring multiple clones. Well, Pedals and Effects is here with not one, not two, not three, but four different versions of the Gonkulator! Let Nick Reinhart be your guide, as we explore one of the weirdest pedals to come out of the 90's.
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[@Christopherjazzcat]

I love that you guys answer the question "what does it sound like with all of them on?"

[@nebulaneka8946]

That entire incubus album was amazing

[@enkiea8322]

Nick is definitely one of those, "waiting for his turn to talk" type'a dudes.

[@tadeuszmich6052]

Nick has that 2008 Tera Melos vibe going on with that long hair👌

[@heyshwa5102]

Turning them all on gives you that rich nostalgic dial-up internet sound.

[@Cipmenti]

Kansas here. Will be on the lookout.

[@sourceaudioeffects]

My organ player had a Gonkulator in the late 90s / early 2000s. That pedal combined with a Farfisa... Damn.

[@PedalsFusion]

Yeah I know ! Right ? :-)

[@javiceres]

😮

[@jw112mail]

Incubus - Glass

[@i528DNA]

I use to own the DOD FX13 Gonkulator, I mainly bought it to complete my Pedalboard recreation of Mike Einzigers pedalboard, guitarist from Incubus, I had the same exact custom /-\ shaped pedalboard and EVERY pedal Mike from Incubus owned in their proper order. I was a die hard Incubus fan years ago so I was trying to replicate his tone/sound. I also had a Fender Jazzmaster, 2 Vox amplifiers (1 clean + 1 dirty amp), and the infamous Electrix Filter Factory rack unit that was used at the beginning of "Meglomanic", I even had the Cheech and Chong Bobbleheads Mike use to display on top of his amps during the "A Crow Left of a Murder" Album tour This pedal was pretty expensive at the time I bought it about 15 years ago it was around $100, and the pedal sounded so bad it was hard to fins any practical use for it other than using it for a few Incubus songs

[@SamuelLJacksonsFish]

One could say that the gonk is universal.

[@cadarado425]

Whoa whoa whoa, Juan.... where'd you get that bass?

[@elijahlanning1762]

Nick's face when Juan says rad about incubus 😂

[@GingerChristmas]

id love to see a video just on the istomp if possible.

[@bassmage4666]

I have a spare iStomp cable if you want it! Review that next?

[@BuildYourOwnBass]

Incubus used the Gonkulator on at least one song from S.C.I.E.N.C.E, the song "Glass" Hard to tell if they used it on more songs, they got pretty weird back then

[@nebulaneka8946]

Pendulous threads uses it heavy in the intro.

[@omarerosas]

Sweetwater had a sale on the gonkulator at the end of last year, they went for like $30-40 dlls, I was too slow to pick one =(

[@nym053]

They luckily just re-released the Gonkulator and other of their pedals 😊

[@goosegaskins]

Sorry, I’m confused. They did a more recent re-release after the 2015 re-release?

[@nym053]

@@goosegaskins yes, this year a couple months ago 😊

[@goosegaskins]

So many re-releases! 😂 I just bought one, actually. Waiting for it to arrive in the mail…

[@nym053]

@@goosegaskins haha yeah 😆 I got one a couple weeks after they got out. I actually got the last one from Thomann at the time, which where their demo unit, which they took photos of and used for their audio demos. At least it says so on the box 😆

[@goosegaskins]

Nice! It’s got that Thomann demo fairy dust on it. 😂

[@mj_dj]

Actually just got the reissue a few weeks ago, just to snag one up before they're no longer produced and get crazy pricey

[@TacticalHyena]

i was able to pick up the reissue on thomann for like 60/70 pounds a few months ago, ripping little noise maker

[@ManticConceptual]

The expression on the Gonker behaves like the 5th pot DOD added to the reissue. FYI

[@mortachaiepstein3584]

I just purchased a brand-new DOD Gonk, and my plan is I want to take the frequency knob off and replace it with a jack for an expression pedal. I may have to replace the pot in the expression pedal with a different unit, but I think it would work.

[@all_mesa_man922]

How'd that work out?

[@goosegaskins]

The reason OP hasn’t responded is that the Gonk w/ expression pedal was too much for this timeline. He’s now living in an alternate dimension. True story.

[@RawfflesMyWaffles]

Digging the selfie angle in this one, Nick. Did we get a peak at a TM setlist on that whiteboard? 👀

[@spaghettispaceguitar4752]

Demand for Gonks just doubled!

[@f900t16s]

The iStomp only works with an iPhone 4, that is completely untrue. An Apple 30 pin connector device yes. But even so you can use them with newer iOS devices with an official Apple adapter.

[@StephenDorman]

probodger came here to say this :) i still use my istomp with iPhone 6s. It’s a shit pedal, but fun to mess around with and dirt cheap.

[@MrCarameloso]

True

[@zanelli9273]

does anyone knows the pitch on the old gonkulator? i´ve bought the new version and i´m trying to emulate the same pitch of the first one, but unfortunately i don´t have it to compare...

[@goosegaskins]

I think the pitch is an eephus. Maybe a fosh?

[@blinkendecharizard7080]

Anyone thoughts of this DOD reissue vs a moog MF Ring? (the small one) it does have an exppedal input...

[@javiceres]

Apples and oranges. Really.

[@all_mesa_man922]

It's hilarious that these guys don't know/are roasting Incubus, they dont even know the fucking GROOVES those guys can lay down. Hey Juan, have you listened to S.C.I.E.N.C.E. yet?

[@knappymer]

Best ring mod to my ears was the Snarling Dogs Mold Spore. I regret selling that thing every single day.

[@jacksonvega7751]

Found this effect on my 00s digital multieffects pedal board thing, thought it utterly useless (like 99.9% of effects on the pedal) now it’s all i dream of Primus’ south park theme is just a gorgeous piece of wonk, I need that sound, Wonk is the white mans Funk. Bravo

[@goosegaskins]

🎶 Play that wonky music, white boy! 🎶

[@nebula421]

yall don't even mention larry lalonde when reviewing the gonkulator..sheesh

[@sean_shimmer]

listen to fungus amongus

[@Suped_BIGRIG_350mph]

CHECK OUT THE OUTER RINGS BY ADVENTURE AUDIO

[@QuarrelsomeLocalOaf]

Honestly disappointed nobody has made one in a housing that looks like a little gonk droid from Star Wars tbh

[@Pthaloblue2]

Ｙｕｎｇ Ｖｕｌｐｉｘ thatd be perfect

[@MrCarameloso]

😂 😂 😂

[@alphanumeric1529]

You two should do a road trip movie. I'm not really interested in the pedals you showcase. Each one is worth more than my guitar and amp combined, but you two are hilarious. You're best when you're mucking about in your shared ignorance, pure comedy gold. Time to take that corner in your careers, make that Hollywood money!

[@bloodfang100]

Well now I'm going to go around to my local Kansas pawnshops.

[@robincooper6324]

There a tunable pot inside the pedal. Its in the manual " the world be destroyed" or something

[@polaris5554]

Robin Cooper yeah...for the reissue the moved a trim pot from the inside of the gonk and put it on the outside. “Null” except mine says “Freq” instead of “Null”

[@robincooper6324]

polaris5554 all i meant is there is a way

[@shaunmorrison6448]

Someone needs to make one with an expression input for extra stupid (yeah I wrote this literally 2s in the video before Nick points out the Mantic has one. Fite me). I got an Moog MF-102 which seems to be a way prettier (however pretty a ring mod gets) sounding ring mod for better or worse.

[@GeorgeElliasVideos]

wood be $$ if you could use an expression pedal for tuning.

[@gazfunk]

The Ring Thing is the best ring mod.

[@kierenmoore3236]

5:00 ... the OG sounded best, to me.

[@ortafunk]

You don't know what a gonkulator Is one night My Dad was at work In town . out In the country No transportation My Mom ran out of cigarettes and was going crazy havig a nicotine fit so She got a pipe gonk gonk gonk gonk You should have seen Her gonking on that pipe. The say Women do Not have Adams apples My Mom sure does She had It bobbing up and down one of the weirdest things I have ever seen