Frequently Asked Questions


SHIPPING

Q: How fast is shipping?
A: Your shipment is coming from just north of Montana. Normally it takes about 5 working days, but it can be longer depending on the postal service. We know it’s hard when waiting for a new toy (we are the same!), but please be patient…

Q: How do you ship?
A: After many years we have found the best option for cost effectiveness and speed is Canada Post/US Mail. Any other option will just cost you more money and won’t give much (if any) better service.

Q: Your web-site says you ship to the USA and Canada. Do you ship anywhere else?
A: At this time in our growth we are focussed on our “home market” customers in the USA and Canada.

Q: What is your handling time?
A: For all in-stock pedals we generally ship next day. If the next day is a weekend, the shipment will not leave the shipping agency until the Monday. We do not ship on Canadian Statutory Holidays because the postal agency is closed.

Q: Can I get a tracking number?
A: If you are in Canada, yes – available for any shipment. If you are in the USA there are no tracking numbers for regular postal shipments (special shipping arrangements with tracking can be made for an additional charge).

Q: If there is no tracking number, how do I know where my package is and what do I do if the package is lost?
A: In nearly five years of shipping we have never (ever) lost a package. So the simple answer is “don’t worry, it’s in the mail”. In the unlikely event that your package is the first ever to be lost, we will help you claim the insurance and ship you another pedal. No matter what, we will ensure that you will never be left without a pedal after you have paid for it.


BUYING DINGOTONE PEDALS

Q: How come you always seem to have pedals in stock?  No wait-list like other builders?  Aren’t you busy?
A: We are extremely busy.  However, our philosophy is to invest back into the business and make stock ahead of receiving orders.  This isn’t easy, but we manage to do it most of the time and a wait-list is unusual for us. To us, this approach is Business 101.

Q: Can I buy DingoTone pedals in my local store?
A: At the moment, DingoTone pedals are available only on-line. This way we keep the price to you as low as possible.

Q: Can I trust your on-line store?
A: Absolutely, 100%. We only accept payment through the PayPal system, and PayPal offers you protections. Once you have paid, we will always get back to you with a confirmation email – if you have paid and haven’t had the confirmation email from us within two working days, please email sales@dingotone.com to let us know.

Q: How, exactly, do I buy something?
A: On the “Store” page, find the product that you want, and hit the “Add to cart” button beside the description. When you add your first item, your cart will appear near the top of the screen. Once you have added all the items you need, hit “check out” and follow the instructions. You will be able to use your PayPal account, your credit card, and other payment options.

Q: What about combined shipping?
A: We are happy to do combined shipping. Add your purchases to your cart then check-out and pay.  When we have shipped your order we will refund to you the difference between the shipping you paid and the actual combined shipping.  Please feel free to contact us at any time to discuss combined shipping at sales@dingotone.com

Q: Can I pick up the pedal(s) locally if I am in Calgary?
A: No problem. Email us at sales@dingotone.com to arrange a pickup time.

Q: Can I come and see the workshop and try some pedals before I buy?
A: For sure, but because we do not operate a retail outlet it is by appointment only. Please contact sales@dingotone.com to make an appointment.

Q: But I’m not in Calgary, how can I try your pedals?
A: We offer a rock-solid 7-day return policy. We’ll ship you a pedal, and in the unlikely event that you don’t like it, you can return it for a full refund within 7-days (you pay only for the return shipping – usually less than $10). Does not apply to Pedal Packs.

Q: How come the 7-day return does not apply to Pedal Packs?
A: Because of the price all Pedal Packs are final sale – we will provide a 7-day DOA guarantee, but no other warranty or returns.


WHO IS DINGOTONE?

Q: Who are you and how long have you been in business?
A: While the brand is new, the company is not – we’ve “been around” but a lot of the data and posts about us on the WWW have been lost.  Let me explain…
– In 2008 and early 2009 we did not have any branding. Our pedals were made one-off for a select group of customers on a pedal forum that is now sadly gone (the database for www.bossarea.com crashed in 2011). There isn’t much on the web about us during this time because we weren’t branded, plus the comments that were available were lost in the database crash.
– Late 2009 to early 2011 we used the brand “LauriePedals” and you can still find occasional references to this name on the web. Sadly the huge number of references to LauriePedals that were contained in the crashed forum have been lost.  The online history for that entire chapter of the company is gone.
– In 2011 we registered www.dingotone.com and started to change our logo and branding into what you see today on pedals like the FDD.  Once again, nearly all the early DingoTone information was lost in the crashed forum.
– In late 2011 we were fortunate enough to be part of the restart of BossArea after the crash. We are very active in BossArea’s replacement www.StompBoxZone.com, and you can find references to us all over that forum.  We also started becoming active in forums like The Gear Page, and started selling pedals through our own web site and on eBay.
– 2012 onwards… we are looking forward to our new customers and friends helping us rebuild the reviews and on-line presence that were lost in 2011.


PEDAL DESIGNS

Q: DingoTone pedals are much cheaper than many other hand-made pedals – how do you do it?  Are your pedals really made in North America?
A: Absolutely – they are made here, by our own hands. We are trained engineers and have developed a manufacturing process that is faster and uses less effort than many of our competitors. We buy premium components in bulk to keep the cost down. From the Hammond enclosures to the industry standard 3PDT switches to the European coupling capacitors… everything in your pedal is designed to give you great tone and reliability.  And our manufacturing experience allows us to minimise our inventory cost and essentially eliminate warranty claim costs. We pass these savings on to you.

Q: What are your pedals copies of?
A: Some of our pedals re-invent the functionality of vintage pedals – the HZD is functionally similar to the old Boss FA-1, the CSF is a re-invention of the silicone fuzz face, and the GHF and VFZ are tributes to the germanium fuzz face. All our other pedals are original designs created through years of research and field-testing.

Q: What is a “tribute” or “re-invention”? Aren’t you just copying the old designs?
A: No we aren’t just blindly copying. We are qualified engineers and we tear apart the old design component-by-component and rebuild the functionality from the ground up. Where improvements will give better tone, usability, or robustness we will make tweaks and changes. A couple of examples:
– the HZD provides similar functionality to the old FA-1, but it is implemented quite differently (it doesn’t use a FET, for example, because FETs sound too brittle).
– the CSF is a silicone fuzz face but it doesn’t use BC108’s like so many others because they simply do not have the correct gain for a fuzz-face circuit … we have found transistors that sit in the gain sweet spot and have great tone.

Q: What are your new designs trying to sound like? Are you trying to sound like a particular amp or other pedal?
A: We don’t make pedals that “sound like a Marshall” or will “make you sound like Jimi”. What we aim for is a great sounding pedal. For example, the BSD is not based on anything else on the market. We tried to make a pedal that gave “transparent overdrive” and you can get all sorts of useful tones out of it. Your tone is in your fingers – our pedals give you a tool to get your tone out.


SPECIFIC PEDALS

Q: Can I get some “drive” out of the HZD?
A: No. The HZD is 100% clean until it runs out of headroom, then you get some (admittedly nice) opamp distortion.

Q: Will the BSD “tighten up my tone” like a tube screamer or OD-1?
A: No. It is designed to leave your tone alone – if you want compression (this is what “tightening up” really means), then use a compressor.

Q: Are the BSD and FDD symmetric or asymmetric clipping pedals?
A: Both are symmetric.

Q: Will the LGP get gritty if I overdrive it?
A: If you hit it with a really hot signal, yes. Like all analogue phasers there is a point where it will start to get gritty. It can cope with quite hot signals, but if you push a couple of volts into it you will get some grit – it’s nice grit but if this is a problem for you, the solution may be avoiding analogue altogether and buying a digital phaser.

Q: Why does the LGP get noisy with high-gain amps or if I use a dirt pedal after it?
A: The LGP uses a vintage linear drive circuit for the sweep generator – it is essentially an analogue computer (this circuit functionality was originally designed in the 1950’s). This type of sweep sounds subtle and sweet, but will occasionally inject ticking noise at high gain depending on your rig. The 6 stages of the phaser are implemented with vintage spec opamps which are, just like actual vintage opamps, a little hissy. It is a trade-off between smooth vintage tone and noise. The LGP has great feel and tone… and the noise will be swamped once you start playing, so go ahead and play!


CUSTOM WORK AND REPAIRS

Q: You used to quote “2 weeks” for custom shop Dual and Discontinued pedals, but now you say “please contact us”… why?
A: With the success of our production pedals we can only fit custom-shop work in occasionally. Please do contact us if you would like one and we will quote you (with no obligation).

Q: Can you do me a clone of an XYZ pedal?
A: Regretfully, no. A new pedal design (even a clone) is very expensive – it takes between 20 and 50 hours and we would have to charge over $1,000 for all the effort and one-off costs that go into it.

Q: Can you repair my ABC pedal?
A: Regretfully, no. We are not set up to be a repair shop.  That being said, we can occasionally fit in repairs to vintage Boss pedals (including long-chip DD-2/DD-3 pedals). Contact us on support@dingotone.com to check if we can fit your repair in (please be aware that at normal workshop rates repairs are sometimes more expensive than a replacement pedal).


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