Danelectro D-3 Fab Metal

Level, Tone, Gain. The typical knobs on a dirtbox.

This pedal is BRUTAL. There is more gain than you'll ever need for any style of music. I play all kinds of metal. This pedal will do thrash, speed, death, probably even grind if you tweak it right. I can't believe how great this thing is for $15. I am playing a Harmony Strat copy with a Duncan JB in the bridge into my Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 head and Avatar 4x12 cab. I can achieve any heavy sound I want. This pedal is not warm and doesn't have much in the way of dynamics so do not buy it thinking it's an overdrive. I use the Marshall distortion to get hard rock and select thrash tones like Slayer, but up to this point I was lacking a high gain scooped distortion sound. Upon plugging in this pedal I was blown away by the amount of gain available. I've figured out the best distortion comes with the level at 3 o'clock (adjust for your amp!), the tone at 9 o'clock, and the gain at 2 o'clock. It sounded a little thin so I dialed in more midrange on my amp and cut the highs a bit. The sound fattened up and sounds amazing. I am getting tone almost identical to Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power (great album.) It sounds awesome. I was going to buy a Randall for this distortion but now I don't need it.

It probably can't take too much abuse. I'm thinking about putting the electronics of this thing into a gutted Boss case or perhaps building my own housing with a heavy duty metal footswitch. Or, I could buy a couple more, which I am considering.

I have never dealt with Danelectro but I have owned several of their products over the years and they hold up well.

This is a great distortion for anyone seeking bonecrushing heavy sound. Once again, DO NOT buy this pedal if you're looking for an overdrive! Despite the fact that it says 'FAB Metal' right on the front, some moron will buy it thinking they can use it as an overdrive. I think this pedal is a great value. I have owned Danelectro distortion and overdrive boxes (Fab Tone, Daddy-O 6 years ago), a Boss distortion box (Metal Zone, it sucked!) and have played on many others. This is probably my favorite. I am generally a 'straight into the amp' type of guy but this is the heaviest distortion I've ever heard out of a pedal. Besides, for $15 how can you go wrong?

Easy to get good sound because it only has 3 knobs. Volume, Tone, and Gain.

No patches... just a pedal. On/Off
No manuals needed
No firmware.

The difference is that knobs are turned outward to front not at top. I think it's a matter of preference. It's good to prevent accidentally stepping on the knobs if your not coordinated, but harder to see when you bend down to turn it and see the setting under casual conditions.

I am using on Crate G60 on clean channel. My crate has nice clean channel, almost tubish with no distortion and 3 EQ. I can use the distortion pedal in front and use the EQ to shape my tone. I do not have other distortion pedals but i have 3 combo amps (Crate, Vox, Behringer, Fender, Kustom, Line6)and have had many different modeling amps (V-Amp2, Pod XT, Digitech Genesis3, GuitarPort) and have heard GT-6 .

This lil $15 cheapo has a nice discernable tone and not muddy like many modeling amps that really use a rattly distortion with no focus. It can go from a moderate distortion to extreme gain of almost any styles. I prefer the max gain setting.

It is not noisy at all. Just a slight hiss, no more then any analog distortion pedal. Not noticeable while playing and low enough that it won't be bothersome.

I use it on my Crate G60 65watt amp because the distortion on it sucks.

I can't give it 10 since i have not heard any other brand distortion pedals besides Behringer and i prefer the Dano much better.

all plastic except the base for weight. not the studiest looking pedal, but im not a heavy foot so i think it will be fine. I think they could have used a metal on the plug, it's all plastic.

I play everything from acoustic to heavy metal and everything in between except country and techno. 20+ yrs off and on.

If it were stolen, i would definitely get it again. Its better then any modeling distortion and at $15, you can't beat it. I've heard Boss distortion pedals before and i prefer Dano. It has more crunch and and does not sound thin and modified. The tone sounds more natural.

couldn't be much easier...i got confused n turned them all the wrong was and wondered why it sounded clean - but thats just be being a dumbass.

I've only got a cheapy ibanez GRX something-or-another through to a marshall MG50DFX, the pedal sounds fantastic! it went all crackly on the high notes at times but that was just battery running out...me not realisng to take the leads out the pedal when not playing. It's got varied distortion but i only like a small bit of it. usually the tone backed down about 3/4 along with th elevel then turn yer volume on the amp up and its sounds great, the distortion just rolls effortlessly off the guitar. if the level is near full the single notes on the lower strings become less pronounced. I can't think of a band it sound like to be honest...its got a great sound never the less...if some of the distortion tones were a little less flat, itd be much to my liking...i got this in exchange for a 10W Kustom amp, i gave him the amp he gave me the pedal. so im fairly pleased with it, but im thinking of getting the Danelectro liquid metal pedal after very high recommendation from my guitar teacher.

Personally i wouldn't gig this...its too small id loose it. i suppose its dependable but the battery life seems pretty poor, i guess an adaptor would be needed. My friend tried an adaptor with it when he had it and claimed and started producing smoke and smelling like a scalextic track. so ive not tried an adaptor yet personally.

never used it.

i play any thing i like the sound of really, but in genral i play metal and grunge. this is great for metal, well hence the name, but not dirty enough for grunge really. metal only really. Well no i wouldnt buy a new 1 of it wer lost or stolen or watever, id rather buy a distortion pedal with more range to it. it makes ne chord sound nice n meaty but single notes - unless the level is backed down - are bit too fuzzy. for its price its a great peice of kit, i think my friend got it for #12-15 which is nothing copared to BOSS and Digitech. if yer after a solely metal sound on budget this couldnt be more perfect.

Three knobs - tiny manual - EASY!

It sounds great to me, particularly when you consider how much it costs. I can get lots of great tones out of this thing.

I'm a beginner, so I haven't really developed many brand loyalties yet.

A little hiss, maybe, but not much. Absolutely no popping when you press the rubber-padded footswitch.

I run it into a l'il Fender FM15 solid-state practise amp and it sounds fantastic.

It looks pretty heavy-duty, even though it's made of plastic.

The footswitch seems to be of good quality.

N/A

I'm a beginner (41 years old), only just getting the feel of power chords, etc, and I wanted to try a pedal to see what sort of difference it would make to the sound of my Standard Strat with EMG's and my FM15 practice amp.

I saw a review of the FAB series in a magazine, and the reviewer seemed quite impressed, so I had my local shop order me the Fab distortion pedal.

I am very impressed with it, having messed around with it for the better part of a week now.

I would recommend this unit to ANYONE looking for a REAL deal!

three knobs. gain, tone and level.
with a little tweaking its very easy to get a great sound out of it

i run my samick through this into a crate mx20rc amp. the amp by itself sounds great but plug the fab metal into it and you wont believe your ears. wihtin 5 minutes of owning this pedal i was able to get it to sound just like metallica's "am i evil". most anything off the "kill'em all", "ride the lighting" or "and justice for all" is easy to get with this pedal. takes time but if you work at it you can get the dave mustaine "sound".
the only negative thing i can say is that if you turn the tone up too much the sound becomes a little thin. but thats not a real issue for me. keeping the tone turned down gives a nice crunch. whats metal without the crunch?!!!!!

i think its reliable but the case is plastic so i wouldn't recommend stomping on it.
i don't gig anymore but if i did i might play without a backup BUT only if i had a power supply rather than using batteries. when the battery gets weak there's a cracking noise. it will suck the juice out of the batteries, quick.

havent had to use them.

i play metal moslty. this pedal is a good match for it. good aggressive crunch to it.
been playing for 17 years. back when metallica was great and megadeth even better.
lost or stolen would buy another one. not just because it sounds great but because i'm a tight wad.
all i know is that if you need a great sounding pedal and you play metal you cant go wrong with the fab metal pedal. quit reading these reviews and buy it!!!

Easy to use. Manual is tiny, but it's all you need.

Pesonaly, I don't do a lot of metal. Just wanted something cheap to play with. It actually exceeded my expetations and sounds pretty sweet. I really like putting it after my Dano Chorus pedel (Milkshake). A little chorus or Flange before this puppy makes some great tone for Judas Priest type lead stuff. A little noisy, and damn powerfull. A little feed back, but for the price I love it.
I also have a Boss Turbo Distortion, and in comparison actually find this little Dano pedal to be superior at getting that 1980's hair metal sound. (Especially when combined with other danelectro pedals).
If you mostly play through a small practice amp (solid state) you might find a lot of use for this little pedal as i've tried it through three different ones and was surprised at how they sounded with it.

It sucks down batteries like coka-a-cola. Get a wallwart. My only real complaint is how much battery power effects the sound. You can really notice the diff in sound as the battery drains. Also, it does suck a little tone when it's not on.
I feel like you can depend on it with AC power.
As for gigging, hell, these things are cheap, buy two if you find it to be "the sound".

huh?

I play mostly blues, but once in awhile like to rock a bit. For certain things, this pedal gives me a sound I like. BTW, I mostly play a Gibson Melody Maker with a P90 pup in it, and that sounds way better on this box than my Strat copy. (Which still sounds okay).
I bought it for the price, as I'm addicted to cheap stomp boxes. I will probally buy the other two in the "fab" series based on how much I liked this one.

It is easy to get great sound from it.
The manual is tiny but you can easily figure it out.

A X3-Inc XLP and XV7 and a Drive 20 watt practice amp.
It is naturally loud but not in a bad way.
Well I just got my pedal this week and it is defective for the 4 hours it worked properly it was awsome but now it is poping all the time.
It can get the sound of Sabbath, Ozzy and Zeppelin that is all I figured out in 4 hours before it stopped working properly.

Well I can't say anything on this subject due to my pedal is deffective and worked for only 4 hours but I will gig with it when it is replaced with a working one.

Well I am about to find out tommorow because that is when I will contact them about it being defective.

Although it only worked for 4 hours in correct working order it was awsome in that time and I am getting it replaced for sure. I love the sound that it gives. I hate that my pedal is defective. It helps so much my XLP has bad sustain and this doubles the sustain. Buy it and hope you are not unlucky like me and get a defective one.

The controls are pretty easy and straightforward. Level, Gain, Tone.
No brain surgery here.

This is actually a pretty decent pedal. I bought it just because I could get one for the same price as a medium pizza, and I was fairly impressed.
(I play a Music Man Luke with EMG's through a Carvin 100w Legacy into a 2x12 cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's. Good sounding rig on it's own).

First thing you'll notice is that this thing is really bright and zingy EQ-wise. I had the tone set almost all of the way toward the bass side. It's got plenty of gain, and it's pretty powerful.
The lower octaves on the guitar sounded pretty good once I got the EQ set.
If I was playing metal power chords or just rhythm guitar, it would work respectibly. However the solos/higher octave stuff sounds thin and nasally, like an inferior wah pedal.

I have no idea how tough this pedal would be. I'm guessing it wouldn't stand too much abuse before breaking.

Don't know.

The key here folks is $15.00 for a pedal.

This pedal is the sonic equivalent of McDonald's. It's fattening, greasy, and generally bad for you, but you get full for $5.00.

If you're flat broke and need something cheap for your guitar rig, this pedal is pretty cool and fairly usable. If you have the money for a real pedal, get a real pedal.