Danelectro AO-1 Wasabi Overdrive

It's not rocket science. It's a pedal with knobs and switches. Plug your axe in flip the switches, turn the knobs and figure out what sounds best. Everything makes sense and is easy to use.

Playing a couple of solid body Reverends, Gretsch electromatic pro jet, Ibanez Jet King II, Easton Hi Flyer and a Hammer Slammer SPF 2 through a Fender Blues Jr. tube amp or Dean Markley K150 solid state. I'm an old school player. Classic rock, southern rock, blues and country - rythm and lead and I'm not a pedal head. One or two pedals are enough for my style of music. I find the sound quality of this box to be real good. There are enough OD settings and gain settings to get a wide array of different OD sounds to suit any taste or song. This is really many OD pedals in one.

On top of all the OD features you get a fantastic "clean" boost switch of +5% or +10% which allows you to cut through the band for leads when you need to.

This one pedal serves the purpose of several overdrive pedals plus a boost pedal and I love having all of that sound packed into one pedal.

No problems so far. Built like a tank.

No opinion

A great pedal for the money and tons of fun!

Since it has a lot of features you might have to spend a little time to dial in the tone you like best. Having said that though it took me maybe a half hour of tweaking to find my sweet spot. The manual is just a chart of what the knobs are meant for.

I find with the EQ set to the "flat" setting, the tone and gain up about 3/4 and the level a little over half you can get a really nice Tube Screamer like overdrive. I have only used it with a strat with single coil pickups so far and I set the switch on the back of the pedal to single coils. I played this with the following setup: Strat>Dano Wah>Wasabi Overdrive>Digitech RP100 (set to just a flat EQ, spring reverb and slight Noise Reduction)> Guild Thunder I tube amp. With this setup I got a really good "Texas Blues" tone that I liked even better than my modded Tube Screamer in the same setup. It sounded just a little more bassy and punchy, especially with the 10db clean boost added. It really made my little combo amp blast! I tried it with my Lab Series L5 solid state amp and was not quite as resposive as the Guild amp but still excellent.

This appears to be a very well built box although I have only had it for less than a week. I would probably use it without a backup if I was gigging but then again I could always break out the Tube Screamer if I needed to..

Way too soon to decide if they are good in this area but I have the Dano Wah and a T Bone distortion pedal that are a few years old and still work perfect and this pedal is way better built than either of those..

I bought this pedal for a bluesy classic rock overdrive and it fits the bill and then some. I have been playing for over 25 years and have a Gibson Sonex 180, a modded Squier strat, a vintage Silvertone amp in guitar/guitar, and an Applause/Ovation acoustic/electric. If it were lost of stolen I'm not sure I'd pay the full list price as I have the Tube Screamer but for 20 bucks from Musicians Friend I wish I had bought two!

5/10 here because there are a great many options which aren't usually found on an overdrive pedal, and the manual - though informative - is a bit difficult to parse. You'll take some time getting to know this pedal before you start getting your sound out of it.

Without a doubt the best overdrive pedal I've used. I've stopped using my reissue Ibanez TS8 because I like this better. It may not be for everyone, though! It is a low-gain overdrive, which I use to add sparkle and body to my sound. I do not use it by itself. In order to get it to a noticable gain level, I've got the gain cranked, but with it cranked the sound is out of this world. Very rich, full-bodied sound.

Spend time getting to know what every setting does, because you will need to work with ALL of them to get 10/10 quality sound. If you're just going to set it and forget it out-of-the-box, expect 3/10 to 6/10 quality. You have to use it right.

It also gets major points because it isn't just an overdrive pedal, it's also a great clean boost. Selectable to +5db or +10db, the clean boost does just what it says and helps to drive other gain devices (pedals or your amp's gain) into thick overdrive. It can be used with OR WITHOUT the overdrive active (two switches, a comfortable distance apart for convenient stage activation, each with their own "on" light). Using both at once turns the relatively mild distortion (even maxed) into a screaming overdrive. You're still not going to even approach high-gain territory, but it's definitely all you'd need for a psychadelic rock outfit.

Great pedal, quite a surprise! I've never been particularly fond of many Dan-o products (though I religiously stand by my Dan-Echo and Fish-n'-Chips EQ), especially the distortions, but this has made a believer out of me.

The housing of this pedal is thick metal, and the switches are characteristically sturdy. I do wonder, though, why Danelectro couldn't use metal input and output jacks like everyone else. Plastic jacks on an expensive pedal with a full metal housing seems very counterintuitive. If anything will fail on this, it will be them (which would make it useless).

THAT SAID, I've got this Danelectro Dan-Echo pedal (their other higher end pedal line's delay model) which was made in 1998, and it is still working just fine - no looseness in the input/output jacks at all. That doesn't mean that they should not have used a superior technology since it was available and well within in the pricerange of the gear.

I don't worry about this pedal failing, but if the input jacks mess up down the road it won't exactly shock me.

I have never needed Danelectro customer service, and from what I hear, I better hope that I never do. Since I haven't had first hand experience I'm not going to rate this, but I've heard real horror stories...

1. What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
--> I play metal and hard rock, in addition to mellower jazz and blues. I use this pedal in some capacity in all of my playing. It's the first thing in my pedal chain and it drives my line.

2. How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
--> I don't see how these questions relate to the pedal review so I'm not answering them.

3. If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
--> I hope it never goes missing, because I don't think I could get another one for $20 brand new. I bought this during Musician's Friend's clearance of the Danelectro Wasabi overdrive and distortion stock (missed the distortion, still kicking myself over that one). That said, I would still probably buy another one because I love how it sounds and what it does in my chain.

4. What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?
--> I love its sound and the fact that I can use the clean boost independently of the overdrive. I don't like the "pickup selector" switch on the back that lets you choose between single coil and humbucker input - it doesn't do anything but lower the volume or raise it. My favorite feature would probably be the "mix" control which allows you to mix between dry and wet signal for the output, but that competes heavily with the four different EQ curves which you can select (or "flat" to turn them off) which basically changes the tonal characteristics of this pedal into something completely different for each setting. I like EQ 2 becuase it sounds like a warmer, less upper-midrangey Tube Screamer.

5. Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
--> Yeah, I've used quite a few overdrives. I like them all, but I like this one more. I haven't met a pure overdrive pedal I didn't like. I was lucky to find this, my "holy grail," for only $20 on clearance - I would never have tried it at its previous $100 price, given my past experience with Danelectro's lower end overdrive and distortion pedals.

6. Anything you wish it had?
--> Metal input jacks.

7. Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
--> After you figure out how it works, it's easy to use and definitely helps. But be prepared to spend time on the learning curve before you get the sounds you want.

Ease of use, well, it's a pedal with dials....pretty much like every pedal in existance.

I bought this as the "stupid deal of the day" from Musicians friend for $19.99. And in my opinion it is the worst device of it's kind I've ever heard. On my Marshall amp, I couldn't get anything even close to the OD that comes on the amp.

I bought this for my fender deluxe reverb silver plate amp which is in the shop right now for a grounding problem, but I seriously doubt I'll ever try it when amp gets back from the shop.

The sound it gives can only be called "toy like". It truly sounds like a little plastic guitar some kid would be playing with. And that's what it made my Les Paul on a Marshall amp sound like.

I'm going to throw it away, so I'll never find out what the reliability is. I wouldn't give this to my worst enemy.

Did not deal with company.

I've been playing for 40 years, any my original "fuzz box" that I bought when I was 13 sounds better than this. DO NOT buy this pedal. It STINKS!

Many options: 5way eq preselector, pu switch (SC/HB/neutral), boost switch (5 db or 10 db), gain, level, tone-pot, mix-poti declared to blen clean sound with effects sound.
Very versatile, but the pprice ist that you have to deal with all the options for a while.

Hmmm, i have mixed emotions. Some overdrive settings just sound bad. Especially when you use the EQ preselector it was hard for me to find a decent sound. After many trials i just left the EQ pre on this "normal", sounds best for my ears. In this position the pedal could have a little more trebles, but it is o.k. if you turn the tone poti almost up.
If i set gain from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock, mix at 4 or 5 o'clock and tone on 5 o'clock i get a real good overdrive sound, if the pedal is in front of a slightly distorting tube amp. Then the distortion is full, has full basses and mids, is more warm and smooth than aggressive, and deserves 8.5 points.
But i didn't find good sounding settings that sound very different from that. So in my case it is a one trick pony. A little dissapointing for a pedal with such lots of options.
But all the options are worthless if they do not sound good.
In front of a very clean amp it sounded bad inmy ears. Too less overdrive, too bassy, too artificial.

All in all i can't rate the Wasabi Overdrive better than 7.
Usefull in front of a slightly overdriven tubeamp, worthless in front of a very clean amp.

The boost is o.k., but has only 2 options: 5 db or 10 db. 5 is too less for my needs, 10 a little too much in somme cases. But it sounds o.k., doesn't steal bass, doesn't steal tone.

Built like a german tank, 10 of 10!

no idea

If i regard the overdrive sound and the price, i could not rate it higher than 7. Plus one point for the decent clean boost it offers.
Makes 8 point. If price was higher i'd rate it maximum 6 points, all in all.

alot of choices there can take quite abit of fiddling around to find the best sound ,the dry/wet mix is a smart idea

i genarally dont like the tone of this thing ,sounds way to artificial compared to a rat or a dod preamp/od ,i say stick with the classics even if they have less options, this thing steals highs and recreates them artificialy

this thing is built like a brick shithouse ,you could probabley have a contest to see how far you could throw it with out it breaking,no backup needed on the road (maybe a better sounding pedal though)

i play alot of different styles that i need good drive sounds for but this one doesn??t cut the mustard.i find it dull or artificial sounding ,i??ve been playing for 20 years right now i play a gretsch country classic 2 with a sovtek mig100 ,i guess my set up is pretty top notch for a basic classic sound,the dan o.d just doesn??t seem to fit there.even though it looks cool
normaly an o.d will open up a valve amp and make it rip, this one doesn??t ,i chose it cos i needed a o.d that could do 2 volume levels for a tour with uncertain borrowed amps,one good thing is its tough and doesn??t get chipped or dented easily which is cool cos mines up for sale next week in e-bay

This overdrive pedal is 5 types of distortion pedal in one just by changing the EQ Select. Then it has all the normal overdrive pedal controls you can use such as Level, Tone, Drive, and a super cool option to adjust the mix of your dry signal and the overdriven signal. On top of that it has a pickup selector switch to adjust for your pickup-type (has humbucker-off-single modes)

Another great feature of this pedal is the boost switch, which acts as a clean boost switch (works with overdrive on or off!!!), and there is a switch to adjust for a 5db or 10db boost.

I can't say that it is any better than an eight. This pedal has some good sounds with it, and it works really well with the Wasibi Distortion. The bad thing about this pedal is that it seems to lack some natural feel to it, like it has a built in noise filter or something. I have a Boss SD1 which sounds much more natural and raw, which is what I like. Also, if you are paying full price for this thing, I would highly suggest looking at the Nady TD-1, which has one of the best OD type sounds I have heard (even alot better than the Boss).

Don't know, I sold it on ebay after buying the Nady TD-1.

The world has gone mad. Read all the reviews, listened to the website, tried it out, acutally all 3 ( Orverdive, Distortion and Metal ) and bought all 3!

These are a no brainer . No choice . No decision to be made . For the money you get exactly what it says on the tin. I have all 3 on my board, side by side. You can do anything with these 3 . Take a tip/advice/guidance from a player of 30 years, just get them.

Spot on !

Spot on( so far )

Dont know, but I assume its good

No I dont work for the company, no I dont sell anything, no I dont have an axe to grind, hang on I do grind my axe !! . Just get em !!

Ein Haufen Kn?pfe und Regler - ungew?hnlich viele f?r einen Verzerrer - aber bei jedem einzelnen ist klar, was er macht.
Von den 7 Reglern ver?ndern 4 nur die Lautst?rke an verschiedenen Stellen im Signalweg, einer dreht H?hen raus und einer mischt Original-Signal und Effekt-signal. Eq-Selekt hat 5 Stellungen: "Das ist dein Amp, so klingst Du nun mal", "Komisch, Bass und H?hen sind voll auf und der Drummer ist immer noch lauter", "?bungsverst?rker", "Marshall f?r Schlaghosentr?ger" "Enge Hosen, Blonde Locken, rosa Gitarren: 80's HardRock. "

Setup: Les Paul - Boss TU2 - Wasabi AO1 - Ibanez Delay DL10 - Wasabi Chorus/Trem - Sovtek Mig50, 2x12 Celestion-Box.

Ich benutze den Zerrer, um den Einkanaler-Amp anzublasen, den ich so aufgedreht habe, dass er leicht anzerrt. Die Zerre ist immer an, f?r Solo tret ich auf den Booster. Habe festgestellt, dass diese Methode unabh?ngig vom Amp (ich habe noch zwei verschiedene Fenders) IMMER richtig gut klingt. Dabei steht der EQ auf Flat. Mit den Fenders nehme ich auch gern die "Marshall"-?hnlichen Einstellungen 3 und 4. Pickup-Schalter "Off". Drive ca 1 Uhr, Mix 4-5Uhr, H?hen voll auf.

Mein Klangideal, also klassische "60's/70's: Les Paul + Plexi" Sounds sind damit im Handumdrehen zu kriegen: Page, Allman, Gibbons, Santana, Moore, Kossof, Clapton, Slash.... was ihr wollt. ?ber andere Soundvorstellungen kann ich nicht viel sagen. Der Grundsound ist erstklassig, und probieren geht ?ber studieren.

Der Trick, einen Hauch Originalsignal beizumischen, bewahrt Punch und Definition, die bei den meisten Zerrern schnell fl?ten gehen. Klingt sahnig, schmatzig, durchsetzungsf?hig, offen. Und dynamisch: Die Verzerrung ist per Anschlag oder in h?heren Drive-Einstellungen per Volume-Regler an der Gitarre steuerbar. Absolut klasse, wie ein echter R?hrenamp.

EQ-Stellung 1: Eigentlich der typische unbrauchbare NuMetal - "Ich h?r mich nicht" - Kacksound. Jetzt kommt's: Akustik-Gitarre eingest?pselt (in meinem Fall: Piezo ohne Preamp), Pickup-Schalter "Hum", Drive soweit runter, dass der Sound clean bleibt - - - gibt einen richtig guten Akustik-Sound ?ber PA!! Die schrillen Piezo-H?hen werden angenehm "aufgeweicht", die feedbackgef?hrlichen Mitten sind rausgefiltert, und die B?sse bleiben straff. Okay, das ist sicher mit den passenden Ger?ten noch besser hinzukriegen, aber als schnelle L?sung im Notfall oder mal f?r einen Song zwischendurch absolut brauchbar. Ich habe ganz gut gestaunt.

If "Jeff" is wondering about the "10": you own the AX-1, i talk about the AO-1. Wrong Thread, Dummy ;).

Der erste, den ich bekam, verlor den Boost-Schalter nach ein paar Stunden. Fertigungsfehler - Kann passieren. Der zweite, auf Garantie, war fehlerfrei. Das AC-1 ebenfalls. Keine Bedenken.

Kein Bedarf bislang. Aber: Auslieferung mit einer frischen Batterie! Das betrachte ich als aufmerksamen Service.

Ich bin mittlerweile so abh?ngig von dem Ding, dass ich mir ein zweites als Backup zugelegt habe. Die Wasabis werden leider schon nicht mehr produziert und man weiss ja nie......

Ich habe ?ber die Jahre (ich bin seit 25 Jahren Gitarrist, nie Zuhause, nur in Bands, Live und Studio) folgende Verzerrer besessen: Boss OD-3, Boss SD-1, Big Muff, Digitech X-irgendwas (alle verkauft), Ibanez Fat Cat, HK Tubeman, (meine ersten, lange benutzt und noch in meinem Besitz), Rocktron Austin Gold (benutzt mein Band-Kumpel zurzeit). Der AO-1 ist der mit Abstand beste f?r mich. Der Rocktron kommt an zweiter Stelle.

Wenn man den Wasabi vor irgendeinen R?hrenamp h?ngt, hat man immer mindestens einen beeindruckend guten Sound zur Verf?gung und kann per Boost dann nochmal Solo-m?ssig einen draufsetzen. Die Allzweckwaffe f?r jede Gelegenheit. Den gebe ich nicht mehr her.

It's a pretty simple product. You play and spend some time with this pedal and you'll find something you like unless you're a metal head of some sort.
The manual is very basic but explains what you need to know.

I'm using an American Series Telecaster into a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb. I'll also use my Boss Overdrive with this for a really fat OD. It's good stuff with the tele on the bridge pup. It's raw and nasty.
I find this pedal can be a little buzzy depending on the room.
With the different settings you can get something Bassman like to Vox to Marshall (I said something like, not exactly). I think you can get some good punk sounds on here to some blues or emo.
The great features for a cheap pedal like this are the boost and it's adjustment (yes, it works), the option for setting it for single coils or humbuckers, and the eq.

I'm not sure if I can depend on it. I haven't read about anyone else having this problem. But at a couple shows after playing for a while, the pedal will totally kill the signal. I've been lucky both times as it's occurred in between songs. I'm going to keep using it but with readiness to dump it when it fails. I plan to have it checked out eventually.
The pedal is heavy and feels reliable, but the controls and inputs all feel weak.
The lights are pretty cool looking.
My dog has poo'ed on it a few times and it's still going. Just don't ask me in public why it's getting brown.

Never dealt with them. Maybe I should give them a call about the killing signal thing.
I don't think the warranty covers the dog poop.

I play alternative style music in a band, a few covers but mostly original songs. This pedal fits the style.
I've been playing for about six years. I have a tele, a strat and an epiphone dot along with some acoustics.
If this were lost I'd replace it if I could find it for the price I paid before (Guitar Center sale) or I'd experiment with a different pedal.

Not too hard to figure out.

It does a decent job and especially for the price. Wasn't noisy. Very comparable to my Boss overdrive when turning the distortion down a bit, which is what I do... as I play more of the 80s/90s rock and not really hard rock (If you really want the hardest sound... you'll need to go witht the Boss). I tested it by taking it to a gig. I traded between it and my Boss (had them both in my line) and could tell only a small difference.
I'm surprised to see a lot of 10's on this page for ratings. I was verging on a 7 or 8.. but decided on the 8 because I've always liked Danelectro. Still.. it was "good" sounding, but definitely not "great" sounding. I played it with 3 different guitars through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
You can tweak this thing a lot.. which I did like.. but I was interested in it for the 'lead boost' button. Forget it... not even noticeable. I play out 2 - 3 X a week and believe me.. this will do nothing for making that lead jump out from the rhythm sound.
Finally, the Secret Slap Echo Doubler is a joke too. It is the worst sounding slapback around. Maybe I'm spoiled because I play with the Danelectro Dan-Echo pedal.. and it's got the best sounding echo/reverb/slapback around. Not even comparable. This switch will only muddle your sound up and you'll never use it.
Still.. minus the added worthless features, the distortion itself is pretty smooth and can be tweaked a lot, and since the price isn't too bad, I'll give an overall of 8.
If you want a truly great sounding disortion pedal with a really fat sound, go with the Ibanez Tube King. I've still not found anything to compete with this and I test pedals every week. http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Ibanez/TK999_Tube_King_Overdrive-01.html

built tough.. like all Danelectro pedals.

Never had to deal.. but I've always heard good things.

I'm surprised to see a lot of 10's on this page for ratings. I was verging on a 7 or 8.. but decided on the 8 because I've always liked Danelectro. Still.. it was "good" sounding, but definitely not "great" sounding. I played it with 3 different guitars through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
You can tweak this thing a lot.. which I did like.. but I was interested in it for the 'lead boost' button. Forget it... not even noticeable. I play out 2 - 3 X a week and believe me.. this will do nothing for making that lead jump out from the rhythm sound.
Finally, the Secret Slap Echo Doubler is a joke too. It is the worst sounding slapback around. Maybe I'm spoiled because I play with the Danelectro Dan-Echo pedal.. and it's got the best sounding echo/reverb/slapback around. Not even comparable. This switch will only muddle your sound up and you'll never use it.
Still.. minus the added worthless features, the distortion itself is pretty smooth and can be tweaked a lot, and since the price isn't too bad, I'll give an overall of 8.
If you want a truly great sounding disortion pedal with a really fat sound, go with the Ibanez Tube King. I've still not found anything to compete with this and I test pedals every week. http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Ibanez/TK999_Tube_King_Overdrive-01.html

Getting a good, smooth overdrive is a piece of cake. PLEASE don't buy this box if you're looking for full on crunchy distortion tones. This is similar to a good Tubescreamer/Maxon 808 type pedal, but with some extra goodies. It seems to be able to squeeze out a little more gain than my Maxon 808, and it has a little less bite than the 808, but is therefore nice for overdriving on chords or creating a very buttery lead tone.
The manual is fine, and tells you clearly what the myriad of switches and knobs do. I could see how the many switches and knobs could confuse some users. Just be sure to set any switches you can to their off setting before starting to fiddle around so you get an idea of the basic sound.

It is very quiet and the Dano powersuplly is really hum free, so that's a great start. I reiterate that this is a true overdrive and a smooth one at that. I haven't found any of these 'insane, wild, non-pedal like' sounds in this thing yet, but what it does is over a very high quality overdrive with some cool EQ curves that I find useful (some more than others, but this is a very subjective thing). Whatever circuit is doing the EQ curves isnt adding any noise or grainy phaseshifted sound. There is a nice solid low end on most of the EQ settings.
The added 'blend' feature is really the icing on the cake - I havent played the voodoo labs sparkle drive, but this thing can cook up exactly what voodoo labs put up as a soundbyte on their site. I love being able to set a very mild amp breakup and then have a 60/40 mix of Wasabi overdrive and plain amp signal it's like live double-tracked guitar! Lower settings on this knob sound a little stupid; A clean guitar with a swarm of bees hiding beneath it - but HEY - who knows?... Sometimes you just need that 'stupid' sound to finish your track.
Oh yeah, and we have a BOOST, too ... How much did I pay again?!?

This thing is HEAVY. It is built very well and I don't foresee any problems. The knobs have a smooth action and feel like theyre about 50 times better and pricier than on the dano 'mini' effects.
I keep the AO-1 near my window at night, and if there's a fire, I'll just chuck it through the double-glass, climb to safety and plug it in and play a dirge for my house. If one of Dano's stupid plastic 1/4" jacks doesn't break, that is.

Dunno, but only heard good comments (not just on Harmony Central)

Wa SAAAAAA bi! I love it! It looks cool, sounds friggin awesome and you could track a whole record with this thing and never use the same sound twice. Don't forget to mess with the little black pickup type switch and set it wrong. You get even more sounds. I'd almost sell off my pricier Maxon 808, but that does give me a few other nuances the Wasabi doesnt. Not that one or the other is better - just a little different. The only thing I wish it had was a back massager so that I could lean back on it and loosen up after the hours of fun tweaking around with the sounds.
If you have no other overdrive - GET THIS ONE! ($60-80) - or get an extra part-time job and then buy a Tubescreamer, a Sparkle Drive, a clean boost and an EQ pedal ($400-450). In the meantime I'll be playing guitar.

Very easy to use, had great tones out of it in minutes. The manual is generic, but you don't really need it.

Using an G&L ASAT Special, through a Fender Twin. Did not seem to be noisy. I have spent $200 before on overdrive type pedals, this one cost me $74 with shipping, and sounds as good or better than pedals costing 3 times as much. True Bypass? Don't know, don't care. It didn't seem to effect anything. I found 3(1,3,4) of the EQ settings to be useful, one is the "flat" signal, which is just your guitar signal, and the #2 setting is too harsh. I really like the mix knob, it allows you to blend in the amount of drive with the clean guitar tone, a lot like a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, making it very useful. The boost switch is not affected by any of the control knobs, all it does is boost(+5db or +10db), which works great with other pedals. The overdrive never seems to sound too compressed or harsh, which is nice. There is a pickup selector switch on the input side of the pedal that allows you to select between single coil and humbucker type pickups. The "single" setting boosts lower output single coil pickups, and the "hum" setting is attenuated to match pickups with high output, which will allow you to slightly overdrive the input of the pedal and increase harmonics. All in all, a very versitle overdrive pedal!

Just got it, don't know. I might buy 2 at this price!

Never had to deal directly with Danelectro. I have owned a few of there pedals in the past, and had no problems.

I play blues rock type music, this pedal works perfectly for that. Been playing 15+ years, and have purchased and sold several other expensive "boutique" pedals, some great, some OK. This pedal, in it's own way, sounds as good if not better! Awesome pedal for the price, buy one!

Very easy to use. Knobs do what they should/claim to. Well desigend product.

This pedal is truly a FREAK pedal. What I mean by that, is: it is the most UN-PEDAL sounding pedal I have evr owned, and I have owned a ton. Klon, Budda, Fulltone, Ibanez, Maxon, K. martin......and many more have all occupied my board at one time or another. This pedal ranks among the best, and in some ways is hands-down #1. yes, I know.......crazy. It just sounds great. Now, it is my experience that this pedal WILL NOT get you very overdriven tones. Rather, it truly becomes a subtle extension of your amp's tone, and clips VERY much like a good tube amp will clip when pushed. The notes ride out front, the OD ooozes in behind the notes, in a very nice, and NOT over-middy fashion, leaving your tone in tact and felt. The pedal is very touch sensitive, as claimed. The added EQ sets are ok, I only use the nuetral setting myself. The boost is incredible. It is the cleanest, fattest boost I have owned. I am still trippin on how good that feature is. My only complaints are, as one other user mentioned, and he is right: very dark pedal, i keep the tone wide open. Also, it cleans up when I back the guitar down, but not as well as I would like. The OD remains lurking in the backround. However, because the OD is not overbearing to begin with, it is workable, but I have other pedals that clean up better. I must stress though, I have no pedals that sound as "organic" as this one. This pedal just does not sound like a pedal, when properly dialed. You can get it to sound very much like a pedal, don't get me wrong......but if you are looking for transparency, this thing is the shit!! I am truly floored. The boost just kicks ass, and can be used to push other pedals as well. Alot of value here. A gem in hiding for sure.

Seems sturdy, other than the cheesy jacks. just gotta be careful. one year warranty.

Gotta give it a solid 9 folks. It really shines as an overdrive. It actually made me put away my attenuator I normally use with a 74 JMP. The pedal sounds better at any volume. It is out-doing the JMP's own drive, which is not an easy thing to accomplish. At rehersal volumes, it sounds like GOD. Killer pedal, two for the price of one.

It is very easy to get a great sound if you take a little time and attention and dial your sound in. The manual is easy to understand and user friendly.

I use this in conjunction with my 59 Fender bassman, my Agile AS-820 semi-hollow body guitar and my Sx SST57 Strat style guitar as well as a Tele and a Les Paul. It can get a touch noisy when it's in the single coil mode and the boost in the 10db mode but other than that it's very quiet. I would suppose you can accomplish any artist overdrive sound with it for the most part but I am focused on my own signature sound. This pedal gives you great varieties of Overdrive, anything from the sound of a stack of overdriven plexi's or Mesa's to the sound of a pre-CBS Fender twin or Delux when overdriven. It's extremley touch sensitive and reacts to every nuance of your attack.

I would and absoultely do depend on it. It is built like a 59 Cadillac! The only weak possible link is the input and output jacks because they are plastic in material but like any good tool, if you take care of it it should not let you down. Because of the plastic jacks I'll give it a 9 here but only because of that. It allows me to accomplish the sweet overdrive sound of my 59 Bassman only without having to have the volume set so high as to accomplish this sound.

Never knew Danelectro ever made any pedal this nice but I stumbled on it by accident and man am I glad I did, I've never dealt with the manufacturer but I suppose they back up there product.

I play the blues and some rock and roll and jazz. I've been playing for more than 46 years. I own too many guitars to list here but only use my original 59 Fender bassman exclusively. If it were stolen I'd pull the SOB's you know what's thru his nose and take it back but if I couldn't catch him then I'd definitley buy another one, no doubt. In fact I may buy another as a back-up now that you mention this question. It has all I could ever want in an Overdrive pedal. It not only helps you make music, it will make you smile when you kick it in and wish you don't ever turn it off.

no one should have a hard time with this pedal...

the Wasabi is a cool concept-most of the preset EQ choices sound good and the blend knob is handy...the only big thing i noticed(no one else seemed to)is that the tone knob needs to be up or things are way too dark-it would have been nice to have more top end range,as of now it is just bright enough to use for a gig. the boost function is great and sounds just as good as most 'clean boost' pedals i have used.

heavy enough but inside it's most likely made like a cheap DVD player.

it's worth checking out-looks totally cool also! i don't know why the tone knob range is so narrow but you can't have everything i suppose...

This is a very easy product to use. 5 knobs doing exactly what is written next to them. No need to be a genius here. Manual is good for explanation on what does what. It has two different settings - Boost and Overdrive. There are 2 different settings on the back for amount of boost required. Also, has a single coil, humbucker switch on back for Overdrive settings.

My setup is a Cort G250P Fat Strat Copy with mighty mite pups and fishman power bridge (piezo pup) > Jim Dunlop Crybaby > A01 Wasabi Overdrive > Marshall JCM 800 2205 with 1960A cabinet. I also use an Orville Japanese made Les Paul copy. I play mostly medium to hard rock - Greenday, Good Charlotte, Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam and I also like to tinkle with some blues playing.

Anyway playing through the JCM i needed something to boost up my sound over the other guitarist in my band when lead playing. So this pedal was primarily bought for the Boost. The boost setting is brilliant and does the job perfectly. Then i started tinkling with the Overdrive setting and found heaps of endless sounds. The sounds you can get out of this thing are endless. Best tube sounding Overdrive pedal ive ever heard. The Overdrive setting has 5 different built in EQ tones and you can get some really cool Black Crow sounds out of setting number 2 when used with my Les Paul copy. Crank the gain up and turn the effects knob all the way up for a cranking Steve Vai sound. Not much noise from this thing either just the normal hum when i use the single coil pickups on my Cort.

I tried out Marshall's Guv'nor 2 and Jackhammer in the store in the same day (Funny that, I love their amps but their pedals - nah). Also had a look at Ibanez TS-9 and the Daddy O' OVerdrive. This pedal kicks their ass in versatility and sound. I highly recommend this pedal. Only half the price of the top brands too. I only gave it a 9 because nothing can match the sound of my JCM.

I tell ya this thing is heavy, built like a tank. The only worry as stated in a few previous reviews is the plastic front where the input and output jacks are. Not sure how long this will hold up for, but maybe it last for ever............who knows. I have gigged with this thing a few times and it went great. I would gig without a backup as the other guitarist in my band has a few overdrive pedals so i could nick one of his.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing for about 18 years now and gigging for about 12 years and have never bought anything because of a brand name. Thats why i only have generic brand guitars. These guitars do me well and the ability of a great player can make any cheap product sound awesome. I'm not saying Im great just that top name brands dont make you play any better. This is why i bought this pedal instead of a top name brand model. You gotta ply it and you will know if something is right for ya as soon as you here it. Anyway, if this thing was stolen, i would shoot the person down dead then go buy another. If you looking for a boost pedal try these out and as an added bonus you get a great overdrive as well.

Incredibly easy to get a good sound out of, the EQ offers plenty of possibilities from deep, booming OD to a really scratchy sound (BSSM-era John Frusciante). Great manual for a pedal in this price bracket too.

8 because it's simple enough, but there are a lot of knobs and switches. It'll take a bit of time to find your favourite tones, but in a good way.

I use a Strat or Tele into an old Fender Deluxe. Current setup is Tele -> Crybaby -> EH Double Muff -> EH Small Clone -> Wasabi OD -> Boss DD-6 -> Fender Deluxe. Doesn't add any noise at all that I can notice.

Once you get the EQ set to your liking it is impossible to pull bad sounds from this box, it's sublime, the best OD I've ever heard.

Gain at max gives you the Radiohead "Airbag" sound, winding it down gets you into Chili Peppers territory. I'm generally using it all the time, just adjusting the gain to suit.

You could beat somebody into a coma with this thing very easily. Reminds me of a Crybaby with the feel of it, very sturdy.

I'd gig without a backup no problem, I'm not particularly violent with my gear anyway, but it'd take a beating.

Completely superb. I play Radioheady, Blur-esque, kinda RHCP-like kinda stuff, this does it all. You need it. It kills the Boss ODs, SDs and BDs stone dead.

Extra marks for the handy Boost switch, which raises your level by 5 or 10dB for solos. This is independent of the OD, so it can be used as a clean boost too. Very handy.

If it got stolen, he'd probably get about 5 yards before my Tele stopped him, it's quite big, heavy and reeks of durability.

For the price paid, absolutely perfect.

GREAT sounding box! Gives me everything and more than I wanted. Very responsive of light and heavy touches on the strings. You'd swear there were a couple 12AX7's in there because it sounds SOOO fat(!). The manuaul is very clear to understand. Great job guy's.

I use it with my Agile lawsuit les pual jr. going through a vox wah and then coming out of a Roland Blues Cube 1-12. With having p-90's you are obviously going to get a bit of the classic 60 cycle hum, but switching this in hum-mode, it kills almost everything out. AWESOME option! The effect sounds great at every setting for me as long as you take the time to get yourself familiar with the thing first before you go out and gig with it. It's got lots of switches and can do some pretty funky things. I try to not sound exactly like my favorite artist's, but if I had to choose one, I'd have to say Sam Andew of Big Brother Holding Co. fame.

I certainly think I can depend on this for a long time. I saw after reading a couple other reviews there was a guy that had the same concern as I do about the plastic in and out inputs. That will more than likely need to be replaced over a period of time, but it's nothing I can't do myself. So, I too gotta dock that one. I would for sure use it without a back-up though since I keep up on all of my gear making sure before-hand it's in top shape.

Never dealt with them before, so I can't say. I'm sure they're great!

I play classic rock, so it's a wonderful match for my style and those P90's sound outstanding through it. I've been playing for 25 years and have been through lots of gear (vintage and modern). I own a Roland Blues Cube 30 1-12 combo, a Vox wah and an Agile Les Paul jr lawsuit copy. I would FOR SURE replace it if it were lost or stolen. To be honest (and this isn't easy for me to say since I'm so critical) I haven't found anything I don't like about it. I actually chose this pedal because I was looking for a volume boost but despise those stupid wah style volume pedals and found out the Dano had a push-button boost. I bought it for that alone and was blown away when I discovered the amazing array of quality tones this thing can produce. The cool sounds I get are very inspiring and I recommend it highly. Boutique sounds at a price anyone can afford.

Reguardless of all of the switches and knobs ( and there are a lot ), this little doodad is pretty intuative. The controls all seem to do exactly what they say and changing tones on stage is quick and relatively painless after you've spent some time getting to know the unit and how it reacts to your different axes.

What a responsive sound! Very natural overdrive and smoooooooth. I generally play archtops ( ES-175, Guild Manhattan etc.) but now own a little strat. It's a very tough, very small backup but compared to an archtop, not much of a guitar.......but wait...... I've actually been using it on a few blues, or classic rock or country gigs( I do a lot of sub work with eight different bands of all types as well as my jazz trio) This little jewel makes playing that strat fun. Fills out the sound in a natural way that I haven't heard before. Now, bear in mind that I running only a trem and echo through the effects loop of diffent all tube amps (410's usually) use monster cables all the way around and NOS tubes and good quality gear will make a BIG difference in the way pedals sound. But for me, who is not much of an fx fan much less a fan of distortion or overdrive. but this thing is great for enhancing the sound without distroying it. Not really into sounding like my favorite guitar players but I think you could get some viable jimmy page sounds and the like.

Have only gigged with it 20 or so times ( only had it a little less than month ) but seems to be tough enough. would NEVER gig w/out a backup, I have to pay rent you know.

A marvelous box. The adjustable boost is great very useful, in fact, That's the best thing I can say about any pedal since most are useLESS for making music and are simply to hide the fact that some people can't play. and that's ok... when I was a kid I had too many boxes too.. everyone starts somewhere... anyway. Very nice piece of work here and definately worth trying.

Way easy to use, controls are labled appropriatley, no freakin' stupid ass names on them, they do what they say.
The manual is okay, it explains the functions of the individual controls but its really not needed, doesnt take a damn rocket scientist to figure it out.

All I can say is shit! This thing is awesome, out with the JuiceBox, out with the TS9, and there goes my RealTube. The Ibanez PDD1 might even come out of the lineup! This box outdoes them all! Sweet ass tones everywhere, really expresses your picking, every little nuance flies out if it, damn best overdrive Ive ever heard. Cant believe it, and I cant turn it off!

This thing will smash a Boss box if you drop it on it, its freakin heavy! The only thing I dont really like is the plastic in/out plugs.
They always seem to wear out over time. Gotta dock it a point for that shit.

I wouldnt know, never tried. My first dano box, but based on this one not the last, just ordered the Rock-A-Bye. Chorus is next.

Every one goes into there setup, not gonna do it, lets just say there are 7 axes, all different, and 5 different amps. It sounds sweet on every damn one of them! The "tail lights" are cool, damn, gotta go play again!

Would have given this a 10 for ease of use, but there are so many options on this pedal, it WILL take some work to get it to do exactly what you want. It is not a plug and play toy. Features include a "Hum- single coil- bypass" switch, a boost function (5 or 10 db), a "blend" knob, and a Eq select knob as well as the usual tone, drive and level knobs. Having said all that, once I did get the sound I wanted, I can now pretty much just leave it and let it go.

My setup is huge, and I use lots of different guitars going to a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12, and a small tube Marshall combo, so versatility is important to me, which is one of the reasons this pedal appealed to me. But even with all the knobs and switches, this is probably the best overdrive pedal I have ever heard. I would stack it up against a old Tube screamer anyday. The drive is warm without being just another weak distortion pedal that calls itself an overdrive. This thing really IS an overdrive. And the nice thing about it is it is very touch sensative. Whether I am using a Strat or Paul, if I dig into the strings, it comes to life, and if I back off, so does the pedal. That is a godsend in that I can just leave it on most of the time and not worry about it (who needs to worry when you on stage). The boost function does exactly what it is supposed to do. But the secret to this pedal is the eq select knob. It can go from "lo-fi" to a mesa like tube sound with a flick of the knob. The only 2 reasons I am not giving this thing a 10 is first, there is a reason they use a sumo wrestler as a logo, this pedal is HUGE so like me, you may have a hard time fitting this thing into a good pedalboard (that and I bet it eats batteries like nobodys business, I use a pedalboard with a power supply so I do not know). The other reason is the "hum-single coil-bypass switch". The manual says it makes up for the weaker output of single coils. That it does maybe too well. I found by engaging the single coil switch that it was TOO loud. So when I use single coils, I place it in bypass mode and turn the level down a bit. Not a huge deal, but a pain when your on stage and switch guitars. The single coil switch can also bring out some noise, but that has always been a fight when dealing with single coils and the volume boost on SC mode just brings it out more, bypass tames that some. Apart from all that, the warmest tube sound I have ever heard in a overdrive.

Built like a tank, I expect no problems there. But time will tell, I just bought it a week ago.

Never dealt with em.

I have played everything from pop to hard rock. Now I am playing in a hip church worship team, so being musically forceful without knocking people over is important, exactly what this pedal does. I leave it on and it gives the clean sounds more body, and if I use my amps distortion, it pushes the tubes harder. If I have a lead, push the "boost" and all the pieces for a great tone are right there. Sweet.