In mid-April, various reports started circulating online, suggesting that DigiTech and DOD brands have been dropped by their parent company Harman. These theories and speculations grew after guitar players started noticing canceled orders, as well as DigiTech and DOD pedals having a permanent “currently not available” status on the website. Although there wasn’t an official statement from Harman, which itself is owned by Samsung, it seemed like they completely dropped these two pedal brands. This came a few years after the complete firing of the DigiTech development team.
Well, it turns out that the speculations were true. But don’t worry – Cor-Tek, a company that we know for Cort guitars, have acquired the rights for DigiTech and DOD pedals, reports Guitar.com. Of course, this initially started as speculation as Guitar.com and other sources reported seeing some changes in the DigiTech website’s privacy policy section, stating that the brand is a part of Cortek Corporation.
However, this was officially confirmed through an official statement that Jun Par, the President of Cortek, shared with Gutiar.com, saying:
“Since 1973, DigiTech/DOD guitar effect pedals have been iconic in the guitar industry, and we have a deep admiration for the heritage and legacy of the DigiTech/DOD products [sic]. We look forward to continuing the manufacturing of and selling of the iconic products as well as investing in new features and products.”
The source also shared an April 12 social media statement made by Tom Cram, the man who was at the head of DigiTech’s development when they made some of their greatest products. As he said:
“I’m getting a lot of DM’s with questions about DigiTech/DOD. I don’t know what is going on, I haven’t spoken to anyone at Samsung since 2018. However, I will say to those predicting a good outcome, you need to push those rosy thoughts right out of your heads.”
As it usually goes with this type of news, online speculation continues to grow. And what Cortek actually plans to do with DigiTech and DOD brands is yet to be seen. But judging by Cort’s manufacturing practices, we could be optimistic about the whole thing.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons