Danelectro Cool Cat CTO-1 Transparent Overdrive

4 knobs, that's perfect for me, I really don't like a lot of knobies. The pedal is stock. Manual is good. Very easy get get good sounds.

o.k. hey everyone.................
I'm using a ,1976 guild M-80,(les paul style, but for this era, it sounds better), heavy, mahogany, not ideal for me , i feather weight. awesome tone.
I ran it through silvertone 1340 (tweed)- which was cool, fender hot rod deluxe (tube)- good, and a crate gx-120 (solid state), and i liked the sound out of the solid state the best for some reason. I have a DOD fx40b equalizer, plugged-straight into the effects loop on the amp, then the cto-1, then an ICBM Fuzz !? (Awesome rams head BigMuff pi) the siamese dream sound i believe, and a behringer vintage delay, and a ,boost r.v.b.(best reverb) almost., behringer ultra vibrato somtimes........... This CTO-1 definatley has a certain Super sweet glassy crunch to it! yes. I've had it for two days now and I found that communication breakdown tone i was looking for , ya know led zeppy............................. This CTO-1 is great for blues!........ baby! It is a
wonderful thick and full with humbuckers. It inspires musically, especialy with open chords?..sounds glassy with a bluesbreaking nature of some kind, It goes to the level that an overdrive sound go. This is better than a 325.oo dollar overdrive.

Looks Ford tough and i would be confident to gig with just one , if i ever get to dig, dang.

I'm sure that they would be helpful.

I was so glad to see one at my local guitar store. I bought it right away with joy, and I plugged it into a peavy tube amp on clean ,with a telecaster my friend ,who is a chemist, was playing. And i turned the pedal all the way up. And so then, my friend ( the chemist and sound geek) said he is in the market for one, when we left. , and he even asked for one at the next guitar store but they didn't have any :( He plays the blues, country, pop, and he can solo like brian, and television. I play indie rock , melodic ambiance, blues, rockabilly, heavy emotional music and i like to go surfing too. Blind lemon Jefferson, blind Willie Johnson. explosions in the sky. This pedal has delivered for me in a very big way. Even though its so small, it does NOT have a small sound , the sound is great with humbuckers. Again, nice and thick when cranked. Sweet!

4 controls:
gain, level, bass and treble.
easy to set up with the exception of treble &bass which a not too easy to set right, it is kinda fiddly.

Setup: guitar, CTO-1, amp.
Tube amp (Randall, Engl, Johnson 2xEL84-amp).
It is not noisy at all, but that is what i expect from a lower gain drive pedal.
the drive effect sounds good when treble an d bass are dialed in right, what can be kinda fiddly. it has lots and lots of trebles, to get a almost neutral setting, you have to turn up bass high and trebles low.
it does sound transparent. the maximal drive level is not too high, and i think the CTO-1 sounds best when very little drive is dialed in.
it has a good output, ideal to boost a tube (pre-)amp.
it does sound very transparent and clear, like the name promises.
all in al a good drive pedal, especially for warmer sounding guitars/amps. if you have a trebly amp and/or guitar, think twice whether the CTO-1 is what you want.

i guess it is reliable. it seems very sturdy and stable.

no idea

i tis no heavy metal pedal, it is no mid-heavy pedal.
it is right when you need a transparent low gain sound with good trebles or if you want to boost a warm sounding tube amp.

As easy to use as any quality OD pedal. Great sound out of the box.

Using this in a Mesa Boogie DC-10 on the clean channel. Quite, sounds great, easy to use. I don't understand why for so little money this thing is so good. I've owned many OD's in the past mostly boutique builders or other sought after vintage pedals. For low overdrive tones this one has the other beat, especially for the price but even if the price was the same I would have chosen this over the others. I have a Xotic AC+ that cost around $250 and though it has more options, the CTO-1 just sounds so much better. I'll wait until the honeymoon is over but I think I'll be selling the Xotic pedal.

It's not all that attractive but it isn't ugly either, not that that made a difference in my decision to buy it. With the quality parts and construction I don't know how they are making any money off or this pedal. I know, volume buying but compared to other pedals at 3x the price and higher it is a true bargain.

Works great for low to medium gain applications which for me has been the most difficult position to fill. For higher gain I use my Crunch Box with is also great.

I give it a seven, only for the fact that the control knobs aren't facing up, towards the player. And, the treble/ bass controls are not two different knobs. Other than that. It's great.

P90 tele compressor> cto-1> Cool cat "Drive"> Univibe> into a Valve jr (modified) and Weber ceramic signature 12".

No hum or hiss when engaged or disengaged. Thank you Danelectro.

I keep the gain low, at about 9 o'clock. I wanted this pedal to add a little amount of grime to my clean sound. And it does exactly that, without sucking ANY of my tone. Even a bit of the chime still comes through without being shrill, at all. I wasn't sure about it's "transparency" when I was doing my research. But, I am now. I did not want any saturation. And, it doesn't.

Seems quite sturdy. Not sure about the pots. But, the case is rugged and the stomp switch seems like it'll hold up. We'll see.....

Not only would I gig with it, I wouldn't gig without it.

Time will tell with this new series of Dan-o pedals. Certainly, the metal is better than their old plastic cases. And, I'm happy that the price point is nearly the same.

Seriously?? Would you expect to return this when you busted a knob by throwing it in the box you take to gigs? Treat it nice and it'll be nice to you.

I play "americana" from Jones to Neil Young. This won't get you Neil. But, it'll give you Big Star and beyond.

Been playing nearly 30 years. I've been waiting for something this inexpensive to add to the lineup.

Easy to figure out but a little less convenient to make EQ adjustments on the fly due to where the knobs are located. Make sure you realize the bass and treble are stacked on one knob.

I use this pedal in front of a FJA Marshall DSL50 and a Vox Night Train. I'm playing my GT HH Fender Tele and Strat with HSS pups. I like how Transparent this is as a boost. With the pedal I get great picking dynamics and response. Guitar roll off is natural and does not diminish sustain until volume is reduced to nothing. I can go from overdrive to clean with roll off and picking lighter. Very responsive.

Out of all my boost pedals it is the only one that makes the Night Train sound better. My other boosts made the NT sound worse. On the Marshall it makes me not want to play the amp without it. Punch, body and percussive thump at volume. Whoa!

True by-pass!

It has out performed the following pedals on both my amps, used as a boost rendering better dynamics and responsiveness without degrading or coloring the amp's tone:
1. Route 808
2. Homebrew Germania
3. HT Dual
4. Boosta Grande
5. Danelectro CO-1 Cool Cat Overdrive
6. Bad Monkey

Pedal is metal and feels solid. Looks great! Time will tell as I have only had it a couple of months.

Haven't used customer support.

I've been playing for 26yrs. I play blues/rock/hardrock and whatever else I feel like playing. This is my go to overdrive and boost pedal. I can see it working with many amps due to its transparency. Its the only boost pedal I can use with my Night Train because it is so finicky with pedals. It lights the Marshall up on the red channel and sounds great on the crunch channel.

For $40 bucks I can't be more turned on by this pedal. This pedal is a blues player's secret weapon when you want to reach for a little more mojo without sacrificing your tone.

Simple lay out. The bass and treble knobs are stacked on top of each other. True by-pass that actually works. Its very easy to get this pedal to sound good with both my amps.

This pedal has ousted my Bad Monkey, Love Pedal Eternity, Boosta Grande, HT Dual and Route 808. I still use those pedals but I use the CTO-1 way more often. It covers alot of ground. True by-pass. It was the only pedal to sound good with my Night Train. What a finicky amp that is when it comes to pedals.

It sounds great with my guitars an HH Tele and a Strat with HSS.

I use the Transparent Overdrive on my Marshall DSL50 boosting the red channel and the crunch. It makes me not like the amps own gain by itself. Guitar volume roll off is natural and the tone stays intact. Its open sounding, doesn't compress like other pedals. It responds to pick attack. Pick lightly and it cleans up. The clarity of the notes while chording is present and again strumming/picking hard or light will make a marked difference.

Solid feeling pedal. Have only had it a few months so time will tell.

Haven't used their customer support yet.

I've been playing for 25yrs. I'm a blues/rock player and this pedal is in my chain always. Its responsiveness and open tone is why I like it so much for the stuff I play. I like it more than my $200 pedals cause it sounds and responds better with my guitars and amps. For $40 do you still need to think about it?

Very easy to use. The treble/bass control is a very nice touch. It allows you to pull out those screaming high notes.

Absolutely great sound, especially when you consider the cost. Compared it to my Boss Blues Driver 2 and the Danelectro won hands-down. Its sound is very natural, while many overdrive pedals have an artificial tone. I am thrilled that I tried this pedal. A friend told me about its You Tube test against the high quality TIMMY overdrive pedal and the Danelectro held it's own against a hand made pedal at 10X the cost!

This is a deal too good to pass up.

Very easy to use . Has a volume ,Split Bass/treble and gain controls
The knobs are placed on top of pedal so you can't knock them with your foot. Some may find hard to adjust. They seem to be backwards. Maybe its me but most pedals turn clockwise. This pedal seems to turn counter clockwise. Like I said maybe its just me.

I use it to boost my signal and overdrive my Fender tube amps. I find it very quiet for an inexpensive pedal.(even with the volume and gain turned up.I can't complain about a thing in the sound quality.

It uses metal parts and casing. so it should last longer than the plastic Fab series.

never dealt with them .

I use to overdrive tube amps so i don't know how it would work on solid state amps. I play blues,country,50s,60's and classic 70's rock.
It isn't a Fulltone or Keeley but your not paying $200+ for it .It delivers a clean overdrive and doesn't color your sound.(thats why I bought it) This is not for metal or Nickelback players.(it won't make your sound get dirty) .It doesn't give you the mid hump like a tubescreamer or boss overdrive.I drive a 57 tweed Fender amp or a 65 Fender blackface with a 50's Telecaster or 60's SG. This pedal is staying on my board and if I lost or damaged it I would buy another right away.

I just get this pedal I have to say it is very, very good. There is no way to get a bad sound out of it. The tone knobs are stacked but that is not really a problem. Having them both set at 12:00 gives excellent results. I purchased this with two other Cool Cat pedals as part of the Cool Cat Pack. Each pedal comes with instructions for all the pedals in the Cool Cat line, the suggested settings were very good and a great starting point.

Using my Strat into a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue I found this pedal capable of retaining the sound of my guitar without colorizing it. The overdrive is excellent especially when used in conjunction with the Cool Cat Vibe pedal, instant Robin Trower. This pedal can hold its own with boutique pedals costing 5 times as much.

Word of warning, this pedal has a lot of gain, it can get really LOUD. You can get more distortion by having the gain and the output wide open. I have the output set to 3:00 and the volume on my amp set to 3 and I still had to use the volume knob to take it down a notch which is not a bad thing. Actually, it responds very well with the guitar's volume knob.

The pedal housing is metal with metal jacks and its true bypass. I can not really see any damage being done to this pedal outside of general stupidity. The activation switch is study.

Have not used it.

I play a lot of types of music from country to surf and this pedal is definitely going on my board. I have a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and a Award Session JD 10 and the Danelectro is the easiest one to get a great sound out of without really trying.

If it was stolen I would definitely get another one.

For $40.00 this pedal does rival more expensive ones, if you get you will definitely be impressed.

The only concern is the stacked treble/bass knob, which is a bit tricky if you need to tweak them in a live situation. Reading the manual is actually quite amusing in contrary to all other manuals I have ever read.

A very quiet pedal even with the treble turned way up. The sound possibility is very broad qua the treble/bass knob. Clarity is king - and here is my input to the transparency discussion: It is my firm belief that the transparency concerns not so much the neutrality of the pedal in colouring the sound as much as the fact that the individual tones ring through amazingly well compared to most other drive pedals, thus transparency = the shining through of the individual tones.

Seems very reliable to me, but on the other hand I never 'stomp' on stomp boxes I engage them with the light touch of my foot. The case and switch seem very sturdy and placing the knobs at the back is probably a very good idea apart from the fact that it's harder to dial in different settings as you go along in a live setting.

Never dealt with Deanelectro even though I have used many of their products (guitars + pedals)

I use the Transparent Overdrive alongside my modded Tube Screamer and the pair of them are a great match! I mainly use Gibsons (LP Deluxe + Melody Maker reissue) and the Transparent Overdrive gives a nice chime to my otherwise 'darker' sound.

I would definitely buy it again if I lost it mainly because it's rediculously cheap and still great sounding - it's a no brainer, really!