Danelectro DJ-13 French Toast Octave Overdrive

Not too hard to get a good sound. I'm using it as a cross between getting Jimi and Trower mayhem, and just flip the switch off on the octave for a more regular fuzz.

I've seen some here say it can't do this Jimi thing or that, that's nonsense. If you want to do all Jimi songs, then you can set your rig up using this pedal for sure. Of course if your amp and guitar suck,,and you suck,,,then you are S.O.L.

Don't buy this pedal if you want to make Nice Mellow quiet sounds,,,lol,,this pedal is for solos with giant balls,,Rock On!

Not overly "noisy", I have a 80's fender jap strat going into:
fulltone wah-dejavibe-french toast-fulltone ocd-artec delay (GOOD)-boss tuner-peavey classic 30 with matching ext cab

maybbbbeeeeee,,,,,it colors my fulltone ocd a tiny bit,,,just my first impression that maybe I heard just a little Octavia, after a few minutes,,a few adjustments,,everything was fine. So maybe I am wrong

I got this for Jimi solos,,,and early Robin Trower solos,,like from Trower's first live album,,,,this does the Jimi fine, and kinda makes my Trower sound more Jimi,,,lol,,does that make sense?

I'll bring my cheap backup fuzz just in case.
Heck,,they are so cheap, maybe I'll just buy a backup one.
no opinion for now. I'll hope for the best,,it's on a safe pedalboard, and I have that clear plastic protector thing on it

who knows?

great match for anything requiring fuzz with BALLS, and solos with Balls.

This is NOT a tubescreamer

Pretty easy to use. The treble can get a little bright on the octave settings.

I have owned a vintage Foxx Tone Machine. This sounds exactly like it. I sold the vintage one for $350 and kept the $35 French Toast.

Reliability is probably questionable, but if it breaks, I'll but a new one.

If you want to sound like you are playing through a Foxx Tone Machine, get this pedal.

hard to get a good sound out of it at first, because I started it out using cheap solid state practice amps, had to adjust the amps eq well enough to reach the well balanced tone for this pedal- but not a problem through a bigger/tube amps. Too bad this unit does not come with LED also

This pedal does not suck tone or maybe subtle not noticeable, it is also very quiet when bypassed and does not hum like other dano pedals when generic ac/dc adaptors are used.

Very warm and dynamic. tru-tones ring out when you find it's sweetest spot. BUT also had to compensate for the treble and take time to balance the amps and guitar tone as well.

I can say this is a tubescreamer-like tone but of the distortion zone. It's like MUFF.

Octave function is psychedelic/experimental and not too musical in my opinion

plasticky

gives me eric clapton tone in his song "cocaine" at the CROSSROADS concert way back 2004

overall im happy with it- it's worth every penny spent

easy as any other fuzz/overdrive pedal. 3 small pots
distortion/ output level and EQ for increasing and trimming high frequencies.
The octave up effect is switched in with a small toggle switch under the dials.
Easy peasy lemon....never mind!
Not a huge fan of the small push button switches danelectro pedals use but im lightfooted so no particular worries!
Could really do with a LED indicator so you know if its on or off without finding out the hard way in a live situation....

quick general set up break down.....
ibanez custom JS100 into pedal board-----vox wah - behringer dynamic compressor - Danelectro chilidog octave - Monte allums DS-1 Rectifier tri gain mod - stock Boss Ds-1 - (effects loop switch)danelectro frenchtoast oct/dist - Boss compressor - Boss Chorus - Digitech expression factory.
2 boss DD-3 Delays staggered in the effect loop of a laney GHL50 into a 4x12 crate blue voodoo Cab.

Well well i got this baby used off ebay for ??11.00 and its one of the best ??11.00 ive parted with.
Certainly its not a Fulltone octave/fuzz but im not one to shell out or do i have over a ??100 to throw at a boutique pedal. Let me say with this affordable/ and replacable if the worst happens, pedal you can instantly achieve a very close approximation to the higher end fuzz//octave boxes and other than cosmetic and true bypass features isnt that what we want. A cheap useable pedal that does what it says?
I use mine to get that fulltone ultimate octave sound that in particular Joe Satriani uses to great effect, and i get it!
The fuzz alone is very useable, nice full and warm.
I suppose it helps a lot being aware of what amps to put these pedals into.
Self contained gigs i send them all into a peavey envoy 110 and mic it up through my pa, lovely sound! and in a band set up i send them all into the clean channel on a Laney GHL50 into a 4x12 cab, again very low noise and very very useable!
You got 20 english pounds in you pocket and you want a fuzz/octave pedal......Get the FRENCH TOAST....now!

as stated i got mine used ive been using it 18months and i record, gig solo and with bands......NO TROUBLE.
My experiences problems if you are the noob who likes to take jumps onto his/her pedalboard.
As mentioned also it really could do with a on/off light.
I run it through a fxloop footswitch with a indicator so i get by!

never had to deal with them!
website is a little cakka though....

i play a whole array of popular music styles, i heavy amount of rock/blues/pop and instrumental guitar based music.
The pedal does what it says to a above average quality.
Anyone who wants this effect....the french toast for the money and certainly worth it....i thoroughly recommend it!

fairly easy to use if you tinker with it. I give it a 9 because of the octave up switch.

All of my pedals are danelectro's, including the mini amp pedal and the Milkshake chorus pedal. by itself, it has a thick high pitched sound that is not easily described. with octave off, it is a basic fuzz pedal. the sound does imitate any artists that I know of and is original. with chorus it sounds very sonic and glitsy

so far, so good, and yes I would use it without backup.

never had to deal with them but would if I had to.

I play slow paced Black metal with Blues and Classical thrown in for good measure. it brings originality to my sound very much.

Fairly easy to use, especially if you're used to fuzz and other dirt boxes. And actually, surprisingly, there aren't many bad sounds in this little thing. There is no manual, per se, but there is a one-sheet containing a single setting suggestion, which I suppose is a good start, but I quickly moved on from there.

There is all sorts of Mudhoney in here. For the money (and even disregarding the money), this is a spectacular fuzz pedal. By switching pickups and adjusting volume at the guitar, you can get a wide range of fuzz tones, from a dynamic dirty-clean to splattery crunch to endless, singing Big Muff-style rubber.

The octave up effect is pronounced and a lot of fun. You can definitely get Hendrix/SRV-type tones, or you can mess around in near ring modulator territory. This is my first octave-up pedal (which is what prompted me to buy the pedal), and I'm definitely enjoying it.

I've been through a lot of fuzzes (currently own a Skreddy Mayo, Tone Factor Ultra-Lord, Everman Fuzz-Drive and Sovtek Green Big Muff Pi), and the French Toast stands up to my lineup. Does it *replace* any of the other pedals? Probably not. But I could see buying the same pedal in a boutique package and still being thrilled with the sounds.

The French Toast is not particularly noisy for a fuzz. There is noise of course, but nothing you wouldn't expect. The octave effect actually seems to make the pedal *less* noisy in my setup, which was a surprise.

I'm using medium-hot humbuckers (Gibson L6-S) into a very-slightly dirty tube amp (Ampeg VL-502).

It's a lot more solid than I was expecting, especially the footswitch. I think the pedal in general is probably going to be fairly reliable. The knobs are definitely the weak point. They feel weak and flexible when you adjust the. I'm running the French Toast through a true-bypass box, so I don't have to worry about stomping on it too hard or anything. Once I find a "set it and forget it" setting, I'm not worried about it breaking unless something falls on it, etc.

I would definitely use it at a gig without a backup, for the reasons mentioned above. Plus, I have a bunch of other fuzz pedals, so unless the octave effect was *crucial*, having it not work for some reason wouldn't really be that big of a deal.

Haven't needed them yet.

I play noisy rock. This is a perfect match for what I like to do.
I've been playing for many years now. Most of the gear I use daily is listed above.

If the French Toast were stolen or lost, I'd probably get another one. It was only $30, and I really enjoy how it sounds. It's much more flexible and useful than I was expecting.

I do wish it had an on/off status LED, but my bypass box has one for it, so no problem for me specifically. It would still be a good idea in general.

The French Toast definitely helps me make music. The first couple of hours I had it I came up with 3 riffs that were worth recording for later use. That alone was worth the $30.

I like this thick, booming sound from the bass, but the pickups needed adjusted to get much sound from the highs. The highs are terrible.

I use a roland amp with my guitar, And the bass is great.

I've had mine for a few months and it's working fine.

I play alot of different styles, but usually the heavy metal. It looks awesome. If it was stolen, I would definately get another BC Rich. I think I'd go for the Tribal. I chose this guitar the minute I saw it- I love how it looks. I hate the trebles, and I love the bass and that it has the extra frets. I really, really wish this had a whammy bar, that would definately make it perfect.

I can't get a good sound with this pedal. I use a Roland amp, and a BC Rich guitar most often. The strings on the guitar depend a lot, I noticed, for more feedback and squeals I use Guitar Boomers. I really liked this pedal at first, but I crave a different one now.

Just recently it wouldn't work right, then all the sudden it worked again, I had good batteries too.

Easy enough: a stompbox with Level, Distortion, EQ and Octave On/Off toggle switch. Points deducted because there's no LED to tell you whether the octave is on or off (you'll hear it, though).

Wild 70's fuzz. Instant sonic deconstruction, in fact. The French Toast is erratic, noisy and brilliant fun; don't look for smooth or subtle fuzz tones here, as there are better pedals available. This green meanie will cheerfully wreck any combination of high brow amps and guitars; what it does it to turn every set up into a plywood guitar and a cheapo amp in meltdown. This - as everyone should remember - is what rock'n'roll is about.

With the octave function off, the French Toast delivers ludicrous quantities of fuzz. The EQ knob is vital here - you can dial in beeswarm treble if you wish, or roll it back for a more useable tone. There are no subtle settings - even at low distortion levels this pedal is aggressive and mean.

Toggling the Octave to "on" takes you into guitar funland. The French Toast's octave tracking is erratic, doesn't like chords or double stops, and can be made to make the most bizarre ring-modulated type noise. This is not unusual for octave-fuzzes (even Roger Meyer's Octavia does this), but whether you enjoy this lunacy depends on your sense of fun. If you want to get serious and Hendrix-y, you'll need to use the neck pickup with the distortion and tone rolled back, and stick to cleanly picked single note lines. Otherwise there's enormous fun to be had in exploring the noises that can be extracted from various diads and triads, all of which have their particular fuzz-blasted intermodulations. In this respect the French Toast punches way above its weight - it makes the kind of free-form noise that people associate with Ampeg Scramblers and Fender Blenders, pedals that cost hundreds of pounds more.

This is not a pedal that you'd want to use as a main tone - but for those moments where something off the wall is needed, the French Toast is the real deal.

Danelectro provide cute little plastic shields to stop the control knobs being kicked off, but otherwise this is a plastic pedal and should be treated as such. It will break if you jump up and down on it, so don't.

Great fun. Boutique makers will charge three to four times the RRP price for effects that are neither as convincing or as much fun as the French Toast. This pedal is a grin-inducing monster, and entirely in keeping with Danelectro's cheap-and-cheerful ethos. A good job all round.

Dead simple - like the rest of the 'mini-dano' range. Guitar in one end, amp in the other, fire it up and play with the controls until it sounds right.

I'm really only using this as an octave-upper. My setup is a Telecaster into a Crybaby - French Toast, Tuna Melt, Arion DDS-1 - Peavey Classic 30. There's enough drive to make a difference to the sound of the amp - and also to stand alone as a fuzz / overdirve unit. Metallica / Sepultura it is not, but it doesn't pretend to be.
What it is, is a Fuzz / Octave pedal that sounds great with everything (except drive) set to about 1 o'clock with the octave switched on.
Other people have spoken of background noise - I don't have any I'm pleased to say.

I will definately gig with this unit.
I've owned (and gigged) a mini-dano Tuna Melt (tremolo) for about 7 years now and it's never failed (really!).
Maybe the better you look after your Gear, the longer it lasts.
Dunno - other people complain about the cases being plastic - yes, they are - so don't jump on them! If the plastic case is an issue, re-fit it in a cast box - the sounds are certainly worth it.
Like I've said, I've already had 7 years of hassle-free performance from other Pedals in this range.

Hmm - thankfully I've never had to call them.
There's not much information on the Dano Website, so I would imagine they're fairly difficult to get hold of (also not much contact info supplied with the pedals...)

Soo, for the style of music my band plays (RHCP / Rock / ambient originals) this is perfect. I'm really looking forward to the next rehearsal (or Gig!) to use this pedal at a loud volume.
All this for less than ?20 - I'm a fan of these pedals (can you tell?) - and while it's certainly true that you *do* get what you pay for, these little pedals stand out as being a great way to play with new sounds without bankrupting yourself.

Very easy to understand, since there are only 3 knobs. However, some tweaking is required to really appreciate this pedal. Never just crank the distortion and the tone and expect a pedal to sound awesome. I know some players tend to do this.

I noticed also that the lowest distortion settings (9 o'clock and less) are a little useless. The effect seems to dissappear here.

My settings are pretty much around 12 o'clock for all 3 knobs. This works well with my set-up.

I like this pedal paired with single coil equipped guitars, especially my MIM Strat. Like others have noted, it sounds best with the neck pickup, with the tone rolled back slightly.

Try it first WITHOUT THE OCTAVE SWITCH ENGAGED.

If you don't like the first impression of this pedal, just play with the controls and tweak them very slightly in every way. I promise...you will find a sound that you really like. I was blown away from the start when I played through this thing. It is like the fuzz that I always wanted, but didn't know existed...at least not for 30 bucks.

This pedal has a sweet, heavy, scooped sound that I love. On chords it sounds thick and full. On single notes it sounds grindy and "chewy".

Now that you love the regular fuzz sounds, engage the octave. This to me is just an added bonus that can be used for really adding cool emphasis to a solo. Throw another fuzz pedal in front of the French Toast with the octave on, and you really get a great effect.

I've never used a Foxx Tone Machine, but I find it VERY hard to believe that this isn't a darn good clone. In other words, I don't think the Foxx can be much better than this, just way more expensive.

Good so far. Seems solid for being plastic.

Obviously, if you slam down on plastic, it will break.

One day I might buy another French Toast and re-house it in something metal. Just for fun.

N/A

I love 90's Grunge-era stuff, as well as jazz and reggae. I can use this pedal for all of it.

The first sound I noticed with this pedal was very similar to Iommi's "Paranoid" tone. From there it was easy to find a Smashing Pumpkins sound and even a Hendrix tone.

Paired with the Big Muff, I can get different fuzzes with different characteristics. If I tweak them just right, they can achieve the same signal boosts and clarity. The Big Muff does a better job at sounding big and loud, but the French Toast has a better overall sound in my opinion.

Very easy to get a good sound out of the French Toast. Mine came out of the box almost perfectly set-up already. No Manual, I guess none is needed.

This is a Fuzz most certainly, with a choice of octave via the toggle switch. I play Fender, Danelectro and Gibson guitars with fender twin reverb. This sounds great fuzz of the mid to late 60's, sounds almost like the Mosrite Fuzzrite in a way. You can play mid sixties Garage rock with the French toast. I figured out today if you match the Frech Toast with the FAB Overdrive you can get quite a warm sounding fuzz, by itself the French Toast is Treble/Nasal Fuzz killer for those bottom end scales like it should be. People say it's modeled after the Foxx Tone Machine, I wouldn't no what one sounds like, but this is awesome.

Dependable, Yes. This is a pedal not a stompbox, so it should hold up if you press on it and not stomp.

Don't Know

I Play Rock, Punk, 60's/Garage, Surf, Rockabilly etc...
Like I said earlier this is great for 60's Garage stuff and some punk. I would replace it, but would not be heart broken, cause I got such a good deal. I like the color sea foam green, real 40's or 50's style. I'm into the switch that lets you decide from fuzz to fuzz w/octave.

I found it gets the best tones when the EQ knob is at 7 or 8 o'clock. The octave switch is a little small, but that can be a good thing. Various gain settings are easy to dail in.

I've used it with a Stat HH and a Fender jazz bass. Sounds AMAZING through both. It really shines with a bass, however. I've never heard such a smashed out, thick tone before. It tends to cut off bass frequencies, so an EQ is usually necessary to make up for that. Pedal is rather noisy when the gain is up all the way, but totally worth it for the tones you get. Octave off is just as exciting as ocatave on!

I bought it second hand, and it hasn't caused me any problems yet. Haven't played with it live yet.

I play lots of heavy rock. Not metal, more stoner rock. I suits classic rock style also. Overall, this is a beast of a pedal, ESPECIALLY ON BASS!!!!!

Super easy to use, but the battery compartment is a little weird. It's still pretty boneheaded simple which is good.

It's noisy as just the fuzz, but with the octave it's fairly quiet-I expected the opposite. The octave effect is very good for the price. It's not as good as the Fulltone Octafuzz, but what is.
This is a great pedal to introduce you to vintage tones such as Hendrix's fuzz/octave fuzz tones. You have to know how to use this...the octave fuzz works best when used on a strat neck pickup. It sounds best on single coil neck pickups, but it does sound fine with bass and any other guitar. I own some nice amps/guitars/pedals. I mainly use fulltone and maxon pedals and this Dan-o pedal is fun for the price and inspired me to sit down and play more than I have in a while. Well worth the money I spent so far.

I don't know yet. I can't imagine it would be dependable and I wouldn't gig with it. It must be a tone-sucker.

I don't think you could go wrong buying used like I did. I wouldn't buy it new because I don't support buying things made overseas when I can. These pedals are sweatshop toys. Don't buy these new if you can help it. I don't care what your opinion is regarding my "buying" opinions, but they use these hokey diner-style American-a names and slap these together in China. Screw Dan-o...buy used.

Dead easy. Turn it all the way up and put on the octave switch for that chewy, upper-octave enriched fuzz tone popularized by Adrian Belew. One footswitch.

I only give it an 8 because we are rating so many different kinds of devices here. Considering what the French Toast is -- a copy of the vintage Foxx Tone Machine octave distortion pedal, in an economical package -- I think it's reasonable to expect a good deal of background noise. This is not your grandpa's fuzz pedal, but it is a reproduction of grandpa's pedal -- so you get grandpa's noise along with it.

The fuzz tone works best when you play from the neck pickup, giving the pedal a warm, bassy sound to work with. The tone you *hear* is a thin, violin-like razor-edged fuzz with an extra upper octave overtone, on most notes. Not every note on the guitar, mind you, but most of the ones you'd want. It's the tone you hear all over Adrian Belew's work, so if you want to jam on "Elephant Talk" or "Paint The Road", this is your pedal. It just feels like you're playing glowing, high-tension wires. Hot. Zingy.

Chords will sound totally weird -- this is a FUZZ pedal -- and doing a double-stop bend will give you some totally sick ring-modulator-esque tones. It can be interesting to turn down the "Dist" knob sometimes to get a barely distorted, crackling, raw sound with that upper octave sizzling on top of a metallic, ring-modulated clang.

Cheap as these things go for, I think I'd buy a couple extras if I were gigging with it. I don't gig with it.

It's made of plastic, and it looks and feels cheap and fragile. Although it's a footswitch, I try not to step on it much, or very firmly.

Never yet had a reason. Doubt I can imagine bothering for a $30 pedal.

It's an unbelievable value! Here you get the til now rare or expensive Foxx Tone octave distortion, for pocket money. Bless Danelectro for having the guts to make one this cheap for us. Even if you only play it for a few songs, or just a few afternoons, it's worth the price. Copping the exact sound on the rideout solo of "Purple Haze"? You tell me your price. I'm glad I found this pedal for so little cash.

Pretty simple

I run this pedal with a Rhoades 73 electric piano with a RotoVibe through an Ampeg bass amp (RotoVibe first). I hated this pedal with my guitar rig but tried it just for fun with the Rhoades and found a great sound. The sound is really grindy, good for open and 7th chords, but noisy as hell. It has lots of hiss and sometimes picks up FM radio. The amount of hiss seems to depend on the power supply, and this weekend the venue's supply is really bad. It sounds like a waterfall when I'm not playing. I dig the sound in the studio but wish for less noise. With the Rhoades I would give the sound quality an 8 on a good day. With guitar it would be 0. If it could do its thing with the Rhoades without all the interference from neon beer signs and flourescent lights it would be perfect.

It has worked perfectly for two years with no problems.

Don't want to deal with them.

The style of music played with this pedal is Floyd, Can, Pixies, Velvet Underground things. This pedal works well for the style but the crappy nature of the pedal sometimes gets in the way of good sound. When the crowd complains about the hiss from the pedal you know it's time for something better. If it was stolen I would move on. I think I will try something else, maybe a Keeley mod Blues Driver. I want the grind but with less noise from the Toast.

Pretty dirt simple. The only controls are Level, Distortion, octave on/off switch and EQ. I got it used, no manual.

So far the sound I'm most liking it just the fuzz sound without the octave up. It's not pristine or smooth like a big muff. It's kind of ratty, but in a good way, if you EQ it right (if you EQ it too far to the treble side, it will sound like crispy crap). It's not something you're going to use all the time, but it's okay.

The octave up sounds is a bit brittle for my tastes. I get the feeling that it would sound awesome with a bass guitar though. Power chords are interesting with this thing. It will track them in a freaky kind of way.

It is noisy, and sometimes picks up radio stations.

Seems fairly reliable.

I wouldn't pay full price for this, but if you could get it extremely cheap, it might be worth checking out. Dano has other, much better mini pedals though (The Fish n Chips and Tuna Melt spring instantly to mind).

easy to use. 3 clearly labeled knobs, one switch. The switch doesn't have on/off labeled, but it's pretty clear when it's in octave mode or not.

This thing really surprised me. I was thinking of building an octave fuzz, but This thing was about as cheap as building a FOXX tone Machine clone. I was looking for an octave fuzz and had heard good things about this little guy, so why not? I tried it out and was amazed. with the octave off, the thing is a BMP, but crisper if you know what I mean, less muddy and more defined. I was surprised such a cute little box can create such bassy distortion/fuzz. Pure awesome. The octave on was pure gritty heaven. Excellent octave effect, it rips things up. It works well with other pedals and is nice and small. Responsive pots, good eq, not much bad to say about the sound.

thick plastic casing, mine came with a control protector. I can't see any reliability issues. I use a few pedal boards, It'll hold up fine. Seriously, don't abuse stompboxes by jumping on them, it's not necessary. If you gig, use a pedal board to protect your gear while travelling. There is no reason for this thing to break besides an idiot band member.

website is not so good. Like most effects manufacturs. I heard someone found the contact info for them.

I probably paid too much for it, but it's an excellent fuzz pedal that can easily compare to boutique octave fuzz clones. This little guy really surprised me, I'm questioning what to do with my Big muff after years of it's loyal service. If you're going for octave fuzz, definatly check this pedal out. You can mod it to FOXX tone machine specs very easily. Don't pay for a Fender Blender while this thing is still in production. Not a normal fuzz liek a fuzz face, but a very good octave fuzz that can compete with the Tone Machine, the Blender and the Ampeg Scrambler. Awesome value.

This has three knobs, one switch and a stomp switch. Easy enough to plug in and play, but enough control.

This is not an overdrive as it says on the box. It's a FUZZ. I've heard that this is a clone of the foxx tone machine. I have not tried the original so I can't comment.

This is a nice evil fuzz sound. The EQ knob can go from scorching to bassy. Lots of nice sounds, and it can give you a smooth sustain if you want it to. The octave up gives you some ringmodulator sounds or some clanging sounds if you play chords. The octave is quite discordent and only of interest to experimentalists.

Plastic pedal so you wouldn't want to stomp on it.

No opinion.

This is a great fuzzbox. It's got some nice smooth sustain for classic rockers, or some nice noisy sounds and interesting overtones for experimental players. Turn the octave off if you want to play Hendrix, turn it on if you want Sonic Youth.
Fuzzes really are a very personal taste - there's such a huge variety you have to keep trying them and find one you like.
This pedal is great value for money. I wouldn't use it live due to its reliability but it's great to keep handy in the studio or when writing. I can't believe that something so cheap sounds so good and its definitely worth a tenner of anyone's money.

As other reveiwers have already mention this can be a tricky little bugger to get the hang of, but with some fiddling you can get a some glorious fuzz tones.

I'm a vintage fan and use a '61 Burns Vibra artist and a 64'Harmony Rocket, through either a Traynor 100w all valve head and 2x10 or 4x10 Fender cab, or a Vox AC50 head and cab or Fender Twin. Through all set ups and with different guitars this thing sounds great. It really does depend on your set up if you have a 10w practice amp (which I do) and a cheap guitar it will probably sound terrible as with most effects pedals. With the valve amps overdriven a bit it warms up the fuzz sound a lot.
Is it noisy??? Of course its noisy its a bloody fuzz pedal, and not a nice clean modern version either it has a hint of that uncontrolabilty of the old (Maestro) fuzzes but this one can be tamed! This is not for everyone but a lot of good sounds can be got from this little box. I managed to re-create (as near as dammit) Count Fives Psychotic Reaction, plus the sound of Music Machine/Seeds fuzz and a multitude of 60's garage bands, although you cant get that (Maestro) 'Satisfaction' sound its as near as you'll get for $30.
As far as fuzz pedals go they all vary so you really have to hear it first before buying, but if you dig that raw buzzy out'a'control 60's fuzz tone than you'll like this pedal, as it has the sound without the humming, feedback and reliabilty problems, so good for live stuff.

Well it doesnt look the strongest pedal in the world, its a bit plasticy and the knobs are a bit fragile so cant go kicking it about, but other than that its been very releable not had a problem with any Dano gear.

Never dealt with em, probably never will.

I play 60's Garage Punk/Surf and primitve rock'n'roll, through beaten up vintage equipment for 15 years and this little pedal works a treat. It aint exactly the same as a vintage fuzz, but as they all vary greatly that doesnt matter, the only thing that gives it away as a modern pedal is its quiet when switching in/out and doesnt feedback no where near as bad. Ive not compared to other new fuzz pedals only vitage ones and this compares pretty well.
Buy this pedal its only $26 for gods sake, everybody needs a little fuzz in thier lives.

Very easy to use...on/off switch for octave up sound...level, distortion and eq controls as well.

My main reason for submitting a review here: there's an effect called the Ampeg Scrambler which fetches entirely too much money retail or on eBay; probably because it's a cool pedal to have. This $30 pedal produces basically the same sound. Down the neck with octave up on it sounds like trash can lids smashing together (in a good way, of course)..up the neck you can really hear the second ocatve...nice ping to it...with the octave up switch off, it's a nice warm fuzz pedal...as said earlier, controls give you a wide range of tone...but KEEP IN MIND, this is JUST AS GOOD as the Ampeg Scrambler...don't fall into the cool pedal trap.

I would recommend highly one of the hard polymer knob "Protectors" as I've broken the cheap plastic knobs off of one of their pedals before...I don't gig but I probably wouldn't expect this to take much of a beating...that said, it's a $30 pedal so, buy another if need be.

Bottom line here is: it's cheap as hell, it sounds pretty good (no way you'd want it as a primary distortion pedal but for fun/change of pace it's solid) and you can do some cools things with it. I'd recommend it if you like Jimi, stoner rock, Sabbath or just want to irritate someone (the sound can get quite trashy).

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Don't play chords with the octave effect. Also use the neck pickup it will track much better, especially around the 12th fret.

Yeah I can see how it might sound crap, but I got some very nice sounds out of it. And you know how? EQ! Yeah as with most dirtboxes, you can tailor any tone you want if you change the eq on your amp or on a pedal or soemthing. That said the EQ on the French Toast is very good too, it's more like a low pass filter in my opinion, so you're cutting off the higher frequencies the more you turn it down. I'll give it a 5 because it depends on so many factors. The upper octave is good, but not as good as other upper octaves I've tried. It doesn't track well, but the sound is the same on any upper octave really, just soiunds like controlled feedback.

Hmm dunno, it's mostly plastic and surface mount and stuff, but I've never had a Dano pedal crap out on me so who knows.

I'm sure they'd be helpful. I hear a lot of people just get new pedals sent out to them if they break under warranty. Thats the benefit of cheap pedals.

I suppose it depends on what you're expecting to sound like when you get this bad boy. I have a thing for fuzzes/octaving etc, but I don't own a Jimmy album so I have no expectations.

As at least one reviewer has already pointed out, it is much easier to get a good sound out of this pedal with good equipment. Any pedal is going to sound like #### playing through a 15 watt transistor practice amp. Also, a little goes a long way with this pedal as far as the settings. Keep your tone down around 9 to 10:00. The gain is most useful at the lower settings as well. Use your ears. Keeping the gain low on your amp is critical as well. It should be remembered that Jimi Hendrix kept his amps in a lower gain structure, and colored that basic tone with his pedals.

I use this pedal with a USA Hamer Studio with Seymour Duncan P90 pickups into a Crate V5212 tube amp. At present, this is the only pedal I use other than a Buddha wah. At lower settings I find it to be as quiet as you can expect from a distortion pedal. I use it primarily for solos with the octave off. Through this rig, I am very pleased with the sound. I would like to compare it with a fuzz factory, rat, big muff, or fulldrive. For the money, I think this is a very entertaining effect.

Although the construction of this thing is far from robust, I have had no problems with to date. it has actually held up better than other more expensive pedals I have used in the past.

I have never dealt with the company after five years of use.

I use this as a significant part of my sound playing blues/rock/alternative country etc. If it were stolen I would be tempted to try other fuzz pedals as well, but for the money, it would be difficult to find its equal.

3 knobs (gain, level, eq) plus small toggle for octave. not hard if you're experienced with tones, setups, effects, etc....

using different guitars(strats, dan dc , dano u2,i'm primarily a sc player), variety of distortions/ od's into a peavey classic 50.i tried it out in the store with a gretsch import with a single pickup into an old vox ss twin 'verb...you could get the jimi sound, no probs..

took it home, and i love it even more...using the octave in the lower position it nails the solo from "little sister" from queens of the stone age.
i leave the eq at about 5, distorion varies from 3-8(it varies, has a lot of gain)...
bottom line: for the bucks, it's great. i paid 20 for it new (didn't have a box)..you can dial in some good classic fuzz/ jimi etc sounds, but you can also get heavier, modern tones ala muse, some radiohead stuff,etc....if you're into metal you can also make this thing get nasty as well!

yes, it's plastic. but, i've got a 5 year old dano "black coffee" that's still going..on the other hand i've got pedals i paid 140 for that are already going bad in less time....same as everything, hit or miss.

most of the dano stuff, either you love it or hate it. for the bucks, you generally get some good sounding stuff. i paid 20 for it, it's fun, has lots of useable tone.....it's certainly going to make some unique tones for me!

You have four degrees of freedom on that pedal. Level, Drive, Eq and Octave-Switch, which alters the tonal quality of the effect quite drastically. Basically, it is rather a fuzz, not a dostortion. Getting a good sound out of it is hard, but once you have understood the trick, it
is a source of fun. It can produce some fairly disgusting tones. Think of mosquito nest in a beer can. If you want to play guitar weirdo, simply dial in the most disgusting sound you can imagine (it's easy, trust me, tip: eq far right!) and let your friends doubt your mental sanity.

Ease of use if you want to hurt your ears: 9.
Ease of use, if you want to get some usable sound out of it, that is somehow pleasing: 5. Excellent sounds are there, but well, the pedal has a wide range of tones and interacts heavily with your equipment, so there are no general rules. Steep learning curve, but the magic is there.

I give it a solid 7. No manual included by the way. Would not make sense anyway.

This little thing is a disgusting monster, but if you treat it right, it will treat you right.

My first approach: Epi Les Paul->Toast-> Vox Pathfinder 10. Sheer horror. Buzz, squeak, hum, fizzle. A very harsh sound. But there is a lot to be explored. I think it's essential to set the output level that way, that your (cheap transistor) amp can hadle it without getting into ugly distortion itself, but of course, you can have that if you want, up to the point, that all harmonics are swallowed. I think this thing is good for driving tube amps. So my Vox, which has a _really_ nice clean sound, is no good for that application.

Next Setup: Epi->Kampo 901 Tube Overdrive->Toast->Vox Pathfinder 10.
Well, useless. The toast renders the EQ-Knobs of the tube overdrive useless. Everything is mudd.

Next try: Epi-> Toast -> Kampo 901 -> Vox Pathfinder 10.
Nice! In addition to the different sounds the Toast can produce (in combination with the guitars volume knob!) I haven an additional three band EQ on the tube pedal to shape the fuzz to my hearts desire. Too much "icepick"? Eq low on toast or heights down on the EQ. More mids? No problem! Ok, your amp can do that too, but-> kick in the tube distortion and have some extra fatness. Hit the octave in and well, good! Power chords work well with added octave!

Ok now, what about adding a Wah and trying it with a Pod, for the VOX is not really made for that impact.

Epi-> Cry Baby Wah -> Toast - > Kampo Overdrive -> POD Brit Classic
Bad, bad, bad! Wah? What Wah?

Next try:
Epi-> Toast -> Cry Baby Wah-> Kampo Overdrive -> POD Brit Classic
Damn! This is crazy! The wah really shines with the octave hit in! And the overdrive adds some additional fatness to the sound and there is much more to be explored! This is where I stopped last night after 6 or 7 hours of fun and frustration, so beware!

After all, this pedal is difficult. It adds quite a variety of tonal possibilities to the rig if used right. It's definately not a plug and play device! Care for it, and it cares for you. Know, that you have a volume knob on your guitar, and that you can use that to fuzz or unfuzz the sound. Set the levels in your effect chain right. Don't overdo with cheap low wattage amps. Experiment, take some time, take a trip to fuzzland.

If you want something, that makes you sound good: 0 Points.
If you want to make something sound good: 10 Points.

So I give a solid 5.

Plastic housing. Wiggly kobs. Nasty, shocking look. If I giged with it I would be in a mode of "I don't care, if you care" so it would not be a problem, if it broke. ;-)

A really nice feature would be an appropriate metal housing with a footswitch for the octave effect.

After all I would give it a 5.

Don't know. Never talked to them. But if you send in a registration card, you get 1 year warranty. Never used anything from danelectro before.

For now, I really like that thing, because it added quite a lot of tonal flexibility to my setup. It was not build to sound good out of the box. You decide how to use it, and it can really spice up some things. It's quite good for solos, and with the right settings, you can get some really nice, fuzzy sounds, and interesting power chords with added octave up and possibly more. It really shines in combination with a wah, if you are into that. But you can also wreak tonal havoc easily.

In my opinion either you hate that thing, or you love it. It reminds me of an ugly doll. So as always: your mileage may vary.

For me, the overall rating is 7 because of the cheap housing. But the fun factor is a good 10.

Not easy to use at all, it's unusable

Sad but true that this gets good reviews and I read them and believe it. And thats true of alot of FX. I'm using quality hand built guitars loaded with gibson and dimarzio pickups, a modded SD-1 a Teese Picture wah and a Marshall JCM 800, 2205. Incredible sounding rig until I ran this thing with it. I tried it in different positions in my short chain and honestly couldn't get a usable sound from it. I was obviously expecting more from a $25.00 pedal than was possible. And if they say this is modeled after the Foxx tone machine then I could safely say that sucks too. I was lookin for a Hendrix kind of thing with my strat but I got earpiercing , buzzy noise even with the distortion all the way down. I realize different strokes for different folks but I really hope I never hear anything like this pedal on my radio from a band. If I did already, I'm sure I thought it sucked.

Wouldn't know, I actually threw it out because it's not worth selling it to some unsuspecting person

I've siad enough.

well it`s easy to use like all these guys say!

i dont like the sound of this pedal it`s very bad tone sound like mud!
good is the switch for the octave, switch it on and it sound much mudier!

it`s plastic
i wonder why it isn`t broken yet!

one of my danelectro plastic pedals was dead and they gave me a new one for free!

this pedal is better than the dod supra distortion(the new one, the old is great) but it is too noisy to me
for an octave fuzz it is very cheap and it does it`s job, but remember the best danelectro ever did was their old guitars!

When I got it I have to admit that I really didn't like it. But you really have to fiddle around with it to get a good sound and the little knobs are a bit small, especially with the plastic guard on. It's a very fiddly operation!

I'm very pleased with my setup at the moment, it goes something like this:
Variax 300>Boss SD1>French Toast>Frontline Chorus>Danelectro Wasabi Delay>Marshall MG50DFX
I've really started to like the sound and variation of different pedals and they all work really well together.
It's got a very distinctive sound, and I think that if you turn the distortion knob up too high some of the character is lost. I tend to have it at just above 9:00 and then I can boost it with my SD1 if it needs it ;-). I don't really use the octave function because it makes the sound a bit tinny, which is why I'm giving it an 8.

I think that it is solid enough even though it is made of plastic and I wouldn't have a choice to gig with a backup so that doesn't really apply.

No Idea!

I've been turning into a bit of an idie kid and this pedal suits me fine, I just wish that the knobs were a bit bigger. I shouldn't really have bought it blind from eBay and I should have tried a few out, but I don't think that it was that bad a choice. If it were stolen I would probably shop around and just test some others, but it does fit in very well with the vibe of my pedal board, so who knows!

Not hard to use. The "octave" switch is not labeled on or off and the 'down' position = 'on' which seems backwards to me, but maybe it's alluding to a vintage pedal that works the same way, I know some effects that are based on older ones purposely mimic the controls of old originals, even when they're not exactly conventional. I've read this is based on the FOXX TONE MACHINE but I've never had one of those, so I don't know if that's the case. Technically the word 'octave' is under the switch, which you say says it all, I guess. Either way you'll hear what's on and what's off.

There's no 'blend' for the octave, but you really don't need it (more on that later).

One little peeve: the knobs could be better, sure they're cheap plastic which is I guess not a big deal considering the price, but what bugs me is that I can't easily see what my settings are without getting a close look or having the light glare hit it just right. I guess I can and probably will sharpie a line or arrow on them, but still it seems like an oversight, especially for a fuzz pedal, in which setting just the right settings can be important.

It's a minor gripe, but if you have or get one of these you'll be tweaking a fair bit too, and you'll know what I mean about leaning in close over and over...

An LED would be nice, but as stated below you don't need it, you know when it's on.

When I first fired it up it sounded awful, really fizzy and not warm in character, but after exploring the knobs some I found some really nice sounds. How much "dist" you dial in makes a big difference, it's a totally different sound at max than it is set low. Set high it can be really noisy and hissy, but that's true for most any pedal of this nature, and it's no noisier than others of it's kind. The noise is chaotic when you're playing, so some may really LIKE this factor, I have fun with it anyway. For most of my purposes, I generally like the distortion dialed maybe by half, and here it is not so noisy though still has bite.

Putting this first in my chain of effects is where it shines for me, if you're not getting the character you want from this, definitely try it first in your chain too, it made a differnce to my ears. I haven't tried it after a boost or EQ, but I'd bet it would react differently to different inputs, so experimenting is recommended. I found what I like simply putting it right after the guitar, and then adjusting the guitar for different shades of the sound, which works well.

Also turning the octave on and off doesn't just omit or add the upper octave, like you might think, but instead changes the overall tone of the effect. It's almost like 2 different fuzzes to me. The octave 'off' fuzz can be nice and is worth checking out, but IMO the octave 'on' is so sweet that I rarely turn it off.

Like I said above there's no "blend" but it's not a problem because the octave harmonics are not extreme and lay in the effect already blended, in a sense. I LOVE heavy harmonic tones like synths, ring mods etc, but this is NOT what this pedal does. It has a very guitar-centric, classic flavor of it's own, not industrial or metallic. It can be aggro but still warm, brash but still inviting. Play it and you'll know exactly what I mean.

The EQ knob is a ESSENTIAL to usefulness of the this pedal. Without it I'd chuck the pedal, because through most of the dial it's WAY too shrill for me. Icepick central. But roll off the EQ and you're in business. I rely on my guitars' settings to keep the sound clear and mud-free, which works way better than reaching for the EQ on this pedal for desired crispness.

The bridge pickup and playing near the neck tip has been covered, but it really does make a big difference for bringing forward the upper harmonics.

Though I haven't yet, I would gig with it. This effect isn't something I use all the time so it still files under non-essential, though that may yet change soon, since I'm using it a lot these days.

I wish it were metal obviously.

I've never knocked on their door, but my general impressions are only so-so. They were nice at the last NAMM booth I peeked in, but I don't know that they're all that invested in their products, given the mass production and inexpensive construction. Who knows. I wouldn't make a fuss over something so bargain-priced like this anyway.

I've had a lot of gear, lot of pedals, and consider this one very cool. It has, surprisingly, replaced my main fuzz. I won't say what that was, to be fair, but it's a much pricier pedal that's very highly regarded, if that means something. The dano just has that special tone that works best with my playing at the moment. If I needed to replace it, I think I'd shop around for something boutique that has a similar tonal effect, since it's becoming a favorite of mine and I could justify upgrading. But for the price, of course, I could always replace it with another french toast, which I would do without concerns.

I wish it had a foot switch for octave on/off like so many similar pedals seem to have these days, and maybe a 2nd EQ, one for each on/off setting. Sure maybe that's a lot to ask, but then you'd have a 2 channel superpedal. I guess I could just buy a 2nd french toast... but if they saved us the trouble that'd be fantastic.

OH YEAH and I wish it had a GATE knob/control. That would really be awesome. Tame the hiss and have that vintage gated sound too!

Even still, it's a 10 in value no doubt about it.

Very easy to use, just set the distortion knob (really a fuzz knob), EQ knob, and level knob then decide if you want the octave switch on (yes you do if you can play lead worth a shit)

What is with the negative responses concerning sound here?

Whatever these guys here who have reviewed it negatively have been taking - I just want a 1/2 of one??

All kidding aside this pedal is really good at what it is intended for. Getting that very fuzzy fuzz sounds with the choice of using an octave up effect. It was modelled after the original FoxxToneMachine?, so yes its a fuzz.

The fuzz is very fuzzy on the edges, but can be very creamy when used in combination with an Overdrive or distortion unit. Great for 60s tinted trips.

The octave up tracks so well I can't believe there has been anything bad said about it's sounds. The octaves are dead on, and the overtones change with your dynamics. Also, the unit responds so well to your tone/volume knobs. I think it's one of the best deals around for folks who like fuzz, even if they are already set with thier favorite fuzz.

I can't in good faith give it as high a score as I would a ruggedly built metal housed pedal. It may hold up well over time and I hear they actually do not break easy, but I still cannot give it the score I would a tank of a pedal.

Again, guys who have replied negatively about the sound - hook a brotha up, I just want half of whatever you took when you heard this pedal and/or replied here.

I don't know what else I could say. If you like Hendrix's music and would like a very fuzzy fuzz sound while ALSO having the option of a very well balanced octave up effect that tracks better than some units costing MUCH more, this is it.

I would have to say the fuzz alone is great for single-note riffs. If you also use a seprate overdrive then the fuzz is a nice creamy one for any other use. Add the switch, play up high registers with the neck pickup and watch out for that SPLAT!

Easy to use. Has 3 knobs for Level, Distortion, and EQ (which is more like a Tone knob) and an Octave mini-toggle switch. The toggle switch basically switches between a more fuzzy version of your settings to more highly pronounced Octaver.
Pretty easy to dial in a decent sound amongst the shrill garbage.

First off, the good. It's pretty versatile for a little cr*p pedal. It has a decent fuzz-like sound and a pretty good Octave mode. The octave is fun because it is very sensitive to how you strike your strings. You can get a really nice singing Octave sound, high up on your neck. If you back off on your attack, you can get some trippy ringing notes that sound ding dong belly.

Now the bad. One, forget playing this through a solid state amp. It is very trebly and only enhances the cold feeling of those type of amps. Unlike a Big Muff (I know, different altogether), it makes everything sound a bit smaller instead of larger (I think that will make sense to the people that own a BM). Through a tube amp,
pretty much the same, but not as bad.
Okay, now here's where my pedal really sucks. I usually practice everyday around the same time every afternoon. This thing picks up radio signals, and I hear Jim Rome (sportcaster guy) over my amp! I mean loud. Iike the guy is right next to me!

I'll try to put some shielding in there, but I think that cheap plastic covering stinks. Doesn't really hold up to my other pedals.

I play a Fender Am Strat with Kinman noiseless Pickups. Rickenbacker 360. Through a Roland Dac 15-XD for practice, and Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with Weber Blue Dog speaker.

Knobs are really cheap. The small plastic knobs are countersunk, meaning, if one falls off, there is no metal "knobette) underneath that you can turn by hand. You'll have to use a screwdriver to make adjustments. Made of plastic, but pretty heavy because the bottom plate is thick metal. If it's on your pedalboard, it'll get trashed and unrecognizable real fast.

I would not use this in a gig situation, without backup. Picking up radio stations is funny, but c'mon.

Never had to deal with them.

It's cheap and it's fun. Starts getting not so fun when you start analysing it's sound quality. I hate talkradio...it picks up talkradio over my amps. Works ok in my concrete basement.

This isn't that hard to use, just don't crank the knobs way up.

I play this through a Crate MBX and a Samick Fairlane 4-string bass and it sounds great. I love the octave effect on it, but it's hard to switch on and off without picking up the pedal. The fuzz sounds good, I can get a great Cliff Burton (Metallica's first bassist) soundm but you can't crank the EQ or distortion knobs too much or it gets too harsh and a little buzzy. If you screw around with it for a while you can get some real good sounds out of it. Also, it picks up radio signals, but they're really faint even when you're not playing and you can't hear them at all when you're playing.

It's cheap plastic, but if you don't abuse it then it will last.

I play metal and hard rock mostly, and this pedal is good for that. I've been playing for about 3 years and this is my first pedal, I've tried other ones from my friends (marshall jackhammer, DOD FX55B, the other danelectro distortions) and i liked this one better for what i play. for the price, the best pedal you can get IMO

Easy to get decent sounds, easy to get crap ones too,just use your ears, not your eyes when setting the knobs. You may find that you need diffeent settings for octave or non-octave use, in which case get another pedal if you want to use it onstage. They're cheap enough.
No LED, but you will know when this little toy is on, believe me. It'll make you grin.

Gibson style guitars and Marshall valve amp.
Bloody awful, by which I mean bloody marvellous! The distortion is FUZZ, a slightly fizzy harsh variety. You would'nt buy this pedal for this alone but switch on the octave up and it goes mad! Erratic wierdness on the edge of controllabilty and great fun. LoFi magic indeed. Keep the dist down if you're overworking an overdriven amp for solo boost.

Yeah, its plastic. Its also cheap as chips. God Bless Ebay.

Dano minis have the WTFWT factor-you turn 'em on and people say What The F**k Was That?! Get a load of 'em and hit one for each solo in your set.
They all suffer from some bad points: they're too small if you wear wide-toed shoes, they're plastic, the controls are fiddly. Who cares, they're fun and cheap.
Don't leave 'em on the whole time but use 'em to create interest and unpredictability. If you want great classic tone save a LOT of money and get something else, in the meantime have some fun.
I've got good gear for the meat'n'bones of my sound and setup, but like Dave Lee Roth says if your cake is good then pile on the frosting. (He's American, we say icing and drive on the wrong side)

This is an easy to use box, guitar in - out to amp. If you can't figure it out, take it to the city zoo and have a monkey show you how to use it. There is no manual to speak of, but all the knobs are self explanatory. Oh yeah, no LED? Open your ears, jackass.

My guitar doesnt matter to all of you -BUT!!! This unit will give it's best octave sound on a NECK POSITION SINGLE COIL PICKUP. It goes to say that your Les Paul on the bridge pickup may not get the best (any?) octave tracking. The fuzz itself is very fuzzy fizzy 60's, and when you crank down your tone knob it can really sing. Even with the octave effect out, you get that first octave feedback that kinda sings into the note. Very cool. And this at 'bedroom' volumes, too. I see this getting a LOT of studio use. The octave effect (when dialed in right on your guitar as well) is right on. Only complaint here is the treble boost the seems to kick in when you throw the octave switch. This would be a bummer live if you wanted it as a plain fuzz for one tunes, then wanted to switch in the octave. You might blow the thinning hair right off the heads of the front row hippies.

It is not built like a tank, but nice enough. Put it in an extra footpedal case or risk snapping the PLASTIC(!) 1/4" jacks. Metal jacks would be nice, even if it would have cost another 10 bucks. Otherwise its well built.

Havent had to deal, but Ive only heard good reports.

The price/performance ratio is unreal. Other pedals that do the same thing cost five times as much, and really do the same thing. If you added a 'swell' (volume effect) to this, it would do the same job as the $200 Prescription Electronics 'Experience' pedal. I really don't care about the missing LED- not only because you can really hear this effect when it's setup correctly, but also because an LED is a big drain on batteries! Regardless of it's few (construction) weaknesses, this baby gets an overall 10 for value.
AS WITH ANY FUZZ; DON'T FORGET TO PLAY WITH YOUR VOL/TONE KNOBS! That's where all the sounds are really hiding...

It's not hard to get interesting sounds out of the petal. But it does take some fiddling to find usable sounds as it can create as many narly sounds as good one. Mainly, you have to play alot with the tone as it can get way too bright and thin. It's switches are tiny, but nice and firm to adjust.

Okay, I owned an original Foxx Tone for three years and, although this is based on the Foxx Tone circuit, it does not sound exactly like a real Foxx Tone Machine. If you at all believe in vintage equipment, made from vintage parts, possessing certain sound qualities, then you need to question whether this box crafted from completely difference parts can sound the same. My opinion is absolutely not. I find the French Toast much brighter and thinner than the original Foxx Tone machine. It has none of the ballsy presence of the original. I can't achieve some of the same harmonic effects that I could with my original (which, like a dope, I sold to buy a new axe). Overall, the French Toast is much more anemic than an Original Foxx tone, with none of the smoother, buzzier, more organic "vintage sound" that you get from period petal. A real disappointment. I was hoping for at least 90% of the original sound. I would say this deliver about %60. But do I like this pedal. Yeah, I do. You can make some raucous sound with the French Toast that are wonderful. I use it quite alot in recording. It's just not, sadly, a Foxx Tone Machine.

I was very surpised at the excellent build quality of this box. Plastic it may be, but it's super sturdy and well designed.

Haven't need help yet.

A lot of fun and capable of driving some people insane, which putting others into noise nirvana (like myself), but, unfortunately, I'll still have to lay out $500 to get a real Foxx Tone to get back the sound I lost. I guess I better start looking into decent clones (I hear Prescription Electronis Experience is supposed to be good). As a Foxx Tone Machine clone, the French Toast may have the pedigree, but the soul is missing.

I'm referring to the octave effect - the fuzz effect is a no-brainer to set up. However, the octave effect takes some juggling. I think a 7 might be harsh here since any other octave effect is also going to require some experimentation.

I use American std or a Jap 50's reissue loaded with Duncans and Dimarzio's. For amps I use a Fender Blues Jr, or A Peavey Classic 30 or a Marshall JCM900. As for effects those in my live pedal board change regularly, but currently are as follows:
Boss CS3 compressor > Voodoo Labs Microvibe or Danelectro Mini Phaser (more reliable than the Voodoo Labs!!) > Occasional Boss BF2 Flanger > French Toast > Origional TS808 > Boss DS1 > Boogie V Twin > Boss DD2 > Boss Chorus Ensemble or Dano Rocky road > Boss TR2. The French toast does not seem very hissy, but I do experience more humming with this pedal than any of my other overdrives. I only use the fuzz very sparingly - my aim is to get the KWS Blue on Black sound - and the pedal nails that spot on. I've also found that the phaser in front of the Toast means that the effect swells rythmically which is too cool. Satch also uses an octave effect, and it is possible to get a whammy pedal effect from it as well. All in all - I have to say that for #30 it's unbeatable.

I have 3 or 4 of the mini dano pedals, and although they're not a boss, I've gigged them many times with no problem whatsoever. I wish I could say the same for the Voodoo Labs, which I have not found to be reliable.

I play rock and blues, and so get at the Hendrix / Doyle Bramhall sound this effect if essential. Since I bought the toast, I've started noticing how many artists use this effect. The problem with this pedal is obvious - the lack of an LED, although there is absolutely no way Dano could have left out any of the other controls, since the effect needs all three to be useable. I did consider shelling out #125 on a Roger Mayer effect, but I have to say that I'm blown away by this little gem. If this pedal had been even #70 (which would be half of any of its competitors) then it might only rate a 7, however at about #35 - how can it be anything expect exceptional value?

very easy, if you can read you can use it!

i'm giving it a 9 instead of a 10 because the toggle switch for the octave up effect is so small and placed almost in between knobs making it difficult to engage on the fly

its a very nasty fuzz, and some settings can be extremely painful (in a good or bad way depending on your tastes), but i am giving it a high score because of what it CAN do with the right settings.

the fuzz is nasty, so if you set it bright it will really pierce into some ears. but with the tone control set anywhere below 12:00 it can be very useful. i use it with the distortion (really fuzz) on 0-1 and the level up all the way as a boost. the octave switch is usually engaged so when i step on the pedal its already set to burn!

it really can add a really nice crunchy boost, especially if you are using a marshall with medium level gain. enough gain to rock when strummed hard, but light enough to sound smooth & sweet if picked easy, even breaking up. with those settings its great.

i dont hold the fact that its housed in plastic against it. if it were in a metal house im sure it would cost MUCH more because it sounds great.

but it can be broken if you are rough with it so i cant give it anything above 7

i have dealt with them 2 times (in 5 years), they have been very helpful and solved the problem in minimal time

if you have a strat, marshall & wah and want that extra something for space-age craziness, this is the deal.

using it like i said but without the octave engaged, you get a great boost, just enough for taking things a step further and getting attention.

now if the octave is engaged, get ready for some trippy splat sounds! i find that with a strat the octave effect is way more noticable if you use the neck pickup, and even roll back the tone for more intense octave.

as far as the sound itself.....its great. very clear and it is dynamic, the sounds you can produce will vary depending on the attack, you can play the same note over & over but vary your attack (pick soft, then hard, then medium, then hard with a pinch) and it will show you what it is capable of if you use dynamics in your playing.

also, i dont like the octave down effects, personally i say let the bass guitar do that job! but i find the octave up effect alot more usable.

for the fuzz, its very nasty if you crank the EQ (to the treble side), but if you keep it somewhat down its great for single-note fuzzed out riffin"!!!


oh yeah, and my ho's all love it. they do crazy dances when i start to splatter some notes (among other things)

I read the reviews and wasn't sure what this thing does, but hey it was on eBay for 15 bucks, so WTF?

I plugged it direct into my DSL 100 half stack's clean channel and it sounded like SHIT..but wait -I dialed it up like I had seen here, level full(you have to do that), Distortion minimum,(on 1 it's a bee's nest) and the tome about 9 o'clock. I messed around with the distortion channel until I found the combo that works: I put my Boss SD -1 after it and run the FO like I said before and the distortion on the SD-1 about 11:00, the French Octave sounds FANTASTIC! I used it at a gig last week and stepped on this thing - the whole dance floor turned around with a Whoa what is that?!?!? look - I went into total Jimi mode and it really made the night.

It is really cheap and crappy (made), why doesn't Danelectro make a better version of this, I dunno. If it broke I would get another.

Never dealt with them

It definitely looks to be a tweak it till it sounds right sort of pedal, I can tell you it sounds like hell by itself, but with a Boss SD-1 after it, boosting and distorting just a little, this thing sounds like stepping on a laser. Works great for little punches in and out in chords and for short attention grabbing moments in solos. Easy to overdo it and lose the novelty.

I find it pretty easy to use, though it's small size & lack of led can make it hard to operate on a dark/cluttered stage. Getting a sound I liked happened INSTANTLY, but over time I've found it has a few extra tricks up it's sleeve that you won't appreciate in-store, specifically it's interaction with your other pedals, amp and guitar, effect order, etc.

Well, it's been covered by many below... but anyway, I play a '76 Ibanez 'lawsuit' strat into a '68 Ampeg Reverberocket. I have the French Toast at the front of my pedal chain, Octave ON, level MAXIMUM, Distortion MINIMUM, tone on around 10-11 o'clock. Then it goes through a wah pedal, into another fuzz pedal, into a sampler, then into the overdriven amp. I don't switch the French Toast on without selecting a really dull sound on the strat- usually position 4 or 2 with the strat's 2nd tone control on minimum. This helps the octave track better/jump out of the mix a lot more.

The impact this thing has had on my sound, given how little it costed, is amazing. Solos above the 12th fret can get those Brian May style lead tones (think 'Show Must Go On'), My Bloody Valentine style wall-of-fuzz ('Loomer'), and completely new sounds by using my imagination, volume and feedback... the feedback is just wicked. I'll strike a power chord with the french toast on, the other fuzz on and the amp overdriving on full- with the octave on, this is a sound which has no hope of regenerating into a single pure feedback tone - it sustains and sustains, full of beautiful, rich harmonic movement and texture. And filtering it with the wah makes it controllable! I began referring to this sound as 'meltdown'.

I appreciate that not every player has a place in their sound for this sort of insanity- but it suits me fine!!

By itself, this pedal can sound very cheap, tinny, fizzy, hollow, muddy and plasticky. I couldn't see it working very well with high-output guitars.

So that's why it gets a 5. Most people are going to try it and hate it, with good reason. It's a pedal that really needs help from the rest of your gear to make good sounds. It will get a passable Jimi/SRV sound by itself with the gain and tone low, but not without the right guitar and amp to help it along.

For me, in my set-up, it's essential.

The little toggle-switch broke, so now I have to buy another. Oh well, they're cheap!

I bought it in NZ before moving to the UK, so my warranty (if any) won't be valid here. I've never had to deal with their customer service team before.

a few knobs and an octave toggle...very easy!

NASTY-ass fuzz is what this pedal is about, with optional octave effect, added. If you want something loud and proud, this is it...if you want something subtle, go somewhere else. Not for the timid, or those who want to play full chords with every note defined. This is for single string-line sickos with a kitschy ear for the groovy 60's and 70's.

si, senor!

no dealings

Best 15 dollars I ever spent in a pawnshoppe! Does "Psychotic Reaction," "Foxy Lady," Ike Turner's/Ernie Isley's 1970's riffs,well...you get the picture!

cmon, its a fuzz w/ octave option. turns knobs to taste....wail

if you want noisy, obnoxious fuzz, a 10. for the price, 15. its noisy when not playing, and not the most subtle effect, so 7 will do. please note this pedal can be more subtle than some have claimed, though don't expect it to clean up with guitar volume knob. however, i found both fuzz and tone knobs to be very effective. to be safe, if you have any doubts about owning a 'noxious loudmouth fuzz, do not buy.

though i have not had this pedal long, i have found other mini dano pedals to be very (that's right} very durable. yes i have gigged with kicked around, spilt beer on etc...... maybe i'm lucky

who cares, buy another one.......it was less than a carton of cigs

again for the price, the worlds best novelty act with some real substance to it. i play garage psyche of a 60's nature, not hendrix more MUSIC MACHINE!
meeeeee liiiiiiiiike!

I got my "French Toast" in a multi-pedal + case pack for under $50.

It's a pretty basic pedal... 3 knobs and a switch for the octave effect. Like others here, I wish it had an indicator light. I found it hard to finesse the amount of distortion... Perhaps this is more a "sound quality" issue than an Ease of Use one.

Perhaps this pedal isn't for me, but I thought the distortion was way too heavy, especially when paired with the octave effect. I was hoping for a lighter fuzz with the distortion knob set on the lower setting to a heavy grind up top, but it goes from 0 to buzzsaw in the first few millimeters of rotation of the distortion knob. It gets too heavy too fast, and it's nearly impossible to get a lighter fuzz out of it. I was very disappointed.

It's a Danelctro Mini... light weight, plastic, inexpensive and easily damaged if you're not careful on stage. I don't have a problem with that, but some people might like a nice metal stompbox like an MXR much better if they're concerned about rough gigging. You get what you pay for.

No experience with this.

Well, it's inexpensive as hell... and you basically get what you pay for. I think the distortion is too heavy even in the low settings. You'd probably be better off getting separate Octave and Distortion pedals so you can control the separate settings a bit more discreetly. I wouldn't have bought it if it hadn't come bundled with the other Denelectro Mini pedals in the multi-pack I purchased.

It's a verys simple stomp box. Only 3 buttons, level, distortion and equalization. And another knob to turn on/off the octavia.

For the price I paid it's a very nice pedal. I can simulate very closely the Hendrix Sound, and the octavia effect is very cool too. Using this pedal with an overdrive pedal (after the fuzz) you can really emulate that classic fuzz sound from the 60's. In live gigs it sounds good too. I use a peavey bandit 112 and I can get a nice buzzy fuzz. I have an Ibanez RG type and a japanese stratocaster, and the pedal sounds good with both of them. I think that using a tube amp it will sound much better.

It's made in cheap plastic, but it likes very solid to me, I am using this pedal for 6 months since I boght it, almost every day, and I never had a problem. I gave 9 because it's made from plastic.

I have never deal with them.

I play blues, classic rock and some classic metal too (80's). I'm playing for about 10 years, but only like an amateur. In my chain of pedals I have a boss compressor sustainer, boss overdrive (sd-1), the french toast,a mxr phase 90, a crybaby wha, and I use them in the effects loop of my RP-1 (digitech). Sometimes I use the distortion of the Peavey too (Bandit 112). I mostly use a Corean Ibanez RG 270 and also I use a Japanese Fender Stratocaster for blues and 60's stuff. With this pedal you can also get that sound of early Black Sabbath, it's very nice! I will bought it again if it were stolen. Before I bought it I compared it with the boss fz-2 and ibanez serie 7 fuzz and the price and the sound of the danelectro where so much better. There's a thing that I don't like about this pedal (the only one): It doesn't have a led to show if it's on or off. But it's a great buy.

I was about to get on here and just bash this thing to no end! BUT...over the past few weeks I've played with this box quite a bit and I have been completely amazed at the sounds that I have been able to get out of it. It's a little difficult to get great sounds out of, but once you learn how this thing works, you can get some sweet sounds!

I have a Cort M200 (don't laugh, it's a freakin awesome guitar), a Danelectro Tuna Melt (Tremolo), Arion Flanger (very good pedal if you can find one), Boss DS-1, and this thing going into my little Crate practice amp (GFX-15, to be exact, not awesome, but it's ok for practice). Recently I have used this pedal just as much if not more than my Boss DS-1. I have gotten some great sounds. I was lookin really hard to find a good Chevelle type distortion, until my brother gave me this (he though it was crap, but he probably didn't mess with it much to unlock the magic, like I have). After playing with it, I got some AWESOME super distorted Chevelle heavy metal. Sounds sweet with palm mutes. REALLY chunky and bassy sounding. It's soo tight. Then I've gotten quite a few other great sounds out of it, from really light distortion to heavy. But mind you, I NEVER turn the distortion knob past about 1/4th of the way, and usually have the EQ knob about 1/2 way, maybe a little less. Sure, you can get some real nasty crap out of this thing if you crank any of the knobs. It sounds horrible, very harsh. I never use the octave, cuz I've never been able to make it sound good and fit into what I'm playing. But it gives you some awesome ballsy, chunky distortions. AWESOME! I'll give it an 8 only because the distortion gets way too insane too easily if you turn the knob very far.

I'm pretty easy on my pedals. I don't smash em or kick em, so I haven't ever had any trouble with this pedal. But I imagine it wouldn't be that difficult to break if you really whacked it hard. The knobs can slip of pretty easy if you are rough with them. I know this from experience with my other Danelectro pedals, but it's never happened to this one. I have gigged with this without backup, and had no problems. But like I said, I'm not hard on my gear. Just lightly step on it and you should be fine.

Wouldn't know.

I play lotsa hard rock and metal, but also some light melodic rock. I use my Boss DS-1 for the light stuff and when I want brighter power chords, but I use this all the time for my hard rock and metal. It sounds so good. I've tried several Boss pedals: mega distortion, super distortion, and my boss ds-1, but I couldn't get a very good Chevelle sound like I wanted with any of them. But after playing with this, I got JUST what I wanted! AND MORE! This pedal sounds so great after you know how to use it. Don't give up on it if you don't absolutely love it at first, it's got some kick anus capabilities.

Its hard to get a good, distorted sound from this pedal alone. I have found little use for the octave, except with extremely low gain, and the regular distortion is limited by only gain and tone controls. AN INDICATOR LIGHT WOULD ADD 3 POINTS IN THIS CATEGORY'S RATING!

I have it in the effects loop of a fender HotRod Deluxe and play a Fender fat strat at bridge position. I mainly use this pedal to beef up the low end by turning the gain ALL the way down and adjusting the tone to add some bass. Leads sound too thin from strats, especially on the high E? I was considering a closed cabinet before I got this guy. It makes those single notes sound fat and juicy with no audible distortion until you play chords (gain all the way down of course) and even then it's minimal. Like I said its in the effects loop so I use my amps gain (good, warm, tube distortion, but lacks real crunchy lows) for my distorted sound and it sounds great. really tightened up and enriched the muddy low end. Haven't usd the octave much. High gain is noisy.

After one gig 2 of the three knobs were missing. However, it turned out to be a good thing since the sensitive tone knob was exactly where I wanted it and the distortion I use all the way down anyways. It's never died or broke (besides knobs) but it's all plastic and I wouldn't be surprised if it crumbled in the next 5 minutes. But so far so good.

havn't dealt with company

I know this pedal in a lot of ways is a piece of shit and I don't blame the dude who bashes it in all capitals below. But the point is it saved my sound and money I would be spending on a cabinet. If it broke, I would replace it in a heart beat, several times actually, but remember it solved a very specific problem for me. Dont expect beautiful high gain tone from this puppy alone. For the price I paid, however, and how much better it made ALL of my other tones sound it is crucial.

Pretty easy to use...if you've used pedals before or know the difference between your right and left hand, you'll get the hang of it.

I really dig this pedal. It's probably one of my favorites actually. It gets a great, trashy fuzz tone that is really cool and expressive, especially with the octave on. In my experience, it really seems to respond in nice, but subtle ways to pick attack and pickup selection. When I want the hgih octave a little more ubdued and buried, I can do it by altering my picking and pickup...if I want all out spitty high toned fuzz, I just dig in and it comes right out, all without turning a knob. It's more of a noise pedal in my book...great for spaced out fizzy solos, big swashes of feedbackish tones, and cool, '60 style garage band rampages. The fuzz is modeled after a vintage style fuzz, but it has some modern qualities to it. It's not incredibly tweakable, but it's not bad either. Without the octave on, I think this thing just loses its character, so I keep the octave on all the time. To me, this thing just oozes coolness, and it definitely has it's own vibe...it stands out nicely in my arsenal of 20+ pedals, half of which are some sort of fuzz or distortion.

It seems sturdy enough, though I would probably carry a spare...they're cheap enough.

n/a

I like a lot of things, but I mostly go with shoegaze, brit pop, and similar stuff. I dig Ride, MBV, the Vines, Spiritualized, The Who and all the regulars. This pedal is probably not going to make it into my regular rig, which I try to keep as simple as possible, but it would definitely make it on to my noise board with my other favorite, the MXR Blue Box...I like to think of this pedal as a slighty better-mannered Bizarro Blue Box (though not it's equal in the pure mayhem category). Plus, it's so damn cheap! A great pedal all around. It also has a certain Big Muff quality to it as well, though I can't really place why it reminds me of a Big Muff because on it's face it doesn't really sound like one...I think it more how the pedal "feels" in a way.

Fairly easy to use. There's a volume, a drive, an EQ, and an octave switch. Watch out for the knobs though, mine tend to fall off quite a bit.

I've never played a Foxx Tone Machine before, so I can't compare. However, I can say that, with enough tweaking and whatnot, you can get a pretty sweet, vintage-like sound out of this pedal.

Of course, that requires some growing.

When I first got this pedal, I plugged it in and away I went. I got nothing but shitty sounds out of it. I tried fiddling, and found it difficult to get anything worth having out of it. Octave on, octave off, whatever, it all sounded bad.

However, after a good little bit of fiddling, I got an excellent power-chord sound out of it. It has a very unnatural "chuck" sound to it, almost like a synthesizer. Be warned, though: much like any synthesizer pedal, when the octave effect is on, you're best to try to keep it monophonic, or just power chords. Open chords sound indistinguishable and lack definition with the octave effect engaged. However, if you keep it to just power chords or lead lines, you can get a very mechanical, choppy, textured distortion, which is very good.

Without the octave, this is basically just a second-rate distortion pedal. Nothing too outstanding.

Well, two of the three knobs keep falling off, and the case is plastic. It's times like these when I say "Well it's a good thing I'm a studio rat" because this thing wouldn't hold up past the first gig.

erm.... not really.

Overall, this pedal is a good one-or-two song pedal, but I wouldn't make a career around it. When you couple the unreliability with the difficulty of getting a decent sound out of it, along with the limited nature of the one good sound, it's nothing to write home about. However, I've never played through a pedal that gave my guitar that "chucky" mechanical sound, so for that I'll keep it around.

I got this for free with the Danelectro Cool Cat, so I've no room to complain.

GOOD SOUND????? WHATS THAT????? I HATE MINE,,..THE MANUAL SUCKS EASY TO USE ,BUT THAT DAMN SWITCH GOES FROM SHITTY BUZZING TO LOWER SHITTY BUZZING...I GIVE IT A 9 FOR IT BEING IDIOT PROOF..

LIKE I SAID BEFORE IT SUXS.. AKA CHAINSAW ON STERIODS IN A SOUP CAN

I DON'T KNOW BUT WHEN I THREW IT ACROSS THE ROOM IT DIDN'T BREAK

NEVER DEALT WITH BUT IF I FIND WHO THOUGHT UP THIS CRAP I WOULD GET HIS ASS FIRED AND SHOT

DON'T DO WHAT I DID.. I GOT THIS FROM MUSICIANS FRIEND IN THE "SUMMER OF LOVE PACKAGE" THE TUNER MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE BEST THING I GOT BUT THE REST , WELL THE PHASER ISN'T TOO BAD. SUCK THAT OCTAVE IS USELESS UNLESS U WANNA PLAY "HAIR OF THE DOG" ALL NIGHT

This pedal does require a little tweaking to get a good tone. The distortion by itself is very buzzy and rich and to me sounds best at about 9:00 with a very slight gain just into clipping on the amp. Going into a pure clean channel the distortion is too trebly and piercing.

I think it sounds better with single coils than humbuckers on the octave effect. If you warm up the amp to just getting into grit the distortion is outrageously cool. For me it nails the Billy Gibbons tone on Rhythmeen where the guitar sounds like its breaking up.
The octave effect gets a lot of bad press here, but if you have ever heard Jimi Hendrix 1st or Axis, Jeff Beck from the Yardbirds through Wired, this thing gets the sound as good as the original fOXX at a fraction of the price.

I use it with a mod I've posted here: http://www.devkings.com/hotlicks/toast.htm
The octave/distortion toggle switch is pretty worthless so I've outlined a tutorial that takes you step by step into a really cheap and easy fix for that thing.

Haven't dealt with them.

I absolutely love this pedal and am looking for another to mod as well for a backup. It's not for eveybody, but if you 'get it' it's the coolest pedal on earth, aside from the original. Jimi's "Gold and Rose" tone

easy to get good tone if you are conservative on the settings and know what you are doing. this sounds good on tube or solid state, however dano screwed up again DUE TO NOT GIVING IT ENOUGH LEVEL. maybe they were afraid the kids would blow up their crappy speakers with the octave fuzz features on this pedal.

sounds awesome with the octave shift up and mild distortion, this thing will pile it on and go into mosquito mode if you push it. to me that sounds like crap tho. i use and sg and an orange head. if this had more level i would give it a 10.

use a 9v power pack and a battery backup.

n/a

if you want fuzz to change up the usual overdrive/metal distortion type deal, here is an option. would sound good with semi-acoustic electric guitars like a thinline tele, a strat, etc. rockin. i will probly buy something else though because of the volume loss when going clean to dirty.