Danelectro D-1 Fab Distortion

Volume, Tone, Distortion controls- not hard to grasp. If you're used to looking at knobs from the top, it might take a second to get used to the back-facing orientation. It's not that easy to get a good sound out of it, period, but the simplicity of the controls make it as easy as possible.

Currently using a Strat with Texas Specials & various little modifications, going into a Blackheart Little Giant combo (with various little modifications). Pedal is a little noisy, but no more or less than most gain pedals- i.e., mainly when you crank it (not recommended) and not too bad when you use it as a dirty boost (which is about the best thing I could get it to do). It's pretty close to bypass-clean when the distortion knob is all the way down, but kicks in quick when turned slightly- I had the best results in this slightly-crunchy range. Though the gain goes up pretty smoothly as you crank it, the overall tone doesn't thrill me...there's a fizzy undertone that tends to ruin the otherwise nicely-chunky attack. It reminds me more of a distorted solid-state amp than anything else, but I guess that makes sense...

It seems pretty solid, though I wouldn't bet a gig on the footswitch if you're heavy-footed. If you love the sound, you should probably get a backup (after all, a pair of these will still be cheaper than most single pedals). I don't expect any problems, but then again I didn't expect my Danelectro EQ pedal to die when it did :P

With a little work, you can get a good approximation of many 60's/ 70's distorted sounds, especially garage-band stuff...many of the sounds that MXR Dist+ and RATs usually provide. If you want to dirty your tone just a little and send a hotter signal to your amp, this is a decent & cheap solution. There's a nice little crunch there that ODs won't usually give you, but I was disappointed in how little the pedal added to the sustain and power of my tone. It's not a muddy tone-sucker, exactly, but I did notice a loss of clarity, especially between individual notes of a chord.

I wouldn't recommend it for medium to high-gain sounds; the noise and sound character of the pedal gets pretty nasty from about halfway up on the distortion knob. If you're an industrial/ alternative player who's into the fizzy buzzy solid-state distortions, you might get some use out of the higher distortion settings (the kind of dying-battery Big Muff tone that might even work for an underground early Black Metal sound).

I'd say "you get what you pay for", but that's just not true...you can pay twice to ten times as much and still end up without much more than this pedal offers (many 'classic' or boutique distortion/ OD pedals included). If you look at it that way, it's a bargain...but all that might really mean is most of those other pedals deserve to cost 15 bucks. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, or buy another one if it went bye-bye.

Put a little time in, and you can get a few decent rock/ punk/ garage sounds from it...it easily earns its keep, but I doubt you'll ever be able to get one truly great sound, or even a variety of good sounds.

Ok, so I thought I would add my thoughts to the barrage of existing reviews here, as I slightly disagree with some of the scores in one or two catagories....

Ease of use, eh? As easy as any other pedal with 3 knobs!

The pots are nice and stiff, and therefore exact.
I see other reviewers have complained about the knobs sticking out of the back of the unit, but I think this is a great idea. There is nothing more annoying than kicking the knobs when switching a pedal on or off, and messing your carefully adjusted settings up! (especially on a dark stage)

The switch is study and easily activated, and the sloped front means it's easy to find with your feet.

I don't monkey around with batteries, but AC adaptor users will glad to hear that any plug unit works without hum and noise (Take note Roland/boss!) I use a Maplins Power Bank.

The bottom plate can be unscrewed with a small coin to access the battery compartment. (Better than a Boss which takes ages to access and the rubber grommits rot after a few years of heavy use)

The bottom plate is nice and heavy, with a thick rubber base, so the pedal won't move around on the ground.

Good stuff.

Ok, so my thoughts here are very much in sync with other reviews below.

The Fab DS1 is veratile enough to get 60's garage rawness up to fuzzy/creamy sustaining sounds with the ability to (as mentioned by others) act as a decent clean boost (and pretty cool treble boost, if you crank the tone up to the max)

There is, as with all pedals some noise when the dist. is turned up full (I love noise and hum personally!). But it is by no means as noisy as other(more expensive) pedals I have owned. For a plastic unit it seems very well sheilded. Good overall silent operation.

The pots operate smoothly and silently and there is no switch noise.

Just sounds natural, warm, lots of harmonics and sustain, and works very well in conjuction with an overdrive for infinate sustain and controllable feedback fun.

And yes! The blue light is pretty cool!

Here is my gripe with other reviews on this site.

I think people see a plastic unit and assume it's about to crack in half. This thing is small and the plastic is thick (refer to my comments about sheilding). It's not hard brittle plastic either, its the chewy hard to snap type (for want of a better description!)

The DS1 is a very light unit and theresore if dropped won't hit the ground very hard! I know that if I dropped my heavy DOD 250, it would fall hard and the oversized knobs would break etc.

Also, I had not had my DOD 250 very long before the pots were starting to get noisy and needed a bit of WD40 to fix them. No such poorness from the DS1 costing less than 1 third the price.

Nice solid (flush) jack sockets.

It's a very solid sturdy design and I have faith in it.

N/A

;p

I use a 72 custom Tele, and a 50's Strat into a Blues Junior alongside a DOD 250 overdrive, a Marshall Echohead, and Tuna Melt tremelo.

I like the Ravonettes, Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, Richard Hawley, Jesus and Mary Chain, Velvet Underground, Libertines, Kings of Leon....you get the Idea.

I've been playing for about 15 years and have owned/borrowed/lost/thrown away/tried various distortion pedals including...
Marshall Shredmaster (a horrible, useles pedal)
Grey DA Fuzz Face (a bit rustic!)
Boss DS1 (very unnatural sounding)
DOD Classic Tube (Cool but got old, wires came loose etc...)
EH Mini Muff (Horrible metal scoop sound one trick pony)
Dano Grilled Cheese distortion (buzzed with AC adaptor)
Plastic Ibanez heavy metal thingy?? (My memory fails me...)
DOD 250 Overdrive (Nice - still in use)
Dano Fab overdrive (retired due to muffled tone)

I Like this pedal a lot. I recently stripped down my pedal board to just the DOD overdrive, but I miss it and will put it back tonight!

I was using it with the FAB Overdrive (Just not as good as the DS1 as is does seem to muffle your tone, although it's pushed mids and enhanced harmonics are very cool and usable, you just wouldn't want it on your pedal board full time!!)

I think this pedal is definatley worth 20 quid! It's good dirty fun, and it's a keeper!

This pedal has a few competitors, such as the Boss DS1, EH Mini Muff, These pedals cost more and I've expressed my opinion about them above.
I can't really comment on the Behrenger pedals as I've not tried them, but I'm not a huge fan of Boss, let alone cheap boss copies.

I hope this review is helpful, although for ??20 you can take the risk, eh? I just wanted clear up what I think are a few harsh opinions about the casing, knobs and switch.

Cheers.

plug and play - great distortion with a wide range for cheap! Boss should steal this circuit for the DS-1

For what I paid, wasn't expecting much. Boy, was I surprised! I use it with a Pignose G60VR (with an emminence speaker upgrade) and darn it, it sounds great! Fab harmonics, can go from subtle to almost metal, no noise is introduced, and no apparent tone sucking, either. The tone knob really has a good effect on the tone, and you can adjust your sound depending on the guitar you're using.

It's made of plastic, but I have other plastic pedals that have not let me down. I have used it on more than one gig, and on a couple of last minute gigs, this was the only distortion pedal I grabbed, 'cause it's small, light and does the job. The only weak point I see may be the way the plastic stomp switch is designed - over time, it could fatigue and break, but come on - I paid $10.00 for it used on craig's list, and as I understand, they sold new for like $15.00

haven't had a need to contact them - hell, for what it would cost to ship it back to them, I could buy another

I play all kinds of music in a cover band. Been playing pro over 30 years. Too much gear to list. If lost or stolen, would miss it, might buy another. It's definitely not a waste of money (like the Boss DS-1 is!). I love the wide range of distortion, the bright blue LED, the quiet operation (relative), and the weird sci-fi design. It definitely helps me make music, and like my $12.00 Arion Tubulator, is one of the better GAS acquisitions I have made

Very easy too use. Nothing else to say, Three knobs!

Well i am in a grunge band and i have been looking for a pedal with this sound for a very long time, i have been through numerous distortion pedals for example. Boss DS-1, Boss DS-2, Digitech grunge. The boss pedals are sooo overated, And very expensive STAY AWAY!!!. Well at the moment i use Roland Cube 60,Fender Strat with hot rails, Fender Jag-stang with Jb Humbucker, EH Big Muff pi, Dunlop Crybaby, Boss Super chorus and my newest and favourite pedal FAB DISTORTION i cant put across how good this pedal is, all i can say is BUY ONEE!!!

I havent giged with this pedal yet, But i think if you are carefull it should be ok.

N/A

BUY ONEE!!!!!!!!

simple, Dist, Tone and level (which seems to turn the opposite way to the others?) Manual tells you all u need to know. although where mine mentioned the battery it had the word (included) but had white tape over it because it wasn't which i found hilarious. Im giving it a nine cause the volume can get to setting which is crazily high and u've got to have it on a volume of about 3 to make switching from clean to dirty some what smooth.

Im actually a bassist trying to mold myself into an all round musician. But i've been fooling around on guitar for at least a few years and thats coming from a musical background so im not bad. Anyway i've just got an expanding set up but at the moment im running a home made maple-bodied guitar sporting an Epiphone Les Paul pick up in bridge and thats all im using at the moment running through either this or the FAB overdrive into a little fender 10 watt prac amp.
Lets be frank, isnt gonna be the greatest pedal in the world, but for the price and what it is, it isnt all that bad. Dont except to plug it in and be blown away by a wall of intense tight power, its not a metal pedal and i dont believe anyone should ever, ever attempt to use it as one no matter how full the gain is, even if u remove the gain adjuster because the solder linking to and from it had too much resistance to match the gain you are after NOT A METAL PEDAL!
That said, i dont believe it was ever intended on being a metal pedal and for the $5 off ebay i paid its not bad. it will get that nirvana-ish/rage against the machine rock, just dont get any heavier.
Although im not entirely sure it deserves it i'll chuck it a 8.

seems alright, wouldnt incorporate it into a bridge, levy or any other load bearing structure but strong enough to handle cautious use.

after owning it for a few weeks i hope no-one would of had to deal with them after this short amount of time.

I play a nearly exclusively what i write which is kinda a tasty nu-metal sandwich containing full strength fillers of funk, blues, rock and atmospheric-classically inspired... music, if thats the correct word for it. And although i think i could get away with this pedal for the proper distorted parts without people throwing their freshly disembodied ears at me from the stereophonic spew leaving the speakers, im not game. You listen to it and if someone was raving about it you could nod ur head and humor him/her, but i would never be the one raving, lets put it that way, doesnt get a great organic fuzz sound but doesnt give enough crunch... its somewhere in between and that doesnt make it bad just neither of the things i want.
I got it for a steal so it would only go full circle to be stolen. oh well, i'll just strip it out and chuck a home-made circuit board in there and see if i can conjure up a sound that im looking for.

Easy to use just three knobs; volume, tone, distortion not hard to get many great sounds out of this little gem. The downside is the location of the knobs, they are sticking out of the end of the unit away from you which makes adjustments on the fly a little awkward, plus they decided in their wisdom to colour the pointer arrows on the tiny knobs red which is pretty much impossible to see.

Well this is where you really get more than you paid for, this distortion is thick baby. You can use it for a subtle clean boost but much more fun can be had by tweaking up the the distortion and vol controls to about half way and beyond...well fruity..this pedal just about sits on the cusp of old skool metal to something a bit more primitive and garagey. Think EVH meets Jon Spencer. I like very much, pretty hard to get a bad sound out of it really, plus it doesn't seem to suck any tone from your precious (well semi) guitar. Best of all the BLUE LIGHT, you can actually kind of light up a dark stage/room with the funky blue ON LED which is just another bonus.

Danelectro hi impact plastic seems to be able to take it, just don't try driving over it, setting fire to the poor wee thing etc. I also think the input/output jacks on these cheap Dano pedals are not what you'd call hi end but for the money whaddya expect. I'd use it at a gig w/out back up, just don't abuse it. Bearing in mind the jack quality it may be happier on a pedalboard where it won't get plugged/unplugged so often.

never called em.

I've had a few distortions over the years, but this is a real keeper with a very high grin factor. I like cheap stuff that really does the biz, you wanna pay 200 quid for some boutique thing made with some germanium geranium transistors that were only made by magic elves wrapped in special bison wax then anodised using indian, not african elephant piss then shipped in a walnut box that was engraved by a bloke called Ken and he only did three because it really brought him down...well do it. I'll stick with the Danelectro.

It's easy to dial in the good sound out of this pedal. I started with all knobs pointing at 12'oclock and I am pleased with the sound. any setting in between still is usable.

This pedal is the one I've been looking for. I am an overdrive lover and this pedal has the mid-hump taste of an overdrive, quite unique though you won't usually hear in a distortion stomp box. At zero gain it is so transparent good for booster use, at 9-10'oclock its has a flavor of a tubescreamer. at 12'oclock it's hardrock overdrive. Way past 12'oclock is meant for distortion. The sustain is long and could be mellow enough good for the blues sound, actually I could turn off my compressor/sustainer. I would say the Box's slogan "Delicious Tone" is TRUE!.The effect is very quite when bypassed.

I think this pedal is dependable enough, though built on plastic casing, i believe you are smart enough to control your emotions while playing right?

great tone for such an affodable price

A very usable little pedal for an old blues guy to have. I dont want the loud raspy distortion that this thing is capable of but I do want some of the other things than this thing has got like - the transparent volume boost and also some very small amount of distortion if I want it.

My setup: Hondo big body jazz guitar (gibson L5 copy) into a 15watt British valve amp (WEM dominator) with some outboard reverb.
My music: Old blues stuff, upbeat and a little funky at times.
I was using an overdrive pedal till recently. It was similar to the BOSS pedals but what I did not like about it was the loss of bass that you get. This is a very iritating feature for a guitarist. Some guitarist may want to loose some bass when they play but I dont. Another problem with the overdrive pedal was that it sucked some sound from the signal
Well, the Danelectro pedal does none of these things. It does not suck any signal as far as I can tell and it is possible to set the pedal up so that it is very transparent ie: you get the same sound wether you press the footswitch or not. It may fatten the sound a little but you would be hard pushed to tell.
The one problem I have is that only want the distortion control on the tiniest amount -its hard to set it correct. This pedal can put out buckets of distortion but I'm not interested in this.
I also have a 'tune melt' pedal which is equaly a great pedal - I am sold on Dano pedals, even though I am not really a pedal person.
I get a great crystal clear sound from my guitar - amp combination and these pedals just add that bit more. The WEM does not have any gain so I use this pedal to add a little crunch when required -its quite a fun sort of crunch, not like overdrive at all. That just a bout sums up Dano pedals - Good Fun pedals.

only 2 days old - still going strongPlastic top on a metal bottom plate - I look after my pedals so dont expect any problems

not tried them

I'm a cheapskate - I have a Hondo guitar for Christs sake! but I like to buy quality stuff at the lowest price possible - Thats what I've got in this pedal.

This is a really good sounding pedal. Far better than a Boss DS-1. Doesn't "colour" your tone, just adds great sounding distortion. Three knobs that turn counter-intuitively, but you soon catch on.

Early Greenday, Nirvana, Led Zep, Hendrix ...

Where you need mid-range distortion and you play fast, this pedal shines.

It's made of plastic, but seems reasonably sturdy. Cheap enough to buy several backups ...

Haven't dealt with support yet.

Good, straight up distortion. I would replace it if it was lost or broken (especially considering how cheap it is).

This is what I expected a DS-1 to do. A nice meaty distortion without turning your tone to scratchy or mud.

Considering the price of this, this pedal is incredible.

Honestly, it's difficult to get a bad sound out of this thing. From clean boost to light OD to almost fuzz-like distortion, it all sounds good.

The way the knobs are positioned is annoying, but you get used to it.

It's a little noisy at full gain, but still within reason. This is certainly the best distortion pedal available under $25, and I think with a few tweaks it could certainly hang with boutiques. As is, it is a little flat sounding, but solid. Boosting it with another drive can yield good results.

It's not exactly roadworthy. But, at $15 you could easily buy a few backups. I've had mine for a year, no problems.

You won't find a better value - it's worth a try!

I wasnt going to write a review for this since it already has so many but here you go.

Level Tone and Gain controls set out in front of the pedal takes a little getting used to but otherwise no real problems.

Ok its not about getting the sounds of my favourite artists- although this IS important to me, but thats more abput the WAY that I play. Whats most important to me with a distortion box is transparency which this box has.

EQ is exactly the same as bypassed. No bass or mids taken, none added. Afterall its the job of gain boxes to do exactly that- add gain and distortion to your signal and NOTHING else.

I set the tone control to just below halfway. Turn the tone control up and this seems to add more mids which I didnt want.

Gain is all the way up which gives just the desired british crunch. To add more sustain and bite I use an OD in front of this. The pedal however even without a boost from OD offers full bodied rich distortion and plenty of dynamics.

I have absolutely no worries about the reliability of this unit.

Who cares. I'll just buy another if I need to

SUPER VALUE pedal. I play shredder rock and heavy metal. Vai, Extreme, Dreamtheater.

I use this pedal alongside Bad Monkey Overdrive into a Fender Blues Junior. The distortion is rich and full. i have tried so many different distortion boxes from keeley to MXR. This is the best one. Great crunch like an old marshall. Combine with an OD for extra sustain and bite.

the best quality about this pedal is it's eq transparency which fully compliments abd does not affect your guitars natural tone.

Simple - Gain / Tone / Volume. On/off switch. LED for status.

Gain and Volume are very responsive, but the Tone knob is a bit sensitive on the last portion of it's rotation - which makes it a tad difficult to set the Tone just right.

Other than that - no issues.

OK, I give it a 10 - but please do read on and I'll explain. You have to take this for what it is: Probably the best distortion pedal you could get for the price. $15, but it sounds just as good as any other. Taste is a different matter, but as for quality - it superb. Attack is full of presence and decay is natural and with plenty of sustain.

It's very thick sounding, no mid scoop. At high gains it gets a bit fizzy with humbuckers, but with singles, it's alright.

I can get good Hendrix-like tones with it, ZZ top, Black Crowes, Warren Haynes-like is also possible.

I ran it through a Peavey Classic 30 tube amp with an AmSe Strat and Ibanez Artstar (MIJ).

So as far as sound QUALITY-wise - is damn good!

Well, I have it for a short time now, but it's made of plastic which is not the most reassuring.

Never used it

Overall - it is amazing in value. The most you can probably get for such a ridicules low price. If it was stolen - no biggie, cost like a box of smokes, LOL.

FOr blues, rock and everything in between - its awsome. I play for about 8 years and have alot of stuff, from cheap Boss stuff to high end "bootik" pedals. This one will not put a player to shame :)

Easy to use with only three knobs but the response it poor - not really a lot of variability in the sound - sounds poor at any setting.

Awful!! This thing should be called the Danelectro midrange pedal because it cuts out all your highs and bass. It sounds like a bag of bees as far as the distortion goes. Buy something else - I wish I had.

Been reliable but I don't like to use it because of the sound. It's all plastic but seems sturdy enough.

Unknown.

It sucks - period. I bought this thing about 4 or 5 years ago and put it in the closet not too long after my purchase. I recently pulled it out and was reminded of why I put it up in the first place. I quit trying to use it for distortion and tried to use it as an overdrive pedal with the distortion turned way down but it can't pull that off either. The sound is just terrible - nothing but dull midrange. I would try a Behringer Distortion before one of these if I were you.

This product is real easy to use - the ease of use is its best feature. The level tone is a bit intense tho - i only have it about 3/4 max ever. The only criticism is the size of the button. its too small and not raised from the rest of the pedal enough meaning unless you stamp on this frail plastic piece of equipment, ypu may not switch from clean to distortion 1st time

The vintage sounds this piee of equipment produce are realy quite amazing when you compare it to others in the same price range.

For me, the rreliability is quite poor. Theres a problem with the wiring meaning i cant put a 9v battery in it but thats just a manufacturing fault for me.

-

Overall like i said above, this is brilliant for its price. Only criticisms - made from plastic and design faults with the button.

Easy to use. The knobs aren't backward, they're sticking out the front opposite the guitar player so they just feel backward when you're twiddling them.

I spent the extra 15 bucks to get the Fab Overdrive so I could compare. The silver Fab OD is just like a tubescreamer, with a thick blues-friendly midrange hump, and you can't turn the effect all the way down with the drive knob. With this red Fab Distortion you can turn the drive all the way down and use as a totally clean boost; and it's a very EQ-transparent distortion--just like cranking a preamp tube on whatever amp you put it in front of, no tone change, just nice distortion up to and including 70's/80's hard rock levels. Not a cascaded-gain nu-metal thing, more like an old cranked non-master volume Marshall/Boogie/whatever. The tone knob is unremarkable but does what you need it to. Great pedal at any price.

No problems so far. Don't jump up and down on it.

I use a One-Spot AC adapter and it works fine, don't need the proprietary Dano power supply.

don't know

I've been playing for 30 years. I play real Strat, real Les Paul, crappo travel electric, misc. acoustics, and bass. I write and record at home and this pedal adds nicely to my tone pallette, and it's easy to transport to jams (and cheap so I worry not). I really like the lack of tone coloration, just a straightforward clean boost or distortion like adding another channel on the floor. I'm keeping the Fab Overdrive as well for blues jams. Rating a 10 for fantastic value, if it was $100 I'd say the same thing. I've compared to many distortion pedals, all of them more expensive, but none were better.

Extremely easy to use but of course you have to spend time with it to get your sound.

I have a Strat with a vintage Fender Vibrolux tube amp. I use this pedal with my humbucker in the bridge position. It sounds FANTASTIC !
I am updating my review because I've had a chance to compare it with other pedals. For $25. this thing holds it's own. I bought a Tube Works Real Tube Overdrive pedal with a 12AU7 tube in it which sounds amazing. The Danelectro sounded identical except it gives you a more solid state tighter bottem end sound. The Tube Works has a slightly mushier tube-like bottem end. I use the two together for nice sustainy Pink Floyd type solos. I would say this Danelectro sounds as good or maybe better than alot of the pedals out there. Keep in mind that I am not a Danelectro fan at all. This pedal is different.

So far no problems

Never had to.

I've been playing professionally for 30 years with vintage Fender guitars and amps. I play Classic Rock, Country-Rock, Blues, Pop, etc..
With my guitar in the humbucker bridge position I use this pedal to get all my Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pink Floyd type sounds. For all the blues, Santana and SRV stuff I use tubescreamers. This pedal has a natural tube-like sound but with a tight bottom end. I'd heard about this pedal from other guitarists whose opinions I listen to because they are seasoned pros. The icing on the cake is the price. Normally, I stay away from Danelectro pedals but this one is in a league of it's own.

Very easy, but it is set up differently from most pedals. The knobs turn counterclockwise for vol, gain and bass to treb and face away from you. The manual says it is a high gain devise.....cool

I was quite supprised! This unit is full, has a warm tube-like crunch and has plenty of gain. I was messing around through a Highway 1 Strat into the FAB and into an old Ibanez flanger with the speed width and regen all the way down and I swear that is the closest I have ever come to sounding like Hendrix...my wife who just doesn't care about what I do on guitar and doesn't like Hendrix even noticed that!!! I haven't noticed much noise but I haven't cranked up yet since I got it. I use it through a Randall RG100sc and it sounds great. It sounds a little raspy through my Fender Frontman ( its the speakers. I like the gain all the way up, tone at 12:00 and level somewhere around 11:00.

It is plastic but seems tough enough. the jacks don't look sturdy but for $16.00 who cares?

uh dunt know!

I play metal/blues/southern rock and my own stuff. Been at it since 1979. Have Randal amps, a Peavey Classic and a fender Frontman. Use Strat, Electra Phoenex x150, Aria Pro hollow body, Carvin Ultra V and a couple acoustics. I use vintage Ibanez and Boss pedals plus a couple newer ones. I also have a plastic Arion chorus which is suprisingly good for being cheap and plastic. This FAB is great and unbelievable for the price. It has a great late 60's sound and a little like Boston with a slick chorus and the tone at 4:00. It does make my other pedals look like an old K-car from the 1980s and its a reconditioned 57 chevy ( or red Barchetta).

its so easy to use, 3 switches, level, tone, and gain. the manual
is not that useful.

i use an ibanez rg 570 and an artcore guitar->ibanez wah->fab distortion-> boss metal zone->ibanez delay echo. well for the price it sounds great but my only complain is that when the guitar is switched to the neck pick up, the distortion sound is quite muffled. but when switched to the bridge pick up it sounds great. good sound for classic hard rock sound. must set the tone at 12 o'clock. nice crunch tone. noisy if you do not set it right. the knobs are confusing at first because of the location on the pedal i think you'll get the idea

well, its made of plastic and its made from china (well every darn thing these days are made from china). well as well it passed the quality control i think there's no problem. the switch is quite weird to step on. but i don't recommend stomping it very hard. i use a gator g-bus 8 power supply to fuel this thing. as long as it stays safely on a pedal board it will last longer

never dealt with them

well for the price it's worth it. i own a boss ds-1, its a sounds alike but the ds-1 sounds great for low end settings, the fab distortion can get really muffled and muddy. if your looking for a dirty overdriven sound this pedal works for you. especially if your on a budget

Its easy to use allright! Three knobs! Just plug in, turn each one and learn instantly what they do! No patches or anything complex.
The manual was basic, and carried a health warning about its "high gain" status! Still, if it shredded up my speaker, I wouldn't be happy.

Don't buy a POD, thats information overload!

Its a cool sounding unit too. The best tones are maybe those with the volume up, and the gain down.

My setup is either a Saga strat or a Vintage SG copy (needs some new frets!) into the Dano pedal, then a Marshall echohead, then into either a Kay 50B amp or a MArshall MG15 CDR. With the MG15 it sounds a bit too bright, but thats the amp's fault as it has a wee speaker. With the Kay its a different story, much better sounding. The Kay produces a nice clean sound, or you can add a certain amount of gain on that amp too, even though its a one channel affair. With a strat you can use the Dano pedal with the distortion right down as a simple clean boost, increasing volume and presence without applying any of its own nastyness!

The pedal can also be used as a silencer. Turn the output knob right down and its completely quiet. Very useful for swapping guitars onstage without the BANG!!!! That can damage speakers y'know!

For ?20 you cannot really fault it, it should be worth a lot more than ?20 at least. Really you could get a Boss if you felt especially strongly for a metal case, but other than that its no difference. The only gripe is that turning down the volume on your guitar doesn't control the pedal enough to my liking, instead it gives an indefenite scratchy tone on high gain settings. Not to worry though!

Here is the thing. I know its ?20, I paid for it myself. This means I take CARE of it. Where does this tredition of crushing baby pedals come from anywhere? Its not cool to lumber up ontop of your amp so you can jump on your pedal from a terrific height! I would gig it without backup, just because I am going to really take care of it. I doubt it will screw me up anyway!

I would never have bought a single Dano pedal in the past. They looked so flimsy, and had rubbish names like "fried fish and rhubarb sauce delay" or "pickled walnut and goat's testicle pie Chorus" or whatever. Stupid ugly rancid pedals. So I have yet to deal with them, but hey, ?20 for a new one isn't so bad, so hey!

I play a sort of unique Jazz/Grunge/Indie style. Basically the clever chord voicings of Jazz with the sloppyness of Grunge, and the Indie all comes from my Drummer, Gordon.

Want to hear this racket? http://www.myspace.com/thekillerpylons

I only use delay and distortion at the moment. But what did the artists in the 1960s and 1970s use? The same stuff. Okay I could get a bit of chorus in my signal if I was looking for it. Fab chorus? another ?20? aye! Sometime soon.

If it where stolen, I would find the thief and make him use rubbish Behringer cheapo pedals. They may look better than the Fabs (although the Fabs look a little like Roger Mayer Octavias?) but their reliability is terrible. Here is why. Behringer solder the input and output "jills" straight onto the PCBs. Step on the jack and you break the circuit boards, which does not a happy pedal make.

Also Behringers leave the factory in a non-working condition sometimes! THese are non environmentally friendly pedals, as I bet at least one has been flushed down the toilet, and tonnes of them endup in out landfill sites and strewn on beaches every year!

Still, the Danelectro is BETTER THAN BEHRINGER. have I made myself clear?

The easiest thing about using this pedal is taking it home from the store so cheap. Getting good tone from it is similarly easy.

Mind-blowingly good. This pedal reminds me what TOUCH SENSITIVE means. When you have it set right, you can tell it how to sound with your playing. Dig in and it will back off the highs and push the mids. Chill out and it chills with you. The lows on this are fantastic ... So thick, and that's with a strat.

I'm not using a bright amp, this is a Pignose G40V I'm running into, a nice thick amp in its own right (based on an old Bassman circuit). This pedal into this amp is heaven.

Notes hit hard start off thick and then slowly the highs blossom out from the thickness, often carrying with them an octave-up harmonic ... This pedal practically plays itself.

Not sure about this ... I think I want a backup just in case.

I've tried to find out what circuit this is based on, they either don't know or they're not telling.

WONDERFUL pedal. Read what I wrote, listen to the cool things it does, and then play through this pedal again with these traits in mind. You'll understand then. This pedal is a GEM.

Insanely easy to use, like 99% of the pedals you'll get. Knobs are on the side so you might forget which way to turn it to get more or less of something.

My setup is: Washburn BT-4 --> Dunlop Cry Baby GCB-95 --> Danelectro FAB Distortion D-1 --> Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi USA (which is THE pedal) --> Behringer GMX212 100 watt (excellent deal for the price).

It is a little bit noisy, a little bit of hiss when you're not playing. I like my tone set at about 12 o'clock. The tone dial doesn't do much (compared to other distortion pedals), and there's always sufficient low end wherever you put the tone dial. I like how the level dial can make it pretty loud, which is great for going from clean to big distortion.

It sounds like your average distortion pedal. Not as good as a BOSS DS-1, but kind of close. If you're one of those generic teens who likes Metallica, Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc then you'll probably like this.

There isn't really any fuzz, just a good hard rock tone that you've heard a million times. What do you expect?

One thing I noticed is that it always sounds very muffled, like my amp is behind a wall when I play with this pedal. I certainly can't complain, they were literally giving these away.

It's pretty sturdy, but I wouldn't stomp on it. The button is plastic, and the graphics are stickers.

I think there was a glitch in mine right from the box, when ever I would hit a power chord hard it made this click/pop noise. I took off the back and dinked around with it and now I think it's fixed.

Never dealt with the folks. If you need to get this thing repaired, I guarantee you it would be cheaper to just go buy another one.

I think the company are pretty cheap because this doesn't come with a battery. When I went to Radio Shack to get an adapter, it cost more than Guitar Center was selling the pedal for!

I play grunge, groove metal, alternative, primus, old-school hardcore punk, and noise rock. I don't use this to seriously play anything, just as a toy to mess around with because it was free.

I like the low end on this, I'll admit it has perhaps a bit more than a BOSS DS-1. But a DS-1 doesn't sound like there's a wall in front of your amp.

If you're a beginner, this is a great pedal for you. Nothing too fancy, real simple tone, very cheap.

Also, if you want to modify a pedal, this is for you. Just take a flathead screwdriver and remove the back and you have easy access to all the internal parts! It's only $15, if you mess up on something it's no big deal.

I'd like it to have some more distortion (The FAB Metal pedal would probably be a lot better for that) and a clearer tone. Maybe a better design, you gotta admit that this thing looks hokey. It's perfect for just rehashing the same blues-based hard rock riffs that you've heard a million times. It really doesn't stand out from all the pedals I've played, but if you just want something that sounds pretty good for an obnoxiously cheap price, I recommend this.

Three knobs. Level, Tone, and Dist (distortion). Don't get much easier than that.

Sound quality is surprising good considering I paid only $15. But go easy on the Level knob - at higher levels it can get noisy. Leave the Tone knob at the 12 o'clock position and you can control the tone from your guitar. The Dist knob works great - use just a little bit and it does a great job on Stevie Ray Vaughan stuff, or crank it to the max to sound like Pete Townshend on The Who's "Live At Leeds".

It seems pretty reliable so far, but, even though it's a stompbox, don't stomp on it. It's a plastic case! And, VERY IMPORTANT, when not in use, unplug the input jack, otherwise you'll be buying more 9V bats than you need to.

Havn't had the need for any customer support yet, but at 15 bucks I doubt I'll ever need it.

I play blues with a Strat and an Epi LP Junior through an Alesis Spitfire 60 (completely clean settings), and this pedal compliments my present setup, in which I use a DigiTech RP-50 for my "baseline" sound, and other pedals to embellish it. I'd definitely recommend it, because for $15 how can you go wrong? I think Danelectro hit it right on the nail. Here's hoping they continue and I look forward to other FAB pedals in the future.

Level, Tone, Distortion, on/off... very simple to use. The position of the knobs is a bit weird, but you get used to it quickly.

Using this with a standard Tele and a cheap-o strat, into various cheap and expensive effects, into Guitar Rig 2.0. Eventually I'm going to get The Vox AD30VT, because it has a real tube in it but also has a built-in power attenuator and headphone jack, which make it apartment-friendly.

Very impressive... I wasn't expecting this thing to do clean, but it does. Turn down the distortion to zero and it works as a clean boost -- not even a hint of grit. You get quite a bit of volume from the level knob... easily enough to bump your tube amp into overdrive. The tone knob is quite useful, as opposed to the Fab Overdrive's tone knob. The Fab Overdrive cuts out the highs, even with the tone knob cranked. But the Fab Distortion sounds great with the tone at noon -- no perceived tonal alteration. Turn it up and the tone gets trebly, turn it down and it gets bassy, like it's supposed to.

I tend to prefer the distortion knob set low to medium -- basically a nice overdriven sound. But, if you crank the gain you get a nice saturated distortion sound. It seems very multi-purpose to me. It doesn't really color your tone. It's not a boutique, fansy-schmancy distortion, true. It's just an all-around useful, nice sounding overdrive/distortion pedal. I was kind of disappointed with the Fab Overdrive due to the bassiness of it, but the Fab Distortion is very cool. It does what the Fab OD does, but does it better (no loss of highs), and kicks it up a notch with more available gain. Very cool. Nice tone for very little money.

Rather than getting one of these and a Fab OD, I'd just get two Fab Distortions, because the Fab Distortion is a better overdrive than the Fab OD. It works as clean boost, a mild overdrive, and a distortion. All for $15.

Who knows? It seems solid enough for what it is, and I've never had a Danelectro pedal go out on me. But, I guess we'll see.

Never tried them out.

A very useful distortion/overdrive/clean boost for $15. The clean boost/mild overdrive capabilities were a pleasant surprise. Do yourself a favor, skip the Fab OD and get the Fab Distortion instead. It does everything the Fab OD can do, but does it better, and adds more gain on top of that if you crank the distortion knob.

Three knobs! It honestly couldn't be any easier. I bought this one because I can get it to sound exactly like a Big Muff. It was a no-brainer because the Big Muff was $80 and I got this brand new for $0.01 on eBay. I tell you no lies.

The first day I got it, there was the faintest pop every second which got louder or softer depending on where the pedal's Level knob was set. But tonight, I plugged it in and it was gone. So as of right now, it's perfect sound quality. Honestly, even if the pop comes back, it's barely noticeable and I knew when I bought it that a pedal with a MSRP of $15 probably had something wrong with it. At the moment, however, there's nothing wrong with it!

Like I mentioned above, that pop happened one time, but it hasn't happened since, so unless the pedal starts popping again, I'm going to have to say that it's pretty reliable. Just because it's a $15 pedal, I'd probably keep a backup at a gig because I have a fear that a $15 pedal means $15 craftsmanship, but that's just me with any pedal.

I've never dealt with the company before.

Like I said, I was looking for a pedal that emulated a Big Muff and this one does it flawlessly!

Here's how I use it:
Guitar > Korg DT-10 > Danelectro D-2 Fab Overdrive > Danelectro D-1 Fab Distortion > Morely Little Alligator > Danelectro Reel Echo > Fender '59 Bassman LTD

I suggest to buy this pedal immediately! I got lucky to get mine for one cent, but here's a hint: they never go for more than $5 on eBay!

2 words: LOVE IT

YES YES YES YES

I love this pedal i got it in the mail a few days ago and i relize the help that pedals can give!!!!!!


RJ

Very easy to use, just need to play around with it a little to get it to where you personally want it. 3 buttons: level (volume), tone (tone, duh) and distortion. What's great about this pedal is that it is somewhat a dual pedal. I use it for overdrive (simply turn the distortion down a bit) and a distortion pedal.

My setup, which changes frequently, however, here is the current: DeArmond M75 and/or Washburn WI64 guitars > Crybaby Wah > Danelectro Fab Distortion > Snarling Dogs Very-Tone pedal > Vox Pathfinder 15R amp. The Danelectro Fab Distortion is simply awesome. I can't believe the tone that this little $15 pedal produces! I have never been a big "tone freak", however, when I went from my DOD Grunge Distortion to the Danelectro Fab Distortion then I noticed how wonderful great tone is. I love it. This pedal produces more of a classic distortion sound and is not really that great for all out heavy metal in my opinion. I love the tone you can get from this pedal when the distortion is cranked all the way up. Very rockin', somewhat White Stripes sounding distortion. If I had to put catagorize this pedal by comparing it to a specific bands sound, I would have to say the White Stripes and Black Keys. It's more then an overdriven sound yet not super hard heavy metal sounding either. For me it's perfect and the tone holds strong when if the distortion is at the lowest or cranked out to 11.

I'm not a stomper when it comes to pedals, therefore, I would gig without a back-up. The pedal is made of a thick plastic, however, I have two other Danelectro pedals made of plastic (Pastrami Overdrive and PB&J Delay) and I have had no problems with them. If you stomp on your pedals then you could maybe break the thing, however, if you break it then you can easily pick up another for $15. Can't beat that. I'll give it an 8 just because of the plastic issue.

Have to give a 5 here since I have never had to deal with Danelectro personally.

I have been playing for about 10 years or so and I play just about everything except for heavy death metal. When I started looking for a replacement for my DOD Grunge Distortion pedal (which still works but lacks in some departments), I was originally looking at the Boss Distortion pedal. Then I happened to stumble across a review for the Danelectro Fab Distortion and people were saying how they chose it over the Boss Distortion. The Fab Distortion pedal is perfect for what I play and the fact that I can use it for a distortion AND an overdrive makes it even better. I think I will end up buying a couple more Danelectro Fab Distortion pedals just to keep in my closet just in case the one I have now would go out on me. The only thing that would make this pedal beter is if it came in a metal instead of plastic. Then again, I don't stomp so it doesn't really bother me.

Typical 3-knob Pedal...Gain Tone and Volume.... 1 input 1 output

Very good, warm basic distortion...not for shred or anything hardcore. But pretty warm and very useable distortion.

I was going to get another Boss-DS-1 but this pedal just does the job so good I won't bother.

Seriously, These must be the best pedals for the price..EVER.

I made some recordings where this pedal comes in during certain parts of a song and just lifts the song to a new level. It is performance-worthy.

I like how the pedal can be played no matter where the tone knob is, it gives more tonal options rather than just trying to tweak the 1 sound you get from most pedals...

Not perfect but has good tone. More than can be expected for the price.

Mine is made of metal

I play all kind of rock...classic rock..pop rock..hard rock. I've been playing for 6 years now and this pedal fits right in the middle of all of this. If were stolen...csome on it's les than 20 bucks...who would bother stealing it??? But in that case that it were stolen, I'd search my couch cushions for enough funding to get another.


I'd recommend this as a basic distortion for rhythms. It will do lead but it is in its prime doing chords and such.

I've boosted this with an overdrive, it gets interesting, not a typical boosted sound in my opinion...makes for distinct solos.

All in all, a fun pedal to play with

Another 3 knob wonder... if you can't use this pedal, you won't be able to read this review anyway... nuff said.

Tried it with a strat, hoping to be transformed into Hendrix. It's actually pretty good - nice range of tones. Unfortunately, I got this one at the same time as the FAB-2 Overdrive and it's nowhere near as much fun!

Still in the plastic case, but the knobs are much better positioned than the "lunchbox" series as they're set into the top.

I'm a retro kinda guy and this can produce some suitably vintage tones... not as fuzzy as a FuzzFace but more subtle & versitile than the FAB-2 Overdrive. Doesn't put the same smile on yer face though. At #16, it's astonishing value and sounds better than many more expensive units out there... well worth giving it a try!

Your usual three-knob affair. Controls seem to work backwards from normal effects, but whoever said getting more gain has to mean turning a knob to the right?

Simply ridiculous. For $15, you just won't do any better...but that really isn't fair to the pedal. This is simply a darn good pedal for any price.

It's only noisy at the highest gain settings (and if you think this is noisy, try plugging into something like a cranked up 5150...THAT is noise).

I've been running mine through a pair of Godins (a Radiator and an LG-SP90), through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Peavey Classic 30, and Vox Pathfinder for practice. This pedal doesn't seem to care what it's plugged into. It actually makes the Vox sound way better than it has any right to. The little Pathfinders sound OK clean, but their distortion tends to get too dark, compressed, and a bit lifeless. Not with the Dano. Even with a cheap solid state amp, you get a wide range of very, very warm distortion tones. I'd say it actually sounds better than a Big Muff -- more initial punch (maybe not quite as much sustain as a stand-alone unit). The better the amp, the better you get out, of course, so the C30 and HRD work GREAT with this pedal (again, the HRD is noted for a harsher distortion tone; this is a great solution for under $20).

There's some British Marhsall-y sound here, but do NOT think this is a "Marshall in a box." It's not. It just gives you a really warm distorted tone, with excellent clarity/separation, even at the highest gain settings (you won't find cheap tin or fiz from this little box). It just leans a bit Brit. A Guitar Player review compared the little Dano to a Maxon D&S (basically old TS flavor with more gain thrown on top and less mid hump). I'd say that's a fair comparison.

I have a Cool Cat Chorus that has lasted through some hard circumstances, but in this case we're talking about a plastic box. You definitely won't be "stomping" this if you'd like to keep it for a long while. As long as it's treated reasonably, I don't foresee any trouble.

Haven't dealt directly with Dano.

The "10" rating here says "fantastic value." The shoe fits. I've spent money on Tubescreamers and DOD's and the like (I had a wonderful old TS-9 I used to gig with that was on loan from the bass player in the band, but he'd never sell me it), and found the Zoom Power Drive (yes, I couldn't believe it either, Zoom made something worthwhile) worked great as a clean boost / OD. I wanted something that worked as a simple stand-alone distortion device, and this fits the bill admirably. There's a wide range of breakup with this Dano, and it never wimps into being harsh or tinny. You get a lot of very fat, very warm distortion for a very nice price.

Gotta give Danelectro credit. The stomp box market has been overtaken with pedals that can cost $200 or $300. So before you resign yourself to that SiB VariDrive, Maxon 808 or Banzai Fire Ball (all formidable, professional pedals...especially the SiB), give this little Dano a blind test. You may just be surprised. And you'll only be out $15 (and you'll at least have one hell of a back up).

When I get a new pedal I always turn everythihng down and start mving the knobs up slowly to find my tone. WEl, the knobs are backwards compared to normal pedal so I had everything maxed out and almost blew my speaker. So: THE KNOBS ARE BACKWARD. Other than that, this is easy to use.

My live setup: Epi LP-->Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde-->Danelectro Fab Distortion-->DOD chorus-->Zoom 505II-->Vox valvetronix 30 watt

It actully sounds ok. I have a Visual sound Jekyll and Hyde and although they are different sounding, their quality is pretty close together. I is on my pedea board even though I have the J&H. It is a little noisy, but that is what we call distortion.

It is plastic, but I just push the button. Its not like I take a hammer to it. So, it is fine for me.

Never dealt with them. I think it comes with a warrenty, but it wouldn't be worth it for $15. So, if you are even a least bit interested, buy it. You can't lose anything and since it sounds good, you won't be returning it.

I think it is the best first distortion pedal ever because of 1: It is mega cheap, and 2: It sounds really good. IT is also a good backup to your higher quality distortion.

This pedal has three knobs...level, tone & distortion. You can't get too much easier. As some of the other reviewers have noted, it is not obvious which way the knobs rotate. Other than that, not any hassle at all.

My setup is a Carvin SE90 -> D-1 -> Behringer V-Amp 2 -> Crate Club 20 tube amp. My playing has a tendency to blues & rock, but I try to mix other styles in as much as I know.

What I really like about this pedal is that it has a nice versatility. I have mostly used it (I just received it a few weeks ago) as a crunch boost to some clean settings in the V-AMP 2, and as an "overdrive" for the Crate amp. The range of distorted tomes that you can get is very good. I keep the tone not quite in the middle (looking at it from above, around 5:00). The distortion knob has a fantastic range, from a boost to a crunch to a good sustained lead sound. For the price, this to me is quite remarkable.

I am not entirely sold on the sound quality, yet. I still have to play around with it in my setup a bit more, but there is a presence of a bit of hiss at some of the mid to higher distorted ranges. But again, for the price, I can't complain.

Please also note that I had tried out the new overdrive pedal. It did not have the same range of sound that this one did. The overdrive seemed to do only one thing, and I just did not like how it sounded. This pedal is the much more useful tool.

I take care of my equipment quite well. So, I have no concerns about this from me. However, if I were regularly gigging, I would want a backup. It is mostly plastic (okay, a very dense plastic), so I do not see how this would last on an extended tour. But again, it's about $15.00...just buy four or five of them, and have them available to go.

I have never dealt with Danelectro, so no idea.

This is a really nice, inexpensive tool for guitarists who need a versatile distortion box to add some range to their sound. For the price, I do not see how you can do much better. I would definitely replace it should something happen.

Simple three knob setup. Because the knobs face away, it is not immediately obvious which way to rotate the knobs to increase or decrease values. But, just turn the knobs and find out!

I'm probably using this effect differently than most people. I had one spot left on my pedalboard and was looking for something that could give me good low gain sounds through a clean tube amp (I already had my medium and high gain sounds taken care of with other pedals). This pedal nails the sound I was looking for! Just crank up the volume and set the distortion just above zero (where it just starts to distort). Beautiful sounds to be had with no extra noise added to the signal chain! Just adds that little bit of hair to the clean sound, like a pushed tube amp. I am highly impressed.

Overall, it gives a very warm and convincing sound. BTW, I am using a Fender American Strat through a Fender Blues Jr. amp with eight pedals in series. Pups are Bill Lawrence L-280's.

It seems like it will hold up, but I may buy another one as a backup. It's made of fairly rugged plastic. I just leave it velcro'd to my pedalboard.

No opinion. I've never had to deal with Danelectro.

It's not a 10, since it is not true bypass and boutique. But the bypass seems very good and I don't sense any real signal loss. I don't care for this pedal's high gain sound - a little too grainy with single coil pickups (IMHO). But, dial back to low gain and boost the volume and this thing has lots of vibe. Like everyone below say, it is a no-brainer for $15.

Too easy..
You shouldn't be trying to play guitar if you can't work this one out.

Truly exceptional.
How do Dano do it?

This pedal sounds better than my Big Muff!

Seriously folks...for $30 you cannot go wrong, it is by and far THE best distortion pedal Ive come across...so much character.
Only gripe would be it tends to be slightly noisy with high gain...but then again what distortion pedal isnt..

The design is a huge improvement from the mini-danos...the pots are located at the back so theres no chance of kicking them.
Dano have obviously put alot of thought into the design...this pedal is small, sleek and sexy..with a hint of retro.
As with most Danos the switch itself is always a worry...but so long as you're not throwing it against a wall it should be fine.
Again, the construction and design are a huge improvment from the earlier mini danos..

for $30...no point in chasing them up..

Versatile, aggresive, & tight
This pedal will cut through a mix but wont leave you with aural fatigue..

Well done Dano....now if you can just install better switches you would OWN the stomp box market.

Easy - 3 knobs volume, tone and distortion. The tone is where the trick lies in that it acts somewhat like a filter knob, a bit like the ProCo Rat I guess.

This pedal, for me, isn't noisy at all. I use a Parker Fly Hardtail into a Marshall MG15DFX amp. I normally use the amps overdrive channel and set the overdrive very low - about 8 o'clock and let the pedal give me more gain when I need it. When using it like this, I usually have the distortion on the pedal at around 2 or 3 o'clock - pretty low. But this combined with the amps distortion gives me a perfect amount that I control with the volume on my guitar.

The tone knob lets you create a whole pallet of sounds from very trebly, to mid range honk. Not too much bass though but that doesn't bother me.

I can depend on this. I don't abuse my gear and I only play in the house. The reason I gave this a 9 was because it's made from plastic and if you were gigging with it and stepping on it with shoes, chances are you may break it. Pretty solid unit though.

Never needed to use them.

I normally play heavy rock, blues rock and general rock. Like I said my main amp is a Marshall MG15DFX and a Parker Fly Hardtail - I sometimes also use a Fender Fatstrat. I have been playing for about 7 years now. I have a number of pedals but I think that this could become my main one as it's very versatile. You could run your amp on it's clean channel and use this pedal to give you all your gain. On a solid state this isn't so good so I use the OD channel option as discussed above. It takes away a little bit of tone but it's not that much and doesn't bother me.

It's a very simple pedal to use and if you're thinking of getting a distortion pedal then you should definately check this out. Just don't expect metal tones as this isn't what this pedal is designed for.

Compared to my Boss Turbo Distortion I'd probably choose this one as it's got a wider range of tones available. Although the Boss Turbo Distortion, with it's midrange boost, is excellent for Schenker like leads.

Very easy to use with 3 knobs: level, tone, and distortion. The jacks and knobs are in the back, so you have to lean over the pedal to see what you are doing.

I could not get any variation of sound from this pedal, but it may be user-error (me). This was my first pedal and tried it for the sweet price of $15.

I turned it on and it was fuzzy and distorted, but at max gain it sounded pretty much the same. I think the effect is a bare-bones device, but I have a Vox Valvetronix amp and I tried it on manual and modeling, with no gain and full gain, and the pedal seemed on or off.

I returned it.

Made from plastic, but bottom was metal and seemed sturdy. I had the pedal on a table, so I was not stepping on it, but I think it would stand up to normal use.

N/A

Not good enough to keep, but at $15 it is worth a shot with no strings attached.

amazing range of versatlity. Took less than a second to dial in distortion, a tad bit longer for the eq, and no time to match unity gain. Unit sounds great on all settings - nice full and rich. Impossible to get a "bad" sound out of it really - unless your guitar to amp sound sucks.

Gibson les paul studio, boss acoustic sim., boss bf2 flanger, dano surf&turf comp., voodoo lab micro-vibe, maxon pt-999 phasor, budda wah, dano d-1 dist., austin gold overdrive, dano pb&j delay, ernie ball volume, aphex exciter, boss reverb, signal splitter to studio 15 all tube marshall - the second wet line to a dano cool cat chorus, dano pb&j delay and finally to a little fender frontman.
The D-1 does excately what I wanted; a harder, thicker crunch than the austin gold. The austin gold is excellent also with it's very natural overdrive that doesn't change your basic tone. The D-1 can nail the bright thick crunch of a marshall perfectly - ala Joe Perry or even Gary Moore with a little more gain rolled up. Awesome.

I own 10 danelectro units - some of them I've had for almost 15 years and they've never given me any problems whatsoever. Even though they're made of plastic and the ones I use stay mounted in my pedalboard, I would have to say they're as reliable as one could hope for. Much better than anything put out by Fucking Dunlop. They're stuff looks good, sounds good for about 6 months to a year, and then gives up the ghost entirely or just semi-fucks up enough to where you don't even want to use it anymore.

Never had to use them. If there service is as good as the units, I'm sure it's great.

Played for 37 years semi-pro. Our band stays busy almost every weekend gigs ranging anywhere from none to 5 times a week depending. We do it all; country, rockabilly, blues, all kinds of rock to old school metal, some jazz, contemporary, even crooner. Basically Merle Haggard to Eric Johnson - and we try to catch hits inbetween the two. I have to access a huge array of sound at the drop of a hat (that's why so many pedals) and adding the D-1 to my arsenal give me what I was missing. It can basicall do it all from clean boosted to rip your head off and shit down your kneck harmonic gain saturated metal. I use it for the just enough gain needed - les paul to marshall with a nice zingy tight explosive crunch sound. Excellent unit. I honestly can't think off anything Dano could do to make it any better. Jaw dropping cheap for what you get. If it's a durable as all the rest of my Danos - it'll last for years. If not, at that price, I would buy one as needed. Sounds much better to my ears than a lot of high end expensive units out there for sure.

Easy enough to use although it is a bit odd when the pedal is on the floor the knobs face away from you. Not difficult, just takes a little getting adjusted to.

I'm running this through the clean channel of a Genz Benz El'Diablo 60C (combo amp.) The gain on my clean channel is all the way up so this pedal gets a little head start in the grind arena. I personally think the pedal sounds great if not excellent! For the price it is beyond beliefe. I keep the gain all the way up on this pedal and the tone down low, I tend towards darker sounds. It is no more noisy than any of my other dirt boxes.

Even though the main pedal body is plastic it still seems plenty tough. The foot switch feels solid and is of the quiet type which I like (for recording.) The bottom plate is steel. I see no reason why this pedal would not hold up in my home studio.

No idea

Dan Electro has done a great thing with these Fab effects (I own all three.) Decent construction, fantastic price, great tones. Individually each of these pedals can stand next to boxes that cost 7 or 8 times as much, ( I have some of those too!) I just hope Dan Electro continues to expand the fab effects line to include chorus, delay, phaser and other such toys, if the price and the quality stay the same I'll buy them all!

Three Knobs...level, tone and distortion...very simple

I'm using this in front of a mid 80's Peavey Bandit (in the clean channel) and it's drivin by a 60's/early 70s silvertone Mosrite copy with a Seymour Duncan JB installed in the bridge position. The bandit has a celestion vintage 30 installed in place of the Scorpion normally found in peaveys of this vintage. The quality of the distortion is really amazing. Deep and Dark, not strident or harsh in any way. Ive got the mids (on the amp) turned most of the way up...presenece too..with bass and treble in the middle position (i.e. neither boosed or cut)I'm running the pedal with all three knobs at 12:00o'clock, or so, and I couldnt be happier with the quality of the distorted sound.

I play in a band, mostly Alt Rock...all originals...and all the band mates where equally impressed with the sound of this pedal...even the drummer noticed the difference ....

I leave it on most of the time..and I didnt notice any excess noise or tone suck from this pedal. BAss response while using this pedal was excellent with no noticable drop in that area.

Ive only had it a week...so far so good....but it is mostly plastic so I dont know how much stomping this thing could take. I leave it on while playing/jamming and I have it on top of the amp and turn it on/off with my hand.

This pedal sounds amazing, not withstanding that is retails for 30 bucks...and when you consider what 30 bucks gets you these days..this pedal is an amazing value.

Very easy to use, three knobs on the back of the unit. No manual but not necessary.

Using with Strat into a Hughes-Kettner ATS60 - which can at times lack a little bottom on certain settings - the Fab distortion allows me to put that back.
Not noisy at all, though the level control goes up realy loud, and then it's all nise, but that is sometimes what you want. Do not use in an amp's 'dirty' channel unless you are really confident.
Wide range of tones and levels of distortion, or you can use it primarily as an overdrive with minimal unit-generated fuzz. Has a great vintage tone, like a 'designer' fuzz pedal.

The box is plastic and I have certain reservations about the switch, if you're wearing Doc Martins and like stomping on your pedals from a great height this might not last as long as you would wish. If I was worried I'd eviscerate it and put it in a stronger box, but I'm not a great stomper. Battery life very good. Nice blue LED helps locate it onstage.

Never used them

Usable for a wide range of styles, I've been playing guitar and bass for 20+ years and it does it for me. If lost - I'd buy another one, they're so cheap...
I like the vintage tone and the way the level button clearly goes past 11. The styling is individual and might not please everyone.
At the price it's a clear winner. If you don't like it then just throw it away...

The guy below was absolutely correct. I have a Boss DS-1 and there is no comparison, the Fab is what the DS-1 would like to sound like!

The pedal is transparent and doesnt colour your amp as much as Boss pedals.

The bass end is totally missing from the DS-1 and the treble is harsh and tinny. The Fab pedal has as much bass as you dial in from the amp (eg. transparent, no artifical bass cut).

The DS-1 with volume maxed is unity gain with your amps clean sound. The Fab can go well over twice as loud as your amp - massive clean gain available. The distortion control goes from the slightest breakup for blues (much lower gain than the DS-1 can go down to) up to about twice as high on the Fab compared to DS-1, and its smoother quality gain. But unfortunately for me this pedal just falls short of heavy metal saturation.

The tone control is limited. From 0-2 nothing much happens and its very dull, then from 2-3 you get all your brightness back. From 3-9 the pedals sound doesnt change but the volume goes up (?!), then from 9-10 it goes incredibly trebly.

One thing I really like is the natural compression. Boss pedals are a bit sterile and this pedal has a valve like compression built in even when gain is very low. A nice touch response effect.

Now comparing to my other pedals (valve gear) I have to say the Fab has a bit of fizziness in the high frequencies and its not as 'focused' and powerful. But it is certainly above Boss's efforts.

This was my favourite pedal out of the new Fab series. The OD was very dull (like a tubescreamer) and absolutely not transparent. The Metal pedal was a bit better than a Metalzone (breakup was more natural) but still had that horrible nasal artifact all over it that no amp in the world has.

A big surprise was I loved this Fab Distortion pedal for blues with gain set real low, it sounded very much like my valve amp just breaking up does.

For ?16 this is a no brainer. I am learning that the famous Boss pedals are very overrated, 30 year old designs...

Three knobs: gain, level and tone. Pretty simple stuff. It's very easy to operate, and has a really cool high-intensity blue LED indicator.

Let's be honest, this thing costs $14.99 new. So, it seems like it should be a piece of crap. Oh, how you are wrong. Guitar Player and Guitar World magazines have given this pedal great reviews, and it's true, you can get a high-quality distortion pedal for the price of a pizza. The D-1 has all sorts of possiblities. You can use it as a clean boost or just add a little grit to your sound or really fire it up to some high-gain crunch. I've been very impressed with this pedal, it's pretty transparent to your tone. This thing sounds MUCH better than a Boss DS-1. No comparison. The sound you get from it rivals pedals in the $100 range. No kidding.

It's made of plastic, but doesn't feel cheap at all. It seems like I could stomp on it all day and be alright

I've never dealt with Danelectro's support.

Like I said, $14.99. This is a no-brainer. Run out and get this one, there's also an overdrive and a ultra-high-gain metal fab pedal. The distortion is a best of both worlds pedal.

Extremely easy to use. Three knobs, OD, Tone and Output. It's really been designed for plug and play. And play it does.

Bang on! I've owned a Zakk Wylde Overdrive pedal from MXR, that cost me ?70. This pedal is just as good if not better, oh yeah and it only cost ?20. I'm serious this pedal could stand its own against anything from Boss or MXR, its really cool. Perhaps the tone knob isn't as responsive as i'd like but thats minor.

It's not made from seriously robust material (just plastic). It's tough and could withstand a good kicking before any real damage was made. It could be used for gigging but I havn't.

Who cares it cost ?20.

Well, well, well finally an effects pedal manufacturer realises that it doesn't cost all that much to make a decent pedal. I hope this scares the pants off MXR, Boss, digitech etc. They really should reduce their prices. Pedals that cost you ?150+ are simply not worth your money.
My hat goes off to Danelectro for embracing a new market of budget pedals with what is essentially an extremely well made pedal that sounds to good to be true.
Put simply, for ?20 you'd be a mug not to. Go get yourself one and let there be rock.

This is a followup to my review right below. I forgot to add that I'm using a Visual Sounds 1-Spot to power all of my pedals and this one adds no noise when turned off, and only a little hiss when on with the gain cranked.

Easy to use. Tone, Distortion, and level controls. Play with em till you find a sound you like.

I'm running my Washburn X40 (H/S/H)>Dano D2 Fab Overdrive>Dano D1 Fab Distortion>Dano Fish'n'Chips EQ>Boss CH 1 Super Chorus>Kustom Dual 35 DFX (solid state amp).

I really like this little pedal. It gives such a wide pallette of tones that I really can't complain. Its fat with good bass repsonse. As the review below states, it will give you almost any common pedal sound you are looking for.

As a bonus, it feeds back nicely when using the D2 Fab OD as a boost, and the Fish'n'Chips takes both to a whole new level of tone shaping.

I got these three pedals to upgrade from Digitech RP amp modeling, and I very much prefer these tones.

Because of versatility for $15, an 8.

I don't see why not to depend on it. Its made of plastic, sure, but its heavy and the way its made you would really have to try to damage it with your foot. Don't throw it, and don't leave it alone in a board full of Bosses and it should be ok. I'd gig it for sure, if I got a gig!

I play rock, I don't what else to say...I like it all except for metal. This pedal delivers all the distortion tones I need for now. If it was lost or stolen, I'd order another.

I don't know what else to say about it. Its the cheapest distortion pedal on the market, but it doesn't sound like it is. Get it!

3 knobs. If you can play guitar, you can figure it out

Distortion knob: Very high gain, if you want it to be. Hell, Im pretty happy with the distortion at about "2". Any more and it begins to get real fuzzy, which is fine if your into Big Muff type tone. One can get a DS-1 or MXR + tone out of this unit without much effort as well. Dano also has a Metal model, and Id be afraid to even turn it on! I cant believe that they needed to make a pedal with any more gain than this D-1.

Tone Knob: great range of tone is available to mold your desired sound. I think the high/low range is actually wider than the DS-1 and OS-2 (Boss)that I own. Higher highs, lower lows.

Volume Knob: well, its a volume knob.

The knobs are tricky in that you turn them counter-clockwise to increase the function; opposite of any other pedal Ive used, including other Dano pedals.

Put into a chain with a Dano Daddy-O overdrive, I used the O-drive for a basic, dirty rhythm and used the D-1 as a lead boost with good result. I also played the unit by itself, and while I liked the rhythm, the lead was lacking in sustain. Played by itself, I found that stomping the 6db boost on my ampeg added some sustain and allowed for creating some decent controllable feedback.

Most surprising is how quiet this unit is. Granted, I ordered the Dano hum-free wall wort to power this puppy. Nice blue LED lets you know its on, though if you cant tell its on without the light, you need to pick your ears.

Construction is my only concern. It has a metal base, but the housing is plastic. Still, it has a 1 year warrenty. Im sure it will be ok as long as you dont abuse it

never used it

Been playing music for 10 years, guitar for about 6. Play garage/early punk type rock. Think The Clash/Ramones/Rolling Stones all mixed up. Gear: Tele w/ P-90 bridge and a Vintage+ neck p/u through an Ampeg SJ-12R. Other pedals include a Dano Daddy-O and a Fender tuner pedal.

I was in the market for a new distortion pedal, and at $15 I didnt even try it out, just ordered it online. Hell, for that price, its worth having even if its just used as a backup and is left in the gig bag.

The two things I wish it had are: more sustain at lower volume/distortion levels, and a metal housing. Id be willing to pay an extra 10-15 bucks for a better housing.

I find great satisfaction in getting good sounds from cheap gear. Its what rock-n-roll is all about; the average Joe playing average gear (and in my case having average ability! I own a Dano Hodad w/ the "bigsby" and a Dano Daddy-O and have never had a problem with those products.
Im pretty happy with this unit considering I paid $15 for it.