Danelectro D-2 Overdrive

The side-mounted knobs are a little difficult to grasp at first if you are used to BOSS and other pedals, which are top-mounted. But this does make the pedal a lot smaller and more compact which is kinda cool. Like similar overdrives, there are 3 knobs: Drive, Tone, Level. I give it an 8, because it is unusual, but it really gets a 9 because of the size/dimensions. Is small enough to fit into a guitar case.

I played this with a Gibson Melody-Maker and a Gibson Les Paul Standard to a 15 Watt Squier Solid State Amp. I really wanted something that would warm up the solid state sound and give it a more Tube Quality. This pedal definitely did the job. The other reviewers are right when they said this has Tube-Screamer Circuitry. It definitely sounds "Tube", in that it is a warm, soft overdrive that sounds very natural. It is in no way gritty like a distortion pedal and would work very well as a soft boost for a tube amp. However, I have to give this pedal and 8 on the sound quality, because it is not very bright. I've noticed this with a lot of the overdrive pedals, including the Tubescreamer, but this one especially seemed to lack in the high, trebly range. It sounds great, but will suck your treble out, even if you crank the tone knob to 10. But if you have a bright amp to begin with (which I didn't) you should be just fine, and will add a boost/tube sound to any distortion that your amp already has.

Never had any problems with it, although it IS made of cheap plastic. The battery seemed to last a long time too, although I unplugged it when not using.

Never had to contact. Heck, I paid only $20 for the pedal, and hear that you can get it cheaper off of Amazon.com or someplace.

I play rock and roll, being a child of the 80's, listening to mostly classic rock. I think this pedal would be est suited to classic rock stuff and seems to get muddy if you dial in a ton of distortion. But a setting of 1-6 on the gain knob will give you a nice boost to any distortion that your amp may have and will warm it up to sound like a tube overdrive. The only fault in this pedal is that it is not as trebly/bright as i would have liked it. But hey! $20.00 for a great, natural tube sounding overdrive is worth the try!

Couldn't be easier. It's a basic OD pedal.

I bought this for playing harp, since the very things that it gets knocked for (dark sounding, not a lot of top end), tend to work well for harp. For $15 I expected little. Wow, this thing is fantastic for harp! It sounds great into a tube amp when I need a little more grind at low volume. And, surprisingly, it sounds pretty good straight into the PA. I've tried a few other OD/distortion pedals and the distortion/OD on my Magicstomp, and they suck compared to this for amplified harp. It adds a smooth overdrive sound with a bit of compression.

OD/Distortion pedals tend to make harp feed back, but I use a MicroHush pedal that is great for killing feedback, so this is a non-issue.

I give it a 9, rather than 10, because it adds a little noise, especially as the gain goes up.

For $15, I don't expect it to last forever. So far so good.

None needed.

For $15 this thing is amazing for harp! I'd be pleased with it for $100. If it were lost/stolen, of course I'd shell out the big bucks for another. I've been playing harp for about 12 years and play in a band. That said, there are lots of better harp players than I, but I can hold my own. I have 4 tube amps. For practicing without an amp, or if an amp craps out at the gig, this little pedal into the PA will get you by.

Sounds like a tube amp breaking up! this pedal can also be bright not at all nasal sounding, just put a dynamic setting in your amps eq and this pedal will shine. I guess those comments about this lacking highs, set their eq at flat.

It sounds thicker than the tubescreamer for it has sense of lite compression which is good to keep your tone atop. Captures the picking nuance of the player. do a hard strummed rythm power chord and you will hear the brite-bite juice out of it. and do a lead licks and it's like a fat tube amp about to breakup.

the overdrive sings and has a rounded, nicely shaped tone not like a distorted overdrive that is usually heard on cheap pedals, midhump is useful, unit is not noisy at all.

great!

Couldn't be easier to use. 3 knobs - level, tone & drive. Manual warns that you should start the the level at 25%. I had no problems though, just plugged it in and started play with smoothly overdriven leads. You can get a great sound straight away with minimal fuss.

This thing is great for the price. The overdrive is slightly compressed and very sweet sounding to my ear. Some have complained about the lack of high end in this pedal but this is the sort of sound I like. It's great on top of an already slighty deistorted rhythm tone as it gives you a volume, sustain and gain boost which is really smooth. I'm playing it thru a Peavey Studio Pro 112 and a Custom Guitar Workshop Tele copy with GFS single coils. This pedal is great for me as I'm happy with the clean and dirty channels in my amp but really needed an extra bit of boost for lead playing, as my main rhythm tone is only marginally dirty and doesn't have a lot of sustain. Considering the price this pedal is an absolute winner in terms of sound.

Can't really comment here as I've only had it for a short time. Though the top of the pedal is made of plastic, I don't see any structural shortcomings with it - looks pretty sturdy to me. I don't jump on my pedals and try to take care of all my gear, so it's all good for me. If it keeps the cost down then I see it as a bonus not a hinderance. Time will tell though.

Can't say. If it breaks I'll just get another. Dirt cheap.

I play blues and jazzy hard rock. This pedal is perfect for me. I've never owned a Tube Screamer (used 'em before though) but this pedal has a similar overall effect, as it smooths and enhances your tone in a warm natural sounding way that belies it's transistory construction. Fantastic for warm sounding leads. It may not suit high gain shredders but for any blusey-style stuff this pedal is ace. This is my second Fab pedal and I can't believe the quality of these things for the dollar paid. I am now a huge fan. I've been playing since '89 and have owned and played with a lot of distortion devices - Boss, Dod, Marshall etc - and this one is the best I've encountered thus far, as it enhances rather than detracts from your sound. Get one - they sell for bugger all on ebay. Have to give it high marks just because of the bang for the buck and it's high quality sound.

Very simple to get a great usable sound out of it.

I build military spec tube screamers. I am always searching for new overdrive pedal designs. This is a tube screamer curcuit folks! It's just like a sound tank with a slight tone knob modification.

I use it regularly for SRW strat fender gigs and some world music gigs. Holds up just fine.

I love the fact that if it gets stolen, i'm only out $15.00.

Super Easy. A little fiddling and you'll find what you're after.

I really like this pedal. It's a little mid-rangey, but for lead work(which I do a little of), it's perfect. I don't use many other effects, usually one or two, and this is one of them. I use it with a couple of different setups depending on what band I am playing with.
- Rickenbacker 610 > OD > Fender Blues Jr
- SG > OD > Gibson GA15rvt

I've owned other OD's and played several others and i've come to the conclusion that this OD is a winner.

Looks pretty tough. I've owned it for a little over a year and use it out and haven't had any issues with it. I don't have a backup.

N/A

I play in a couple of rock bands...do a little recording. I have two rigs that I sometimes alternate between bands and the OD is in both. I use an AB box to switch between an engaged Fab Distortion(rhythm) and this Fab OD(lead). It's a simple rig, but it sounds good and is easy to drop on the floor and get crackin'.

I build pedals and a few amps and honestly, I haven't built an OD that can match this for price, sound, and perhaps durability. I hate buying Chinese stuff considering how out-of-control our trade deficit situation is, but it's simply too good of a deal.

Very easy to use. Three knobs: volume, tone, drive. Doesn't get simpler than that.

Okay, alot of people are posting low numbers because this isn't the neat Butler Tube Driver but get a grip! You paid $15 for it! You can't use this alone and expect it to work miracle. Most of my tone is controlled at the end of my effect line and I used this as a boost at the front of the line. I haven't gotten exotic with my effects but I am using it for front end drive and I'm expecting to to work as advertised. If you're using this to drive your tone, then you're just fooling yourself. Use it as intended and it's fine.

I'm sure I won't have many problems with it but if I do, I can always pick up another one for $15!

Probably won't need it.

For $15, you can't ask for much but it does do the job of overdriving. If you're looking to control your tone get something more intended for doing so.

As easy as any pedal to setup and use.

I'm a strat thru a tweed/jtm/plexi guy. I like thick rhythm stuff like AC/DC back in black, chimey dynamic clean/dirty like SRV little wing, and too many other sounds to mention. There are so many beautiful guitar tones out there but at some point you have to pick one and really work with it to make it your own. I've been playing for about 14 years and have been on a tone hunt for the last year.

I think this pedal gets alot of undeserved hype. Yea, I know it's only a $15-$20 overdrive but still, what's with the hype? It does'nt sound like any kind of classic or boutique overdrive. It has it's own color and alot of it. Even with the drive at zero, using the pedal as a boost, it's color is all over your tone. What's it sound like? Rolled off hi's, lo's, mid bump.........overall color is almost like a cheap chorus pedal *barely* engaged. It does'nt particularly sound bad but it's not inspiring either. I honestly don't have a use for it's sound. I think it may be useful for someone that plays smooth, modern blues/rock on a tight budget. You know......those old guys with the 80's look that think they're playing blues. I call it rock elevator music.

SRV, Hendrix, ZZ top, Black Crowes, AC/DC..........forget about it. This pedal does'nt put a foot in any of these territories. It puts out pretty limited dynamics and frequency response. Kind of a cheap compressed sound.

I've used it a handful of times over the last couple of years, never a problem. I've literally played thru it probably 4 hours total over 2 years.

No need to use customer support.

It's a one trick pony and unfortunately I did'nt find it's trick. Since it is a $20 pedal, I don't want to slam it's rating too bad but I have to do my part in bringing down some of the hype. So I'll give it a 3 overall. For what it's worth, I tried the pedal out in the shop before buying and bought it anyway. I figured it might be a useful alternate sound for recording. I was wrong. Two years later it's sitting unused.

With a decent amp, this thing is very easy to get results from.
Three knob adjustments, but they are so simple you don't even have to read the instructions. My kind of gizmo!

I play a MIM Standard Fender Strat. I plug the guitar straight into the Fab Overdrive, and then run this through a Danelectro BLT echo pedal. I have one of the brand new Epiphone Valve Junior combo amps.
With this combination, I am totally happy with the sound.
Also, the Fab Overdrive greatly increases the versatility of my amplifier. Without this product, my amp would only do extremely clean 50's sounding stuff. With the Fab, I can get anything from Sun records rockabilly to Ramones level gain. This pedal really works.

It's reliable, but I operate it with my hands. Stepping on the plastic button doesn't seem like a good idea to me. This being the case, perhaps this product is more for the Joe Blow playin-guitar-in-his-garage than the professional musician.

I've never had to use Danelectro customer support. But I've had their BLT echo for a year, and it still works fine. The Fab overdrive only cost me $15.00! The price and effectiveness of this unit can't be beat. If it poops out on me, I'll just buy another one.
One suggestion. Buy the nine dollar 110 volt power transformer that Danelectro makes available. They work great, and it won't take you long to save money by not buying those silly 9 volt batteries. These pedals don't need the battery; they will run straight off of the transformer.

I like country and rockabilly, with a little bit of surf and 70's punk thrown in. I use gain with all of it, and the Danelectro Fab is awesome. It really just enhances the sound of your amp without making it sound "electronicky."
However, I don't know how it sounds through an ultra-cheapo solid state amp. The Epiphone is my first good amp, and this pedal is a perfect match.

Level, tone, OD, on/off. Easy.

Hmm, it's okay. It's very limited by the tonal range -- even with the treble cranked, it's really too bassy for really juicy leads, IMO. If you stick a 7-band-eq after it, it takes care of that, but it's a bit of a hassle. This thing would be much improved if they fixed the tone circuit. It seems to just drop out over the 1K range. I know it's trying to be a psuedo Tube Screamer (which is a mid-rangy pedal), but it still doesn't have enough treble for that.

It does sound nice for some very mellow rhythm sounds though, and to a certain extent some bluesy John Lee Hooker riffage, depending on your amp setting ... the treble cut kind of makes it sound nasaly, if you turn the gain up a bit, and especially if you run it with another overdrive. I mean, it's not a bad pedal, but it's really limited by the tonal range.

I a/b'd this with a Boss SD-1 (not the DS-1, the SD-1), and the SD-1 was much more transparent tonally, and worked better if you want to add some kind of modulation effect after it. Very clear and transparent. The Fab OD imposes itself upon your tone, and doesn't work well with my Electric Mistress. It does have a very loud clean boost, so it could certainly send your tube amp into overdrive by volume alone.

It's okay, but I really liked the Fab Distortion much better, because it doesn't cut out your highs. The Fab Distortion, interestingly, also works as a clean boost (I wasn't expecting that, but it really does completely clean up with the distortion knob at 0), a mild OD and a saturated distortion. I would recommend you get the Fab Distortion, rather than this pedal. The Fab Distortion does everything the Fab OD does, but does it better, and then goes beyond it into medium-high gain territory.

The Fab Overdrive is okay, but there are better overdrive pedals to be had, though not as cheaply. I'm planning on picking up a Boss SD-1 soon. I was impressed with its clarity and the interesting enhancements it made to my tone used either clean or with mild dirt. It seemed to take the tone I already had and just made it a little better. The Fab OD completely changes your tone, not always in a bad way, but it just doesn't have enough treble enough for my tastes. The Fab Distortion is much nicer, and more versatile, if you're looking for a nice $15 dirt box/clean boost.