Danelectro D-2 Overdrive

Easy to use. It has three knobs - Level, Tone, and Gain. The manual was small and not really necessary due to the pedals easy to understand controls.

The knobs almost feel backwards at first due to their location, still easy to use.

Getting a useable sound out of this is not too hard. The knobs have a decent range of versatility to each of them.

My test setup consisted of:
A 2001 '57 Reissue Gibson Les Paul Custom (.011 gauge pure nickel wrap strings, the neck pickup turned around so the polepieces are closer to the bridge side).
A 2004 Lite Ash Telecaster (.010 pure steel strings. Pots and switch replaced with premium Fender, CTS, and No-Load tone pot. Brass AllParts compensated saddles).
A 1972 "silver face" Fender Champ (all original except for the Weber 8CS ceramic speaker. Brand new ElectroHarmonix 12AX7 preamp tube, JJ/Tesla 6V6 tube, and Sovtek 5Y3 rectifier tube.)

NOTE: It increases the single coil pickup's hum, which is NORMAL for OD/Distortion pedals.

IMPORTANT: I am NOT an effects pedal kind of guy. I got this pedal to get some distorted tones out of my '72 Champ at "bedroom volumes". Cranking the Champ sounds great, but at 6 watts it is still too loud for my neighbors.

ALSO: I compared the pedal to a Boss GE7 EQ pedal as a "clean boost". I maxed the EQ's Level control. To get "bedroom level" distorted tones I will compare them both in my review below.

As far as the SOUND QUALITY category, it can get some DECENT sounds out of this pedal. OVERALL THOUGH, my Marshall TSL60 can get BETTER sounds at similar volume levels (with it's gain only on 2 or 3). See my full review below for more info.

Made of plastic, BUT SEEMS DURABLE ENOUGH. As far as "gigging without a backup", I prefer the sound of a tube amp cranked, so OD pedals are used only for playing with distortion at "bedroom levels" on my Champ. My Marshall's Master volume knob makes the pedal even less used at home... so "gigs" will never see the pedal in action anyways.

Never dealt with Danelectro.

The review submittal asks these questions, so I'm answering them:

I play rock music (classic rock to hard rock) and blues (semi-clean and dirty).

I have been playing for about 15 years. I have recorded in studios, as well as at home. I play live. Other gear I own and have owned:

AMPS
Marshall TSL60 tube amp
Marshall JCM 800 (an early 100 watt version, and a later 2 channel 50 watt version with Reverb).
Closed back 2x12" cab with Celestion Vintage 30s.
Fender Blues Junior (with 70s MusicMan alnico speaker).
Fender '72 Champ.
Peavey Classic 50 (both the 4x10" AND 2x12").
Peavey Classic 30 (with a Celestion Vintage 30 and a Peavey e112 extension closed back cab with a Celestion G12H 70th Anniversary speaker).

GUITARS
2001 '57 RI Gibson Les Paul Custom (reversed neck pickup).
2001 Gibson Special Edition ES-135 (w Classic 57 pickups).
2000 Gibson Les Paul Junior Lite (w SeymourDuncan Custom P90 in bridge, and Gibson P90 in neck).
2004 Lite Ash Telecaster (SDuncan Alnico II pro pickups. AllParts compensated brass saddles. Fender USA switch, CTS 300k Volume Pot, and a No-Load tone pot).
1998 Fender Standard Telecaster (SDuncan Lil 59 bridge pickup, 2 volume, 1 master tone controls, Strat birdseye maple neck, compensated brass saddles).
1994 Fender Standard Telecaster (compensated brass saddles, tuned in Open G for slide).
2002 '58 Epiphone Explorer (DiMarzio Super Distortion in bride, Super2 in neck).
2000 Jackson RR-5 Rhoads Flying V (DiMarzio Super Distortion in bridge, SDuncan JB in neck. Coil Spliiter switch for single coil operation).
1998 Ibanez AR 200 (DiMarzio Super Distortion in bridge. Coil Spliiter for single coil operation).

Whew, got that out of the way.

If it were lost or stolen I would probably replace it, due to it's inexpensive price. Otherwise this effect is for "bedroom distortion volume" only out of my Champ and not a crucial piece of equipment by any means.

My favorite feature is it's price.

I compared it to the DigiTech BadMonkey. Price-wise this pedal won. I also compared it to the other FAB pedals D-1 Distortion, and D-3 Metal. I prefer a more subtle overdrive, so this was the pedal.

I don't wish it had anything else for the price.

It does NOT help me make music. BUT, it DOES help me practise. It is uninspiring for writing/creating, and for recording it is useless (unless perhaps for nice controlled feedback). I wanted a "decent" dist sound for my Champ at quieter volumes, this does "OK" for that.

"Anything else you'd like to share?" - YES - I HATE effects pedals (spring reverb is OK with me though). I do own effects and use them only when I have to (the job requires it, OR the track just begs for Delay, Tremolo, or something). I disdain and HATE distortion/OD pedals. I am a basic "cranked amp" and guitar kind of guy (NOT exaclty a "Tube Tone snob", but I know what I like), SO if you are a pedal lover, take my review with a grain of sand.

I am trying to objective for all to benefit... now, on to the review.

REVIEW:
The TONE CONTROL had a nice wide sweep, BUT is NOT as versatile as I would have liked. PERHAPS THE DigiTech BadMonkey HAS BETTER TONE CONTROL FEATURES (a Bass and Treble control) IN THE LOW PRICE OD CATEGORY (it's $40, the D-2 was $15).

As a "clean boost" (with the Level control maxed, and the Gain low or off - to push the amp's preamp tube into distortion via Volume) the pedal still adds fuzz and color. Even with the Gain knob ALL THE WAY OFF. The EQ pedal (I used a Boss GE7 for reference) might be a better bet in the "clean boost" arena, BUT the slight added gain even in the zero position was nice as well, just NOT "clean" enough to be called a "clean boost".

As far as Dynamics are concerned, lightening up on the pick attack did not seem to clean up as well as a tube amp cranked up usually does. Some fizz and distortion seemed to always be lingering in the back somewhere. As a "cranked tube amp" guy, I disliked this quality.

With the amp turned way low, the pedal seemed to sound better with the the pedal's Level turned up a little bit. This is PROBABLY because the 6 watt Champ's tubes were worked a little harder (the output volume was alot louder than with the pedal off), and probably not due to anything in the pedal's nature.

With the amp turned up more, the pedal had to be backed off to make for more "neighbor friendly" volumes. AGAIN, I feel the amp's louder volume overall was the key to getting a good sound. THE WAY A CHAMP WORKS lends itself to better tone when the amp's volume is louder - the pedal's Level control made the amp louder, therefore a little better.

The Telecaster still sounded like a Telecaster, but perhaps a Tele through a solid state amp. Single coils did get a "kick" and had distortion at lower levels. Compared to my Les Paul, the single coils were more "fizzy" and lacked body, especially with the Gain control at higher levels, which is common for an OD pedal.

With the Champ dimed/cranked-to-10 and the pedal OFF, the Telecaster's distortion was great (nice classic tube amp distortion) - SO THE PEDAL IS TO BLAME for some of this.

THE PEDAL'S EQ/FREQUENCY COLORINGS:
TREBLE/HIGHS - The pedal killed the amp's "chime" and highs (which are are great on their own). They could SORT OF get dialed back in, to SOME DEGREE with the Tone knob, but was less "magical" and more "processed". The highs on the Champ WERE simply beautiful - not so with the pedal.

BASS - Bass seemed fine. Not "flubbed" up and muddied by the pedal.

MIDS - There was a nice little mid hump (not exactly like what my Celestion Vintage 30s do to an amp, but it's the only way I can describe it).

The pedal can sound "fizzy" at times.

OVERALL
Overall, I'd say the pedal is "OK". Not something magical you'd hear on a great recording, but usefull for a little boost onstage OR (like I am using it for), getting some dirt on a practise amp to tame the volume for dirty tones... I probably would NEVER use it in band rehearsal, and I'd NEVER use it in recording, BUT in my bedroom it's usefull for what I wanted... again, my 60 watt all tube Marshall with the gain on 2 or 3 sounds better (slightly loud for the neighbors, but still sounds better at a similar volume level).

This is a follow up to my first reveiw. I used the Fab a few times and liked it, but stuck it back in storage as my other higher priced overdrives were pretty much permanant fixtures on my board.

I had a guitar made for me ( semi hollow tele/lp hybrid with handwound, very low output, unpotted humbuckers ) and while trying it out with various amps and pedals decided to pull the Fab out and give it a go.

Well, you could have knocked me over with a freaking feather! The little, cheap *** fab sounded very, very good with this guitar. I'm sure it has to do with the pickups, but I was amazed at the tones I was getting. From articulate chord crunch to Ford/Carlton type overdrive tones. This is not a high gain pedal by any stretch of the imagination, but for bluesy tones, it was much more smooth than it's higher priced brethren. With my other guitars, the other overdrives work better, but with this beauty, the Fab is it!

If you're looking for a nice sounding, bluesy overdrive, you could do much worse ( and spend a ho bunch mo money ) than the Dano Fab.

It's plastic and the controls are very touchy. However, there is a ton of gain available on this little gem, the tone control works very well and for $15 stinking bucks, how the hell can one go wrong?

I bought it on a whim, tried it out and was pretty impressed. I was very impressed with how well it sounds with low output pups. So, I guess the moral here is to try it with every guitar you own. To paraphrase Nappy Brown, "You never know whats going to jump out of the bushes and bite you oin the ***."

the controls are laid out clean and simply.
level, tone and gain. Bright blue LED.

i tried the overdrive first on a fender princeton chorus and later a boogie rectifier 2x12 combo. the pedal worked great with both solid state and tube amps. on the solid state amp it gave me a more tube like sag - with the tube amp it really helped push the amp into dirt, not metal dirt, but good clear classic rock dirt.

to soon to tell. so far has held up well.

for the money, its hard to beat.

When i first popped this puppy out of the box (and slapped a battery in, those bastards lifted the 9v out at the store) i got this very very fuzyy tone. it was almost unuseable. sounded like distortion with a wah all the way back, or in the bass or on the heel, really weird. well, i popped in a fresh battery and what can i say?
crunch galore. made me want to play AC/DC, and trust me i usually dont play ac/dc at all. this pedal really does get that broken-up tube amp kinda sound. i must say though, it sounds kind of forced, kind of too broken up. this is most likely because i havent tweeked it fully, so just ignore me (but dont really because then thered be no point of me writing all this). i havent had the luxury of boosting a good tube amp, and if i heard what i was playing from someone else, id have no idea it was coming from a roland cube 60, a fender standard telecaster and a $20 danelectro overdrive pedal

as mentioned earlier, i got a 2004 fender standard telecaster (mexicano) going into a dunlop gcb-95 cry baby into a roland cube 60.
if you crank the level knob, it gets noisy, but what can you expect? level is volume/gain kinda thing and when you start boosting that you'd be a fool to expect no noise.
i can tell you i don't think i've spent a better $25 canadian on anything, let alone anything for a guitar.
As of yet, i have only really been able to nail a heavy crunch setting, ala AC/DC and Led Zeppelin II/Physical Grafitti (think the wanton song). a very humbucker-esque drive tone. its pretty good to have when you weild a tele.
as of yet (about 2 hours) i haven't been really able to find a solid light overdrive. that could be because ive just been happy messing around with the pedal and the modeled amps in the cube 60. if you have a roland cube, flip it to marshall stack model, give it about 12:00 on the OD, 2:00 or 3:00 on the tone and anywhere you want for the level and youll be really happily surprised.

my prefered style of music is a blues rock hybrid, stevie ray vaughan off any album, johnny winter (off second winter) and the bluesier hendrix stuff (red house obviously, catfish blues, hear my train a comin' kinda deal). i do and will play anything. as of yet i have been able to get these tones, but this is because ive just been enjoying this immense crunch so much; definetly not something im used to

it kicks ass. i had to pop a battery in this sucka, so im already pretty familiar with the design. metal base is rock solid, and plastic will last. if your one of those guys who wears boots and likes to stomp the shit out of their "stomp"boxes, let me tell you, youre gonna get what you deserve. this pedal is not a boss and the button isn't that large, but anyone who has the brains to realize you dont have to stomp the hell out of a pedal to get it to work, this pedal will offer you absolutely 0 problems at all.
I can't comment on battery life, but at first i put in a semi-drained battery, and the led lit up duller than normal (this is one bright blue led, you wont have to worry about telling whether its on or not). so im pretty sure it wasnt designed this way, but you even have a bit of a battery indicator in the brightness of the led.

never dealt with danelectro. for the $25 cdn i spent on it, i'll be pissed if it breaks... because i cant play it, not because i lost the money

as mentioned earlier, i play a blues/rock mix leaning more towards blues (winter, vaughan etc.) i havent as of yet got these tones, but if you've followed along this far youve realized its taken me about as long to write this review as ive played with the pedal for.

i've owned my tele for 5 months on may 12th. its my first electric guitar. from this you may think all of the above is full of shit, but let me tell you, it aint. in the 5 months of owning this guitar, ive played 4 gigs and i cant tell you the last time i didnt play for more than 3 hours a day. i could tell you ive played for two years and youd hang on to every word id say. also ive played clarinet for 6 years, jazz piano, taught myself alto sax too. give me any chord and i can go play it on piano. i play jazz on clarinet and sax and i know my theory. i picked up guitar as a means of exploring things other than charlie parker's heroin-induced speed. but how good you are doesnt make a difference if you have fun. other gear is a roland cube 60 and dunlop gcb-95 wah (used stuff is s-i-c-k).

theres nothing i wish it had. its my first "stomp"box and i dont think you can go wrong with it. has all the standard distortion/overdrive controls and it even looks pretty cool to (if your into that sort of thing). blue led is perfect for a dark stage. i didn't really compare it to anything else. for my birthday i received $100 from the parents/grandparents and went to go buy the dunlop wah. since i got a new one for a used price i decided to pick up this pedal for fun, why not? i expected to spend all the money on the wah and had enough to buy the od. i felt a bit dumb on the car ride home because of all the modeled amps on my cube 60, but hey man its definetly worth it. if you come in expecting a tube amp in a box for $25, you're probably gonna be disappointed. but then again if thats what you expect, i dont think very much will make you happy in this world thats full of wonderful surprises waiting for your discovery each and every single day.

i give it a solid ten, as soon as i work out good setting for it, this baby will never leave my "rig" and will be with me at every "gig" from now on. haha rhyme, right on!!!

please feel totally free to email me with any questions, the lack of information on this pedal is fairly scary even for just a $25 "investment"

One button, three knob stompbox. It has nice bright blue LED to indicate it's been activated. You could definitely see it light up through the smoke machine.

BUT, they put the knobs facing out the back of the pedal where the input jacks are. They're hard to reach and difficult to turn from that vantage, and I have no idea why they would have designed the pedal like that.

I played this through a 335, or an Italia Modena into a Vox Valvetronix with a little bit of reverb. I think the tone was alright, but nothing to write home about. The pedal generates considerable hiss whether or not the effect is activated.

The tone control controls a VERY narrow range of eq, so turning it does very little. Likewise, the gain begins higher than you would expect. I didn't find it particularly responsive to changes in the guitar's volume or tone controls. Altogether, I was pretty disappointed with the sound here-- I thought it would be much closer to the Daddy-O overdrive, which I remember being a great effect.

It's all plastic. If you couldn't afford a $20 backup, you might have problems.

I've played for a number of years and have acquired some decent equipment. I'm a fan of the Dano brand and usually try to give them the benefit of the doubt when they come out with new pedals, but they're definitely hit & miss.

For $20 this is a decent OD for a beginner, but it's not going to be adequate for recording or playing out. Besides the OD's that my Valvetronix models, I've got a Big Muff, a Vox V810 Valvetone and a Dallas Arbiter Fuzzface. I knew the D-2 wouldn't be in this class, but sometimes Danelectro can be very surprising (I use a Dan Echo religiously, the French Toast octaver is a great little pedal, so is the aforementioned Daddy-O). I play the indie space rock / shoegaze / wombadelia a la my bloddy valentine, spiritualized, jesus & mary chain. This little guy is cute, but it doesn't really cut it.

Honestly, the best thing about the pedal is how clearly you can see that LED when you stomp it-- I wish more pedals did that. I'd spend the twenty bucks on another few packs of strings if this were lost or stolen. Save your pennies and get something a little nicer than this pedal.

This is a very simple device. Plug and play pretty much.. just watch your gain on the pedal, it's got some power.
The manual is pretty simple, one small page, names parts, controls.
It's enough for this.
Based on the Tube Screamer, I gather, this is a very nice pedal, you get a good range of overdrive, and it's very good sounding.

This is a preliminary review.. very much off the cuff, so..

bear that in mind.

I'm using an epiphone sheraton, gibson pickups, into sabine compressor and then the Fab, ending up in my Marshall mg15cd practice amp.

It produces a bit of hiss, esp. with the compressor on. But, not enough to care about.

It has no bad settings, it only does one thing.. overdrive, mild to ripe.

I found it faster and easier to match the tone of my practice tapes guitarist with this FAB overdrive than either the Marshall alone, or my guitar run through the behringer bass pro rack unit.
*it has guitar amps and effects, including the Tube Screamer*

The sound of this thing is really good. I mean that sincerely. It has a sort of resonance, which can be more or less pronounced depending on how you tweak it, that is very much the sound of tubes pushed.
It has no frustrating or disturbing qualities.. no real negative side, save the fact that your tone changes.

This pedal tends to have less treble, even with the tone control all the way up, if the overdrive is set mildly. crank up the Overdrive and the treble comes back strong.

What this mean is, your basic guitar tone will change.
The reason it's not a big deal to me is that it sounds good. Very good.
The amount of piddling around is minimal because it's all so simple.
Even it's quirks are a walk in the park.

I'm going to give this a ten. I can't ignore that price performance ratio. It's an absolute steal. It can sound as good as much much higher priced units, just keep in mind, it's an overdrive, not three pedals in one..just one.
If it were priced higher, I would still give it at least a nine.
The reason is, it sounds very good. Whether I play into my zoom mrs 1044 cd ten channel digital recorder, or my practice amp, I get it's sound, and it's sound works for scads of things.
Very nice for blues! basic rock as well.. you can get a nice mild crunch, or you can fuzz it up bit, lots of harmonics and overtones.
Hey.. this is the perfect backup if nothing else. But it's also miles above your typical arion, etc., cheapo pedal.
Dano did a damno good job.

It's got a plastic case. metal bottom, rubber covered.
one screw battery replacement.
solid. not cheap at all.
seems very sturdy to me.
I'd not worry about it onstage at all.

can't say.

I'll say again, great for blues. Lets a lot of guitar through on milder settings. and it's range is smooth and logical, through the tone and through the overdrive you know very well what it will and wont do.
Very much high gain, follow the instructions and start with your level at about 25%.
Adds sustain, but doesn't overdo it. I like this aspect a lot. You can get more sustaing cranking the overdrive up, but it's never too much..
*where the note wont die out when you'd prefer it would..*
It's nicely touch senstive, change your pick attack and it follows you well. Back the guitar off and you do clean up a bit, but even at the lowest setting you'd have to crank the guitar way down to really be clean. (just a bit of high end fuzz)

I've been playing since the mid sixties. I have a lot of gear.
lost or stolen I'd replace it with another immediately. I want the whole series!

Best of all is that it's just what it is.. a very good little overdrive.. and cheap as bowling!
worst of all is the change in tone, which isn't much of a problem for me.
I had one of the sabine closeout overdrives and sent it back.
this dano blows that thing off the map.
Compared to the effects in my Zoom, the overdrive and dist. of the Marshall amp, and the Behringer Bass Pro, I'd say this..
you can put this pedals sound and function in any of them, and people would use it and like it.
If the Marshall had this it would be a very good improvement, as that amps overdrive is very much more radical than the Fab.
If the zoom or the behringer had this we'd say gee they did a good job of copying that pedal.

I chose this on price alone. Boy what a good deal I got.

This is not a rave review of Fulltones latest offering.. this is a review of a fifteen dollar overdrive pedal.

Beginners, buy the set. I don't see how you could be unhappy.
Intermediate, buy your fave, preference. It's cheap, it's fun, it's sturdy, and sounds very good.
Pros, look.. who can give you advice on something like a fifteen dollar pedal? If this thing had only one good sound, I might say go ahead and try it, but it has more. It's got a good range of overdrive, and it does nice things to your sound. Perfect? Studio? Nope. but live, you bet your waitress!

I have to give it a ten at this point. It's only two days old. I'll go into detail in a week or two.
I just don't see how anyone could top this pedal for double this money.
And chinese or not, if the design is good so is the product. This one is good.

Hey, if you buy one, submit a review and email me, so I can hear your opinions. thanks!

It is very simple: level, tone and drive. On thing to mention is that the knobs work the opposite way the rest of the pedals I have used (Fab Tone, Daddy-O, Bad Monkey, etc.).

It sounds quite well for the price. The overdrive is very warm, with a lot of bass, I think it works better with single coils. I have a Les Paul copy and this pedal lacks treble for me.
I have also a Bad Monkey (Digitech) and the sound is better for me, more like tube-overdrive.

It is made of plastic, you know. You have to be careful with this pedal.

It is a good pedal for the price. The sound is good, warm overdrive, but not exactly as a tube overdrive pedal. It is made of plastic, but I understand you can not made a metal pedal for 19$.
A good choice for single coil guitars.