Product Review: Danelectro Mini Modulation Pedals

I landed a selection of Danelectro mini pedals from eBay recently for $56. I wasn’t seriously interested, but I have read quite a few positive comments about them so for that price I could not resist the opportunity to check out the tones.

What you get is essentially a mini board of modulation pedals in a custom carrying case with power supply and cables included. The “grab and go” convenience is quite compelling when you don’t want to drag a big expensive board across town to rehearsal or to a gig at a beer chugging frat party. Of course as any guitarist knows, it’s all about the tone regardless of how convenient the set up.

Based on my gear and my ears, here are my opinions of the effects:

Milk Shake Chorus – Does the clean '80s Police sound quite well, but it is not articulate enough to get a rotating speaker/Leslie simulation. Overall it is reasonable, although a bit too “seasick” sounding for my tastes on all settings and it can get metallic quite quickly. There is a volume boost when engaged. Verdict: 5/10

Hash Browns Flanger – Another volume boost when engaged, but overall this is a pretty good Flanger. The sound has some analog warmth to it, although the pedal is somewhat limited in what it can do so don’t expect the diversity or control that a Boss BF-2 provides, for example. Verdict: 6/10

Pepperoni Phaser – I didn’t like this pedal at all. It has a one-dimensional sound that is a vague representation of a real phaser and delivers a huge treble boost when engaged. Verdict: 3/10

Chicken Salad Vibe – This pedal surprised me . . . but not in a good way. I’ve read a number of positive reviews of this pedal on guitar community web sites, but it just didn’t do it for me. Again, it sounded like a vague representation of a Vibe without really capturing the essence of what a quality Vibe is all about. I won’t be swapping out my KR Products MegaVibe any time soon. Verdict: 4/10

Tuna Melt Tremolo – Of all the Dano pedals this was the best by far. It has a very warm and organic sound and can get you that clean Fender amp tremolo sound with ease. I prefer the soft setting to the hard “choppy” setting by far. I currently use a Voodoo Lab Tremolo on my board, which I think provides a bit more control and subtlety, but for the price the Tuna Melt represents outstanding value for money. Verdict: 9/10

Tuna Melt aside, I was disappointed in these pedals. Instead of letting your natural guitar tone shine through they cover it in a not very subtle or controllable effect that vaguely replicates different flavors of modulation without nailing any of them well. Other than the Tuna Melt, I would save your money and wait to buy better effects in each genre – or even the new Cool Cat Danelectro pedals, which come in a metal case and are true bypass.

Danelectro Mini Effects Pedals

I won an eBay auction last week landing five Danelectro modulation effects pedals for $56 including carrying case, cables and free shipping. Score!

The pedals are:

• Milk Shake Chorus
• Hash Browns Flanger
• Pepperoni Phaser
• Tuna Melt Tremolo
• Chicken Salad Vibe

I’m especially interested to hear the Tuna Melt Tremolo as it is on some pro-player boards who could buy any tremolo they wanted. I’m also interested to put the Chicken Salad Vibe up against my $300 KR Products MegaVibe – can I hear a $290 difference in tone?

I will review each product individually in upcoming posts.

Better Tone for Under $50 – Graph Tech String Saver™ Saddles

I had mid 90s USA Peavey Reactor (Telecaster copy) lying around and decided to make some upgrades because the neck just feels so good to play. I’ll cover some of the other upgrades in other posts, but here I am going to focus on a change that was fairly minor and cost-effective, yet resulted in a big return on tone – adding Graph Tech String Saver™ saddles.

I was somewhat doubtful about the Graph Tech claims (reduces string breakage, increases sustain, improves midrange depth) and was really more interested in the fact that these were black in color, which would fit the theme of my black and white “Tuxedo Tele.” So when I saw a set come up on eBay for $25 I took the plunge.

Once installed, I was pleasantly surprised. The new saddles brought a somewhat dead sounding Tele to life with a big boost in tone and responsiveness. The guitar really sings now – it is extremely vibrant and sustain is much improved. Graph Tech claims an increase in sustain by up to 25% over brass saddles and 15% over steel and that’s probably about right.

I think the company could do a better job marketing these because they focus heavily on the fact that because each saddle is impregnated with Teflon, friction and string breakage is dramatically reduced. I think they would be better off focusing on how these saddles improve tone. But that's just me.

If your guitar sounds somewhat flat and lifeless I would definitely check these out as they do deliver a nice tone upgrade for relatively little cost. I’m thinking I might also install them on my FrankenStrat, which would take better advantage of the Teflon coating.

You can find more info on this product here:
http://www.graphtech.com/products.html?CategoryID=3

The Dunlop JH-1 CryBaby Saga – Part One

I admit it. I made one big mistake with this CryBaby pedal – buying without trying.

When I plugged in, the first red flag to go up was the narrow sweep of the pedal. I like a nice wide sweep (like the ‘70s Morley units) for a more vocal-like quality, but on this JH-1 the sweep was so narrow it was barely useable. After thinking about this for a while it occurred to me that I could adjust the sweep by rotating the potentiometer. After some trial and error I did manage to make the sweep much wider, but still not anywhere near as wide as I’d like.

As for the tone, let’s say it was mediocre at best. This particular pedal was voiced in the upper midrange so it wasn’t too shrill, but it did not have any body or depth to it at all. It is also a dramatic tone sucker (particularly the high end) whether on or off. When playing with fuzz or distortion I have even picked up the occasional local radio station – reminiscent of the infamous Nigel Tufnell scene toward the end of the Spinal Tap movie.

I think these faults are a reflection of the cheap components used – no DPDT switch to make it true bypass and no fasel inductor anywhere to be found. To be fair, since this model was released, Dunlop has made some significant quality improvements to their line and brought out a number of more expensive models with higher end components that are endorsed by star players like Zak Wylde, Dimebag Darrell and Slash.

So what do I do? Do I sell it on eBay and lay out $200+ for a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe from Michael Fuller or a Picture Wah or Wizard Wah from Geoffrey Teese – probably two of the best boutique Wah builders around at the moment? Or do I try and salvage this sonic train wreck of a pedal with one of the many mod kits that are available?

My soldering skills are very limited so I don’t feel comfortable adding and removing components on the circuit board. After some fairly extensive research on the different options available I think I am going to remove the entire circuit board and replace it with a pre-soldered Vintage Italian Wah Kit from Area 51. At least I can salvage the metal casing of this Dunlop pedal (which I will probably spray bright red). There are cheaper options, but the mod kit from Area 51 seems the best solution and best sounding Wah to my ears.

Once I get this ordered and installed, look for a review of the “new” pedal in Part 2 of this gripping saga.

More info at:

http://www.area51tubeaudiodesigns.com/index.htm
http://www.fulltone.com/index.htm
http://www.realmccoycustom.com/index.htm

Build Your Own Virtual Guitar

Sometimes it’s fun to dream about building your ultimate guitar. Or perhaps you’d prefer to build a hideous looking Frankenstein made up of leftovers from the parts bin. In real life, customizing any guitar takes a lot of time, money and patience. Fortunately the kind folks at USA Custom Guitars in Puyallup, Wash., have a super cool virtual guitar program on their web site that enables your dreams – or nightmares – to become a virtual reality.

In just a couple of minutes you can create your own custom axe by choosing from a variety of woods, colors, special paint effects, pickups, necks, bridges, knobs, jacks and even string trees. The program enables you to create whatever you think is the most perfect looking guitar based on three main body styles. The only problem is that you’ll never get to actually hold and play your creation. But you can at least print it out and dream about what could have been.

You can find the fun at:

http://www.usacustomguitars.com/virtualguitar.html

Bargain Hunting for Chorus Pedals

This has been an interesting journey that is by no means over. Beyond thickening your guitar sound (making a 6-string sound like a 12-string) a chorus pedal can do so much more - spanning that super clean, 1980s icy shimmer favored by Andy Summers of The Police to swirling Leslie tones used by players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Michael Landau and others.

After a lot of research and trials at local music and pawn shops, I narrowed my search down to two main price points. First, there's the $50 group where you will find the likes of a used DODFX65, a used Boss CH-1 Super Chorus and the brand new Danelectro Cool Cat CC-1.

Jump up to around the $100 mark and you could pick up two pedals that have become the industry standards for their respective sounds. There's perhaps the most famous chorus pedal ever made - the Made in Japan Boss CE-2 - which you can pick up for around $100-120 on eBay. For the swirling Leslie sound, the industry standard is the made in Japan Arion SCH-1 despite the plastic case and knobs that fall off. It is/was used by both Scott Henderson and Michael Landau so who am I to argue.

If your budget doesn't stretch to $100+ you could also consider the very popular Small Clone from Electro-Harmonx, which gets consistently good reviews and is priced around $80. The good news is that these are all decent units and all would work well.

So what's on my current board? While I seriously considered the Cool Cat CC-1, which I felt was decent on many chorus tones but never excelled at any of them, I picked the DODFX65 based on its great price and excellent performance.

I think the DODFX65 is a screaming (and somewhat unknown) bargain. I believe it has the same BBD chip/clock driver as the CE-2 and is almost $100 cheaper. I got mine used for $25 and it is an excellent unit overall and amazing value for money at this point in time. It has a heavy, metal casing and is built like a tank. In addition to the Rate & Depth controls like the CE-2, you also get a Delay Time control which gives you a bit more versatility. I am noticing a slight volume increase when engaged and the on/off switch is not as good as the Boss units, but overall I am very happy with its very warm and lush analog tones. With the speed set at 11 o'clock and the Delay Time and Depth both cranked it is super thick and rich. With the rate control set fairly high you can also achieve a decent Leslie sound. I am not noticing any additional noise when engaged or tone suck, which is very welcome.

I also purchased the Boss CH-1 for $40 and it is almost the polar opposite of the FX65. It sounds very cold, sterile and somewhat digital in comparison, but it does the 80s clean sound quite well. Besides the Rate and Depth control, you also get very useful Level and EQ controls which provide great insurance against tone sucking and volume drop/boost when engaged. With four controls you have a lot of control at your feet, but the overall tone is mediocre at best so this pedal is going back up on eBay.

I'm extremely happy at this point with the "tone per dollar" I am getting from the FX65. I can see myself using this chorus pedal for many years - assuming I don't get a killer deal on a Boss CE-2 or Arion SCH-1 in the meantime.