Danelectro Cool Cat CV-1 Vibe

3 knobs- The "Mix" knob is like the "Chorus/Vibrato" switch on the original univibe. It allows a smooth transition from chorus to vibrato mode at maximum. "Speed" and "Intensity" are the typical univibe controls and should be self-explanatory.

strat or hamer (humbucker) -> vibe -> assortment of tube amps

Sounds good. Set the intensity high and speed a little low for Trower/Hendrix sounds. With intensity high it gets a nice "wobble", characteristic of vibe sounds. Use lower intensity for Gilmour "Breathe" sound. Very flexible and does everything I expect it to. Not particularly noisy. For more fun, put it on one side of a stereo buss and dial up the mix 100%. Run each side of buss to separate amp. You now have a stereo vibe.

For me, I like the volume bump. Modulation fx can sound too quiet at unity and a little bump helps that. There is a slight delay when you step on the switch. It's annoying but manageable. -2 for the delay.

So far so good. Solidly built and no worries.

N/A

I'm very satisfied with it. I like that it's true bypass and the metal box and jacks are a big improvement over the FAB line. Has a nice vintage sound with slight high freq rolloff- very smooth. When I first brought it home I plugged in my strat into my 100W and played for about 2 hours straight. The pulsating wobble through a 4x12 will make a believer out of you. Only disappointment is the slight delay when switched on, but that's a minor nit. Overall, it's a nice sounding vibe, especially for the price.

The cool cat vibe has 3 controlls:
- intensity controlls the deepness of the vibrating
- speed explains itself
- mix controlls the mix of the vibe with the non-effected signal.
All three controlls do roughly what you expect, it is not too difficult or tricky to dial in a sound you like, so i rate it 8 of ten. ten of ten would be that almost each setting sounds great, what is not the case with the dano vibe.

Setup: guitar, dabo vibe, amp. Diverse guitars (Les Paul, Fat Strat, PRS rip-off, SG clone), diverse tube amps (Engl, Randall).
The cool cat vibe is not very noisy.
Dialed in right it delivers a pleasant vibe sound. Danelectro write "trippy", and yes, it can deliver trippy sounds. Dano write "swampy", and yes, it sounds kinda swampy, maybe because it slightly thickens the tone and cuts of some trebles and presences, but not too much.
Even with a warmer sounding LP the vibe effect does sound pleasant to my ears. I'd rate the vibe effect quality between 8 and 9, if there were no ttwo problems.
First problem: it boosts the signal as soon as you activate the effect via footswitch. The boost starts without delay.
Second problem: the effect itself starts with a dely of about two seconds after you kicked the footswitch.
These two problems make that i hardly use the vibe.

it seems reliable, but i do not use it often enough to rate the reliability.

no idea.

nice sounding vibe effect, but i hardly can use it because of the two probs i described above. therefor i can't rate it higher as 4 of ten.
to make it useable for me i'd need a loop pedal with controllable level to activate the vibe effect without delay and boost, and that is too much effort to me ...

When I bought it, just after Christmas, I could hardly get any vibe from it at all. I read on HC that there is a trimmer inside. I found and tweaked up the trimmer and glory be, it sprung into life. Easy enough to use but I found some cross over of the controls eg they were not intuitive to use. Moreover, turning down one of the controls the effect increased. Set and forget I suppose....

It has a reasonable enough vibe sound but only having tried both this and the vibe setting on a Yamaha DG Stomp, I don't feel qualified to be drawn any further on the sound quality. Back ground noise is a little high for my liking. You can hear the oscillators pumping with no input signal and that's on a very quiet and fully screened guitar.

Unfortunately for the reliability score, it croaked after about 30 minutes of use. Guess what, the tweak of the trimmer wipes out the warranty. I stripped it down again and removed the (burnt out) lamp. The DVM showed about 5 volts on the lamp pad of the circuit board and it did not vary when I tweaked the trimmer.
I bought a batch of ten grain of wheat lamps from eBay and soldered one in. After a brief hiccup with a badly seated circuit board connector it worked again. I set the illumination of the pulses on the lamp to be just barely visible and all is OK again. Can't figure out why the trimmer varies the brightness of the pulsed lamp and yet does not vary the voltage, hey ho, who cares, it's working now and I have nine spare lamps that should see me out!

"If you've tweaked the trimmer, maybe like me because the wretched thing didn't work straight out of the box, you've got zilch warranty. Go figure. I can't run down the customer support since I didn't bother to try them out. If I hadn't tweaked it, it would have gone straight back!

Who said that it had a really rugged switch? Get outta here.
It is a puny little affair. It FEELS rugged but that's only the action of the pedal. This is no MXR type switch guys and gals. Internally, it is flimsy and value engineered to the Nth degree. This is not a criticism, you get what you pay for and this is el cheapo.
I'm going to suggest that you view the purchase of a Dano box as money that could be pumped into, for argument's sake, a MicroVibe or whatever. I don't think that you'd regret going down the quality route. I'd never rely upon it now.

Easy to use.

3 knobs for:

-Mixing in the effect
-Speed
-Intensity

Am Fender Strat->BigMuff->Slash signature Wah->BossNS-2->Barber Tonepress->HBE Germania Treble Booster->TS-9->Cool Cat->Fender Blues Deluxe

It's not noisy at all, but obviously if you have noise or hissing earlier in your signal chain, this will get "vibed" and sound bad when you're not playing.

Pedal Sounds good to me! For $35 bucks: Go get this sound.

-I turn up the speed a bit and use it as a substitute for a phaser for funk music.

-You can get your Hendrix-type vibe with this.

-You can run it at lower settings to put some more texture into your tone; use it more transparently.

-Playing with this, a delay, and some feedback can get you cool over-the-top oscillating sounds.

It takes a moment to kick in once you step on it, but this is less than a second.

It does raise your volume considerably. This was mildly problematic, because in tandem with my compressor, it's apparently JUST enough of a volume increase to make my amp break up a little while trying to play clean at the volume I like to. You might have to re-adjust some levels depending on your taste.

If you're worried about disparate volume levels b/w having it on or off: why not just leave it on all the time and turn the mix all the way to dry when not using it? Just a thought.

I don't find it colors my tone at all, but it's hard to tell with the up and down sweep, maybe it makes it a bit darker? So happy with this pedal, I have it on ALOT, it gets an 8.

What sets this pedal series aside from other Danalectro pedals, is

1.) Solid metal casing
2.) True Bypass

haven't had the pleasure

I'm giving this a 10 overall, because it sounds so good for the price, there's literally no reason not to own it.

Look at other vibe pedal options, they're so expensive, and really no better sounding than this until you break the $250 level.

True Bypass! True Bypass! So key. Highly recommend this one.

The mix knob throws some people, I think. At about half way, it's a vibe, and full mix, it's a vibrato. Really easy to figure out if you play with the knobs for minute.

This has tons more "throb" and/or "warble" than my newly departed Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe. Nuff said. Effects the general eq range, just like any other vibe. I read someone said it rolls of their high end. I find that it accentuates the high-mid frequencies a bit.
Yes, there is a perceived volume boost for the first second that it takes for this effect to kick in. Not a problem to work around for me.

Been great for the few months I've had it. But then, all my effects hold up well, except for anything Electro Harmonix. :)

Dunno

Play all styles from clean n pretty to heavy n crazy, with blues, rock and hard rock being the main deal. This pedal has lots of uses, great for getting those classic rock favs, and pretty cool to augment your clean tone when used sparingly. I'd buy this again for sure.

Three knobs, not the least overwhelming... Like all pedals, it does take some time to set it to the sound you hear in your head, but once you do I'm sure you will be very pleased. A 10 would be something like a guitar lead, something idiot proof.

Tokai explorer or Charvel super strat into roland DC-50 > Boss GE-10 > modulation fx > old MXR D+ > Marshall master lead combo 30w. The only time I get noise is when I use the overdrive, so if I engage the vibe with a clean amp it doesn't add noise. I tend to run modulation before dirt as I prefer the subtleness this offers yet the vibe it sound great in either position!

I own mostly Roland/Boss products and they have the reputation of being near indestructible and this pedal feels pretty damn close in weight. It has a super strong 3PDT switch so its true bypass (nice) and has very sturdy jacks and Boss style 9v jack. I confident this would hold up to the riggers of playing live.

Comes with a warranty...

For the price you really can't beat it. True bypass, metal case, nice bright blue LED, decent battery compartment and a 9v jack all add up to a great pedal. I own quite old pedals (MXR '78 phase 90, '80 D+ and 6 band EQ, Japanese Boss GE-10, PH-1R and BF-2, Ibanez DFL and CSL) due to the build quality and their sound and tend to steer clear of reissues and new pedals. The exception is a reissue Russian Big Muff and now the Vibe which reminds me... I haven't put the two together yet!

2 knobs. Easy.
Cheap but, for that $, reasonable for occasional vibe tone. Can do Trower pretty well.

See above

This is why I wrote the review. I have many Cool Cat products and think some of their overdives are fantastic. Duplicate my Visual Sound gear (now sold!) at less than 1/3 the price. They seem reliable.
But...this stopped working the first day and, since I fix things myself, I opened it up. Several components were not even soldered to the PC board. I'm not talking bad solder joints...I'm talking NO solder joints.
Fixed them and it works fine now. But beware.

See above. Didn't use them. But the web site has a very nicely done contact section to get in touch with any issue.
Even an email link to "Marcy" who supposedly will make any customer service issue right.

The pedal itself is pretty easy to use, and is capable of producing very subtle effects as well as very noticable ones, and some very nice ones at that. Start with the mix knob at 12'oclock and maybe push it back a little. The placement of the knobs isn't ideal, but on this model without those dual knobs I didn't find it a big problem.

The challenge with this pedal is integrating it in your setup. It's quite picky about what is put in front of it. I tried it after my old Guvnor pedal, and it sounded quite awful. The volume boost everybody mentions is A LOT more prominent when you have pedals active in front of it. So try before you buy, on your own setup.

I ended up with this chain: Fender Strat - VIBE - compressor - guvnor - booster - volume pedal - delay - VOXac15. I usually keep my compressor on when using my strat, and this helps smooth out the vibe effect as well, even though the boost isn't very prominent when placed first in chain. The effect is more noticeable on clean sounds than overdriven sounds. It's easy to get a lot of very nice sounds on this pedal, set it to slow speed and quite high intensity and play "Breathe" or that "Shine on you crazy diamond"-four-note thing :) Or turn up the speed and you get a leslie thing going, try the solo on "Let it be" fx. Turning the intensity and maybe the mix knob down makes for some great subtle effects, that works great on solos or some slow chords. It does warm the sound a bit, or steal some treble if you like, but my setup is pretty bright as it is, and I didn't find it a problem, if anything it made my bridge pickup more useful for solos.

It does take a second or two to "ramp up" the effect, but I actually thought that was kinda cool.. Even better if it had slowly went off as well, actually! Some people hate this, so you have to try it and figure out if you like it or not.

Metal casing, metal jacks, the control feels nice. It's hard to tell without using it for a while, but it sure look and feel as sturdy as my old 70's boxes. We'll see in 30 yrs :)

This effect isn't essential for me, so I won't bring a backup, but I'm not worried it's gonna break either.

Have not dealt with the company, I wish they were more common for sale here in Norway, and that they had more info/samples on their website though.

If you can live with the sideeffects in your setup, this is a great pedal for the price. It has a lot of fun sounds in it, easy to find something that works and even more exiting when you manage to find the more subtle stuff.

I'd wish it wasn't so picky about chain placement, but at least it isn't hard to choose where to put it..

I prefer to play classic rock and pink floyd-ish stuff and for this it's a great match.

Also, kudos for Danelectro for including a battery with the pedal, even though this one really needs a power supply because of the large current draw. Still, it's a nice gesture.

I'd gladly recommend this pedal to anyone looking for a Vibe pedal on the cheap, but TRY before you buy, with your own setup!

Very easy to get good sounds out of the CV-1. Three knobs adjust 1) wet/dry mix, 2) speed and 3) intensity. I put it near the front of the signal chain, where it sounds best to my ear: guitar->vintage wah->CV-1->Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz->etc.->amp

Custom Shop '69 Strat, Fender Princeton Reverb and a pile of other stuff all sound good with the CV-1. I think together with the Axis Fuzz, this pedal is very bright sounding, which allows me to roll off the volume and tone and manage the chaos from the guitar's controls. I like that a lot.

From the moment you switch it on, it takes a whole second before the effect is heard. That's because the internal lamp is not constantly lit. I suppose this saves batteries, but it bugs some people. Not me. There is also a perceived volume boost when the pedal is switched on. Again, no biggie for me because I almost always have this pedal on anyways. I like it that much.

Depending on where the CV-1 is in your signal chain, it can make the breathing noise typical of most vibes. Nothing unusual for this type of effect, especially considering that it uses an actual bulb and optical sensors, just like the original univibe.

Where you place it in the signal chain has everything to do with how it behaves. Experiment.

Haven't had it long enough to say. But mine was second hand and has held up well to my abuse.

This is my first and only Dano. I tend towards vintage and boutique pedals, but I was amazed at the sound of the CV-1 and just had to give it a try. I also really like its size. Why can't all vibes be this pedal board friendly? The price is a steal. You'll have a hard time beating this pedal, at any price.

It is easy to find good sounds.
Features: see reviews below.

The effect soudn is very good imho.
It has almost all you can want from a vibe pedal.
One smaller minus: it steals a little bit of treble sparkle. But it sounds good anyway.

two larger cons:
it takes about one or two seconds until the effect starts. Very anoying.
Even worse: it adds a volume boost. And the volume boost takes effect before the effct starts to work.
Therefor this pedal is hardly useable for me, what is a shame because it sounds really fine.

No idea, but it seems reliable

No idea.

Fantastic vibe sound for a low price with three minuses.
I can live with the minus of "slightly less trebes".
But I can't live with the volume boost it creates and i can't live with the delay the effect takes to work, especially because the boost has no delay.
First i sent it back because i though tthe delay and boost was a defect.
I soon got a second one (i checked they didn't send me back my prvious one) and it has the same problems (at a slightly lower level of unwanted boost).

I guess some can live with the boost, but the delay is no-go in my humble opinion.

The MIX knob results in confusing behaviour (to me..), cause it does not just mix but also changes the effect. Speed is speed and intensity is intensity.

At first: with the effect on the signal will get louder in a unacceptable way. I dislike the sound, to me it does not sound kind of organic, i start to feel uncomfortable kind of being out of balance.. not rotating at all but .. well, nope. with speed being adjusted lowest the effect is not really there.

It feels good. Metal case, heavy foot switch..

Never dealt with them.

Not really usable to me, cause the changing signal strenght with effect ON/OFF. Price is good, so what you pay you will get.

Very straightforward. The manual gives 3 sample settings that are decent starting places. I find it's best to keep the "Mix" in the middle, and then trim it back more toward the dry signal if you want it more subtle. It doesn't sound right when it's all, or mostly, wet. Which I think makes sense, since the effect gets it sound by the clash/variance in the dry and effected guitar sound.

The controls are smooth and have a great range of adjustment. I did open it up to change the trim pot for "Intensity" to give it more movement in the lighter range. I often have the Mix and Intensity in the 2 o clock range and rarely use the intensity maxed out, so i wanted more sweep in the lighter settings. It still allows for more intensity than I'd probably use when maxed out.

I give it a 10 for sound, because it lives up the company literature. "Organic, Swampy, Trippy". Exactly what I want in a Vibe. Also, I only use true bypass pedals because I use my straight tone so much. Too many times I've been recording and wondering why the guitar part sounds so muddy...only to realize..."oh I'm still plugged in through the Wah that I used on the last track". I hear it in my live rig too.

I like Vibe because it gives the aspects of modulation I've wanted from Chorus, Flange, and Phase pedals without all the cheese. It definitely colors the tone in a warm way, but it isn't muddy and still sounds like your guitar.

These are the Danelectro pedals I've ever considered buying, due to the metal casings and true bypass. (I also have the Tremolo). The controls are smooth and sturdy.

No rating for now, but I expect it to last as long as any high quality effect.

I like that Danelectro has sound samples on their website, but they aren't that good at showcasing the pedals range of sounds. I chose the CV-1 mostly due to the excellent video review by the guy at Dolphin Street.

Aside from overdrive and analog delay, tremolo is about the only effect I like a lot and use. Other modulations take too much from my sound. But the Cool Cat vibe fits in great with my sound by allowing me more extreme modulation, without overpowering my tone.

***I mostly wrote this review to address the two criticisms out there for this pedal: the volume boost, and the delay in the effect activating after hitting the switch. These are actually the same problem***

Like the Tremolo, there is a volume boost built into the effect to counteract the perceived volume loss due to the modulation. Since the effect starts a full two seconds after switching it on, initially all you hear is the volume boost. Here's how you can tell...play your guitar, with on the pedal. Note the volume boost. Once the effect starts, strum some chords then switch the pedal off while still strumming, you'll hear that your dry tone isn't any quieter than the effected volume.

So basically once the effect starts, there is no volume boost. I realized this while testing the sound when I was adjusting the trim pot.

I'd rather there was no delay, so I'm giving the pedal an 8. Basically because I would replace the pedal if someone came out with a pedal with the same sound and price that didn't have the delay. But I can work around it, and sometimes it's helpful (minus the boost) having the delay. Like if there's a part where I want to switch on the Trem and Vibe at the same time. It's always 2 seconds, I can hit the vibe early and only have the one pedal to hit at the actual song change.

But overall an amazing value and there's nothing about the sound itself that leaves me looking at other vibes. I got a great deal on a new one.

Very easy to be satisfied instantly. You can daydream or be dizzy in a heartbeat. Comes with basic manual and sample settings. Go wild and go crazy.

Using a few Tom Anderson guitars, along with PRS, Stratocaster,Les Paul, and Danelectro. Works well with all. Wide speed range, which gives variety of modulation. Old swamp chorus sounds give you that "feel good" thing. Hendrix and Trower are there at a turn. The is a small volume boost but is cool if you want this effect to be heard and not lost in the mix.

I have had a few of the smaller plastic Dano pedals on and of my pedalboard at various time, and have not had any problems. This medal bom shell is a great addition to exploring new and old sounds we grew up with. The true bypass works good and is strong for gigs. When needed, this sound is there. Thats a good pedal.

Have talked with the Dano people at the NAMM show. Very nice and professional. Great people with a great product!

I'm a worship leader at our church. Music can be from hymm to rock, to country (sometimes). We incorporate different sounds and effects when needed. I've been playing for 35 years. My amps are Dr.Z and Mesa Boogie. Guitars are Tom Anderson (2), PRS CE 24, Gibson Les Paul, Fender Strat, Danelectro U-2, and McPherson acoustic. Too many pedals and effects. They change alot. If lost/stolen, I'd get another Vibe. Wishes for this pedal would be a volume knob, but work around it.

Pretty easy to use. Three pots and an internal trim pot that they don't mention in the manual. (Dano is really bad about that). Not difficult to get a good sound. The internal trim pot controls the brightness of the lamp, the basis for the effect, and therefore the intensity of the effect. I wish there was a regular volume knob instead of, or in addition to the mix knob. Depending on where you put it in your chain there can be a volume boost, but only a slight one.

Tried it with my Epiphone LP through my Crate V Series 5112. The sound is very organic and vintage vibe. It's definitely an improvement over the Chicken Salad, which I also own. The speed range is greater, allowing for faster modulation, which is the main reason I started looking for another vibe over the CS. Between the mix, speed and intensity you can get most vibe sounds from it, even some primitive chorus sounds as well. Nice and smooth not harsh. Having said that it does add a bit of a sparkle to the top end.

Just bought it, but it seems better built than most other Dano effects. Finally a major manufacturer is starting to put 3PDT switches in their effects for True Bypass.

Never dealt with them.

I play a lot of classic rock influenced alt-rock. This pedal adds a new dimension to my playing. It's a great little pedal. I'd replace it as soon as possible if it was lost or stolen. This is probably the best vibe you'll find for under $60.

Easy - 3 knobs and 1 switch. The knobs are clearly labeled on the top of the pedal, but are located on the back. So you can't tweak them while playing (not a big deal to me).

There's a simple little manual included. It actually coveres all of the Cool Cat pedals. They all look pretty easy to use.

I'm using it with a Fender Strat or Epiphone SG through either a Fender Champ or Lab Series L5 amp. It sounds good with any combination of guitar and amp, but like most vibes, I think it likes single coil pickups better.

It does the typical Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower and David Gilmour vibe sounds well. It works well before or after distortion. The speed goes from very slow to very fast.

My favorite vibe used to be the Dano Chicken Salad (an amazing little hunk of cheap plastic). But I did an A/B test, and this one sounds better. The Cool Cat's high-end sounds a little more detailed to me. I've also tried the Rocktron Vertigo Vibe, Dunlop Univibe reissue and Rotovibe. The Cool Cat sounds as good, if not better than all of them. I'm sure a Fulltone or other boutique vibe may sound better, but I'm not about to spend the $200 - $300 to find out.

Now for the nitpicking. . . First, there's a split-second pause from when you hit the switch to when the effect kicks in. Not long, but it's noticable. Second (and worse), it boosts the volume when it's on. This bugs me. I find myself unconsciously reaching for the guitar's volume knob when I turn it on. It's an effect that stands out. It doesn't NEED a volume boost. So I'm docking it 2 points for these quirks. But don't get me wrong, the vibe effect itself is great.

Well. My old plastic Dano vibe has held up for a few years now. The new one has a metal case, so I'm expecting it to last.

Dano has made a big deal about the true bypass switching on the Cool Cats. I'm not a fanatic about true bypass, BUT the switch feels very solid. It takes some pressure to push it (unlike the old Dano switches that felt limp). And it makes a very solid-sounding click (like an EH pedal).

I'm probably not going to gig with it. My gig setup is a Pod XT live through a tube power amp and 4x12 cab. I don't like to mess with individual pedals on stage. But I have a bunch of analog pedals at home that I record with. And this is going to have a place of honor in that setups.

NA

I've been playing for over 20 years, and have used everything from pro gear to the cheapest imaginable junk. (Kay pedals, anyone?)

This pedal sounds as good or better than any vibe I've tried, and looks like it will hold up. If it were lost or stolen, I could get by with my trusty old Chicken Salad vibe. But I'm thrilled Dano finally decided to upgrade their pedals with heavy-duty cases.

It loses points for the slight delay and volume boost, but for my purposes, they don't matter much.