Danelectro Cool Cat Series CO-1 Drive

The Cool Cat drive is easy to use but not quite as straight forward as a pedal with the knobs on top. It will seem like second nature after a while though. I had all the fab's and that kind of got me to grips with the position of the knobs. After it is set you more than likely won't be accidently kicking the volume or tone as they are totally out of the way. Typical volume, tone and gain, fair enough.

This is where the pedal really shines, nice fat tight bass it's crunchy and smooth at the same time. The tone control has a great range to suit most any amp. This pedal remains articulate and responsive even with the gain maxed out, it seems to have a certain presence that I am not getting with my other pedals. I have read other reviewers state that it seems a bit on the Marshall tone side and I have to agree. I have paid upwards of $200.00 on pedals that do not sound this good. Some reviewers compare this with the OCD. I have a version 1 OCD and am very familiar with it ( it has been on my board for years.) I have done the A/B test with the two pedals and while they do sound different they are in the same ballpark. The odd thing is I really don't know which one I like better! I am almost leaning towards the CoolCat. I am playing through a Genz Benz El'Diablo combo (tube amp.) I am amazed at the tone this pedal delivers, I really never expected to give a $24.00 pedal a 10 but I have to. It is staying on my board! by the way.. it's quiet too!

My only experience with Dan Electro has been with the older Fab effects, I had 4 or 5 of them and kept them for over a year with no problems or issues of any kind. This pedal is an upgrade from the plastic enclosure of the Fab's so I expect no problems. My pedals and gear are not gigged but used at home in a recording enviroment.

Never having had to deal with them I do not feel I should score this.

My style of music is instrumental rock. Been playing guitar for over 40 years. I have had tons of effects ( all the old classics ) and still have about 30 pedals. I would without a doubt purchase this again. The sound of this pedal inspires me to play. I stacked the Cool Cat with with the OCD (in that order) both at medium gain and tone controls about one third up and a whole new lead tone was born! At this point it went into distortion territory but quiet and articulate. I also have on my pedalboard a stock DS1 and Exotic BB The OCD, Barber LTD silver an MXR distortion and a Digitech Hardwire overdrive and now the Cool Cat. I do tone stacking and there is a reason each one is there. The CO1 is a great pedal!

Three controls Drive, Volume and Tone. Couldn't be easier. The manual is helpful.

Exceptional. You have to realize this is an overdrive, not a distortion although at it's maximum it's distorted alright but more in the overdriven tube vein, not buzzy maximum metal drive.

You can use this as a straight volume boost and it has an amazing amount of boost available. Quarter up is loud. Then you can add the edge to your tone with the Drive. It doesn't throw everything into the mids like a lot of distortion pedals. This keeps the full frequency response and boosts them all. It's quite addicting!

This is the newer Cat series with metal housings and jacks and a true bypass. It seems rugged. We'll see. If not, no big deal. It was very cheap to buy.

I tried to e-mail these people with a concern I had on a previous Danelectro pedal, I forget which. Never got a response. I don't think they're the easiest to get hold of. I don't know how you pay a staff with the cost of these pedals.

I've been playing since Methuselah. All styles. This is a welcome addition to my pedal board. I get the hard Marshall like distortion from my amplifier. This covers territory room clean to overdriven. Outrageous gain.

Simple to use but the knobs are hard to see. Fortunately they have a tactile indicator so you can feel where they are set.

How does it sound? Let me put it this way. I have a Fulldrive 2 Mosfet and an Xotic BB Plus which are in their boxes because the only pedal I use for overdrive is the DRIVE. IT is very direct and present. It cleans up well without losing volume, and the leads are clear and articulate.

The look of it is a bit crappy, and the knob placement is poor. The sound and response is terrific. I have owned a Barber Custom SS, Fulltone OCD both of which I sold. I currently have a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and an Xotic BB Plus which are sitting unused in their boxes.

I have tried other Cool Cats. The Chorus, Vibe, Transparent Overdrive and Distortion. I didn't care for any of those but the DRIVE is a killer pedal.

Simple three knob setup.

I bought the cool cat drive after seeing it A/B'd next to two versions of the Fulltone OCD on a youtube video. The cool cat drive sounded similar enough and at 24 dollars it seemed like a bargain. It's not made of the same quality components as any OCD but that's alright by me. Before buying it I had been using a Rat 2 Boss Sd-1 and an EH Little Big Muff for my overdriven sounds with a Gretsch 5120 and a Fender Tele into a Sunn Concert Lead Half Stack. The cool cat replaced the Rat and the Little Big Muff as my main distortion(i know they're very different pedals and they're good at what they do but my tastes have been changing). With the gain down and the volume at a reasonable level you can get a nice boost, turning up the gain gives you a nice punchy overdrive and with the gain fully cranked you get a nice crunchy full overdrive. Someone on a forum described the cool cat drive as sounding more like a british sounding distortion (marshall) than the red cool cat distortion and I have to agree. With the gain cranked you do get a crunch reminiscent of a Marshall amp. As of late I've been listening to a lot of music by the Canadian hard core band Fucked Up and when i saw them live one of the three guitarists was using a Marshall amp (probably a JCM 800) with no other effects besides a mxr phaser, the cool cat drive gives me a similar sound, just enough gain for downstroking and strumming but it retains a lot of note definition.

Danelectro has made some very great improvements over their last few lines of pedals. There's a detailed online article on how to rehouse all the cool cats if you don't like their enclosure, and i was tempted to do this and even went as far as opening it up and didn't see anything inside that worried me. The switch is not the same as the heavy stomp switches you see on other pedals, it's smaller, but it seems dependable. I read somewhere people describing the switch as tricky to engage, there might be a simple solution for this, inside the pedal are two screws that hold a metal plate that actually turns the switch on and off, I imagine with heavy use the screws might need tightening. But the pedal as it is seems very gig worthy.

I've never needed customer support. I read somewhere that some people have been able to get pedals replaced directly through danelectro without any kind of warranty, it sounds too good to be true, but I hope it is!

For what it is and for how much it costs this is a good deal. You might not be as impressed as I was with it but i'm sure you'll get some use out of it. The only thing I would change about it would be the placement of the knobs, Like I stated earlier there's an article you can find for rehousing this pedal if you just google cool cat rehousing.

Easiest pedal I've ever used - ever! I've had to play with other pedals and tweak continually to get 'near' the sound I wanted, but this thing nailed it out of the box. All the knobs were set at half way out of the box and that's pretty close to what I would up with after monkeying around a few minutes with it. Volume, tone, drive - now how hard is that? Every setting I've tried sounds great.

I use it with a DrZ Z28 (22 watts) or a Peavey Classic 30. So far I've only used my Les Paul Studio with Alnico II pickups and Les Paul Classic with 57s, but both types sound great with it. Even with a 30 watt amp its hard to get the sound I want without rattling the walls, so that's where the CCD comes in. Haven't tried my Tele with it yet, but I'm sure those Lindy Frailins will scream with this thing.

I can't say yet, but it seems to be built very sturdy. Dan Electro was using plastic cases at one time and now they're metal, so I don't see any problem yet. Time will tell.

I'm new to Dan Electro products, so I plead ignorance on that question.

I play all kinds of music from country to rock. I'm capable of metal, but I'm too old to be playing that stuff and I really don't even want to anymore. I've been playing for 44 years (started when I was 12; do the math). This is a great (I said great, not just good) rock/blues pedal period, and even greater for the price. I would replace it with the same model if it was lost or stolen - for 26 bucks shipped I can't find anything that comes close. In fact, I'm going to get another one and try their tremelo as well. I'm really stoked about this pedal. Is Dan Electro trying to get their foot in the major leagues with this? If so, they'll be increasing their prices soon, so I'm going to stock up. I doubt these things will stay at that price for long.

3 knobs, very nice

Surprise! Greaaaaaaaaaat pedal. This thing goes from your boosted clean signal to pretty thick distortion almost good enough for 80s metal. Huge volume boost available. And the cleanup with guitar volume is really amazing. You can set this pedal for a smokin bluesy solo, use your volume to go from clean, to blues rhythm, to solo. Very cool. Boost it with another pedal, like a Tube Screamer or the Transparent OD, and it rocks out. I think separate bass and treble knobs would help this one out a bit. But really, great pedal that can handle most of your dirt needs.

Had for a few months, feels solid.

dunno

Clean n pretty to all out mayhem, blues to hard rock mostly. This pedal does the blues/rock thing just fine. Would buy again. Better than any dirt pedal in this price range, better than a Rat, same level as a Keeley DS-1.

Easy , easy ,pleasy

This review is for the rocketfire guitar mods being done by Nick Sorensen.Take my advice and go for these upgrades.Inexpensive and feels so much better than the original.The sound is essentially the same with some options and a very usable volume ,tone and gain sweep.The whole pedal has a smoother more amplike quality.I A/Bd a modded vs. unmodded and the playability is sooo much better in the modded version.

We'll see but if i have problems i bet Nick could fix it easily.

I am writing this review one, because the pedal is great and two, because Nick supplied great service on the phone and got me the pedal very fast.
The pedal does everything he said it would.

Finding affordable and great sounding gear is the goal of many and this pedal is a welcome addition to my sound pallette.
Stellar customer service!!!

Easy to use. 3 knobs: volume, tone, and drive. Personally, I prefer to have the knobs facing up at me, but it's really not that big of a deal.

Setup: Epiphone Les Paul Standard->Dunlop CryBaby -> Cool Cat Drive -> Boss Distortion -> Peavy Express 112

Effects Loop: Boss Tremolo -> Boss PH-3 -> Boss DD-6

I read the reviews here and decided to trade in my Boss Blues Driver for this pedal. One third the price and definitely an upgrade in sound! I've been looking for some bluesy crunch...something to get a David Wilcox sound with. I realize that I'd need a Tele or Strat (or some single coil equivalent) to really duplicate that sound, but using the bridge pickups, I really like the sound that I'm getting out of this little box.
I haven't noticed much hum out of this pedal...at the very least, no more than my Boss distortion. To be fair though, I haven't yet had the opportunity to crank my amp up past 3 on the volume knob (although it's still loud enough to ring through my house! ;)

Now, the one aspect of this pedal that I think is great - and not necessarily something I was expecting - is when I combine it with my Boss distortion. Everyone who's played with the Boss knows it has a nice warm, even distortion. You can crank it up too, but I personally think it's best toned down. Now, add the Cool Cat drive in front of it and WATCH OUT! On my neck pickup it becomes a whaling lead, and with the bridge pickup, it's vintage Bad Religion! Just WICKED! Now, with that said, this results in doubling (or maybe even more)the noise when both pedals are engaged. Not noticeable when you are playing, but very loud if you're going to leave it on between songs. To me, doesn't really matter, but I know some people would hate it.
Overall, this pedal gives me a great blues/rockabilly sound, and the zing it adds to my boss distortion is amazing! A little loud with both engaged, but that's just fine by me. Probably a 9.5 on it's own, but the 9 will do with that added noise.

Not sure, but it's supposedly built sturdy. If I gigged, I would gig without a backup.

Never dealt with them. I hear good things, but I will not post my own opinion here.

I play mostly rock but, as mentioned before, I like to toil with some bluesy stuff. I will always play some punk but I range all the way to folk music. This pedal is great for any blues and most types of rock. Like I said, combine it with some distortion to boost it up to hardcore punk and metal too!

I have been playing guitar for 8 years now. Self taught (minus a 30 second lesson where my friend showed me how to play power chords...this being before I ever owned a guitar). I have only recently (in the past year) started buying stompboxes and upgrading my guitar and amps (I used to play on a Yamaha...did the job for starting out, but the Les Paul is in another league...even though it's Epiphone's version). I also just played on little practice amps. (Roland Cube [20?]) was the best I played on...it's my brother's. I realize the Peavy Express is hardly a top of the line amp, but I have no issues with the sound I get from it and it can crank it out pretty damn loud.

If this pedal were stolen or lost, I would most certainly buy another...for the cost I could buy a few just to be safe! ;)

I love the price, and the sound. As I said, I had a Blues Driver prior to this. The Cool Cat is 1/3 the price and has a much better sound. It has not been tested at huge volumes, so I can't vouch for how it sounds at those levels and it produces a significant amount of noise when engaged WITH the boss distortion...so I will take a point away. Bang for your buck, I would be surprised if there is a better overdrive pedal on the market...even if it cost two or three times as much as it does, it would probably still be worth it.

One last side note. I own a Vexter Fuzz Factory, and I get more use out of my Cool Cat Drive than I do the FF. Now this is likely due to the type of music I've been playing lately, but I think it's interesting to note that the FF is 6-7 times the price of the Cool Cat and yet it is relegated to a backup position...just something to think about! :D

There are three knobs, which sometimes can be a little hard to reach at times. There is a little shelf above the knobs which keeps you from accidentally changing the position, but gets in the way sometimes. Not a deal breaker though.

To get an objective impression I used a Nashville Telecaster loaded with single coils, and a Yamaha AES 420 with humbuckers. I played both guitars through a 1972 Fender Champ. I must tell you this is a great pedal. Through the Tele there is a lot of low-end grunt, but with enough top end to make most people happy. With the Yamaha I had to turn the Tone knob up a little, but it's voiced so nicely that it was pretty easy. It sounded great with humbuckers, but I must admit it sounds better with single coils than with 'buckers. My Tele came alive with this sucker. You can totally nail the first Zeppelin album tone. Crank this beast up and rip out a little "Good Times Bad Times". Just try it, and you won't be sorry.

The metal case and solid switch bodes well for the future of this pedal.

I have really tried to be as objective as possible, and separate the price from the pedal. This just is a great little dirt box that will give you what you want without suffer from buyer's remorse. Seriously, give this pedal a try.

This unit has three knobs, all the usual suspects: Volume, Tone, Drive.
Very simple. I do have a couple of issues with the knob placement, as well as that little ledge above the knobs. It's not a deal breaker by any means, though. You get great sounds out of this thing within about 45 seconds.

I did a pretty basic humbucker vs. single coil test with this straight away. All opinions were formed using a '72 Fender Champ and two guitars. I have a Nashville Tele with a GFS Fatbody neck, SD Quarter Pound mid, and GFS 60's TC Alnico in the bridge. With the single coils, it presented a lot of low-end grind, much more than I was expecting. The Fatbody neck, in particular, really liked this box. It came across very glassy but thick. Very very nice.
Next I plugged in my Yamaha AES 420 with stock pups. With humbuckers this dirt box really does sound huge, but yet defined. I found that when I turned the tone knob nearly all the way up and rolled my guitar's tone knob back, it did a very nice fuzz box impression. That was a great little bonus. It does have a great sound, and I found myself playing a lot of Zeppelin, and found I could nail a lot of first album tones. Also, if you buy this and are a Zep fan, crank it and play the opening riff to "Custard Pie". That smile you'll get it worth the money alone.
Overall, this pedal seems to like single coils better, but also sounds great with 'buckers. You can't go wrong with this thing.

I haven't had a problem with this, and it seems quite a bit sturdier than their previous offerings. Metal helps, always has, always will.

I've never dealt with them, so....

Really, I would recommend at least trying this thing out. I was pretty excited to try it out, but skeptical at the same time. I've been careful to separate the price from my opinions, and it definitely hangs in there. I think the dudes that pay $972.67 for a Klon Centaur on Ebay would probably disdain even using this as a doorstop, but for a regular working musician it does its job very very well. There are some corners cut, but nothing that will keep you away from it. I have a crapload of dirt boxes, and I'm pretty sure this will see pretty regular action. If even just to play "Custard Pie" and grin like an idiot, it's worth it.

Just three knobs: Volume, Tone, and Drive. That's it! Easy as pie. STEEL Input and Output jacks, and a sturdy 9 Volt Jack. Battery compartment on the bottom is easy to use.

I have a large pedal board loaded with many "boutique" overdrive/distortion pedals, and this Cool Cat Drive is putting
them to shame! With a thick overdrive that cleans up well with the guitar volume, this pedal has, to my ears, an old Plexi turned-up
sound. Good low-end and enough mids and highs. I just couldn't believe my ears when I first heard it! I use it with my Peavey Classic 30 on clean, and my 1981 Fender Walnut "The STRAT" loaded with Vintage Vibe Guitars SP-90 pickups.

Seems very sturdy with the metal case and steel jacks. The 3PDT True Bypass switch feels strong. Haven't had it long enough to form an opinion on the reliability, so a "9". But, so far, so good. No problems with it whatsoever (unlike one of my expensive "boutique" pedals that arrived brand-new with a bad 9 volt jack!).

Never dealt with the company, so, no opinion.

I play rock & blues styles, and this pedal is a good match for either. It nails the Plexi Marshall sound very well. I would get another one if lost or stolen! This is my go-to distortion pedal now.
I've played for over 38 years, and this simply is one of the BEST overdrive/distortion pedals I've ever heard. And at $23, it's a steel! This should give those overpriced boutique pedal makers something to think about!

Here's another simple one, with three controls between you and the tone of your dreams. Or not, it's all in the eye of the beholder, right?

10/10 because if you can't find something to like with 3 knobs, you're going to be screwed when you get to the dreaded 5-knob pedals... and heaven protect you from a 10-band EQ or something of equal complexity.

Unlike the few pedals in the series with concentric "stacked" pots, this one suffers no difficulty in making adjustments.

Oh, man. This one's awesome. Very thick and warm distortion tone, but plenty of midrange and treble definition. Great for fat rhythm guitar or great, sustaining, liquid leads.

I run mine after the Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive, and set the CO-1 Drive's gain at about 2/3 and Tone just above noon. The result of that layering is awesome synergy between the two pedals, with the Transparent Overdrive inspiring some sparkle and glass with the Drive's thicker, layered sound. Very, very cool. I'm not saying it sounds like '80s Satriani, but if you're wanting to sound thick but clear like that, this would be a great combo.

10/10 because there is no reason for a budget pedal to sound this good. Absolute insanity. It's upsetting my whole pedal value structure, relieving my board of pedals worth literally ten times the price.

Interestingly, the Cool Cat Distortion is billed as the "British" sound, but I think that the Drive in conjunction with the Transparent Overdrive has a lot more of the JCM 800-era Marshall vibe going on. I still haven't given the Distortion a real chance to "wow" me yet, though - just picked it up today. We'll see.

See my review of the Transparent Overdrive for my comments about the reliability of the Cool Cat series.

Does Dan-o have any customer support? I've never heard of anyone talking to them... Honestly, for a pedal this cheap, if for some reason you can't fix it (they use full sized parts and the circuits aren't too complex, so there's a decent chance you or someone you know can repair it), does it hurt that bad to just buy another? Still, it's my sincere hope that I never have to do so - wouldn't it be great if everything lasted as long as you wanted it to?

What more promising experience can you have with a pedal than for it to make every time you turn your amp on a pleasure? I'm a confirmed gear junkie, I guess, but I only keep things I like, and that means that there has been a fair bit of turnaround when things enter my possession but aren't up to my standards for tone. Now, I'm not even pretending to be The Tone Guru, Decider of Tone! Everyone has different tastes. But a review is intended to voice the experiences and thoughts of its author, and I have to say that this pedal is, for me, one of the most remarkable units I've had the pleasure of playing lately. This is one of those rare kinds, indeed: a "value" offering that will quickly earn its way to cult status, and perhaps a giant-killer for Danelectro (as the whole Cool Cat series is shaping up to be, provided the other foot never drops in terms of reliability issues or something distasteful like that).

10/10, and apologies for what must seem like another "glowing" review for a pedal in the Cool Cat series. But I assure you, it is not a superficial one - my experiences with this pedal, as with the other two of which I've written so far, hold me in good conscience to relate the high esteem in which I hold this, the object of my review.