Danelectro DJ-20 Rocky Road Spinning Speaker

If you don't have the manual (I didn't) I can see where the growl knob would get you into trouble. Turn it all the way down for quiet clean operation and turn it to 10 o'clock for a little boost with out to much noise. Crank it from there for distortion and noise. The next thing that the speed knod control the maximun speed of the ramp up. Once you know that it is up to you to decide how fast you want the wobble to be on leads. After overcoming those issues 10 minutes of fiddling I was off to the races. There is a learning curve if you buy the pedal with no prior knowledge because there is alot to consider for the set-up. Now that I kow what the pedal does I have three settings that I use for different things.

I favor a Schector tele copy going UHF wireless thru my whole chain: TC Elect. experience pedal, Crybaby wah, RP-50, split with a morley a/b box to a Cavin x100-b half stack with m-70 celestions and to a 70's Peavey Classic with Phaser. The split going to the peavey has a Boss Noise gate with a metal pedal and digital delay. Usually, to get the Jimi thing happening I use the wah, the experience set to octave, and the rocky road, the carvin on a medium crunch and the delay on a slap going to the peavey. I turn on the experience and wah for solos and play with the rocky road an delay the rest of the time.
Setup #2. This is a great pedal for those times when you want to keep it simple (One guitar, one pedal, one amp)because the ramp gives who three effects (Slow chorus, ramping, fast chorus) with out any knob twiddling. I have read the whole two ramp speeds, slow and slower. These people are missing the point. those selections are for control of the pedal. Here is the deal. Option A. 1.Leave the pedal on for the whole song. 2. Ramp up for the solo. 3. Ramp down after the solo. This works great with the ramp speed on fast. Option B. 1.Leave pedal off. 2. Turn on to get ramping rotary sound at desired time. 3. Use ramp button to keep the speed where you want it. This is easy to accomplish with the ramp speed set to slow. I hope this concept will help people apply this effect with more taste and success. This pedal is swirly enough if you are using a low wattage set-up. This is because you have alot of gain going just to get some volume. With a pro rig it is a little dry. The good news is that if you throw some Digital modeling (RP-50 for instance)in front of it, and another analog time delay pedal after it (try a phase shifter or flanger) this this will go nuts in a good way. I always keep the growl down when I have it in a chain of effects. This pedal is a very easy way to get the vibe of alot of great players. It reminds me of hendrix, stevie, and zz top when used alone. To get into Pink Floyd or Trower land you will need to stack another oscillating pedal with it. I am giving it a ten because the ramp is worth a couple of hundred dollars and I paid $20 for it. If you want a leslie buy a leslie and drag it around.

I have read where some of these don't work out of the box. That is not reliability. that is poor quality control. This is plastic. If you are going to be moshing around leave it at home. If you take care of a piece of gear it will take care of you. This means to wrap it in cloth with you are not using it. Do not toss pedals around.

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I play blues,country, classic rock, shred metal. This pedal is for classic rock/americana.
I am 38, I have been picking on electric/acoustic guitars, basses and mandolin since I was twelve.
I would replace this piece of gear. It has to be the altime bang for your buck pedal.
The tone is great, the smaller and crappier the gear set-up, the better.
The wish list would include stereo outs and an expression pedal input.
I think Dano should make a $200 dollar full size version of this pedal with daddy-o distortion (for everyone crying about the growl and for the volume mod. crowd)in the front end and the stereo out & expression pedal input on the back end for me.

I have to give this pedal a lower rating, because it takes a few minutes to fix the volume problem. If you have minimal soldering skills you can fix it with no problem (see mod below). Once I did the mod . . . WOW!

The thing to do is to give the little guy some room. If you look at the pedal, there are cutaways near the knobs that represent the tip of your foot. If you give the pedal room on either side, it will be easy to use.

This pedal is the ugly duckling of my rig. All other pedals I use are high-quality, true-bypass units: Keeley Modded Crybaby, Stigtronics Compressor and Overdrive, Tremulator, and an Ibanez DL10 delay (another gem). I have had many of my peers laugh at this unit, but when they hear it, that's another story. I've used this pedal for a couple of weeks on a tour with another band, and I've already talked the guitarist into buying one.

Okay, here's the skinny on the sound. It reminds me of an old Fender Leslie at times, though it has a slower ramping speed. For your dollar there truly is no other Leslie simulator that will cut it for the money. I tried the new Line 6 Roto-Machine . . . wasn't impressed at all. The Rocky Road, though small and sometimes tough to get around due to pedal size, is a bargain and a half!

Once you do the simple mod, the levels are even and the unit just shimmers. I REALLY like this pedal!

I doubt it will break, but it IS plastic, so it might someday. I'm thinking of buying a backup to have just in case.

Don't know . . .

Darn simple - see other reviews!

Even the mod - see below - can be done by a no-armed man ;o)

Yep, I've done the mod - witch is really, really simple, even in this tiny box and I'm totally unexperienced!!! - and it sounds just great. I'd give it a 10 for the plain sound itself, but it's somewhat noisy and you can hear the modulation wave even when not playing. That doesn't bother me at all, but it's there and it could be annoying to some people. The sound itself is really quite leslie-ish and the value for money is outstanding. I'm looking forward to own the Line 6 Roto Machine but will definetly keep this little miracle box - it's really, really great sounding !!!

Let's just see - time will tell... ;o)

Teh Germany distributor, Warwick, is pretty darn helpful !!!

This is a real bargain: If you're looking for a decent leslie sound at no cost and if you are able to do the mod (and you are, believe me!!!), this is absolutely outstanding!

Great little pedal. I have THE mod. Want to know how to have the LED flash in time with the speed? E-mail me and I'll tell you.

My unit has been upgraded. I did the infamous gain reduction mod. I wanted to mod the pedal so the ON LED would flash to the speed of the pedal. It took a while to figure out, but it's an easy mod. I will draw up the mod on a bmp (I don't have a digital camera...I'm disabled and money is tight).

Now, if I could only speed up the ramp up and down a little...I'm working on it. It's hard without a schematic.

It hisses in front of some amps, but is quiet in effects loop, and best if the loop is series, not parallel.

It is just a chorus but the depth adjusts automatically between slow and fast...as does the Pepperoni Phaser.

I love Leslies and have a few of them and use them on guitar, and the high end of my bass (300Hz and up) in my effects amp.

Works just fine, and it is the best (and only) unit like this in it's price point.

Who knows?...it's more surface mount throw-away technology. I'd use it without backup. I have the optional plastic guard that protects the little knobs.

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NOW I'm happy with it except for the slow ramp up and down. I can see the speed of the pedal. I also added a jack to allow me to add a pedal to control the speed so I don't have to try to hit the speed button without hitting the bypass button.

I play anything...

Many Leslie simulators are little more than modern versions of the Univibe, which was just a crude 4 stage phaser. These don't get close. This pedal is closer.

I wish it was stereo...but for the money, it's great.

E-mail me if you want the "Flashing LED Mod".

The sound is OK. More later...

No patches just a speed knob for the fast speed, a fast/slow switch which should be called SLOW/SLOWER, and a volume knob. Yes, I did the mod.

It is hissy going into the front of an amp (and I have several), but in the effects loop, there is no hiss. I've only played with it using guitar. I will try it with my "ancient" B-3 "clone", a Roland VK-9.I have modded the pedal so I can switch the speed remotely. It should mix with the Roland's internal "leslie simulator", which is just a chorus.

We have several Leslie single rotors here at home, and it really doesn't come close. I also still have the treble rotors (2) out of my old Yahmaha version of a leslie.

I got hold of a plastic protector that goes over the knob end of the pedal so I expect no problems.

I build, modify and repair my own stuff...I don't need no stinking company...

It will be used along with other similar units and will add it's flavor. The ramp speed even set on fast, is slower than any of the real leslie's we have. I figured out how to make it slower, but haven't figured out how to make it faster.

I may do that with an external circuit...the LERA found on the GEOFEX website.

If stolen, it wouldn't bother me as much as with most of my equipment. I'd still hunt the skunk down and teach him or her a lesson, but the 9mm through the palm would be excessive. A couple of 22long, shot loads would do the trick. The right butt cheek, and the top of one foot works well for minor education.

Since my girlfriend Tiffany just LOVED her single six 22 Ruger, I may get one myself so I don't have to borrow hers.

And FWIW, our guns are not in our home, but they are plenty handy on a moment's notice when the need is there.

Gees, I'm glad I got over all that hippie-peacenik nonsense from the 60's. Thank you Richard Nixon for setting me on the RIGHT path...pun intended. (my first election at age 18)

Do I put GSP chips in ALL my equipment? Try me and see. There's a reason we have 4 antennas and a dish on our home. They ain't for watching TV...we have cable.

Two knobs, speed and drive, and a teeny little switch for the 'ramp' speed. Once I realised why there was a drive knob on a modulator pedal, I was away.
The Ramp function speeds and slows the modulation but the footswitches are so close together on this little pedal that its almost impossible to get right.

I use Gordon Smith (Gibson type) guitars, other Dano mini FX plus others by EH and Line 6, a Pod and a Marshall DSL combo.
All this stuff about the volume mod is lost on me. As a device for simulating the lush wobbliness of the Leslie, this pedal is rubbish. The Pod does it much better, very close to those shimmering chords near the end of Dark Side Of The Moon. BUT... by giving lots of drive (and don't forget real Leslies do add a certain amount)I use this for boosting solos and giving them a slight shimmer. This makes it a fun and useful tool for adding interest once or twice a gig.

The tiny little switches and controls on this range of tiny pedals makes them tricky to use, and they're cheaply made. Don't rely on them. All mine have the clip-on collar to stop your toes crushing the controls. But as a little bit of spice they're fine.

I wouldn't bother for such an unimportant bit of kit

I play in a covers band but I don't get all anal about exactly mimicking the sounds of the original artist, I'm not a parrot. I love Dano minis, they're cheap, fun and all do something wacky that you don't expect. I have a load of 'em that I use to spice up solos, I rarely use 'em more than twice each in a set, and people really notice when I use 'em. They're not the sort of FX to create a sound for an entire song, more like special FX to use once or twice. And they're cheap.

I want to add something.

Ive had the rocky road for a few weeks. That is my review below that I made yesterday, and just like I said - I did the volume mod.

It did just what its supposed to, which was make the volume even at the lowest gain setting.

BUT, the pedal did loose some "punch". I dont just mean a little volume, but even when turned up it did not have that punch and the "growl" that it had before.

Also, I play with my volume knob alot so it will be easy to get used to. I found that with the rocky road, i just roll the volume back on my guitar right as I turn on the RR. And sometimes I can hold a note and make it seem like its sustaining much longer by rolling UP the volume knob slowly as the note fades away.

So you may want the volume mod if you dont want to mess with your volume knob, but I personally like the sound better, it seems more defined before the mod. But the mod is easy and does drop the volume - it just depends on what you need. I personally have reasons (stated above) that I would rather have this pedal UN-MODDED.

Also I want to add again how much I love the sound of this, and if it needs a more "watery" flavor all you have to do is add a slow chorus before or after and its as liquidy as needed.

A great sounding little pedal!

Very easy, just a few knobs.

If it turned itself on and off when I wanted it to (ESP, but not extra sucking power) then I would give it a 10, but it cant do that so 9 it is; after all the 2 knobs & 1 switch take no effort to find a setting

I think this pedal sounds damn good, not just considering the price but overall. It definately is a little dry compared to the classic sounds one wants to capture, but add a slow, semi-deep chorus after or before this pedal and it sounds great.

Nice & wet and really does a good spinning sound.

One thing though, the volume boost you have heard about is very true, and very loud. Pretty much unusable in a live/jam setting. It could be great for recording as is, but I am going to do the simple mod and drop the volume on this thing today.

Its plastic so it gets a 7, but I wont give it any lower than that, Ive never actually seen a dano mini that had the plastic case busted.

Im sure you could bust it if you tried but why do that?

I had 2 pedals with a problem (my fault with my attempted mods) and they replaced them both for free with no hassle at all.

I really like the sound and what this pedal can do.

It mixes real well with my other pedals (crybaby, ts808, dano EQ, pb&j echo/delay, boss CE5 chorus).

It really likes a good tube amp to push as well. I was looking for a little something extra and I found it with this.

Now Im off to do the volume mod, so peace. 9 G's

It's as easy to use as any pedal. But the "ramp" button doesn't give a feedback, so I have to use my ears. That's no problem, but I would find it more comfortable if there would be a feedback.

Not easy to say. For me it's o.k. - more than o.k.!

At home I play on an old Technics Piano. Few weeks ago I bought a very odd organ expander (Orla DE 49) at ebay, which I connected via MIDI. This funny piece of plastic provides 9 satisfying sinus waves, but the built-in "leslie" effect sounds even worser than an old Bontempi keyboard. So I looked for an appropriate effect and found the "Rocky Road".

The first try was disappointing. The slow chorus is kind of usable, but the fast "rotation" is very dry and without this living sound of the real thing.
Then I switched on the slow chorus of the Orla and the fast of the Rocky Road simultaneously. Wow! The two effects in combination give an impressing sound!
Years ago I played a Korg BX-3 organ with a small rotary cabinet made by Farfisa. And this combination doesn't reach the sound quality of the italian-crafted wannabe Hammond module together with the Dano pedal!

The pedal itself sounds not really good and not really bad. But together with my equipment it gives the critical part of a very reasonable sound.

Now to the noise. It is absolutely inexcusable. And it's totally unnecessary. When I switch on the pedal there is an obtrusive white noise. For sure I will make the mod described below. I know it voids the warranty, but the noise voids the pedal.

I have the pedal only a few days, so I can't say anything. But from my point of view it was a good idea from the manufaturer to apply a piece of translucent plastic around the area of the speed and drive controls. Otherwise you step on it and they are broken.

I didn't have contact with the support. But I am sure the support is bad. They couldn't ignore the noise(gain problem, which is discussed since years. And nevertheless the didn't fix it at all. It seems they have a sense for music, and they care for the money of their customers, but the customers themselves aren't a matter to Danelectro.

For my homemade organ grinding the pedal is great. And on gigs? Without the mod: No way. With the mod: We will see.

The overall rating is 8 because for my purposes I am satisfied. The relation between price and value is good, although the piece is more expensive in Europe than in the USA. For professional musicians the pedal may be far less applicable. I don't know.

(BTW: Don't be astonished about my funny english. I had to try, because the review had been much less helpfull for many visitors of harmony-central if I wrote it in german.)

Easy to use, tougher to master. The reviews below are in disagreement, apparently (ha) about what does what. I used my ears, no problem. The only snag is waiting for the (slow) 'ramp' sound to change fully, so you can adjust appropriately.

OH HOW THE DEBATE RAGES...

It sounds great!

I've had several pedal-style approximations of THIS sound. Perfect? NO. Just as good as a zillion-$$$ rotosphere? Hmm, well, that's up to you. Better by miles than the schools of pricey uni-roto-vibe-s? YES YES YES.

OH... the infamous volume-mod-flaw ISSUE:
Yeah, that IS just sloppy quality control...

However, add an EQ pedal = NO PROBLEM.

A 8 rating... it's NOT perfect.

Don't know, but it's been used HEAVILY for going on 2 years, no issues. I use it with guitar, keys, and more. Wish they still made it, cause for the price I'd replace it without a single complaint.

Dont' know... but if they exist ...hello, hey, make an upgraded (METAL) version of this pedal!!

Out of curiousity, I've tried most of the mini-danos, and some are one-trick toys, but a handful of others are quite good. This is the only one of the bunch I'd really HATE to lose. Why? Because there's NO COMPARABLE replacement for anywhere near the price.

Wish it didn't have the volume problem.
Wish it was metal, with real stompers.
Wish it had a drive on/off foot switch.

LOVE IT ANYWAY.

Dear Danelectro, make a another one. A better one.