Danelectro DJ-1 Pastrami Mini Overdrive

2 knobs! piece of cake!

i didnt know what to expect from this thing, and then i turned it on and it sounded pretty damn good. but as the days and plays went by, i found that the only use for this petal is to utilize its fuzzy distortion when the overdrive knob is all the way up. it sounds like a fuzz pedal being played through an fm radio! very low-end bassy sound. like the beginning of "time is running out" by muse. ******* cool. and it reminds me of the strokes meets the smashing pumpkins or something. i found that with that setting, it is only good for bar-chord work, so avoid the bottom 3 strings...they'll sound very muddy and unintoned.

i also use this as a boost for my other pedals (after all this is an overdrive). combine this with a big muff and you have the wall of sound fuzz distortion you've been looking for all your life!!! so many tone possiblities when i have those two set up together.

this should not be your main distortion pedal though. i'd like to see someone pull that miracle off lol

i have a black russian big muff that i use with this pedal not to boost the output, but to add a different sound to the fuzz. so ofcourse i'd use a backup. this thing looks sturdy, but it feels as though if you add your front body weight on the stomp, maybe the plastic would crack. so far so good though, but i'd use a backup just because.

never had to deal with them yet, and i hope it stays that way. calling customer service for a $20.00 guitar pedal would be embarrassing.

my playing style is very inspired by the bands of the early 90's. the pumpkins, the peppers, nirvana, pearl jam, jane's addiction, soundgarden..that type of feel. this pedal alone is great for fuzzy bar chord work, but stay away from the lower 3 strings...it'll get ugly. i combine this and my big muff for a great fuzzed out distortion with tones of sustain. it sounds so fucking sweet. very unique, and unrippoffable <<that should be a word btw.

It is a piece of cake to use. Gain knob and overdrive knob. On/off button.

I can get a great ovderdriven distortion sound from this pedal. It's great. I was looking for a fuzz-sludge with grit and this is it. It sounds like a million different bands from the past 40 years. Particularly good for something like shoegazer, any kind of melodic indie dirt. The sound is very tasty. I use this with my Yamaha Pacifia through a Pignose practice amp, a Roland SH-101 through a 15" Crate bass amp or direct into a Fostex MR8HD, and various other instruments friends bring over. Also, I run drum mics through it from time to time.
It's a distortion pedal, so it gains up the nosie and adds noise. It's not very intrusive as distortion pedals go because it isn't designed to blow out the signal. The increase in noise and in distortion is very linear and gradual.
"10" here is "pristine sound quality." Well...if pristine is what you're after, don't use an overdrive pedal. But it is delicious distortion.

It's plastic, so a lot of people are wary about its strength. I have a variety of plastic gear, and none of it is delicate. Companies designed these objects with their intended uses in mind, so I never worry about ruining my stuff as long as I'm using it as intended (including live performances). I feel as comfortable gigging this as I do any of my metal-cased pedals. Danelectro's reputation gives me peace of mind that everything will be fine.

I've never dealt with Danelectro c/s.

I've been playing off and on for about 12 years, intensively for a total of 4. I play noise, from white noise to abstract cosmic patterns. This pedal works well for that. It pulls out, and gains up, all the subtle underlying electronic processes of my electronic instruments and lets me make noise that would be otherwise unobtainable. Many distortion pedals have this attribute. The linear nature of the distortion and gain knobs, and the delicious tone of the pedal, make it a good match for my taste.
If this were stolen or lost, I would get another one in an instant. In both absolute and relative terms, it's a steal.
I love that it sounds so good. I like that the in and out sockets are on the top-back rather than on the sides. I love the way it looks; much better in person than in pictures. I love than it is small yet heavy. I am not a big fan of the small button used to turn it on and off. A big, obvious platform pedal would be preferable. I usually turn my effects on with my hands, and it's still something of an inconvenience sometimes.
My favorite feature apart from the sound is the clipping LED in the case that glows in proportion to the intensity of the distortion. It was an unexpected treat.
I compared this to the Boss MT-2 and Metal Core, the Line6 Uber Metal, the Digitech XMM, various tubescreamer and big muff iterations, etc. etc. etc. This one was way cheaper than any of the others, and has a more subtle usable distortion, useful for topping of the kinds of sounds made by the others.
This pedal is not missing any features. It is what it is very well.
It quickly fit into its niche and became indispensable.

Two knobs. Or three, if you're the type who finds the first two difficult.

I got this last week off Ebay for pennies just to see what Dano mini-pedals are like before I got the more expensive ones I'm after.

It's plastic, Fire Engine Red and very cute.

This is a really nice sounding pedal! Use it as it was intended and you get warm, bright, responsive gain with no noise or messy artifacts.

Someone below compaired this to a DOD-250 so I was half expecting Yngwie-like tones, but its not like that at all. At least, not in front of a transistor amp. Put it through a nice valve amp and it would probably sound and act completely differently.

I was trying to get Bill Steer's tone (from his Firebird records, not Carcass) and it gets me about a third of the way there without having to buy a 50's Les Paul junior and a 70's 50w Marshall.

The pedal also does the early Judas Priest sound if you're that way inclined. Screaming distortion this is not. If you want that then buy a Fabtone (great metal pedal!).

I'm not going to bore you with a big long pointless list of what gear I have. For one thing it'd take too long. Suffice to say, I'm using this in front of a Rocktron Chameleon that goes into a Marshall valve power amp. On a guitar with hot humbuckers (Duncan Distortion, Dimarzio Super Distortion, or EMG) this pedal doesn't really sound that good. You get a small amount of clipping on the higher gain settings. Ugh!

But on a strat or mid-power humbuckers you get lovely super-warm, bright overdrive.

I've found modelling pre-amps a little cold when it comes to overdrive. They do clean and lead tones very well, but that middle ground? Nothing beats a good valve amp driven hard. This pedal can give you a warm, bright front end to your Pod, V-amp etc, for about the same money as 3 packs of strings.

phhhhhhh I wouldn't gig with this unless it was securely in a pedalboard. If you're the kind of guitarist who thinks stamping on pedals makes them sound better (like Yngwie...) steer clear of these. Buy a RAT.

Saying that, provided it was safely tucked into a pedal board I'd gig with this without a backup.

This thing looks a bit daft next to all my other pro-gear. Plasticy and mickey-mouse with that 50's Cadallac styling. But: it sounds SO good! So, ten for sound with five points deducted for the styling, but four added back on because actually I think I like it oh I don't know...

One cool feature is that whether the effect is on or not, the internal LED lights up whenever you play anything. The harder you play the brighter it gets. Since the plastic is not all that thick you can just about see it. Very nice.

Based on how well this pedal sounded I bought several other Danelectro mini-pedals on Ebay, and out of the bunch I can strongly recommend the Pastrami Phaser.

volume, gain. watch the volume. it has a good amount of output.

In my opinion the people who would like this are the people who will never even try it. Pro blues, jazz, indie and country players. I do not think beginners are going to get much out of it.

I would compare it to the black ROSS distortion, and DOD 250 preamp. Just like those classic two knobers the dj-1 starts out clean then gets a slight crunchy, tubey vibe but turns into more of a fuzz tone than an overdrive at higher gain.

It does great clean and dirty boost. Very balanced, neutral and open. The perfect thing for goosing a tube amp. This is a great poor mans Klon.

On Ulysses .010 Robert Schneider plays this pedal into a Vox Berkeley II for the entire album.

If it breaks buy another for $10!!!!!

My ratings are based on price, but regardless of money this is worth checking out.

Using the unit is very simple: Connect cables, push button, adjust volume, there it goes ;) There is a sheet with a suggested sound setting for the two knobs, and if you put them as suggested, you will have a good sound - at least I have one.

So why only a "7" ? There was no manual with the unit, which is sad because neither I nor my brother achieved to open the battery deposal without damaging it. And we both play in Bands for more than 15 years and have seen a lot of pedals ... So I could not insert a battery so far . Guess I'll need to send email to Danelectro to ask them how this works.

I play in a Band doing Surf an Beat, using a real old Fender Twin Teverb and a Fender Jazzmaster. This is it - the amp sounds perfect by itself and only needs a little kick-in-the-ass when I play Lead or need a more crunchy sound, as it has no lead channel switch.

This kick-in-the-ass kann be done perfectly with the Pastrami. If I put the Gain on 13.00, I have the original Kinks-Rythm-Sound, if I turn it a little lower, I get my Dick Dale sound ... perfect for me. A tone knob is not needed in my opinion, because what the pedal does not at the useful settings is to change the frequency spectrum of the guitar - it sounds just as the guitar sounds. For me, this is perfect. I used overdrive pedals before that tried and failed to make the Jazzmaster sound like a Strat or even a Les Paul, and this is something the Pastrami does not.

So why not "10"? With my equipment, the sound variety of the Pastrani is a little limited. No humbuckers mean not too much crunch, and sometimes, I I want more distortion, I have to use another pedal. Because if you put the gain to maximum, it sounds as if you play over a cheap transistor radio instead of a vintage amp. So don't do that. Better get a distortion pedal for this.

I don not intend to jump on it. It comes with a knob protection, and maybe it is not the worst idea to use this protection on stage, as the knobs are no really rock solid. But for this little money ...

Compared to the old Dallas Arbiter Fuzz I once had, it seems very reliable (the effect comes every time I push the button, and I had no radio frwequency caught up so far), and yes, I would depend on it. I never had any pedal broken on stage, so I haven't thought of a backup so far.

Don't know, but I will see how they react if I tell them about my battery deposal problem ;)

??s I said I use the pastrami to achieve 60ties sounds, and this works very well with this little unit. I am thinking about combinig it with a pure non-overdrive booster pedal to add a little more variety to the sound, but so far I am glad with the little Danelectro. I guess I would buy it again if it were stolen.

I love the sound it makes together with my old amp and that it brings out the character of my guitar, which is something a lot of other pedals could not do. So, it helps me a lot. I had a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz, two Boss Distortions, a Nobels Overdrive, and all these pedals did not sound that good with my gear. I tried a Marshall BB2, and this is not bad as a Lead Channel, but the Pastrami has more kick and character, for a third of the price. So, it's a "10" in overall value.

2 fricking knobs

It is a decent warm sounding overdrive. It uses an LED to clip it, sort of fun to look at, heh. Kind of gritty. Different sounding, but not in a bad way.

Don't be fooled by the plastic, I've owned quite a few Danos and have had very little problems

Dano customer support is great, they'll send you a new pedal for free if you have a broken one. Anyone who says anything bad about their customer support has obviously never dealt with them and don't know what they are talking about.

To comment on the last reply: it sounds better than the DS-1 and is more usable in my opinion, although the DS-1 is in a completely different ballpark (it is a modern distortion, where this is sort of a vintage garagey sort of OD.)

I just picked one up the other day, and it obviously isn't one of Dano's gems (like the Fabs, the french toast, the chicken salad, the tuna melt, their delays, etc.) but it is still a cool little unit.

makes a good amp and guitar sound bad !!!! Sorry people, but this thing just sucks the tone outta anything
Has your unit been upgraded? God... I tried giving it away to a 12 year old, and the kid brought it back and told me it sucked !!!!!

Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they? Not with this hunk of JUNK

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with? Peavey Wolfie and a kramer focus 1000 with an emg thru a Randall rg75g3. This pedal sounds like a CCRRAAPPP !!!!

Knobs fall off very easily CRAP

Buy a Boss ds-1 for like $20 bucks more and atleast you will have some usable tones

Won't want to waste my time on the call for this pos

What style of music do you play? Classic Rock Is this a good match? Nope

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I would feel Sorry for the sucker who stole it !!!!!

Are you kidding me? It's got 2 knobs!
Balance the 2 knobs with the volume of your amp and you're good to go (DON'T TURN THE FRIGGIN DISTORION KNOB ALL THE WAY UP AND EXPECT IT SOUND LIKE A DISTORTION PEDAL).

Here's the story. I've had this thing for over 2 years and never really used it. FYI, I'm not an effects guy at all - I HATE having anything between my guitar and my amp besides a cord, because it changes your sound... I don't care if it's true bypass or whatever - it changes the sound - which I personally do not like.

So, I busted this thing out the other night for shits and giggles while I was playing my little Kay amp (tube w/6 inch speaker) and recorded it as well to see what the deal was. Wow! I got some incredible overdriven sounds with this thing - like early cream.

Here's a link to a recording I did with this pedal, an '05 Heritage H150 (les Paul) and that Kay with the volume at like 4, and the amp is only 5 watts:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=578168
Song entitled "Cream Tribute" - My playing/arrangement is not up to par/crap. BUT the tones are impressive IMO.

Also, I think this pedal works better with old-school tube amps that do not naturally have a bright, biting vioce.

One more thing. This should be obvious:

THIS IS NOT A DISTORTION PEDAL!!!

I've owned it for over a couple years and it still works.

I've been playing for over 15 years. I have a roadhouse (USA) strat, a Heritage H150 and a Peavey T-160 (don't laugh, this guitar will rock your world). I play out at local jams every week and at other get-togethers and so forth. My main amp is a Silvertone 1335 - 6L6s and 15" speaker really sounds incredible. My style is blues, classic rock and funk.

You can get one of these things for cheap, so check 'em out.

Very Simpl 2 knobs

Excellent mild overdrive/distortion for Blues. Quiet operation. I use it as basically a Lead channel because my amp has only 1 channel. It works perfectly to enhance blues lead work. Wonderful, warm tones.

Looks tough. I do not abuse my pedals.

This pedal is aperfect match for someone needing a bluesy, mild overdriven sound. Very nice, warm, tubey sound. In 30 years of playing I've learned that you have to coax pedals, not crank them full out, until you find the sound that's yours. This is true for ALL pedals and this one's no exception. Most guitarists today want a pedal that when cranked will make them sound better. Not going to happen! If you want a pedal that will enhance your already good playing then look at this one.

Very simple unit to set up. I got a good useable sound in less then one minute

Good basic overdrive sound. Turned up it gets a little fuzzy.

I have it attached to a pedal board, so it isn't just "under foot".
I had never had problems with any Danelectro mini pedal.
Having said that this unit is not bullet proof, by any means

Never dealt with Danelectro. I deal with Kevin, Zach, Jim, or any other employee of Uncle Ike's here in Dub town.
They have always helped me with any gear problems I have ever had.

I bought the pedal based on cost, first and sound, second.
I noticed some reviewers stated that their units had a buzz/hum problem.
I actually took some REAL duct tape (the kind made out of aluminum stock) and covered the base plate of the unit. I have no hum/buzz problems.