# Danelectro Pedal Reviews



## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Tried to put this in the reviews section but for some reason the board won't let me post there?

Anyway, I 've been wanting to write this review for awhile but since I was selling these pedals it seemed in poor taste. Now that they are sold . . .

A General Note on the Dano mini pedals.

I had read these suffer from tone suck and cheap build quality. The tone suck was not bad at all and while you wouldn't want to stomp too hard on the units you don't really have to baby them either. As long as you are not literally throwing them in a bag after playing they should last for years.

If they are so great, why did I sell them? I don't use velcro to mount my pedals and couldn't mount these in my usual fashion. Other than that (and a trade for a boutique vibe) I would have happily kept these pedals. These things are so inexpensive that people simply won't believe that they sound really good!


Danelectro Chicken Salad Vibrato.

It's called a vibrato but it if really a vibe. This thing uses an actual photo cell like the original! I really liked this pedal. In fact, I much preferred it to the SweetSound Mofaux vibe pedal I was a/bing it with. The Chicken Salad has a nice throb and it sounds great clean or dirty. Having separate controls for speed and intensity is very nice for dialing it in just right. I would have no problem using this as my main vibe. From my own experience and what others have written, this is THE vibe if you don't want to spring for a full blown boutique job. Forget the Mofaux, Lovepedal vibe, Microvibe and Dunlop and get one of these. I happened upon a great deal/trade for a Sweetsound Mojovibe making this Dano expendable. 


Danelectro Chili Dog Octaver.

If you like the Boss OC-2 you like this pedal. Yep, it's that simple and I believe the pedal is basically the same. Two octaves down, one octave down, and a direct signal. I LOVE octaver pedals for messing around and playing enormous phat riffs. A totally cool pedal at less than half the cost of the Boss. Again, if mounting this to my board wasn't a problem I would have kept this in a heartbeat. I just bought an Arion MOC-1 Octaver that I know I can mount on my board; it is supposedly an exact copy of the Boss unit.

I've got two other Dano pedals here but I won't review them because I don't want to seem like I am spamming (they are for sale; yep, the mounting problem again). I've read that the ones I have are the real keepers of the mini pedals; the tuna melt tremolo is also said to be awesome but I didn't try it because my amp has tube tremolo. If you have been considering any of these pedals but were hesitant just grab them somewhere; you won't regret it and will have a bunch of new fun toys! 

TG


----------



## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

I totally agree, Danelectro stuff is highly underrated, they might not be as durable as a Boss, but they can still take quite a beating and they sound surprisingly decent, especially for the price.


----------



## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I haven't been overly impressed by the mini-effects, but have been thoroughly impressed with the "Fab" effects. They are built a little better, but you can get them for about the same price. You can actually step on them without having to worry about crushing them with your foot. And they seem to sound a little better.

Comparing the Mini slapback pedal (can't remember the model name) and the Fab Echo isn't even a contest IMO.

Any of them are good for the price, but I think the Fab effects are great for the price.


----------



## Tarl (Feb 4, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> I haven't been overly impressed by the mini-effects, but have been thoroughly impressed with the "Fab" effects. They are built a little better, but you can get them for about the same price. You can actually step on them without having to worry about crushing them with your foot. And they seem to sound a little better.
> 
> Comparing the Mini slapback pedal (can't remember the model name) and the Fab Echo isn't even a contest IMO.
> 
> Any of them are good for the price, but I think the Fab effects are great for the price.


I have a FAB distortion I picked up for $18. I don't use it much but it is suprisingly good both soundwise and buildwise.


----------



## adamthemute (Jun 18, 2007)

I love my Dano Fish 'n Chips EQ pedal. No complaints here.


----------



## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

If I ever get one of these pedals I'd probably spend $6 on an aluminum box and rehouse them.


----------



## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I'd love to do that but lack the skills. If it didn't get too pricey I would consider having this done to the French Toast pedal.

TG



kat_ said:


> If I ever get one of these pedals I'd probably spend $6 on an aluminum box and rehouse them.


----------



## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

adamthemute said:


> I love my Dano Fish 'n Chips EQ pedal. No complaints here.


Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. That is supposed to be the other winner in the mini series. So that makes the following six pedals the minis to get:

Chicken Salad Vibe
Chili Dog Octaver
Rocky Road Leslie Simulator
French Toast Octavia
Fish and Chips EQ
Tuna Melt Tremolo

The other minis are apparently fairly lackluster.
TG


----------



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Did you fill the submission form and submit it? There's a link to it in the Sticky post at the top of the forum.


----------



## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

Open up the pedal, you'll see it is quite easy to rehouse. Hardest part will be decals on the new replacement box!


----------



## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Did you fill the submission form and submit it? There's a link to it in the Sticky post at the top of the forum.


I went to the Gear Review section and hit new thread. A page kept coming up saying I didn't have access or something like that and suggested I didn't have enough posts or that the admin had deactivated my account. All other sections work no problem.

TG


----------



## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Kapo_Polenton said:


> Open up the pedal, you'll see it is quite easy to rehouse. Hardest part will be decals on the new replacement box!


Well, I don't know how to solder, don't own a soldering gun, and am not that "handy" when it comes right down to it. I asked one of the boutique guys how much he would charge to rehouse and it just didn't make economic sense given the price.

TG


----------



## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

unscrew the pots, unscrew the jacks, lift it all out together and bam! That is in most cases though.. if you can post a pic of the inside we can see how hard it would actually be. Once you build one of those little [email protected]tards you see how there is nothing to them.


----------



## Agata0023 (Mar 15, 2007)

I've got the FAB Metal Distortion and the FAB Flanger, and I"m pretty pleased with them. I've got them dialed in just nicely and can get quite the range of sounds out of 'em. I'm also not one to stomp the shit out of my pedals, so I'm not worried about them breaking. I've had the Distortion along time ago, then sold it and got a vintage RAT, but then had to sell that so I got the FAB back. In total I've had the distortion for a year or so now and not a single problem. I've only had the Flanger maybe a month and I'm loving it. In the event that they do break, well they are only something like 20 bucks anyways, I'll be getting new ones.


----------



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> I went to the Gear Review section and hit new thread. A page kept coming up saying I didn't have access or something like that and suggested I didn't have enough posts or that the admin had deactivated my account. All other sections work no problem.
> 
> TG


 
Posting direct isn't allowed in that forum. We have a form you need to fill out. It's there to help keep every review format the same.

Click on the link for the form in the sticky thread.


----------



## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

noobcake said:


> I totally agree, Danelectro stuff is highly underrated, they might not be as durable as a Boss, but they can still take quite a beating and they sound surprisingly decent, especially for the price.


...my cool cat chorus is rich, delicous and satisfying.

-dh


----------

