Danelectro DJ-14 Fish & Chips 7-Band EQ

It's a graphic EQ, just about the easiest piece of audio gear to use. I forget if it came with a manual, but I never looked at it. You plug it in, move the sliders and your tone changes accordingly.

I've used it with multiple guitars (Dean Avalanche, Epi Les Paul, Baritone Strat) and a Roland V-Drums kit (which I thought was a better combination with a graphic EQ, it makes it real easy to boost the kick and snare while cutting away unwanted frequencies.) For the V-Drums I was also running it through a distortion pedal and going for an industrial type sound, so it worked out okay. For guitar it adds unwanted noise, which results in more feedback, you also get some nasty distortion if you move too many faders too high. It also sporaticly stops functioning as an equalizer and starts acting like a "make-horrible-uncontrollable-unwanted-deafening-noise" pedal.

Again, it sporaticly chooses to make horrible squeal noises. I really can't find anything that triggers them. They're not caused by the pedal being bumped or overheating. I really don't know why I didn't return. It started doing that a few months after I got it, so it immediately got removed from my pedalboard. Occasionally I'll forget how annoying it can be and try it out again, but as soon as I let my guard down it does it again.

Never really bothered contacting them. Don't know why.

I mostly play music, not horrible noise, so this isn't really the pedal for me. If you like horrible noise, knock yourself out and buy one. You can even take mine off my hands for me. The best thing that came from getting this was learning the valuable lesson: you get what you pay for.

Easy to use - seven tone sliders and one volume slider.

It does exactly what this type of effect should. It boosts and cuts 7 frequency bands, in a good range for guitar, and you can also boost and cut the overall volume. The buffered bypass sounds good. There is no noise. I wouldn't change a thing.

This is a great value. A very versatile tool for very little money.

It's an eq, slide until it sounds good

Dead quiet at all but maxxed settings. Doesn't sound as organic as Ibanez GE 9, but it's way quieter. I get the same squeal when powering up as others have talked about.

Mine crapped out after a year. I expected more. It's not one of those $15 Fab things, so I thought it would have lasted a little longer or at least I thought the problem would be those lousy plastic jacks, but all of a sudden it just wouldn't stop squealing.

Sounded good but who wants to wait for something to stop working. I'll try the MXR 6 band.

easy to use. On of switch and 7 bands of equalitation + volume.
The manual sucks, but do you really need one on an EQ pedal?

I heard its easy to replace the switching button for a true bypass one.

I use it with a marcuss miller bass and a fender bandmaster as a different "channel" to my sound. The combination between the fish and chips + electro harmonix double muff with may gear is great. Gives to the bass a stonerlike tone powerfull.

Is a important point on my gear but prescindible.
The construction is made of plastic, but hard. I own mine since 10 years ago and doesnt have any scratch or something like that. Mine doesnt make any noise even thought the years it has.

DUNO

I play kind stoner/sludge/ambient music with it and i consider it a good choice for those who dont have two channels on the amp or just want to modify their sound.

considering its low cost and having probed the boss Eq I think Danelectro is the best choice because it really sounds equal.
Ive got tons of year that i have recollected over my 14 years playing and i consider this pedal good enough to be on my board.

It would be better to be made with a true bypass switch...

This your classic Eq pedal along with 6 bands of boost and cut sliders along with a level. This compares to The MXR M-109 and Boss GE7.

I use a Gibson Classic with SD pickups along with my Marshall DSL 50. The F&C is very quiet and performs fantastic! I've compared and used the Boss GE7 and MXR M109 and IMO I like the F&C better. The MXR didn't sound as good as the Boss and Dano. It actually made my clean channel gritty and distorted???? Don't know how that happened? The Boss had a bit of coloration added to it which can be a good or bad thing depending what you're after. The Dano is not only quieter than the boss but more transparent. It's definitely made my sound better and it can do it in a subtle way without altering or robbing my amps natural tone. I have my mid boosted pretty high and the others a touch of boost and cut. This is definitely a keeper!

I agree with the plastic that it made not seem very durable down the long run. If you do take care of it, it will take care of you. But of course us musicians especially the workhorse musician needs reliable and durable equipment that will work night after night without fail. This pedal may not be the case. It does have a tough plastic cover. I haven't heard any stories of the casing being cracked but will see over time what the story is.

This is a fantastic value. A pedal that sounds great and cost 30 bucks. It's a no brainer. If Dano made it with a metal casing and input jacks. The price would be up there with MXR and BOSS. Needless to say, this is one pedal I believe will stay on my pedal board for quite some time. It's certainly a big part of my sound now.

Very easy to use, blah-blah-blah. It's the only pedal I use. I mainly prefer rack mounted effects. I'm not much of a user of Danelectro stuff. To me, Danelectro seem to be a weird lot, their guitars look awful and strange and so does a lot of the stuff they make, and I still can't get my head around the names that they use for their products. For instance what has Fish and Chips got to do with EQ? I think their design team must be on some strange stuff to be honest.

I don't have a manual for this pedal, it got lost or misplaced ages ago. Besides, this EQ is so easy to operate that you don't need a manual, you can just move the sliders about until you get the sound you want, you don't need anything like a degree in nuclear physics and brain surgery to operate it.

It sounds ok. It can help to add depth to an amplifier, but I've never tried using it for recording with - studio desk EQ is far superior anyway.

I bought it mainly to compensate an electro acoustic guitar going into a solid state HH Studio Fifty guitar amplifier that has a bit too much treble and not much character, and it does the job pretty well and makes the guitar sound acceptable through it. My electro acoustics are a steel strung fibre backed body, and a full wood bodied nylon classical. Occassionally I use it with an electric guitar if I need to shape the sound a bit, but never had to use it on my signature Stratocaster or my Fender Telecaster.

One or two of the sliders have developed a noise when adjusting them, but this could be cured with a bit of switch cleaner when I get some time to do it. The bypass switch works ok and switches noiselessly, which I would regard as a plus.

I must have had this little EQ for at least five years and in all that time it hasn't ever let me down. I use common or garden PP3 type batteries in it, despite being advised to use Danelectro batteries, and it works fine.

The case is plastic but seems strong enough, but then again I don't hit it with hammers or axes, or jump up and down on it with hobnail boots - mainly because they don't seem to make hobnail boots for women. Nor do I throw it against the wall, drive over it with a steam roller or emerse it in acid.

Never dealt with them

I've been playing guitar for just over 40 years. I play a variety of styles - folk (contemprary & traditional), folk rock, some classical, some blues and rock. I mainly do studio session work these days and some live performances, plus I have my own recording studio where I record independently. I mainly use this EQ for rehearsal and live performance, but for studio work I use something more serious.

I wish it didn't have such a stupid meaningless name. "DJ-14 7-Band EQ" would have been nice and adequate and sensible. The colour is acceptable. I quite like the shape of it, it reminds me of an Owl - which is fine because I like Owls.

I neither love nor hate it. I think the reason I bought it was I needed an EQ at the time and it was the only one they sold in the shop. I don't really consider it to be a serious EQ but it's ok for what I use it for. If it got stolen I might get another, but I probably wouldn't care less and I'd most likely get something different, better quality, and with a less stupid and a more appropriate name.

It's a standard eq so operating the faders is straightforward. I don't like the switch but I use mine on a true bypass loop so I never use the switch on this pedal. If it cost over $50, I'd mark it don for more not having a great switch, but for it's price I could afford to get it and double true bypass box for the same price as the Boss GE-7.

I use 2 of them. One in a loop with a fuzz pedal to pull out the harshness. The other at the end of my pedal chain to boost mids for solos. I have also used it conversely as a mid scoop/volume reduction for rythm when I using an amp that is really mid heavy and just let the un-eq'd sound be my lead tone.
I find the sound to be very good.For me this means that it doesn't alter my tone significantly other than the eq'ing that I do. It sounds a little less artificial to my ear than than the Boss unit I have used. I haven't tried out an MXR but would like to see if those are even more transparent.
There is a bit of an art to using an eq. I seem to get the best results by reducing certain freq's from 0, rather than boosting, and then using the volume slider for level. For some reason it sounds a little more "natural" to me that way.
It isn't true bypass and rather than buy some $200 true bypass EQ, I just got this and a $50 double true bypass looper.

As others have mentioned that combination of the build quality with a hard to push footswitch could lead to problems. However I've avoided this issue by putting it on a true bypass loop. This way, I have a high quality rugged footswitch and true bypass which even the boss and mxr don't have. I have had luck with both my fish and chip pedals so far, I've had them for 5 months. I will get another one as backup because they are so inexpensive.

n/a

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has compared it side by side with an MXR 10 band at exactly the same eq settings to see if either is more "transparent".
I think this and a loop are better $80 spent than the boss.
I thought about the mxr 6 band, but it doesn't have a volume slider- if they just added that, they'd have a winner. I wondered if I really needed a master volume and it has turned out that the master volume is essential to me on an eq so I'm happy I went with this rather than the 6 band MXR.

It is fairly easy to use.Just slide the knobs up and down. The manual just tells you what some settings can be for it, i didnt use any of em. It comes with a a battery too. If you have an amp with an eq on it I suggest you turn them down.

I can definately get Randy Rhoads' tone with this combined with an MXR distortion + pedal. Well, it certainly boosts your sound but i wouldnt consider it to be noisy. As I said before turn your amp eq's down to get the full effect. I use a Behringer GMX212, you may laugh but it will take out you're 100 watt Marshall combo anyday.

Even though it is made out of plastic i can tell it is reliable just by holding it in my hand. The button is made out of metal so you wont have a problem there. I would definately use it at a gig without a backup.

Never dealt with Danelectro.

I play hard rock/metal/indie. It is definitely a good match to get that killer Randy Rhoads tone. Ive been playing for a year now, I play it with an Epiphone Riviera, Washburn Nuno, a custom made Ibanez, and I am getting a Les Paul Custom in the next few days. I wouldnt suggest using it with a Phase 90 as the Phase already raises your volume as it is. I love everything about it. I have not compared it to other products, i would like to try an MXR 10 band eq though. I chose it because of the price, for 29.99 you cant go wrong. It is great to achieve your desired sound.

No instructions required, but the EQ sliders may be too tiny for some people. The bottom plate won't open easily, need a tool, so far a dime works best.

I wanted to use this pedal as a buffer. I still need to play with it more, because I just got it, but I think sounds okay. Not amazing, the pedal will color your sound and make it a bit harsh, but then again I cannot listen to any Boss pedals either.

I had heard bad things about Danelectro's pedals reliability, but I think it could be worse. However, my pedal switches on and off randomly (brand new) and it's almost impossible to switch it on/off on the first attempt. I took the cover off and discovered some horrible sordering joint causing shorts near the switch. I will fix this and hope it'll work then.
I also did not like that the button bends the board it is mounted on. Could use some rubber on the backside. I think I'll install that as well.
Other than that, the main board seems well made, case is plastic but seems OK.

Tried to find support, but could not even find an e-mail address on their website.
I wanted to check with them if lose warranty before repairing the pedal...
I think this pedal is discontinued (per guitar center) and cannot be returned and replaced.

Background:
Been playing rock/pop for approx. 10 years. I play a Epi hollowbodys with P-90's (Casino and Riviera) through a Fender Pro Jr. (home) or RI Bassman combo (practice and shows). Minimal pedals, usually only one high quality overdrive.

Sound:
I have kind of sensitive ears to crappy sound. This one is borderline - I may find myself never using it for gigs.

Other:
I love the dark green color of it and the retro looks.
I like that it take standard (Boss) 9V adapters and polarity.
I do not like the craftsmenship whereever it appears to be non-machine made. Poor engineering at certain spots.
Price is very attractive.

A very basic EQ, nothing fancy.
Battery "compartment" is not super easy to access vs. some others.
Small pedal could make for not so easy foot switching.

Boosts frequencies with distortion if your speakers can not handle it.
There is a bit of noise because of boosting frequencies.
A decent EQ with little sound coloring when off as it is not true bypass.
But does what it is supposed to do.

When my battery goes low there is a piercing squeal, would kill a gig.
It is cheap plastic and can break if not careful.

Does what it is supposed to do.
The low battery squeal is a problem, would check bat. life before a gig.
Not too durable, but good enough.