PedalsAndEffects: Interview with Tom Cram of DigiTech & DOD

Pedals And Effects has been having a string of good luck with having really great musicians coming on to talk about gear and this interview with Tom Cram is one of my favorites. Tom runs things at Digitech and DOD and he is an awesome musician and gear head like us all. He came through with great stories from the past, insight to what has been going on and what lies ahead for one of the greatest pedal making companies of all time!
This video was shot and edited by Scott Ward for Vato Negro Productions.
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[@DarrenDoo]

TOM PLEASE UPDATE THE SPACE STATION!

[@KCruB3ast1]

Agreed I would buy it even with having one of the o.g. ones that damn good

[@ericdennehe6764]

Oh my gosh please.

[@seraphim3TN]

www.ipetitions.com/petition/update-the-space-station/

[@allanjazzera7630]

Love Tom's Numan shirt.

[@MisterJawaman]

Can you bring in Nate (the bass player of Tera Melos) to show some of his stuff or maybe let him demo a pedal or 2? I really like his approach to playing bass in TM and he seems like the guy who would fit in geeking out on pedals with you. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up on the show once or twice since Nick is in a lot of these demos/interviews. :)

[@captaindapto6463]

A living legend, wearing another living legend tee-shirt.

[@GregSturmon]

Love it!!!!! What an awesome awesome video Juan! Thank you so much to Tom for taking the time out to do this. One of P&E's best to date IMO. Don't get me wrong, I love all your videos man. But the old DOD/digitech stuff are some of my favs and I'm super happy to hear all this. I'm about as big a geek about them as you guys. Thanks guys!

[@gwb19]

Obsessed with DOD/Digitech and the Rubberneck Delay! And the Ventura Vibe!

[@rckilmore]

really cool insight, Tom Cram is a awesome addition to the pedal world. Nice interview too gents.

[@MarkDally]

Great interview. Digitech fans should seriously check out the Synth Wah, especially if you dig Fuzz. When stacked with fuzz it's a killer pedal

[@louderthangod]

Space Station!!!!!!!!!!! Make it happen Captain. It'll sell well I'm certain. Make it compete with the H9 and it'll be legendary.

[@nephilymbass1]

Hope they keep Tom around. I'm one of the many people that signed the petition for the bass whammy. Ordered it before it even came out. The obscura, polara, and mosaic are all very cool pedals as well. My suggestion for a new pedal... update the bass synth wah. A lot of people love them especially for stacking pedals but the old x series pedals really need a better bypass. A lot of us aren't into using true bypass pedal selector gadgets.

[@alphanumeric1529]

I agree, we need the bass synth wah!

[@Jeremy-ob4gm]

Tom was “let go”. What a bummer

[@teaaddictedlosr74]

reissues we need: buzz box, space station, death metal

[@cabbycabby1770]

The Obscura is legit. I'm loving the glitch when using the tap tempo! Thanks Tom!

[@DarrenDoo]

Also, he seems rad as fuck to talk to.

[@sonicase]

cool, great interview, I'd love to see more videos like this

[@AvianSavara]

I just want a pedal that gets an infrared image feed from an external digital camera pointed at whatever you want and tracks pixel movement (like a hand waving, a crowd moving), averages out to the most commonly occuring values and modulates your signal based on those values. Would be wild.

[@MetzgerDarkAmbientQC]

Obscura is definitely one of my all time favorite delay now ! Very impressed with the new Digitech stuff , the Gonkulator is also one of my new favorite effects , there's a few ones I'll get hopefully sometime soon ... Ventura & Meatbox for sure.

[@michaelgeary9370]

Yeah I rock an Obscura for my main delay right now, the Dirty Robot is a straight up beast of a pedal as well!

[@JohnSmithiuyytw]

Love the energy in all you guys do, very inspiring! Thank you! :)

[@matosjorgemiguel]

Awesome!!! Just got my meatbox today! I am super hyped!!

[@fabiankaupert2528]

that "10th/oct" mode is just the absolute tits.

[@OPdbx]

holy crap digitech is like a new company now! 5-10 years ago they were really playing it safe, coming out with generic designs and nothing too interesting. They were almost like a boss clone, and that is not something you should strive to be.. I really like what Tom is doing, and I hope to see the glory days come back, as well as new innovative stuff! Also, YES UPDATE SPACE STATION AND PDS 20/20!!

[@caicedodigipaints]

Great interview Juan!!! Can you ask them if there is any plans to reissue the DOD Milkbox Compressor? it's just great for bass!!!

[@Natural_Order]

I swear by my trusty Digidelay. I have owned 2 of them in 15 years and need that loop function at this point

[@ma_cosa_ne_so9176]

That pedal is a gem

[@machmen1000]

Love the Gary Numan shirt.

[@crammojophilter]

@ Bill Tulskie we have a pretty large selection of amps and cabs that we test with, here is a list that includes the ones we have at our studio and in my personal collection: Marshall JCM 800 Marshall Modern Vintage 2203 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Mesa Boogie Roadster Fender Twin (x2) Fender Champ 500 Vox AC30 (x2) Vox AC15 Twin Vox AC15 Anniversary Vox AC4 Gibson Atlas Gibson Scout Blackheart Little Giant Epiphone Valve Jr. Various Marshall 4x12's and 2x12's Vox 2x12 extension cab Various maker 4x12, 2x12, 1x12 cabs of straight and slant variety These cabs all contain a huge variety of speakers from different manufacturers The guitars that we use are too numerous to mention, since everyone from the different divisions here plays guitar, and we have a huge collection in the studio. We literally have access to hundreds of guitars with every kind of pickup type and configuration.

[@harlanbeeton6869]

You rock Juan!

[@coleemmersonhallman5329]

Wow I love this

[@tayloreyre9529]

This dude is badass

[@enkiea8322]

Damn. Wish I would've kept all those old DOD pedals I had in 8th grade. I'd have a nice little chunk of change.

[@bouzoukiman5000]

I like them now but in the late 80's and early 90's i thought they sounded terrible. The whammy might be my favorite pedal ever!

[@Re4mation4ever]

PDS 20/20! Re release it!

[@mreed7947]

WHAT DO WE WANT? BUZZBOX! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? SCRRRRREEEEERRYTTTTTTCCHHCCCHHHHHHHHTTTHHHHHHTRRRTIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!

[@antman2826]

Why didn't you ask about the SPACE STATION?????!!!!!!

[@billtulskie4128]

What amps add guitars do you use for testing? I really want to be able to go to a gig at a medium sized house and take a simple rig. I mostly play humbuckers with could taps. I love my tube combos, tube heads, and 4x10 or 4x12 cabs but my back does not. Often that many speakers sound great but move so much air that the whole neighborhood gets to listen. A lot of times, the set up times and sound checks are just too tight. I want to work with a 2X12 cab or combo. It moves enough air to be heard and still sound good. I want to put the effects in front or in the loop based on how each effect was designed. I would generally like to play the amp at mid volume, side wash, and use a switchable un muted line out to the board to send to the house. I would really like my effects to behave well and sound great under these conditions. And I really can't afford to try every amp out there. Roland, Marshall, Fender, Carvin, Vox, and Orange all make solid state that can be heard in a mid-sized house and that can be micd or that have lineouts to the board. And add Mesa, Egnater, Bogner, Blackstar, Jet City, and many others to that list to get the tube amps into the mix. Help a guy out here. When you build your effects, they must be tested in the middle of a signal chain. At the front end, do you target single coils? Humbuckers? Tapped humbuckers? And on the other end, what amps or what kind of amps are you using to refine the sound during the design process? When all is said and done, the whole thing, strings to speaker is the instrument. It would be helpful to know what range of components you have in mind when you do your designs.

[@veerchasm1]

Gary Numan 👍🏻

[@cyoa4u]

tell homeboy to reissue the buzzbox. mkai!

[@9642SM7]

scoop up those hardwire pedals

[@ForeverChillMan]

Fu Samsung :(