Danelectro DJ-1 Pastrami Mini Overdrive

no manual, not needed. very easy to use.

If you are looking for your all in one overdrive, this is not it. however, it makes a great first overdrive, for more subtle type adjustments. i have it paired up with a fab tone ditortion, which is a great combo-the overdrive to kick it up a bit, the fab tone to go all out.

everybody bithes about the plastic case, well lemme tell ya, i have several of these with no problems so far. remember that this is an electronic component, don't throw it at your drummer, and you should be just fine w/o a backup.

haven't had the pleasure.

i play rock with some punk, jazz and very occasionally metal, and this has worked well for some applications in all of those. it is a very good all around pedal for everyday use. i would most certainly replace it if it were stolen. this was the first in a series of pedals i have bought from danelectro, they now make up nearly my entire signal chain, and even though their guitars suck (excepting the convertible of course) the pedals are killer value.

Very easy to use. Very Very easy.
Doen't come with manual, but who needs one ? The in and out jacks are so logical, guitar in, amp out.

A Peavey Rage 158 amp, Epiphone ES-300 guitar.
Not very noisy.
The effects sound great, always.
Peavey Rage 158.
I can't really get Slash's (guns N Roses) Sound with this pedal, but it still rocks.

Very reliable.
No need for other pedal backups, but there is a need for battery backups, i'm not into using adaptors.

I Live in Singapore.....duh. No need for services, they are far away in the Us.
Never repaired it before, it never works wrongly.

Suits my style real well, i play rock.
I played guitar for about a year and this is my first pedal.
Stolen ??? Of course i will buy it again...it's the best pedal.
I love everything about it except for.......the material, it's plastic....very soft plastic.
i compared it to Danelectro's Black Coffee metal distortion, but it was too noisy and always makes squeaking noises, very irritating.

Easy. One knob for volume, another for overdrive level.

I?m satisfied with the sound quality. I?m a keyboard player and I use this with a tremolo pedal to add some much-needed growl to my organ patches. After messing the pedal for a few minutes I was able to get a tasty amount of dirt. Banging the keys and doing glissandos sounded great. Turning the up the overdrive level got me a nice ?Highway Star? Deep Purple sound.

Maxing out the overdrive level makes your tone disappear and you get a sound that?s more like static. I don?t know if this is normal for overdrive pedals. Since I?m able to get the sound I want it?s not a big deal.

If you?re using a battery then it?s reliable for about 6 hours. Get an adaptor or a pedalboard with a power supply.

Never tried 'em, wouldn't bother.

I?ve been playing for 10 years. Now I?m in a 50?s and 60?s cover band and this pedal works well. In a previous band I used to haul around a Hammond and Leslie, but sound guys never know how to mic the Leslie and couldn?t be bothered to learn how ("You mean I gotta use more than one mic?"). My beloved Leslie ended up being a 100-pound, thousand dollar vibrato pedal.

For gigs now, I end up getting a better sound with an overdrive->tremolo chain (ah, bitter irony...). This pedal gives me the effect I need at a price that can?t be beat. If I run across a guitarist with a fancier overdrive pedal I would borrow it and see if it gives me a better sound, but for now my Dan-Electro works just fine.

This is a very simple uncomplicated pedal just like all of the Danelectro pedals. It has level and overdrive knobs and an off/on button.

The sound is great. it isn't noisy at all. I wouldn't describe it as an overdrive. I would call it a dirty fuzz/light distortion. I just love the dirty light distorted tone it has to it. It is awesome! It lacks some low end but you could probably repair that with the Fish N' Chips EQ. It is great for Creams "Sunshine of Your Love." It is also good for about any 60's & 70's era rock. Some exaples of bands are Clapton,Cream,Deep Purple,some Aerosmith, and stuff like that. It is alright for some of Hendrix but I don't think it is quit heavy enough for "Purple Haze." For purple has a suggest you get the T-bone(which I own and it is awesome) and turn the disortion to abour 2 or 3 o'clock or so. It also works good for some lighter modern stuff like Collective Soul (sometimes) and about has enough for Bushes "Glycerine". It is perfect for Everclear's "Santa Monica" On that song it is clean at first then it is light distorted(which I use Pastrami for) Then it goes into heavy distortion(which I use the T-bone for). If you play hard rock or metal this isn't for you. Since I play a lot of styles of rock I use Pastrami for most 60's & 70's stuff. For 80's rock and 90's punk, alternative, and grunge I use the T-bone. I am going to get the Black Licorice Beyond Metal for Metal and some 80's hair bands and Black Sabbath. I suggest if you play metal get the Black Licorice. I tryed it at the store and it is has to be the best metal pedal out there. But Back to the Pastrami I think i will give it a 9 because of the fact it lacks some low end but hey it was $22 bucks and an EQ could probably help it sound better. There is one funny thing about it..... when you turn the overdrive up all the way and your guitar turned down all the way you can pick up the A.M. radio.

I could depend on this. I wouldn't use back up. It is AWESOME!

They don't respond fast enough with my questions. I didn't have any problems with it but i just asked a few questions about it.

I play all rock like i said. this is a good match for 60's and 70's like i said. I would buy another one if it was stolen or lost. I love the dirty fuzz tone. I really don't hate anything about it exept the lacking of low end. It helps me make music I use it for some of the things I wrote. I will give it a 10 overall because of the price and the dirty fuzz/light distortion sound it puts out.

I now use a piece of crap squier, into this pedal, followed by a Boss CH-1 super chorus, into a 55 watt Roland Jazz Chorus amp (the chorus is broken. It sounds good if you're playing loud, but it has no "bite" when you're playing quietly. When you're playing loud, it always great if you like the overdrive sound. When you turn it on, your guitar gets louder, so you have to adjust the volume. It sounds really good with the chorus on as well. I gave it a 8 because it makes your guitar louder when you put it on, and it sounds like a piece of crap quietly. What can I ask for, i only paid 20 bucks for it! Trust me, it's worth it.

I can always depend on this pedal. The only thing you need as a back up is a battery. DON'T LEAVE THE PEDAL ON, WHEN YOU'RE NOT PLAYING. it wastes the battery. THis pedal has a short battery life if you play a lot or leave it on.

I give it a 9 because it's a great pedal, but when you play with your amp or guitar quietly, it sounds like loud crap. But it only cost 20 bucks, so I really can't complain. It's worth more than $40! This pedal is great if you gig or play loudly.

Gets good sound but it kinda hums a bit. There is no manual but it sure doesn't take rocket science to use it. It's definately a great overdrive for the price you pay for it.

I'm using a Ibanez GRX20Z ,, and a Crate GFX-15 amp. Sounds good with the equipment i'm using. If i turn the overdrive up a ways it gets noisy and has a hum. They effedct sounds pretty good overall.

Its dependable but its' fucking plastic.. Sorry!

No customer help needed.

Definately good for the price you pay ...

Very easy to use. Two knobs; Level and Overdrive. No manual but the Danelectro web site has suggested settings.

In bypass mode, the pedal is VERY TRANSPARENT. No coloration or loading of the guitar signal. NICE!

When engaged, there is a little hiss - just like any other high gain pedal. While playing, you can see internal Light Emitting Diodes glowing through the red plastic cover. So, this unit uses LED clipping diodes which gives it a crunchy overdrive sound. This is why some reviewers say it does not sound like an overdrive. It DOES behave and act like an overdrive, just one with a lot of crunch! =)

I use if for overdriven rhythms and it cuts through the live mix nicely. The uncolored guitar sound passes through in overdrive mode which maintains instrument character. A well designed unit! It is a fun sound and I use it a lot. It is well worth the $19 cost.

Ummm... I've only had it 2 days and I used it at rehersal last night. It has worked fine. So, no reliability opinion yet.

I emailed Danelectro a question and they have not replied yet.

I play in a church worship band and the Pastrami is good for overdriven rhythm. I do not plan on using it for soaring lead solos, but for crunchy arpeggios it works fine, too.

If lost, I would buy another.

I "wish" it had a toggle switch to choose LED or Silicon diodes for an additional sound. I may add this myself. I also "wish" the metal bottom cover was grounded. As is, it is isolated from the circuit and could afford a little shielding with the addition of a simple wire.

I got this pedal, a T-Bone distortion, a Chicken Salad Vibrato, a Hash Browns flanger and the Dano pedal board with cables and power supply. It had been a BIG HASSLE to carry a separate power supply, a tube screamer, chorus pedal, Boss DS1 that I got sick of all the setup and many pieces of hardware. Now, I carry 2 cables, the Dano package and I can setup & tear down in 30 seconds!!

Two knobs. Output (level) and Overdrive. Just dial in your output and adjust the overdrive to your liking.

Sounds really good in bypass and when engaged into O/D. I just need to get a different instrument cord cause it makes a lot of noise when I engage it. But I know it's the cord cause I used my friends cords and it sounded really great. I didn't expect such raunchous fuzz/distortion from this box. I play bass and it sounds really good even on the low B string.

It's plastic, but it's a Danelectro. As long as you got a warranty it's all good. I just wouldn't go haywire and like stomp the fire outta this thing.

I've never dealt with them before. But the store I bought this pedal from is pretty reliable.

I say 9 because of it being made of plastic and never dealt with customer support. But for this pedal, it's awesome. Buy it.

This thing is not complicated. Two knobs, if you need help figuring it out find a stray cat to lend a hand (or paw). Anyway, manual was ok for starting a fire in the fireplace. It's got two knobs! However, this is not an overdrive, it's a fuzz pedal. Kind of a misnomer there (that means it's labeled wrong for all of you educated in California!) : ) By the way, I'm from California!

I ran this through my pedalboard (modded Crybaby, Fulldrive II, Danalectro Cool Cat, Boss EQ, Martin Compressor)into a '65 Deluxe reverb reissue. I used various strats, with single coils and humbuckers. The pedal was kind of noisy, and sucked a little tone, but hey, it's $19! It's a pretty cool fuzz, though, sounds alot like my friend's expensive Freddy Fuzz. I really don't use fuzz much, mostly just to mess around with, but it was cool.

It doesn't look to reliable, kind of small, plastic, etc. However, I would use it on a gig, and if it was part of my regular gigging board I would bring a back-up, hey, it's $19!

Never dealt with Danalectro

It's pretty cool for the money. Is it as good, clean and well built as a Fulltone 70 fuzz? God no, it's $19! If I lost it I would go get another, just having this little thing is pretty cool. I've given away a couple as gifts so far, I dig it!

Two words - Trained Chimp. Actually the chimp probably wouldn't even have to be trained.

This pedal is a good sounding little overdrive/fuzz pedal. I say fuzz because at extreme settings it does sound kinda' like a fuzz. My guess is that a lot of people in the reviews below crank the gain knob pretty high. I get a nice overdrive at low gain settings. I also don't experience the thinning out that other players seem to be experiencing. That being said, I usually turn the bass on my amps up pretty high and I don't cut my mids that much if at all. I have a ton of amps that include some vintage 100 watt Hiwatt heads and Fender and Marshall vintage reissues. For guitars it's American Fenders and American Hamers mostly. I have found this pedal to be really good for lightly overdriven rhythm work with all types of pickups and and pickup positions. It can also get pretty rockin' for higher gain sounds, but it is not a tight bottomed chunky metal sound. That's what the Metal Zone or Rampage pedals were created for. I have played in chunky heavy rock bands ala Quicksand and Helmet. This is not that pedal. Lately I've been playing more 60's, 70's and noise pop sounding stuff like likeT-Rex, Bowie, Built to Spill, My Bloody Valentine and even my old favorites, The Smiths. This is that pedal. I have and have had many pedals and overdrive/fuzz/distortion effects including the Full Drive 2. Does it sound as good as a Full Drive 2? No, and to be perfectly honest, I'm surprised by the reactions of those who seem to expect a $19 import overdrive to sound as good as a hand built $200 overdrive. Get real. What this pedal does is sound good for very little dough. Good for recording. Good for live use, you just have to know how to use it.

Mine works well, but I have tried other Danelectro pedals in the store that didn't work properly. If I used this as my main overdrive pedal, I would probably have a backup, but at $19 a pop that's still cheaper than a single Boss overdrive.

I have not had to deal with them, but I hear they replace their pedals without too much hassle if there's a problem with them.

Good sounds at a silly price. If it broke or was stolen, I would buy another.

Two words - Trained Chimp. Actually the chimp probably wouldn't even have to be trained.

This pedal is a good sounding little overdrive/fuzz pedal. I say fuzz because at extreme settings it does sound kinda' like a fuzz. My guess is that a lot of people in the reviews below crank the gain knob pretty high. I get a nice overdrive at low gain settings. I also don't experience the thinning out that other players seem to be experiencing. That being said, I usually turn the bass on my amps up pretty high and I don't cut my mids that much if at all. I have a ton of amps that include some vintage 100 watt Hiwatt heads and Fender and Marshall vintage reissues. For guitars it's American Fenders and American Hamers mostly. I have found this pedal to be really good for lightly overdriven rhythm work with all types of pickups and and pickup positions. It can also get pretty rockin' for higher gain sounds, but it is not a tight bottomed chunky metal sound. That's what the Metal Zone or Rampage pedals were created for. I have played in chunky heavy rock bands ala Quicksand and Helmet. This is not that pedal. Lately I've been playing more 60's, 70's and noise pop sounding stuff like likeT-Rex, Bowie, Built to Spill, My Bloody Valentine and even my old favorites, The Smiths. This is that pedal. I have and have had many pedals and overdrive/fuzz/distortion effects including the Full Drive 2. Does it sound as good as a Full Drive 2? No, and to be perfectly honest, I'm surprised by the reactions of those who seem to expect a $19 import overdrive to sound as good as a hand built $200 overdrive. Get real. What this pedal does is sound good for very little dough. Good for recording. Good for live use, you just have to know how to use it.

Mine works well, but I have tried other Danelectro pedals in the store that didn't work properly. If I used this as my main overdrive pedal, I would probably have a backup, but at $19 a pop that's still cheaper than a single Boss overdrive.

I have not had to deal with them, but I hear they replace their pedals without too much hassle if there's a problem with them.

Good sounds at a silly price. If it broke or was stolen, I would buy another.

It is self explainitory.

It sounds ok. I can get close to jimi Hendrix, and maybe a little Bush...I have found that it does a decent job of Audio Adrenaline too. There really isn't much tone range, and it is more like a fuzz.

It has lasted me so far, but it is plastic and that always ends up braking. i haven't gigged with it yet, but i might use it as back up one day.

N/A

Overall it is a pretty good pedal for its money. It could use some more tonal range, and maybe a better casing, but it suits my purposes, and i have no major complaints about it.

Only two knobs. Pretty darn simple

I use a epiphone les paul through a zoom 505 into the pastrami overdrive and into my marshel. I use it mainly as a volume booster and also to take some of that digital edge out of my zooms distortion. Sounds great for punk like that. By it self it works quite well for mellow stuff. Not much bite to it though.

It's plastic, but strong plastic. Don't pick it up by the knobs though tey will fall off.

I play mostly punk at high volume (200+watts) and for a volume booster it works great. I also have used it to play some Red Hot Chilie Pepers stuff and it works for that too. Pearl Jam stuff sounds good through it as well by itself. I've played 2 1/2 years and don't really consider myself an expert but for the price it cant be beat.

a trained monkey could use it

It's great for experimentation with sounds, to hollow your sound out and fuzz it up. It doesn't really have "crunch", it just frazzles your sound up, and kinda cuts lots of bass out. DON'T expect an overdrive sound or death metal sound. I love it.

I don't know if I trust the mini-pedals yet, but it works!

uhhh....

Cool, fun pedal.

It has two knobs and a button ... duh very easy to use. Turn the dials, step on it to turn off/on

I didn't really like the sound quality - kind of hollow, not very overdriven or distorted. It was same for both my Peavey 110 and a friends Fender mini combo amp. This thing is really noisy, not transparent at all. The volume also seems to double when you turn it on, not a good thing...overall a weak sound

Both handles broke off in about a week - they and the unit are made of plastic (I wasn't being super-careful with it, but still ... it should have held up better.

Never dealt with them.

It's a shitty peadl, but it is only $20 bucks. Good if you want a hollow crap sound.

2 knobs, no tone pot, so its pretty hard to make it sound bad

It sounds ok, but definatly not like an overdrive, sounds like distortion. I use a les paul special w/ humbuckas into a pod with a crybaby. This thing is noisy as hell, especially when u use it as a distortion boost, which is what "overdrives" are for. Its like a ds-1 without the flexability of a tone knob. i returned it

plastic, i dunno, played it for 2 days

it is usefull if you're looking for a sort of "hollow" distortion. Not a od at all, u can't use it for a boost.

Plug it in, fiddle with the nobs. More distortion? Turn the drive knob. Want a more boosted volume for loud distorted lead tones? Turn the volume knob. You can get a pretty nice sound (and a wide variety at that) within a few seconds. Nice.

I'm playing it through a Fender Mexi-Strat (with Texas Special Pickups) and a Fender Deluxe 112. The pedal is not noisy as far as I can tell. The distortion is way better and much much more bottom-end than the distortion on the Fender amp itself (which I guess is expected, but after using amp distortion for a long time, it was a nice wake-up call to hear bottom-end again). You can get a wide variety of sounds through it, from subdued slightly distorted chunka chunka rhythm to psycho monster distorto sounds. I played this at Guitar Center and was surprised to see how easily I was able to get a really nasty "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" tone. I think I pissed off more than a few people there, though. Except the buttrockers.

It has a plastic housing, but I'm not one of these hats-on-backwards thrash-ass psycho brat kids that take the term "stomp-box" literally, so I wouldn't worry about breaking it. I would use it on a gig without backup. Come to think of it, I've had it over a month now with regular playing and still haven't needed to change the battery, so that's great.

One thing: when you fill out the warranty card for any of the mini-pedals, if it asks for a specific serial number, THE MINI-PEDALS DON'T HAVE SERIAL NUMBERS (for some odd reason). I couldn't find one on my pedal, so I e-mailed the company. It took them a few days to get back to me, but I DID get a response, which is better than nothing.

In nearly six years of playing, I've played everything from classic rock to modern, Radiohead-esque rock, as well as blues, jazz, and country, but lately it's the Radiohead stuff. It's pretty great for that style. Thrash-heads will complain that the pedal isn't "heavy" enough, but who cares? If they want to buy a $300 mondo thrasho pedal, let 'em. Which brings me to my next point: At $20, this pedal is a steal. Best investment in effects I have ever made. If it were stolen or lost, I'd go back to Guitar Center the next day (if not the same day) and buy another one. I really can't say enough good stuff about this pedal. Oh, if you try it out in a store, try playing "Won't Get Fooled Again" (by the Who) through it. You will be amazed.

Just 2 knobs. Level and Overdrive. The level on this thing can take to wisper quiet to windowshattering very quickly, and thats with my amp volume on 2! The Overdrive botton, does that, overdriving in the signal into fuzz land.

For $20 this thing can't be beat. I really dig the sound of this thing. I'm playing it with a Squier Strat and a Peavey Rage 158 amp. IMO, it blows the Peavey's distortion away. Its produces a very cool buzzsaw Ramones style tone which is great because I play many of their songs. Yes, its a bit noisy, but damn can it amplify! If I turn down my volume on the guitar I can pickup AM radio...cool. I went to the Danelectro site and checked out the recommended settings. They are great!

Sure I can depend on it. Its steel footplate is heavey, and looks sturdy. The knobs come off a bit easily. If I were to, yep I'd use it at a gig w/o backup.

never dealt with dano.

I play punk rock and rock in general. This pedal is great for old school fuzzed out sound of the Ramones, Iggy Pop, Minor Threat, etc. It sounds good through my amp. I would definitly buy this again if it got stolen. It has been very helpful in my music, now I can go from clean to distorted and back...helps those slow/fast songs. I've been playing for about 5 monthes. The best thing is the price. Dirt cheap. Great value

not that hard to use.. it's two knobs, and two jacks, and hey! it even has an Ac adapter jack. heh heh. it is pretty easy to get a cool fuzzy sound out of this

not very noisy. has a very cool light fuzz sound to it. it sounds like a ds-1, except better i think. it is a little "wilder" than a ds-1. i play through an epiphone strat copy with all single coils (yes i actually kinda like single coils, but i am looking at this custom guitar with a hotrail in the neck) i plug in through plenty of effects. guitar-->jimi hendrix octave fuzz (cool pedal)--> turbo RAT--> TS-7 --> pastrami --> Morley wah --> DOD ice box stereo chorus --> fender frontman 15r and yamaha thirty 112 at once. this pedal does lack some high end, but it is more like a fuzz, so that is understandable. with this i can get that sort of fuzz like on "foxy lady" by Hendrix. the low notes aren't very saturated like the highs, but i can commbine this with my TS-7 and get this really cool, totally saturated high end-liciouse distortion that i can use for some really cool heavy metal sounds. i only knock a point off because it doesn't saturate the low notes too much and it doesn't have much high end

seems pretty sturdy even if it is plastic. i have had it for about 2 months now and it hasn't given me any problems yet. but i do have a slap echo that one of the nobs fell off on, but it was easily put back into place.

don't know. don't care. it was 20$ (or really free for me as a birthday present).

i play rock. pretty much all types of rock. metal, alternative, hard rock, classic rock, blues rock, straight blues, almost anyhting except rap and pop like the backdoor boys. this pedal, it rocks; especially for, um, rock. not really heavy enough for metal by itself, but when combined with the TS-7, it can pass for metal. i have been playing for almost 1 and a hlaf years, but i am pretty advanced when it comes to effects. if stolen, i wouldn't even waste the time to track down the culprit unless i was really bored, i would just buy another. i do wish it had a tone nob. and it does help me make my own brand of rock and blues and metal.

This thing is very easy to use I mean it has two knobs COME ON!!

I am using a Kramer Focus Pastrami Overdrive and gorillia 15 watt amp
This was relitivly good except when i turned it up pased 5 it created this really weird scream but its just probably my amp. This pedal was always sounding great. Now i can finaly get the sounds of Randy Rhodes!!

I mostly play metal and rock and this thing suits it perfectly. I've been playing for about 4 months and this was my first pedal and i will definitly go for dano pedals again!! If I lost it or somebody stole it i would track them down and beat them silly or just buy a new one. :) This has inspired me to write 4 songs. I suggest that all the new players who want a metal sound for not alot of money get this pedal. WELL WORTH IT

I bet a two year old could use this pedal. It is bare basics on control but for 20$ thats not bad.

The sound quality is so so on a Peavey158 but i first tried it out on a Marshall full stack and was blown away. I can get a decent 60's sound, and if i work at it sometimes an ok Jimi Hendrix sound. It is really good for the stuff my band plays (unless it is a cover) becasue we don't like the really heavy metal sound, but we don't like super clean either.

It has yet to break on me yet, so it is pretty good, and besides, if it breaks i can get another one for 20$.

it doesn't have warranty as far as i know but its so cheap warranty really isn't worth it.

the pedal overall is well worth the price paid. it goes well with my Ibanez 7th Heaven for the different kind of music I play and sounds decent on my Peavey amp.

Only 2 knobs, level and distortion. What could be simpler than that?

First of all, I'm using a Fender Standard Series Fat Strat through a Laney 50 watt Pro Tube Lead series amp with a 2x12 Marshall JCM 900 cab. My first impression was that it sounded very thin, seriously lacking low end frequencies. I was very disappointed in it. Then I put an EQ in front of it. If you boost the low end, you can get a fair ratted-out speaker tone out it. Not great, but ok. It says it's an overdrive but this is really just a cheesy fuzz. By itself, it's crap but with an eq it's passable.

I would definitely not gig with it. The outer housing is plastic, as are the knobs and cable jacks. I wouldn't count on it to stand up to too much abuse. The footswitch is kind of rinky-dink too. They should've just put a plain old metal stomp switch on it.

This is the first Danelectro product I've purchased, so I've never had to deal with them.

You can't beat the price on this pedal. For $20 this might be a suitable item for a beginner, or just as a toy to play with occassionally. The quality isn't too hot and it sounds weak on it's own. Having said that, it's not the worst piece of crap either. If it were lost or stolen, the mourning period would be very brief!

2 Knobs--Easy as Zipping your pants

Okay--it's not a Fulldrive 2. This is a inexpensive, small dirtbox. I would say it floats somewhere between overdrive and fuzz; incorporates elements of both. Not particularly meaty on the low end--more mid-highs and highs, which can make it sound a bit thin with a single-coil, but does give a nice bite. Harsher than a TS-9. For $20, though, this is a great deal.

I've had it for 2 days, so I couldn't say.

N/A

This is a nice little pedal for the price. I'm using it as a "meantime" pedal while I wait for my Jeckyll and Hyde. If you're just starting out, or you want another box for cheap, pick one up.

Very simple- 2 knobs (Level & Overdrive) and a footswitch. I got a good sound right out of the box. There's no manual, but it's a stompbox, not an electron microscope.

I'm using a Fender Standard Strat through this pedal, into a Tunamelt tremelo, into a Lab L-7 amp with an Alesis MidiVerb in the effects loop. It's not noisy unless both knobs are way up. If you turn it all the way up and turn your guitar all the way down, you can pick up AM radio. But under normal circumstances, it's quiet.

As many have pointed out, it's not really an overdrive. It's a fuzz. At first I was disappointed that it didn't nail the 60's fuzz sound I wanted. You can come close to the Stone's "Satisfaction" sound, but only close. After a while, I began to like it for it's own sound- fuzzy, full of harmonics, with a great attack. The best thing is it let's your guitar's personality come through. The only drawback is that it doesn't have much low end.

I play surf and I'm the only guitarist in my band. So I'm playing both rhythm and lead. I use the Pastrami mostly for solos (to contrast my clean/reverb-drenched sound).

It's plastic, but seems well-made. And I don't stomp too hard on my pedals (I'm a heavy guy). So, I think It'll last. I'm taking it to a gig next month, and I don't see a need for a backup.

I emailed Dano once about a different product. They responded the next day with useful information. But even if they don't repair these things, I can get a new one for $20.

The Pastrami is great for the retro style stuff I'm playing now. It has a 60's vibe, but still lets me find my own sound. My band plays vocal surf music with a garage/punk edge. For that, it's great. I only wish it had a tone control. But I can get the sounds I want by using my strat's tone knobs. So I'm happy.

One cool thing that I haven't seen anyone mention yet is that the Pastrami has an LED inside of it (as a clipping diode?). Since the plastic case isn't totally opaque, you can see it light up when you play. Every time I hit a note, I can see a faint red glow inside the pedal.

I bought it for the ridiculously low price, and I'll keep using it because of the sound. It was lost/stolen/broken I'd buy another one right away.

Okay, not an overdrive, it's a fuzz. Been through that already. Has two controls. Level and OD.

This is a cool, mild fuzz. Will get you somewhat near Hendrix at times, but not really. Will get you somewhat near Stones "Satisfaction," but not really. Gets close to many other fuzztones on classic and modern recordings, but not really. It has it's own personality. Not much bottom end. Tone's not really for me. Spend a little more dough and get a fuzzface or big muff. I exchanged for a big muff after a week and a half of sort of liking this pedal. The muff nails classic Zep, Hendrix, Floyd, Santana extremely well. Can get modern Bush, Nirvana, type sounds too I guess - not really my bag though baby. Cool for the money I guess. Doesn't get real balls to the wall fuzzy like a big muff or fuzz face.

Cheap Plastic.

Dunno.

I've been playing for six years. I like classic and modern rock. This pedal will get you some useable tones to play this type of music in your bedroom, but it's nothing I'd want to use in front of people. Could maybe be useful in the studio I guess.