Danelectro DJ-14 Fish & Chips 7-Band EQ

As many people have said before me, getting a good sound is a matter of knowledge and experience. However, both should come pretty quickly and easily. The back of the packaging serves as the manual, pretty self-explanatory.

I'm running an Epiphone Les Paul Studio with EMG 81/85 pickups into a Line 6 POD 2.0, into the eq, and into my computer's speakers. The POD sounds decent enough by itself, but the Fish n' Chips gives you a whole new range of possibilities. I found that the EQ pedal could remove (or at least diminish) that "digital" sound that amp modelers all inevitably have. As far as bypass...no noise at all! Surprising for a 30 dollar pedal.

Danelectro pedals tend to be questioned for their reliability, and I can't really say how reliable this thing is. I've been using it mainly at home, but I rarely use the footswitch; once it's on, it's on. I would gig with it and without a backup, since not having an EQ isnt the end of the world.

Besides EQing, it can also be used as a volume boost, but the switch isn't optimal for stomping (size-wise), something I've noticed about all Danelectro pedals.

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One of the cheapest EQ pedals out there, functions just the same as more expensive ones...not very stompable, so if you're planning on leaving this thing on, then it's really a no-brainer.

Oh and it has the coolest name of all the EQ pedals on the market...that pretty much seals it.

I've had it for 3-4 days now. It's incredibly easy... If you've ever used an EQ at all, it's pretty much exactly the same as any of the others out there... One thing to take note of, though, is that depending on the number of pedals you use, and how often you adjust them before the EQ in your chain, you might have to fiddle with it a bit to make it sound good with different effects/settings...

I got mine with no manual, only the unit, so I can't comment on that.

Sounds great... Don't be a snob and don't let the name/price fool you... Sometimes Dano products are crap, TRUE! but they more than make up for this with their few really great products... (Fish & Chips, French Toast, Tuna Melt, etc.) for most of the prices, I think they're all pretty nice...

It's really like any EQ... A lot of people say the sound quality is superior to the Boss EQ as there is less noise. It allows for lots of tone-shaping possibilities that some distortions alone may not have.

It's not noisy at all... I actually use it to cut out a fair amount of noise from the 2 distortion effects I use before it.

It's probably the cheapest EQ you can get, next to a Behringer stomp, but those are flimsy and apparently noisy.

My "amps" are anything I can find to pass a signal through. I don't own an actual amp, so I can't talk about that.

The ONLY gripes I have here are:

A) The foot switch seems unreliable. I try to avoid hitting it too hard, but you sort of have to put some pressure on it to activate it...

and

B) I have heard a lot of people talking about how it craps out and makes a high pitched noise, rendering it useless... It hasn't happened yet, but that doesn't mean it won't.

Everyone complains about them being plastic, but I've never had a single problem with this... The plastic is thick and hard, and the cases are compact and built in a shape that allows them to withstand a good bit of weight... plus, this pedal doesn't have those awful, flimsy knobs the other minis have...

Never dealt with them.

I play everything from harsh noise, slow/ambient/shoe gaze, sludge/doom/black metal, grindcore, and generally most "rock" type stuff... I suck at all of these, and I can't play a guitar to save my life, but that's really not the point... The point is, this pedal is very flexible. I have found a use for it in all of these different styles.

I've been playing on and off and on and off and off and off and on again for a number of years... (about 5 1/2 years of some-what "serious" playing) and this has deffinatley improved my "tone"...

If it were lost/stolen I'd deffinatley get another!

I really don't HATE anything about it... It works well and it's cute as a button! Just the switch makes me nervous... I wish it had a better one...

This is deffinatley a great value, especially if you can get it cheap(er) on eBay. If you're really worried about reliability, get a Boss, if you can't afford it, get a Behringer... Honestly, they're basically the same thing.

I hope to get another sooner or later so I can have them next to each other.

Bought this and the fab metal
and fab overdrive to use as cheap pedal board to carry around with my epi valve jr head. Super simple to use.Its an eq,just move sliders till you find what you're looking for. If you're a little more sound savy give a ten

As I said above Iam using it with an epiphone valve junior head through a peavey closed back 112 with an eminence tonker in it.Iplay a les paul classic with seymour duncan jb at the bridge and a 59 in the neck with tone pros bridge and tailpiece.Shame you have to dismantle a les paul to make it decent,but I will save that for later.Also use an Ibanez sz520.I play mostly metal and I use this for the eq for an amp that has no eq. I get most any sound I want particularly 80's metal.

Unlike most of the posters here I dont play in a band or play out anymore it's just for fun.I dont know how much abuse it could take it's plastic.I only paid like 20 bucks for it so no big deal.If I wsa that concerned I wouldnt have bought it.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUCKS.Ihave a danelectro guitar and you cant begin to find help with anything.

For what I bought it for it's great. My other setup is a metal muff,weeping demon,mxr 10 band,dd6 delay,boss chorus,phaser and flanger.

It is pretty easy to get a good sound out of this little fella if you know what you want. Mine came without box or manual because I bought it 2nd hand and very cheap.
I give it a 9 because the footswitch could??ve been a little better (but what should I expect for the little money). Other than that, its fine.

I use this the following way:

Ibanez ARC300 > EHX Octaver > EHX Microsynth > Marshall Shredmaster > DOD Juice Box > Danelectro Fish & Chips > Fender Twin 2x12"

It??s not noisy at all, except when you push some bands way up (or the boost), but what??d you expect, it??s an EQ, and that??s exactly what it should do. Amplify certain Frequency ranges.

I A/B-ed it against a GEQ-7 (this is the unit Danelectro is copying with the Fish & Chips EQ) and they really sounded the same. Even the frequency sliders have the same bands and amount of db to boost or cut (+/- 15).

Therefore, I give it a 10.

It doesn??t look all too reliable (plastic everything with metal bottom) but then, most Dano pedals survive more than you would think.
It probably will last a long time.

I??d also use it without backup. If it??s screwed during a gig, well then, I have no EQ. But I doubt that will happen.

an 8 in this category because its a cheesy-looking plastic box that will rely against more than you think.

?

I play Rock in a band (influenced by artists such as Melvins, Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, Tool, Kyuss, QOTSA, Masters Of Reality, Fu Manchu) and experimental/drone or western/blues at home. Suited best for the rock thing. With my Ibanez ARC, the Shredmaster and this little thing, I can easily cut through the mix.

Benn playing for roughly 10 years and I own several cheapo vintage axes (think Teisco, Jedson, Framus) and a load of FX pedals. I??m a analog freak, because I??m convinced that vintage and analog stuff has more soul to its sound than crappy digital equipment, and is also more solid and reliable.

What I love about it is hiding it in the back of my amp and people asking me how I got "this sound". I always talk about the other FX then, no one will ever know about that little EQ, but it really helps a LOT. You won??t really hear a distinctive sound from this unit, but turn it off and you??ll wanna turn it back on.

As I said, I compared it to a BOSS GEQ-7 in an A/B test, and although the BOSS is probably more reliable and (I think) has a better footswitch, both sounded the same. The price does the rest.

That??s about it, what else should it have? Its just an EQ and does exactly what I want. Doesn??t really help me "make music" (I rely on weird FX like Synths + Delay for this matter). The EQ just makes my sound "better".

It's a graphic EQ. The sliders are labeled, and there is a level booster. No mysteries here.

Can wear about three or four hats. one thing it can do is make up for deficiencies in other gear here and there. Put it after your guitar, and it changes the way your guitar sounds. Muddy pickups? not anymore. too much bite? no problem. Put it after a distortion or overdrive pedal, and it can custom taylor your distortion tone to taste, modern scooped sound, classic rock, etc... (of course, it won't change the amount of compression). Put it after your pre-amp/in the effects loop, and it can really change the character of your amp dramatically. My amp, the Peavey Classic 30, is known for being a little fizzy with the gain up a bit. With this pedal, even with the gain all the way up, you can get sweet smooth sounds. You can even get a decent Metal sound, if you so desire.

However, it also may be used as an awesome clean boost. Turn up the level in front of a hot Tube amp, and this will push it over the edge.

Personally, when I play live, I use it as a booster for leads and solos in the FX loop, for a little level boost and a mid hump (-800 Hz). Totally fattens and sweetens the sound. My Classic 30 couldn't live without it.

I give it a 9 because I am stingy about points, and a product has to blow my mind to get a 10. There is really nothing I could think to improve on this pedal, I'm just stingy.

It's fine so far, but it's cheap plastic, and doesn't look very sturdy. I've had a lot of friends break knobs off of Dano pedals, so I'm careful with this one because I want it to last.

If lost, I would get another. I might get another anyway, just for added options. I could see getting a lot of use out of having 3 of these in one rig if you really wanted a lot of options.

Easy to find a good sound. No manual, just a few suggestions on the back of the package. Just scoop the mids and you'll be good.

This $30 pedal has had the biggest impact on my sound. I run a modded Vox wah, a modded TS9 and a boutique fuzz, some higher end shiznit and it all sounds 100% better with this thing after them. I run it near the end, after the fuzz and screamer, before chorus and delay.

Seems very well built, but now that I have my settings, I just turn it on when I power up and there it stays.

Look at it this way, how much did you spend on your guitar and amp, not to mention your other effects? Is $30 really gonna break you? Buy it, get it set right and then turn it off and hear how disgusting your sound is without it. Then turn it on and realize that you'd gladly pay $100 for it. If it was stolen, I'd definitely buy another. If I had to choose only one pedal, I'd have to keep my fuzz or tube screamer, because my sound would be too clean without, but this is closely behind one of those. But for small coffee house gigs where I can rely on tube amp crunch alone, this thing will come along every time.

Standard 7-band graphic EQ. It's just as easy as the other ones on the market. EQs are flexible pedals and can be used to shape yor tone in many different ways in different positions in your signal path (e.g. after distortion fx on your pedal board, in your fx loop, as a solo booster, to refine the tonality of your sound, etc).

I use this on my pedal board after OD and distortion. I use it in two different ways: 1) as a solo boost, I thicken the lower mids and boost the volume 2) to cut some mids and lows so, in conjunction with mild compression and sometimes a chorus, I can fake an acoustic/electric rhythm guitar sound so I don't have to switch guitars mid-song or set.

The sound quality on this cheap little pedal is GREAT. When Mars Music was liquidating, I went to see what I could snarf up and compared this side by side with a Boss EQ. I wanted to see if the Dano would be worth it for the savings in $$. As far as the sounds/tones went, I couldn't tell the difference! It was just as quiet as the Boss both off and on, it didn't suck any tone out of my signal when by-passed (off), and it matched the Boss's configurations band-for-band exactly! It was a no-brainer for me--I got both the EQ pedal AND the dedicated power adapter for less than 25.00 out the door!!!

I can't remember how long ago it was that Mars went belly-up--maybe 3 or 4 years or so? Anyway, it's been going strong all this time, it's always in my pedal board--although I usually only engage it a few times a set. But I've had absolutely nothing but great results with it for years.

Buy it, it works great. I recommend you use a power supply because this thing eats batteries. I'm currently using a Visual Sound 1-Spot to power it because somebody ripped off the one I bought with it (GRRRR!). Anyway, no problems with function or sound at all--no burps, hisses, squeals or screeches--it has always done its job very well. Considering it costs about 1/3 of the Boss price and delivers just as well, it deserves a 12, but, since...well you know...

The Fish & Chips is extremely easy to use. Its design is very user-friendly. Obviously, there are 7 frequency knobs and one level knob; pretty simple.

The sound is very good for a $30 pedal... WHEN IT'S NOT SCREECHING. I can't think of a better word to describe the noise it makes after I play it for a while. All of a sudden there's a loud screeching noise that is about ten times the volume at which I was playing, and it slowly increases pitch. It does this completely randomly, you never know when it'll go off again.

I'm using this pedal with a '72 Telecaster Deluxe, some other arbitrary effects, and a Hot Rod Deville 410.

Like I said, this pedal makes a screeching noise. It amplifies your volume by a great amount when the screeching starts. Turning it off stops the squeeling, but there is a ringing sound that continues to play through your pedals and amp, there is no way to stop that until you unplug the Fish & Chips from your chain. I thought maybe this was a power problem, maybe the pedal was getting too much power from my daisy chain even though it is the exact power supply suggested, so I gave it its own power supply; same thing happened. I put in the given danelectro battery; same thing happened. I used a battery that comes with my boss pedals; same thing happened. I went out and bought a new battery; same thing happened. As you can see, there's obviously a problem with this product... or is there?

I called Danelectro customer support and they were very friendly and helpful until I asked them about the screeching. "That's a known issue with certain power supplies. Use a battery with it." Hey, I tried that, it doesn't work! They had nothing more to say to me other than "it's not broken, it's a problem with the power that you are supplying to it." I don't know what else to do but return it. I tried everything that I could and it still screeches. It'd be the most embarassing thing to have happen at a concert; also, it'd probably blow your amp with as loud as some people have their amps at concerts.

Don't buy this. Not only will it barely ever work correctly, it will also blow your eardrums. (I was kneeling down adjusting my delay that is right in front of my amp when the thing started screeching. Needless to say, my ears were ringing for an hour.)

It's an EQ pedal: sliders and one button. How difficult could that be? Just move the sliders until it sounds good, and make sure the light is on.

I use this between my Zoom 505 Mk.II and a Peavey Audition 30, and it makes an impressive difference in the sound quality. Not only does it add depth to the Zoom processor, it boosts the overall volume going into the amp, and I use the Zoom primarily for distortion. I used the exact same pedal configuration going into a Marshall Valvestate stack through the amp's clean channel, and it simply cut through the room with a clarity that would only be attainable with half a rack of equipment that a sound engineer would have you believe you needed...

I not only depend on it, I'd rather go without the Zoom pedal than this EQ; before I bought this I never gave a second thought to an equalizer pedal, until I saw this on sale and figured it wouldn't hurt to own one...my only complaints are the plastic housing, the plastic screw that holds the bottom plate on to the battery access, and the comact size of the pedal itself; I have mislocated it several times, only to discover it was exactly in the bag I packed it in, only hiding under other cords and pieces.

Never needed customer support, and the unit was cheap enough that if something went terribly wrong I'd just buy a new one; after almost four years it hasn't crapped out once.

Anything you can buy for less than $30 and still works after four years is more than worthwhile, especially guitar gear. I play hardcore, metal, thrash, classic rock, and punk, and all with the same distortion setting and same EQ setting. I haven't tried any of the other Danelectro "diner series" pedals, but since my Zoom pedal already covers everything else I haven't really been that curious. Not only would I buy this pedal again if it were lost or stolen, I may buy another one just to have around since I recently bought a new bass guitar and amp. I didn't check out any other EQ pedals, but at the time I wasn't shopping for one either, it was more of an impulse buy, but I don't see any other pedals even coming close to this price, let alone the same quality.

Very easy to get great sounds out of. Either adjust by ear, or go online and learn about the effect of each frequency. Dial in the sound you are looking for.

Don't get me wrong. This pedal, like any EQ, is going to take awhile to get the sound you are looking for. EQs are about nuances and personal preferences, not plug in and go. Take the time to tweak your pedal. Even slight changes can make a big difference in sound.

I would've liked to had some sort of manual, but that seems to be a passing trend in effects pedals these days.

Sound quality is unbelievable.

Current setup: Gibson Victory MV-X (primary) - Dunlop Crybaby Wah (Vocal Mod) - Fab Tone - George Dennis Phaser - Peavey Classic 50 head - Paradox Custom 2 x 12 Cabinet (Eminence GB12 and L125); Effects Loop - F&C EQ - Dan Echo

To get the best sound, I set the amp with the best sound I could find. I then use the EQ to augment the frequencies I want to add.

I've been generally impressed with Danelectro pedals, having good luck with the Dan Echo and the Fab Tone. The Fish & Chips stands on its own. In my search for an EQ pedal, I played every one I could get my hands on including the Boss GE-7, the DOD FX-40B, and the Behringer EQ700. The DOD didn't seem as transparent. The Behringer sound quality was there, but cheap manufacturing. The F&C and GE-7 were clearly the top of the heap, and the F&C matches the GE-7 in every regard, at one-fourth the price!

Probably my favorite thing was the versatility this pedal gives. I have one setting for classic rock and country (100 +5; 200 0; 400 +3; 800 -2; 1.6K 0; 3.2k +6; 6.4k +9) that really opens up the amp and gives a sound I could only dream about before. But I can also quickly switch to the deep scooped pattern, crank up the Fab Tone, and create metal tones that rattle the roof!

I have no doubts about the reliability of this pedal. I admittedly have big feet, but haven't had any problems hitting the sliders when I step on the pedal. It's plastic, but I see no reason to believe it won't stand up.

This is Danelectro's downside. Forget customer support. It's become the internet hacker's goal - find a phone number or email address for someone at Danelectro. For someone's hard earned money, this shouldn't be that difficult.

This is the primary reason why you won't see me with a Danelectro guitar, expensive effect, or amp of any kind, regardless of quality. By far and away, the worst customer service in the music industry.

Overall, this is an excellent pedal. The same sound quality as a Boss, without the Boss price tag. If stolen, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

I, like many other reviewers, would like to see the sliders moved up slightly higher on the face of the pedal or maybe make an EQ the size of the Fab Tone or Dan Echo. It makes one nervous every time your foot heads towards the sliders.