Danelectro Cool Cat Series CT-1 Tremolo Guitar Effects Pedal

3 knobs, too easy

This pedal covers your basic tremolo needs with a very realistic sound, unlike the cheaper trem pedals, ie Boss. Rich n deep with a usable speed range, nice n choppy in the hard mode. Does what it is supposed to without screwing with your sound. Nothing not to like here.

seems solid.

dunno

I mean, for the money, cmon. Superb basic tremolo for dirt cheap.

Depth control, Hard/soft switch, Mix knob. I have no use for the "hard" mode, which disables the mix knob and creates a stuttering, on-off volume effect. In "soft" mode it is easy to get good sounds at all settings.

I use the CT-1 with a telecaster into a 6V6-based 1X12 combo amp. I play mostly rockabilly and classic country, and this pedal is ideal for those styles. Also nails classic rock tunes like "Born on the Bayou" and "I Need You". Compares very favorably to amps with built-in tremelo.

Well this is the real trick, ain't it? I have no idea, but to a certain extent I am gambling on the fact that many touring pros (such as Bill Kirchen, I'm told) like and use some of the less expensive Danelectro pedals when they gig. When I heard that Dano had stepped it up with construction improvements like metal cases, metal input/output jacks, and true-bypass, I figured their reliability could only go up. Time will tell.

Yada, yada, time will tell, etc.

Old country, rockabilly, classic rock and blues: pretty typical southern hodge-podge of guitar styles, playing since the mid-70s. I play bass in a classic rock cover band, so guitar is my "other" musical hobby and I just can't seem to make a clean break from it. Right now my guitar rig is a Fender '52ri Tele, CT-1, Dan-Echo, and a Li'l Dawg D-Lux, an extremely toneful setup. I dig the sweetness of the CT-1; it's easily as nice as the built-in trem on previously-owned amps (early- and mid-70s Fenders, current Peaveys) Who can predict reliability issues? Not me. But for the price, this pedal takes the whole "bang-for-the-buck" equation to another level. If it were lost or stolen, I'd replace it with another CT-1 without a moment's hesitation. There's no way I could find this combination of tone and build quality for this kind of price. In fact, the entire Cool Cat series seems like a no-brainer to me. In fact, I give this pedal a ten.

3 CONTROLS:

DEPTH: controls the intensity of the tremolo in Soft mode. When the Hard/Soft control is set to hard, the Depth control is disabled.

HARD/SOFT: two positions; SOFT simulates a tube amp tremolo, gentle, rounded rise and fall of volume, HARD is for choppy sounds, stutter effect, more an on/off motion. It's a rotary switch, it can be set to hard or soft, respectively square or triangle waveform.

SPEED :
This controls the speed of the tremolo.

???Better than your vintage amp. You???ll dig the square wave setting???

It is a surprisingly good sounding tremolo effect, gently wobbling tremolo really similar to a tube amp tremolo, the depth control allows to blend in the amount of tremolo perfectly.
Hard setting, chop chop it goes
Depth control does nothing now, but why ?
Hmmm, now I notice how incredibly fast the rate on this thing is.
Also, no volume drop, which is nice

yup, seems sturdy enough, even though I only had it for a week

perfect customer 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