Danelectro Cool Cat CC-1 Chorus

Every knob on this pedal is very powerful! It made the pedal incredibly versatile.

My only gripe is the accesibility of the stacked knobs. (mix/eq)

First i would like to mention some of the chorus pedals that disappointed me. CE-5 (to digital sounding), ibanez cs9 (too processed & has an annoying volume boost), small clone (to strong but ain't versatile)

I've never owned such a great chorus until i bought this cool cat chorus. I can make it sound like a boss (but better) & also make it sound like the sound of ehx small clone (again, but much better).

Extremely versatile! Clean or distorted, it sounds like a $200 chorus to me.

I'd use it without a backup. Metal jacks, 3pdt switch. This is like boutique quality yet priced cheaper than boss.

I'm proud of the designer of this cool cat chorus, whoever he is - he really have a good taste in tone!

This is the relatively new Dano Cool Cat CC-1 chorus, the blue pedal...

The controls do a lot but they're small and kind of a pain to deal with, especially the stacked mix/eq control. The manual is useful for getting you started on different settings and explains the pedal pretty well (i.e. the eq is only active when the mix is not at zero, i.e. you can't use this as an eq pedal without any chorus engaged).

I'm using this with my 1986 Gibson LP Studio Custom. I mainly use it on the clean channel of my Peavey Ultra Plus head. I use it in the loop of the amp after my Pod XT Live and before a Dano EQ pedal.

It sounds wonderful. Thick and lush on the clean channel. Exactly what I was looking for. It is a LOT better than any of the chorus sounds on the POD XT live (but the XTL's chorus sounds are not it's strong suit).

It reminds me of the built in chorus in my old Marshall VS265R which was a damn good chorus, amazingly so on a valvestate Marshall. The cool cat sounds better than that one for what I use it for but it also is a lot more versatile.

Like I said above the controls do a lot... this thing can get pretty extreme. I don't use it that way but if you want wacky pitch shifting warbly type of sounds (non musical in my opinion).

I usually use the pedal on clean tones but it also does a great job of giving you the 80's "hair metal" chorused distortion sounds (which I don't really like but it does this well).

It's not noisy at all and I don't even notice an noise when I turn on the pedal, it's true bypass.

Seems very reliable, well built and solid. If it broke I'd use the POD as a backup if necessary but I'm not worried about the cool cat crapping out on me. I haven't had it for too long so I have to give an "N/A" on this one.

Never dealt with them.

This is a great value. Well built great sounding chorus pedal for 50 bucks. It's pretty versatile as far as chorus pedals go, you can get quite a few sounds out of it. It can get pretty extreme pretty quickly with the settings so don't think you have to max anything out. Use your ears.

I've been playing for over 25 years. If it were lost or swiped I'd grab another one in a second.

Definately helps the music (we do classic rock covers) and everyone said they loved the tone at practice last night.

The stacked concentric pots are a real pain to manipulate. I wouldn't think of trying to change the settings on the stacked pot on the fly, so in this aspect I think that the 'ease of use' suffers. Although, the stacked controls are for the mix/eq which are the least likely to be changed on the fly anyway. Other than that, it is easy, even intuitive, to use.

This thing gets some great sounds. It is possible to achieve everything from a barely there sparkle to a Leslie type pulse. the chorus itself can be lush and 3d, or barely discernable, it is up to the user. The pedal is extremely quiet, and doesn't color the tone any more than you want it to. I'm not a huge chorus fan, and I use it sparingly, but I LOVE this pedal.

So far, so good.

Never had the need.

I've been playing for 20+ years, and I've seen choruses come and go. This is probably the first one that I would replace should it get stolen. I can't find anything that it lacks for what I do (regularly gigging bar/covers band, 1 to 2 gigs per weekend). It is even more amazing when you consider the price point. Great pedal.

Four knobs: mix, eq, speed, depth. The mix and eq are sorta "layered", both knobs one on top of the other. That makes it difficult to turn one without turning the other. Also, all the knobs are on the back of the unit, so it's hard to see where they are set, and hard to adjust them without picking the whole thing up off the floor and tilting it toward you.
Having said that, it's super easy to get a good sound out of it. Keep the mix at 50% for standard chorus, or turn it to 100% wet if you want a vibrato effect. The eq is actually a high end cut for the effect only -- if you have the mix at 50%, the eq won't affect your dry sound, only the wet sound. Since it's a high end cut, 100% is actually flat -- lower it to cut the high end for the effected signal, especially if you're looking for a warmer, more vintage chorus sound. Then adjust the speed and depth to taste. Warning, though -- if the speed it too high, it won't have time to move through the whole depth, so you might as well leave the depth at half or lower if you want the speed way up high.

Great! I'm actually using it for my bass, to get some classic alternative rock bass sounds -- Joy Division, Magazine, Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, etc. I keep the mix at 50%, the eq between 75% and 100%, the speed between 50% and 75%, and the depth around 50%. Perfect! No noticable noise or hiss. True bypass, but with very little "pop" when turned on and off.

So far so good, though I haven't owned it long, so I can't say over the long run. I don't play out anymore, but I wouldn't have any reservations about doing so. Metal construction, sturdy plastic knobs.

Dunno, haven't dealt with them.

Very glad I bought it, well worth the price, and way cheaper than other pedals that aren't significantly better. Highly recommended.

Pretty easy to get a good tone with this. I really dig the mix function and the tone knob!!

My biggest gripe with my previous chorus was that it sounded harsh. The Cool Cat is very smooth. I was going to get the modded Arion but when I got this I knew I had what I needed. I run this in a wet/dry/wet setup with various overdrives, wah, whammy, volume pedal, a TC Nova Delay and some compression. I power it with a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2. It can get that nice 80's lush Landau type of sound.

Has been pretty bullet proof so far. I have gone to countless rehearsals with it as well as numerous gigs. It has not failed me yet.

easy enough

3 Controls :

DEPTH: controls the intensity of the chorus and interacts with the speed control in such a way that slower speed settings can take higher depth settings ; as speed increases, depth may need to be reduced, unless you want a detuned effect

SPEED: controls the speed of the chorus, but you need to have the depth control set higher than zero

MIX/EQ: again, a stacked control
The inner control adjusts the mix (it goes to 100% wet !)
Lowering the Mix control makes the chorus effect more subtle, raising the Mix control takes the sound toward vibrato.
Tthe outer control adjusts the chorus EQ, it adjusts the tone of the chorus only, leaving your dry signal unaffected. Sort of like a high frequency roll off. If the chorus sounds too metallic, this can be sorted by turning the EQ control

???3D shimmer and swirl???

Now, chorus is the effect I usually hate
I only use the warbly Provibe chorus on my Foxrox CC-2 sparingly, I even found the CE-2 too metallic sounding, and used an EHX Small Clone for a while but always thought it was too much, could only stand it with distortion, but it always sounded too over the top,
For a while I also used a Pearl F-605, because it could do over the top chorus sounds. I kind of gave up on chorus pedals, if needed, I rely on my EHX Stereo Memoryman.

Now this Coolcat chorus has a nice color though
Plug it in and setting all controls to 12 o???clock exactly reminds me why I hate chorus.
It???s that metallic, classic chorus sound, a sound I profoundly hate.
I don???t think this pedal is for me ??? I just turn the controls all the way up and I???m getting a wacky, spaced out detuned sound, there should be a law against it ???
Sick

I never had a chorus pedal that made such an extreme sound (I admit I never tried the Pefftronics Rand-o-Matic, not even an EHX Polychorus) ???
Interesting too

So I was curious to hear it with all the controls set to minimum, which doesn???t make sense, but it was a good starting point, I found a couple of useful rhythm sounds that I could stand, as long as depth was below 10 o???clock and speed no higher than 11, the EQ all the way down and mixing in the effect gently, about 11 o???clock already was too much for me, and there I found myself actually enjoying it ???

In the manual, there also is a settings for vibrato and rotating speaker sounds and those are useful, the vibrato is still relatively fast at slowest setting, and I really had to sit down for a minute and finetune the depth vs. speed ratio, but all of a sudden I found the soft spot and got that spinning leslie sound
Well not really, but pretty convincing though
Actually nice
Useful
hmmm, I still hate chorus
but the EQ/mix control on this pedal makes a whole world of difference

I???ll have to play this one some more, also still need to try it with distorted sounds, I did not find a warbly Univibe sound setting

onlmy had it for a week, but it seems roadworthy

great service

Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package
For the Coolcat Series, again they rely on the retro vintage style
The Coolcat pedals come in a colorful cardboard box with a pic of the pedal,
the new Coolcat logo, a vignette with the silhouet of a head, bit like James Dean
I think there must be at least 7 different typefaces used on the box alone
Hmmm, interesting Dano Facto
On the box it says
???When was the first guitar effect pedal invented ?
It may well have been in 1950, when Danelectro introduced the Danelectro ???Echo Box???, a compact reverb unit???

I did not know that.

Inside the box is the pedal, in bubble wrap
A fold out manual, English only, that covers the entire Coolcat series.
It???s a well written manual, it starts with an overview of features common to all Coolcat models, and then it goes on to explain all the controls and all the features of each Coolcat pedal in detail, and some useful and entertaining sample settings are given as well.

Also, in the box is a warranty card for a 12 month limited warranty
3 swags
and a thumbnail size foldout color catalog with all the Coolcat pedals and Danelectro guitars

then the pedal also is a bit funny looking, oddly shaped, a bit of an old bakelite shaver and a seashell, I did not like it at first glance, but it doesn???t bother me either
these are compact sized pedals, the housing and bottom lid are made of metal, probably cast iron, light as a feather
bright blue on/off status LED in the middle
kind of tacky adhesive label
what appear to be silkscreened labels for the controls
on top of the pedal are the controls, not too close to one another, black ribbed plastic knobs with a white marker,
in and output jacks are where they should be, made of metal as well and the familiar Boss style adapter jack
Bottom has rubber and a plastic battery compartment with a plastic battery cover and a wrapped Danelectro 9V battery inside, which is nice.
The lid of the battery cover is also made of plastic, looks like it could break easily.

One of the acclaimed features of the Coolcat pedals is that they have true bypass switching. It???s an integrated little lid on the front that triggers a 3PDT switch underneath, the switch itself is fitted on a separate little circuit board. When you stomp the lid, you???ll hear the distinct click of the familiar 3DPT switch. Actually, you really have to put your foot down to engage the switch.

In conclusion, I???m not too excited about the shape, but it doesn???t put me off either, what???s more important, the design is functional, the controls feel right, the build quality seems solid, I feel the urge to peel off the silly label, but why should I bother, it???s the sound that matters.