Danelectro DJ-20 Rocky Road Spinning Speaker

No manual, just a couple of pictures on the back of the packaging. Two foot switches (on/off, ramp). One turns the pedal on, the other "ramps" the speaker either up or down.

Just like a Leslie, when the pedal is on, the speaker is rotating. The "ramp" pedal determines whether it's a fast spin or not.

Two control knobs affect the speed of high-speed spin and the "Drive". "Drive" appears to be the same as "Gain".

There's also a single toggle switch that determines whether the ramp up/down will be fast or slow.

I'll give it a high rating because you really don't need a manual -- would have liked a little better explanation of the "Drive" function. I'd rather just use my Tone control on my guitar to handle this.

Well, it works in that it does kind of sound like a spinning speaker -- but it doesn't really sound like a Leslie. The pedal is very hissy when the Drive is set high. More bearable when set to zero or thereabouts.

Just got it so no opinion

Have other Danelectro pedals, never needed support.

Used to play through a real Leslie way way way back when. This is a reasonably close approximation of the sound.

One thing I didn't like was that there was no discernable "click" (either audible or pressure-felt) when you engaged a foot button. As a result, wasn't always immediately sure if I successfully toggled the ramp button (since it ramps, there's not an immediate audible change in the spin rate to let you know you engaged the switch).

I got this at a music store Used for $20. When I first plugged it in, It didn't even work. After some swearing and throwing of things, I tried it again later and so far it works. WTF? Anyway, It's tricky to figure out at first.

I use this with a bunch of guitars, mainly a '63-ish Hofner 182, an oddly well-made and heavily modded Squier Affinity strat, and a mint '93 (I think) Kaman GTX 33. On the high notes (i.e soloing range) you get a really nice Univibe sound a la Hendrix (see: Star-Spangled Banner). On the lower registers, it gives you a nice percussive chorus-ey sound. Kinda like a cross between a chorus/Univibe/tremolo. The ramp speeds could be faster, but It's still a great little box. Gonna do the mod later.

My only gripe with the construction is the fact that it's in a plastic case (but that's why it costs so little).

I'm still kinda wary of the thing dying again...I had an Ibanez SM7 that did this same thing, and it quit for good after a while.

Dunno, don't care.

You can't beat the sound quality of this for costing so little. It's almost a sin NOT to have one.

It's pretty straightforward to use, two knobs, a switch and the two pushbuttons (TINY pedal!)
No owners manual but enough info on the internet to find tips and it's easy to play around with to get the sound you might want

OK, i use this thing at home with an Epiphone Valve Junior, and a Holy Grail, Carl Martin Red Repeater, and a Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus pedal.
I have an Epi Les Paul, a Japanese Strat from the 80's, a custom built Tele clone, an Ibanez set up for bottleneck, and a Jay Turser JT133 I won in a contest.
I bought this pedal based on my experience with the Cool Cat, an all metal, noise free chorus pedal that is GREAT. unfortunately, the DJ-20 doesn't live up to it's big brother. As soon as the pedal is engaged, the noise level is there. the other pedals are dead silent, the DJ-20 is noisy at idle.
Hey, it was 40 bucks, so i got what i paid for!
The effects are OK, hardly a Leslie, but decent sound for the price

I don't use it out of the house, but i don't think it would hold up to any abuse.

I had to send back another defective mini pedal, a Peanut Butter and Jelly delay, and they promptly exchanged it with no grief. that pedal now sleeps with the fishes since the Carl Martin got here

I play some Jazz, some blues and lots of rock and pop-rock,
i've been playing since 1967 and i've mentioned my gear above.
i also have two acoustics, a 1967 Guild F-212 12-string I bought new and a 1974 Espana 6-string hand made in Finland of all places
if it was stolen, i'd wonder who was so desperate?
Overall, tor 40 bucks, it really is OK. Now it's a temporary stopgap until my Songworks Rotary Wave comes next week. (I CAN'T WAIT!!}
so i'll give it a 7 for being worth the money and a 5 for performance?

A couple knobs and a switch. ?

With this unit the sound is related to the price:in my vase 38 bucks.
It ain't a leslie or a chorus, so much as it is it's own thing, and will like any piece of gear, sound different accordingly.
I like it. It does what I'm looking for right now which is a vibratone-
type effect.
It is a useful effect,and that's the bottom line.
I couldn't find too much in useful clips on the web, so I put up a small
demo on you tube. It's just a small camera and so you know what to expect. URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA10HemTMVE

yeah

NA

Pretty decent for the price. Listen to my demo.

Simple to use without a manual. Didnt come with a manual and didnt need it. Did the 1:1 mod even though I could have used it stock for a boost in solos with my floor setup. I think the boost was about 3 db turned down.

This thing reminds me of one of my first pedals I had which was a large Mestro phaser pedal that had 3 buttons and sounded the same.It had a slo medium and fast button with simular ramping speed to this one. I used to use it live where I would speed it up for solos and slow it down at the end of a song. This one does the same except its onlt 2 speed. It would be cool to rebox this in a larger box and put in another switch that would max the speed controll. Set the speed slow for a medium setting, then the switch would short the pot and give a hi speed. Also I could space the switches so I wouldnt have to use my big toe to turn the ramp or bypass switches on/off. also replace the ramp speed switch and add a switch for the mod for a boost when needed. As far I like it. I've done some recordings with a steinberg plug in leslie effect on some takes which sounded great but it was impossible to recreate them live. This pedal fixes that.
It will sound different depending where you put it in a chain i.e before or after distortion so experimentation is needed here. I'm probibly going to put it between to od/distortion units so I can either power into it or drive a distortion/od unit like a phaser/preamp would. This unit is very small but Since I have a specific need for this and it has a time delayed speed ramp, I give it a high rating.

Very solid dont see a problem here at least not mechanically.

n/a

I paid more for this than I should. I could have found one on ebay for half price but didnt want some amatures solder mod hack job. If you're an electronic tech like myself and want to expand the design it has some possibilities. The mod is easy but have someone who knows how to solder do it. You can get this sound from other phasers but the ramp is the key item. I may take a look at the caps that controll the ramp speed. I'm pretty sure the togel switch selects between 2 different caps or 1 cap with a resistor. Another cap/resistor value might speed ramp up. Soldering one of the same value under might mod the switch to doubble the speed of the ramp.

It wasn`t very difficult to get a good sound from this unit straight out of the box.The drive knob seems pretty useless.I keep mine all the way down to avoid distortion.One thing I do have to say is that the switches are very close together.You hit one,you are hitting them both!I solved this problem by putting some superglue on the ramp switch,and mounting a rubber knob on it.That way I`m not turning it off or on when I want the effect.I usually keep the effect on for a song,and kick in the rotary/ramp as needed.I never bothered with the manual.Pretty simple hook up.

You can get those great Beatles"Lucy In The Sky" effects,or Ringo"It Don`t Come Easy" kind of sound.Pretty darn close!I use mine with a Hofner acoustic guitar through an Akai Headrush pedal(for looping)straight into the PA.I do have to keep the volume way down on the acoustic to avoid distortion.Also when I use this unit,I have to re-EQ my acoustic a little.Roll off the treble and presence about 50% from the normal setting or it gets very brittle.

Seems dependable.Yep I use it without a backup.

Never dealt with them.

I play original Power Pop supporting my CD doing acoustic shows.In a typical 45 minute to one hour showcase set,I will kick this unit on at least twice,just to add another flavor to the show.I have been playing for about 25 years now and own TONS of gear.Fenders,Gibsons,Gretsch,Danelectros ect.If I had to replace this unit,I would probably look into something else.I really like the sound.I don`t like the distortion feature or the way the switches are so close together.They probably could have made the pedal a little bigger,then again that would defeat the whole"mini pedal theme".Might work well if I were a dwarf.I pretty much chose this for the price,and because Danelectro has some pretty cool stuff on the market.
If you are looking for a an inexpensive Leslie in the palm of your hand, go out and get one!All and all I`ll give it a seven.

Funny, i cant see the 'huge' volume increse that you guys are talking about, so maybe dano has fixed this up?
Ill check it against the mod's and see whats different.
Things are easy to use, I want to speed the slow setting up a little bit, shouldnt be too hard to do.
It is really bloody small, tiny, so im definently going to remount it in my pedal box.

I got mine yesterday afternoon, and i think its great, although i have never owned a real lesie, or any other leslie effect (apart from guitar rig, which has a stereo leslie sim that God would sell his soul for).
One thing that hit me was it is less prominant than i though it would be, especially on slow. It does brighten up the sound a lot though.
On fast speeds, that seemingly true vibrato kicks in, and kicks major ass.
There is a little hiss when it is turned on, as well as a -little- volume boost on my pedal, but i think that most of the boost is in high frequencies.
My plan is to add a tone control and master volume on the output, try and get that gain contained.

I have an old Hamer Slammer Centuria running into a Laney VC15 with no other effects at the moment, apart from onboard reverb. The pedal makes a really plush sound when the amp is on the drive channel, pre-gain of about 5 or 6, single coil pickup, and guitar tone rolled just about all the way off. A really great friving, spinning sound, almost organ like.
It is also quite good with a generous amount of reverb thrown in.
Things would sound good in the effects loop of the amp, but i havent got the cables for that at the moment.

The plastic is thick, it has some weight to it, but the foot switches are close and small.

I had been hunting for this pedal for a while, a bit dissapointed with the retail price in guitar shops, saw it on ebay, snapped it up like that. Looking forward to a healthy relationship, and i hope it lasts a while.

Danelectro DJ-20 Rocky Road Spinning Speaker MOD !
VERY easy to do, one piece o wire, one soldering iron.

Ok.

Of course.

Ok.

There seems to be a problem with some cats having messed up their Rocky Roads while attempting to mod the pedal.

This cat here :

http://home.comcast.net/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm

Has found an easy, cheap and REVERSIBLE way of doing the same, which will NOT void warranty.

Also, there's a cat wanting to mod pedals for ohters for 16.50?, that's a true ROBBERY ! Don't fall for it, just follow the link and carefully do as shown

I'm posting this as a "warning" to those that may be tempted to buy one and "do the mod". I have some soldering skills and after trying the volume mod my pedal stopped working. I never even got to use it because after I initially turned it on and was thrown back by the volume increase, I knew it was mod or die. Too bad - I was looking forward to playing around with it. Anyway, the damn circuit board is REALLY small and there's little room to work. If you're unsure about mod'ing, you may want to hold off and find someone with good eyes and a steady hand.

I literally plugged it in...turned it on...and it was SO loud that I yanked it out to mod it. I think it would have sounded really good had I not killed it.

I understand that there or only two knobs and one latch, with two foot switches, on this pedal, so it's not THAT complicated to use. However, there is one design flaw in this pedal that nearly gave me a migrain when I took it out of the box. I'm not talking about the gain-boost issues.

Invariably, when you buy something that includes a battery, the battery will be dead by the time you try to use it. Ok, no worries, you've got a boss AC adapter, rated at 9V +tip 200mAmps, about as accurate of an adapter you could hope for to use with a Danelectro pedal. You plug it in, the light comes on when you press on the right footswitch. The gain knob gives you a beautiful distortion, almost a perfect replica of an over driven leslie... but the speaker isn't rotating. There is almost no discernable chorus effect. After pulling out your hair, and trying for over half an hour to find which combinations of settings will produce the sound you heard in that mp3 file from that website.... nothing. Until it dawns on you, there's a dead battery in there... what if?

Right, so for some reason, if you are connected to an AC adapter AND have a battery in the pedal, it will favour the battery. This could kill you if your battery dies during a gig, because plugging the pedal in won't help you, and the batteries are inserted from underneath.

That said, I love this pedal and it sounds great, but because of the migrain it gave me when I took it home, I can only give it a 5 for "ease of use"

This sounds like a single rotary speaker. It sounds a lot like a single rotary speaker. If you really want the sound of a dual-speaker rotary effect, don't buy this. It's not what you're looking for. However, as far as matching that SRV tone (you know the one I'm talking about) ... yeah, it's pretty close, and the best possible option for the price.

In fact, it occured to me that buying two of these pedals, rigging them up to an 800 Hz crossover, and giving them both different "ramp" settings, would be a less expensive simulator than most that produce the dual-speaker sounds.

This pedal sound great with my Strat, but I bought it for my keyboard set up. I've tried it with various organ patches on my Yamaha TG-55, but it only really works if you remove any kind of LFO from the synths. It actually sounds best with one or two triangle waves (place them an octave or two apart). It will take any triangle, sine, or square wave and make it sound like an Organ. Which is why I use it with my YC-10A http://www.combo-organ.com/Yamaha/YC-10A.jpg , a simple Yamaha organ that doesn't produce more than just beeps.

Now I must mention again that this pedal has THE sound of an overdriven leslie. It is the perfect sound if you want to emulate that growl of Chest Fever by the Band or that sheer crunch of Deep Purple's Lazy.

As long as the power doesn't go out, I can rely on this pedal. But I would not trust it with batteries to save my life.

Never tried. Their web-site sucks, though. There is nothing helpful, just pretty pictures of their gear.

Overall I think this pedal has a wonderful sound and if you don't find Danelectro products aesthetically pleasing, something is wrong with you.

As I said, the fact that it favours the battery over the AC adaptor sucks. Appart from that, the ramp times, are rather slow, but I tend to play keyboard anyway, and I'm constantly sarting and stopping the rotors, so I usually keep the speed hovering, so it doesn't slow down all the way.

I recommend this pedal because it is remarkably inexpensive and it sounds great.

Rock on.

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.

N/A

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.

NA

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.

My rocky road did not come with a box or manual...which shaved a few pounds off of the purchase price!....not a tragic state of affairs because this unit is easy to use. It posesses the neccesary features one would expect from a leslie simulator. Not 'usable' in fx pedal context without mod

Rickenbacker 330 through a Marshall G80R CD with this unit inbetween.

Debate rages about this pedal and I would wish to consolidate some of this into my review. I personally decided to go for the mod as I was unhappy with the volume boost. That said someone rightly pointed out that it means you can only use this pedal in a true leslie context - after all......the real thing is fairly noisy.

The original design is indefensible....it is an effects pedal....and therefore requires some degree of compatability with other electronic equpitment.......without the mod this pedal is useless as a pedal. As a leslie simulator it works.

It does sound real and the ramp up and ramp down (speed of the rotary 'horn') is great (hendrix - angel being the important comparable i wanted to imitate). Get the pedal....get the mod and (short of getting the real thing) you should be happy. Would have liked a stereo output and a bit less chorus when the ramp is down.

i am not confident it will last as long as my other units. Nothing else on market for similar price.

The fact that the customer has to resolve the main problem with the product is abysmal..........danelectro should be ashamed of themselves. It would not be cost effective to offer to fix them all......but still...they could have either discovered the defect before putting this product out.

I'm obsessed with the doppler sound...i cant fit the real thing into my room.....could afford one if i wanted....but this is a more compact alternative......its reasonable

Last night, I did the R44 mod to my brother's Rocky Road. I was following the instructions posted by John Adams when I noticed something that John overlooked (or at least didn't mention).

He suggests that rather than soldering directly onto the R44 resistor, one should use a wire to jumper between the middle terminal of the "Drive" pot and the solder pad between the "R7" and "R46" markings.

When I was examining the PC board before adding the wire, I noticed that if I followed the circuit trace from the solder pad up and to the left, it ends at an unused plated-through hole between the "C3" and "R47" markings. You can use this hole to mount the wire going to the "Drive" pot instead of just laying the wire on the solder pad and soldering it in place.

Doing this mod certainly makes the effect muce more usable.

While the Rocky Road doesn't sound exactly like my Leslie 205 (I know, a rather unusual Leslie to be using with a guitar), it sounds good and is much more portable, although the $25 that I paid for the Rocky Road is 25 times more than I paid for the Leslie (picked it up for $1 at an estate sale where no one else knew what it was).

Now that I've figured it out, its easy to use - but it took me a while without any manual.

I posted a review below, but have just done the mod and the sound is light years better. In the mean time I'd bought a Boss Chorus (CH5?) which did quite a nice Leslie sound, but this blows it away. The sound is much more liquidy. Without the mod, I would not use the effect with much distortion, but now it sounds awesome not matter what setting I use. The slow setting is magic with really heavy overdrive, but I guess 4 out of 5 players are going for Cold Shot! I use a couple of strats (USA standard & Jap 50's Reissue loaded with Seymour Duncans) into Marshall JCM900, or a Peavey Classic 30 or a Fender Blues Junior. Other pedals are too many to mention - Boss compressors, TS808, flangers, delays, the usual. The effect is certainly not noisy.

Mmmm. I had to take my first Rocky Road back to the store and get a new one because it just stopped working after a week or two. Just by stepping on them, you know they can't take too much abuse. then again, you could buy 5 of these for the price of a Hughes & Kettner.

Overall, I had given up on the pedal without the mod, but its been re-inserted in prime place in my pedal board - and it will stay there! The sound is really beautiful.

OBF Very intermittant operation.

Not very reliable Bought new off Ebay factory sealed with factory
defects. Product is not service friendly due to plastic control
knobs being super glued onto the plastic control shafts that break when you pry them off. Bad solder connection found in multiple locations and the cause of intermittant operations turned out to be one pin on an 8 pin IC was not placed through the whole but bent out on the top of the PCB. Bad not good!!!!
Obviously...no quailty control or functionality testing exists at Danelectro.

Can't find an email address anywhere on their web site to
let them know what kind of trash they MFG

Not worth $2 in parts.

It's not hard to get a good sound out of this pedal. The controls are simple- 2 buttons, 2 knobs and 1 toggle switch. But (as others have said) it gives you an unwanted volume boost when on.

If you plan on leaving it in your signal chain, do the gain modification at http://home.comcast.net/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm. It's not hard, and you can reverse it later. All you need are basic soldering skills.

So, I'll give it a 4 for Ease of Use. It would've been a 9, but I'm subtracting 5 points for needing the mod.

I'm using it with both a Fender Strat and an Epiphone SG, going into a silverface Fender Pro Reverb. It's not noisy. The effect isn't weak, despite the lack of an intensity control (you can only control the speed and drive).

I can't say that I've ever owned a real Leslie or Vibratone, but I've heard lots of keyboardists and guitarists use them, often in small clubs where I could get close to the speaker cabinets. So this review is based on my subjective ears and memory... and comparisons with other effects boxes I have.

At fast speeds, The Rocky Road SUGGESTS the sound of a Fender Vibratone cab. It will get you close to a Stevie Ray Vaughn sound. But it doesn't quite nail it. It's sort of a simplified version of the effect- about what you'd expect from a stompbox. It's somewhere between a chorus, a vibrato, and a phaser. It swirls and throbs like the real thing, but doesn't sound as juicy or dimensional.

I like the ramp up/down button. It aproximates the effect of a rotor accelerating & decelerating. But seems a little too gradual to me (even when the toggle switch is set on "fast").

At slow speeds, the RR sounds like a chorus pedal... a good chorus pedal, but not a rotating speaker. This is understandable, because a slow leslie sound is nearly impossible to duplicate. If a Univibe can't do it, I'm not surprised when a cheap little Dano pedal can't.

Now here's the weird part - the drive knob. Why? What possesed the designers at Danelectro to include this? Sure, real rotary speaker cabinets can be overdriven for that cool Spenser Davis "Gimme Some Lovin" sound. But why try to duplicate that in such a small pedal (especially when there are so many overdrives already available)? If you turn the drive up, you get a weak distortion. But even when it's all the way down, your volume is boosted. The mod mentioned above can fix this. But I think it's just poor design on Dano's part.

I've used other Dano mini pedals at gigs without backups. The Tuna Melt tremolo was a staple of my sound for years (until I got my vintage Fender amp). I've never had any problems. They're plastic, but they're pretty durable.

N/A

All in all, it's a decent effect. I used to have a DOD Vibro-Thang, but I sold it because it made a loud thump every time I hit the switch. This pedal has a totally different personality. The DOD was warm and dark (think "No Quarter" by Led Zep). The Rocky Road is brighter and less adjustable.

I tried the RR side-by-side with my Peavey Dual-Clock Chorus (cool pedal, see my review). The Peavey can do a passable faux-leslie sound, so I wanted to compare them. I was surpised to find that the Dano sounded very similar to my favorite setting on the Peavey. Go figure... I also compared it to the "Rotary" effect on my Digitech RP-100. No contest. The Rocky Road sounded better (the RP-100 has too much tremolo in the effect and not enough vibrato). I wish I still had my Rocktron Vertigo Vibe to compare it to.

I like having 2 speeds in one little pedal. Plus the Dano takes up a lot less floor space.

If it were lost or stolen, I might look for another one. But then again, I have too many effects as it is... Maybe I'd save my money until I could afford an H&K Rotosphere.

Same as any effects unit.

Danelectro aren't the best for sound, but in some cases they are O.K.
For the to much distortion and gain, you can alter (make less or improve the quality) of the distortion, by opening the box, and adding a soldering a capacitor between two points. Well, you can find out how to do it by searching the internet for Keyboard Tech tips. Ofcourse this will void the warranty and to do it if you don't know how, have an Electronics person do it for you.

As good as any.

A pain in the Royal, you know what!

Good for Keyboards!

I just got this little "Leslie" impersonator...because I play keyboards, but can't afford the best, nor can I lift the authentic! Basically, after reading the many other opinions shared here, (including the re occuring ones about having to fix the gain problem)...I thought I should write in. Perhaps for guitar, this gain boost thing is a problem, however I feel that for keyboards, it actually makes my sound a little better. I primarily use a couple of year old typical Yamaha keyboard. This Rocy Road unit gives the organ sound a really wonderful "growl" on both fast or slow modes. It is a definate plus to my overall sound, and to the band. It is very easy and intuitive to use.

I play a Yamaha keyboard using a Hamond B3 sort of patch, thru a Peavey Keyboard amp. It sounds real dirty and bluesy, and just perfect for my jazz group. In fact, I actually like the "gain" problem that everyone complains about. I think it's great for keyboard, because it acts kind of like a bright/booster...so my organ doesn't get lost in the band, even at low volumes. I can imagine for recording this might suck. But for live, you don't notice the "white noise", and it's a definate plus.

seems fine. I just got it (it's new), too soon to tell. casing seems sturdy though.

I would say the only draw back is the stomp buttons are so little, that even with socks on (that's how I play keyboards) you can't really use it as a foot pedal...but like the leslie switch on actual Hammond B3's, I just set this unit on top of my keyboard, and press the buttons manually when I want to switch from slow to fast. For this I am going to rate it a 9, not a 10. But for the money, it's definately worth it. If it broke or dissapeared, I would definately get another one. By the way, I also got a "tremelo thingy" by dod, which kind of sucks (at least for organ). Once again, I am not using mine for guitar, but I thought keyboard players might want this info.

This is a pretty straight forward pedal which is why it didn't come with a manual. I wish there had been an explanation of what to expect from the ramp switch, but this is my own lack of knowledge I guess...

I mainly wanted to simulate the Leslie sound found on Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of "Cold Shot" and Double Troubles' "Tightrope" for the least amount of money possible. It wasn't until I saw and heard the guitarist from the group "The Nighthawks", Pete Kanaras, use it at a show not to long ago that I realized that the "Rock Road" would do the trick. He was using it and got a really great swirling speaker effect out of it, or atleast what my ear perceived as a swirling effect. Well, I thought maybe he had something else working for him behind the scenes so I probably wouldn't get the same quality of toe out of my rig. My rig is a SRV Strat ( all stock ), Fender Pro Tube Twin, TS-808 Tube Screamer and wah. On initial use, I was VERY impressed. It nailed the tone on "Cold Shot" and "TightRope" and many other Stevie Ray songs. When I kick in the Tube screamer and set the pickup select switch with a mix of the bridge and middle, I get a very FAT, harmonic lead tone out of it. Frightening close to the Stevie Tone. I have not found that I need to perform the mod as mentioned in earlier posts to rid the unit of any harshness. For ME, the effect as is, gets ME the tone that I want to hear, but this is with my rig and my own personal taste.

This is the Achilles heal of this unit for me. When I got the unit and put it in-line I wouldn't turn on. I found that I may have a bad solder on the battery connector somewhere. I took battery out of the unit with it still connected to the battery connector and the unit turned on when I hit the On/Off switch. Gingerly putting the battery back in the unit seemed to have fixed it, for the moment. I may need to resolder the lead.

For a pedal this inexpensive, I'd rather not deal with the headache one usually encounters with tech support.

I play Blues/Rock: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alan Haynes, Jim Suhler, ZZ Top... I find that this pedal was a great deal more than what I expected. It delivers a very nice underlying effect for rhythm and lead for this genre. The swirling effect is just right for my ear and wallet. Like I said, it nailed "Cold Shot" and "Tightrope", according to my ear. I have not really compared this to other products simply because I didn't want to spend more and since it helps me get the tone I like there is no need. I really haven't gotten past the neat factor in recreating the tone of these artists' recordings to concentrate on creating any of my own music, but the day will come and I will certainly have the tone to inspire me.

Very easy to use.

The unity gain modification is ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY. At the lowest drive setting the pedal overdrives a tube amp horribly. See the link I added below.
*****************************

I think the leslie effect it produces is quite good, especially when ramping up or down. Very convincing considering that it's a mono effect. Surely we all realize that NOTHING can take the place of the real thing, but at the price this little guy is hard to beat. It has some white noise when running in-line, but none to speak of when running it through the effects loop.

Time will tell. I had to make a screw to replace the very poor plastic back cover screw. It was bad from the factory.

No idea.

I like this little thing but it distorts the amp in a very nasty way if you don't perform the unity gain modification on John Adam's web page

"http://home.comcast.net/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm".

Thanks John!

I like the pedal and intend to use it in place of my digital chorus. I highly recommend it for people like me that need chorus or the leslie effect five or six times per gig, but the gain mod HAS to be done (trust me).

Hey, Mr. Danelectro! Why aren't you fixing this at the factory? Huh?

Very simple to use, speed and drive knobs, ramp time switch, and bypass /fast/slow footswitches.

I think they were being very liberal with the use of term spinning speaker simulator here. With the footswitch in the fast mode it does a barely passable Leslie impersonation, but the slow mode barely has any depth. It just sounds like a chorus pedal, and a noisy mediocre one at that. The slow mode is also too metallic sounding. My small Stone set to a slow speed sounds far more Leslie-like than this. The slow mode needs much more depth. The volume reduction mod is a must-do as has been pointed out. It took about 10 minutes incouding disassemblreassembly.

I would trust a Dano mini pedal only about as far as I could throw it. They have a one year warranty, but it wouldn't be worth the postage or time and effort to send it in for repair. If you like them buy a few of them.

For $20 brand new from Musicians Friend it's an ok pedal to have around. It does slightly resemble a Leslie sound. I use it with my Vox Continental organ as well as guitars and it's a usable sound but isn't going to fool anyone. That's ok, take it for what it is and you might be happy with it. I only wish they could've added another LED to the speed footswitch becasue sometimes I'm not sure If I've hit the switch enough to engage it.

Not much to it. The lower score is due to the mod that needs to be performed, so if you're not comfortable opening it up and soldering the thing, it's gonna be a PITA dealing with the gain boost

I use this pedal with my Acetone TOP 5 combo organ. The Leslie effect is very chorusy. Instead of a close-miked Leslie sound you get more of a room-miked Leslie.
The pedal also noticably thins the sound of my organ out. It just seems to loose some of its bite.

Played through it, and hated it.
Modded it, played through it again, and still hated it.
But at least it hasn't broken down while sitting on my shelf

If you want a chorusy washy Leslie sound, and don't mind you sound losing some teeth, then this would do you fine.
If you're looking for a distinct, close miked Leslie sound, then the Rocky Road probably isn't for you.

It's fairly easy to use. I was a bit confused about the ramp effect and the switch, so here's the skinny:

The On/Off switch is simply an effect bypass. The drive knob is supposed to emulate the drive often found in overdriven rotary speakers, but it's far too gainy and unnatural to sound like overdrive. The Speed knob determines how fast the rotary speaker will rotate at it's fastest, and the ramp button toggles between the fastest speed and the default slow speed. Of notable mention is how the unit actually ramps like a real Leslie winding up or slowing down gradually. The switch toggles between two ramp speeds, slow or fast. Slow is so gradual that it's nearly unusable, but the fast is perfect speed.

At any rate, a few minutes of toying with this unit will yield satisfactory results. I got a pretty convincing traditional Leslie settings by having the drive completely off, the speed at 12 o'clock, and the ramp speed on fast.

Now there are quite a few nay-sayers against this unit that have their panties in a humongous twist because of the noticable volume difference from when this unit is engaged and when it's not. While this is understandably an issue for some, it certainly isn't for me. I'm using it in a studio setting for one, and for another thing, I'm using it in the context that one would use a real Leslie. I'm not using it as an effect that I can stomp on or stomp off at my convenience, I'm using it like one would when playing through a Leslie; more or less on throughout an entire song, with an occasional ramp up or ramp down. In that context, it sounds great for vocals, guitar, and keyboards. In that context, an increase in volume is rather inconsequential to me.

At any rate, the sound is really good. Although the sound could be approximated by a slow chorus of shallow depth, the ramp up is the biggest treat. That alone made it worth the $20.

Allegedly Danelectro has some QC problems, but of all the Dano equipment I've bought, I've never run into a single one out of the lot that went bad on me.

I hear they suck pretty bad...

If you can get over the volume issue, or do the mod, this unit is a very usable, and considerably realistic Leslie sim. I got mine from Musician's Friend for $20, and at that price it's worth it, even if you think the volume issue is a crime against humanity, like some of the whiney bitches in here.

Easy to use. Footswitches a bit fiddly, but this reflects price.

Was noisy until i tried the mod (http://home.comcast.net/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm) which gets rid of unwanted drive at zero setting. The man who posted this info is a true gentleman and has made me very happy! I use this pedal to get that Malian/West African/Super Rail Band sound and it's gorgeous. NOT a leslie sim IMHO. haven't tried it in my keyboard setup, but with my cheap and nasty guitar i like it! Has anyone else noticed that after the mod, the drive gives extreme overdrive with slight ring modulation anywhere past zero setting? I mean a real big boost in level... Or have I melted something else on the board with my clumsy soldering??? Please could you post a reply on this page if the same happened to you... Thanks.

not had it long enough...

n/a...

other pedals if you're interested... dod overdrive, mxr phase 90, crybaby, ibanez metal charger (great!), maplin echorder, big old ibanez flanger (fl303 i think), etc...

this pedal definitely inspires me to play in a different way, which is what it's all about, i think. ;-)

p.s. try the mod, it's reversible, so if you don't like it...

I don't understand the reviews slamming this pedal, all it needs is a bit of knob tweaking (speed and drive) and it sounds fine!
I performed the mod as described on this site: http://home.attbi.com/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm and it fixed the volume boost problem thoroughly.

No manual, but really guys, tweaking the desired effect (in my case a Dark Side of The Moon swirling effect) is easy! The ramp button switches from slow to fast at the touch of the footswitch, I like that a lot!

Fender Strat and/or Les Paul through Marshall JTM-310. With the Drive control all the way off I get unity gain, thanks to the mod. I owned (and sold) another Rocky Road pedal previously, I can tell you the difference that mod makes is amazing. Originally, the only way was to solder on top of a tiny resistor, this version of the mod (http://home.attbi.com/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm) is simpler and even a klutz like me managed to perform it successfully!

I probably could ... for the price I could get another one easily, just in case as a backup.

I have to tip my hat to Danelectro and their Mini pedal series: compact, inexpensive, they sound good ... purists will have an issue with the plastic enclosure, but I can vouch for the fact that it's a rugged one.

Overall a great bang for the buck!

Seems to be fairly easy.
Check out this page if you want to modify it!
http://home.attbi.com/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm

Ok, haven't had it long. Did the mod. DON'T SOLDER ON THE RESISTOR. Better method here: http://home.attbi.com/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm

So far I have had good luck with the Danelecto pedals.

Check out this page if you want to modify it!
http://home.attbi.com/~adamsjohn/rocky_road.htm

As easy as any stompbox.

I just got the Rocky Road, and having read the reviews here, I wasn't sure whether I'd soon be sighing and returning it, or really liking it as I do the other Danelectro boxes. I've been playing kind of a garage/psych/rock/surf sort of sound for a while, so my tastes run more to the strange than the subtle as far as effects go, and I think the Rocky Road sounds reallllllly cool. Really I was looking for a vibrato sort of sound that ran faster than the Chicken Salad(?), and this box did the trick, additionally adding other sounds that give it more of a spinning effect than a swirling effect. Seems to be some sort of vibrato/phaser/chorus hybrid. It kind of has the same feel as the Chicken Salad, though, which is perfect, and all sorts of cool little chirps and warbles depending on how you hit the strings. I'm not sure if it sounds exactly like a Leslie, but it definitely gives the effect of your guitar being run through some crazy spinning-speaker set-up, and that's all I was asking for... The ramp's really cool, and as far as the drive knob goes, I was all set to do the mod- expecting the same sort of fizzy, abrasive distortion that comes with the Danoblasters, but I was surprised to find that I thought it sounded really nice- a real overdrive that sounded good on its own. The gain problem would be a problem, though, especially live- but check it out, though, before you automatically do the mod.

Haven't had any problems with any of the little boxes.

I'm looking forward to getting lost in the cool sounds that this box can produce. I forgot to mention that it also gives an organ-with-vibrato sort of quality to certain tones- seriously! This box'll always be rated according to tastes, and for mine, it's a great substitute for a real spinning-speaker set-up, without the back spasms.

It took a while to figure this one out, no manual no nothin'. Getting on the Danelectro website yielded absolutely no info. It's pretty simple to use once you figure the switches out.

Why is there a chorus on this thing? Why can't you turn it off? Kind of made the whole thing worthless. I already own a Milkshake Chorus that sounds tons better.

I just read about the r44 mod. Until I make that change it's a hunk of junk.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? Virtually impossilbe to get a good spinning sound.
How is the manual for it (if there is one)? Very basic but no worse than a standard Boss manual.
2 foot buttons are available (on/off and ramp) the ramp switch does nothing that I could determine. It also feature 2 pots one of which is labelled drive turning this above this minimum setting drives your amp to a nasty disitortion. There is also a mini togle swithch between the pots that agian has little or no effect.

No spinng sopunds where available no matter how much I played with the settings. I used this with a marshall DFX50 on the clean channel.

Only tested the pedal

only tested the pedal

This pedal was on offer at my local guitar shop for half price (new) but still I wasn't the least bit interested in purchasing it. This pedal makes some ok sounds (non of which I would say spin, more choursy) but someone can probaly find some good aplications for it. If your looking for a spinning speaker effect with out breaking the bank I would look at the DOD Vibrothang as this does a great spinning speaker as well as vibrato and phase.
My advice to anyone interested in this pedal is try before you buy because you may like it. I thought it was a usless pedal and it was rather obvious why it was on offer at half price (normally #55).

Contrary to other people I found it difficult to get sounds out of the pedal. The sounds were all good, but I had no idea what was going on or what any of the knobs and buttons did? How can there be no operation manual at all??!! So my opinion is divided - easy to get good sounds, but hard to know what you're doing except by trial and error.

I use a Japanese 50's strat loaded with Seymour Duncans and Dimarzio's through a bunch of stuff, not necessarily at the same time - Standard Jim Dunlop Cry Baby, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer reissue, Boss CS3 compressor, V-Twin, DD3, Boss BF2 Flanger, Boss TR2 Tremolo into either a 100 watt JCM900 dual reverb combo or a Peavey Classic 30.

Problem is those itty bitty buttons, and they're real close together. I have not gigged the pedal yet, although I certainly will (if I can get the details of the mod). I also have the danelectro phasor, which sounds good but too subtle for me. But it has the same problem - really difficult to switch easily live.
BUT, for #45 how much reliability do you expect. I can buy 5 of these for the same price as a Jim Dunlop Univibe.

N/A

I play blues predominantly - SRV, Eric Gales, etc etc, you've heard it all before. If I lost this I would certainly buy another IF IF IF

IF I can get details of the modification to disconect the drive. CAN ANYBODY HELP ME?? Everyone mentions the mod, but I have no details.

HELP! PLEASE!

The R44 mod is essential to make this pedal usable. I recently performed the mod and the results are much better. Quite easy to do actually. I used the drop of solder trick and it worked perfectly. That is the reason I give it a 4 is based on user inconvience to correct the error.

Never found it particular pedal too noisy. For the money a decent rotary effect. I wasnt expecting Hughes and Kettner quality but for a live guitar or keyboard this sounds pretty darn good.

No problems outside of modifying the unit.

Danelectro's lack of customer support is appalling. Email yields nothing. I believe they make some good products but this policy of non-communication with their customers is inexcusable.

Buy only if you have a soldering kit and like to open up gadgets at an amateur level and tinker.

Pretty easy to use. I figured it out in a couple of minutes without a manual (I got it on E-bay). Not rocket science.

When I first pluged it in, I thought: Geez, what utter crap. It was very "gainy" and bright.

I immediately whipped it out (my soldering iron, that is) and jumpered out the offending resistor (see below for details). One comment: It's REALLY hard to solder surface mount resistors especially when you have 47 year old eyes. As much as I hated doing it, I just let a big ole glob do my bidding.

Before I made the fix, I'd give it a 5, afterwards, a 6.5. It's no univibe or microvibe. It does sound kinda sorta like a leslie. Sorta.

Don't bother with the OD though. Bites.

I would use it as a backup for my univibe clone, I don't trust it enough to use it as my primary.

N/A. Not observed.

It's not bad, just not a univibe. but for those who can't afford to buy a real leslie or even a high end pedal, this is the one for you ( after you make the mod).

this is where the category should get a 1 or even a 0 because of the need for the MOD..... other than that the ramp switch is cool and although i think the pedal should have a depth instead of overdrive it is still very easy to use...but if you are smart enough to do it the Modification is well worth it..(if there is any distortion left on this pedal you did not do the mod correctly..it is that simple)

great sound especially for the price or you can buy a rotosphere for 300 bucks my buddy has a ross chorus pedal that is equally awesome.. but try finding a vintage ross chorus for under 50 bucks its not gonna happen.. try the pedal out then imagine that same sound free of distortion if you like that then do the mod if not buy a rotosphere

no problems yet even aftr the Mod except it wont work with my ac adapter.. maybe i need a different one but nothing a 9V wont cure

never dealt

been playing 6 years blues mostly and listening to any great music... can tell a crap pedal when i hear it and before the mod it is crap but after the mod it is well worth its money... give this pedal a chance then enjoy that Couldnt stand the weather tones) my setup is a MXR dynacomp - 535Q WahWah- to (2) ts-9s(not modded YET) to a boss OD-1 (if satch uses one it is good enough for me) - boss dd-5 delay-- old crybaby pedal(for post distortion wah tones) to a DJ-20(rotating speaker) to peavey classic 50 With 410's...

As for ease of use these Dano pedals are pretty straight forward... i mean come on you have to knobs... it's not like some of those pedals out there where you have to have a degree in electrical engineering to get a cool sound. Granted it would have been nice if it would have come with a manual because you have to play around for a little bit to figure out exactly what the speed switch controls... in the beginning i wasn't sure if it had something to do with the speed of the speaker rotation or how fast the ramp ramps up. Obviously it turned out to be the ramp.

Ok here's where it gets funny. Yes, I'm going to repeat what damn near everyone else has said... without the mod, this pedal's sound quality is crap... it has this like ratty nasty over drive when you kick it in that sounds like someone took a knife to your speakers... i mean you absolutely could not play this thing live unless you wanted to punish the audience. Now, here's the reconciliation... THE MOD!! It totally changes this pedal. I mean TOTALLY. For the record, the mod is very easy to do if you just use sodder. Rather than sodder a wire accross the resister just dump a big glob over top of it. It works trust me. The mod takes this pedal from a piece of crap to a very VERY cheap and GOOD leslie simulation. Couple this with a Dano Cool Cat Chorus and you have one AWESOME sound. To be honest i would have given the sound quality a ten with the mod but the fact that I can't just buy it sounding good knocks it down a few points

hmm... well the first one I bought (unmodified) literally died for no reason in two days. I went to turn it on and nothing happened... so I took it back to the store and they gave me a new one. Since then I've had no problems so I figure I just must have got a lemon... it happens. As for reliability... i mean come on this is a rotary pedal... not a big distortion pedal. I can't see myself jumping on it with every ounce of weight I have coming down on it. i mean if you jump on it with enough force to crack it that's what's gonna happen. Commen sence. Granted it's not the fortress that a boss is but I don't see myself driving over it with a dumptruck any time soon.

Never dealt with them

Over all after I performed the mod I am VERY happy with this pedal. I play rock/blues and it will give you a very suitable SRV vibratone/leslie sound. If it was stolen I would find the SOB that took it and beat him savagely... and if the punk ruined the pedal than yes I would buy another one. Like I said couple this with a cool cat chorus (no i'm not a dano spokesperson) and you'll get a very cool sound... pet hates... wish those buttons were just a tad bit bigger

I am a rock keyboardist, and would like to be able to control the rotary simulation in the usual manner; with a toggle (or "half-moon") switch by my left hand, and a pushbutton for my foot. I prefer the foot pushbutton to be normally-slow, momentary-fast. I don't see any easy way to modify this unit to support such a setup, and I have to fumble too much to find and press the speed pushbutton on the unit.
There was no manual with the unit (but I bought it used).
I had to perform the gain modification to make it at all usable with my line-level instruments, and it still really has more gain than I'd like.
The ramp-up and ramp-down rates are too slow even in the "fast" setting, and there is no way to adjust them to be faster. As it is, the "fast" ramp rate is comparable to the lower rotor ramp rate of a standard Leslie 122 (ie, slow).

I played my Hammond M-3 and CV through the Rocky Road and compared it to my Korg G4 and Motion Sound Pro3-T Leslie simulators (I don't own a Leslie). The simulation is of a single "rotor", affecting all frequencies the same. The unit does create somewhat of a spinning sensation, apparently with delay and amplitude modulation, but doesn't really sound like even a single-rotor rotary speaker, and it would have to be a whole lot better sounding before one could even begin to entertain subtleties like mic placement with such a simulation. As I mentioned above, the speed ramp rates are both too slow to effectively simulate a Leslie horn; perhaps they were going for a single-rotor "guitar" Leslie like the Model 16 or 18, but it should even be faster to cover that range. There is only one (monaural) output. There seems to be a light amount of "cabinet simulation" equalization, but it is much more subtle than that of the G4, and doesn't sound like a "gold standard" Leslie 122 or 147. The overdrive is truly unusable, being a fuzzy hard-clipping distortion rather than the desired soft tube overdrive effect; it's so bad, you can't even use it for Uriah Heep or Emerson/Nice distorted sounds, let alone Steppenwolf or Deep Purple kinds of sounds. It's like the old "Boss Tone" clipper, not even as warm as a FuzzFace. And the fuzz doesn't come on subtly; it just starts clicking and spitting as the input level is increased.

The construction seems to be on the flimsy side; it uses very tiny potentiometers with the knobs "spiked" into holes in the pots, and the footswitch buttons have to be pressed too hard to actuate. I wouldn't trust it as my sole Leslie effect (which is a very important part of the Hammond sound), even if it sounded good enough. It's small, cheap and light enough that I may keep it in my gig bag as a (very inferior) backup to my other Leslie simulators, though.

I play mostly classic rock on Hammond and piano. Although the Rocky Road might work as an occasional "Leslie" effect for a guitarist, I wouldn't use it as my principal Leslie effect for Hammond sounds. I've been playing since the sixties, and own several Hammonds, a Clavinet, and several synths and samplers. I usually play through my two Mackie SRM-450 powered speakers, which I like very much. I frequently play a friend's B3 through a Leslie 122, so I know what "the beast" should sound like. Even though this is about as inexpensive a "rotary simulator" as you can buy, it just doesn't do it; save your money and get a Tube Rotosphere, Voce Spin / Spin II, used Korg G4 or Dynacord CLS-222, Motion Sound gear or a real Leslie (the best choice if you have the room).
The one encouraging thing about this unit is that it seems to use DSP to do its stuff; this makes me hope that someone, perhaps even Danelectro, can someday release a Leslie sim in this price range that gets usably close to THE Leslie sound.
Unfortunately, this isn't it.

This pedal is the opitome of TRASH. It's buttons are way to close to each other, and the knobs are not very effective

This doesn't even sound like a gutted leslie with a blown speaker. Even with the mod, the gain is too strong. I get a better leslie effect from my $15 casio keyboard. OVERALL IT SOUNDS LIKE !@#$%

JUNK...CHEAP JUNK. DON'T BUY ANY MINI PEDAL FROM DANELECTRO. CHEAPLY MADE, POOR QUALITY PARTS USED. SUBSTANDARD.

N/A

WARNING: This pedal is the worst product Danelectro has ever come out with. I am so dissatisfied with the pedal- it's sound, design, etc. This is the biggest pile of junk I've blown fifty bucks on. I kick myself for buying this P.O.S.

Pedal gets a 5. This is a micro pedal, with two switches. I have had this pedal for almost a year, and hate the fact the the two buttons are way too close to each other.

Based on sound quality:: DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL. This is my setup:fender strat=>cool cat chorus=>ibanez metal screamer=>ibanez ts9 tube screamer (orginal)=>fender twin.

This pedal is so loud it is horrible!!! Dale leaves notes below to fix this. Also, the gain is so high on the pedal, that it puts a distrotion sound through my clean channel. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

The leslie spin sound is good. That is the only reason I haven't tossed this thing up on Ebay yet, until today!!

Almost a year, never failed. I wish it would die.

n/a

Double thumbs down. Don't waste your money. I purchased a Rocktron Vertigo Pedal today. See my review. For anybody who has had to deal with the pedal this Rocktron Pedal is the answer to every comment about the rockey road.

I only tried this pedal in a shop for about 10 minutes out of curiosity to see how much like a leslie it sounded and guess what...
it doesn't sound anything like a leslie - more like a weak chorus.

Even with the depth maxed the effect is quite subtle and certainly less leslie-like than I can get with my old Ross chorus pedal.
However, if you're not looking for an accurate leslie soundalike, or don't already have a chorus, then you may like it - the slow down/speed up thing is quite cool.
There is a noticeable volume boost when engaged though.

You definitely need to try before you buy with this one!!!

This thing does a great job of impersonating a Leslie type rotating speaker! There would room for a small manual or some kind of instructions in that tiny box if you please Dan-O. Ever flipped a switch and blown something up? Forget about the gain knob, turn it down and remove it, and "Do the R44 Mod!"

I play either a Fender SRV Strat, 72 Tele Deluxe, Ibanez Ghostrider or a 59DC Danelectro, through a early Crybaby into a Fender Deluxe or Supro Super w/a Dan-O Daddy-O (distortion) looped through the clean channel. Sounds like the big sound what ive been looking for in a small package. The pedal has very little noise. I've been working on my own sound...so I try not emulate others. I would guess Storyville's David Grissom might be close. I dig chunky mids.and rhythms.

Dunno! Haven't had it long enough to tell yet. No backup yet.
If it fails I probably would pull out my Nobels Tremelo & DanEcho till I got another & made the mod.

Late return emails from Danelectro on other items. No replacement or upgrade parts. Lots of new items with little info. Support has been close to nil. It's like they are making disposable instruments! We want upgrades! (upgrade tuners, compensated bridge etc. Nothing has needed repair yet, I treat this stuff like it was glass.

I play mostly Blues & Classic Rock. I've been playin for over 35 yrs.
If lost I would get another. I like the small footprint, sits right on the amp. I compared it to Ibanez Rotary Chorus (needs ramping at 3x the price) and others. Wish this thing had a control for amount of effect instead of the gain knob, and a metal case. Put it in one of the bigger effect boxes! Purrrrrrrfect! Hmmm I may do that myself!
It's a big Plus to the sound i've been shaping.

NB: SEE THE WARNING BELOW, IN "OVERALL RATING" BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE GAIN MOD...

This pedal is dead easy to use - two knobs, two footswitches, one miniswitch. That's it really! Just as well, as there were no instructions with it at all and it would have been good to have something to explain exactly what the "speed" miniswitch does - it takes a bit of working out, as the difference between the two settings is a bit subtle.

I play on the UK and European blues circuit with a 6-piece Texas-style blues band called The Rockin' Armadillos (mostly vocals and harp, though I'm a bit of a guitar nut and enjoy playing guitar at jam sessions and one-off "scratch -band" gigs whenever I can). Both me and Owen, the Armadillos' guitarist, have been "Leslie nuts" for a several years - partly an SRV thang and partly the influence of people like Jesse Davey of The Hoax and David Grissom (Storyville, Joe Ely etc). Finding a useable, practical, portable and affordable Leslie sound for guitar has been something of a "Holy Grail" for us for some time!
I made a couple of attempts to build Owen a portable Leslie cab suitable for gigs. The first was not very successful (using a plastic bucket for a baffle and an electric fan motor to drive it! ) mainly as it suffered from mechanical noise and the speeds were never quite right. It was also a bit unreliable, but still managed to find its way onto our first CD, "Texas Cockroach".
The second version used a 10" speaker Leslie unit that I found in an old organ and sounds great - although again, it is a bit prone to mechanical noise - and splitting the signal between the "normal" guitar amp and the amp driving the Leslie does kick up a bit of mains hum (eventually overcome using a Roger Mayer X-Roads as a splitter/isolation box). This one can be heard on our second CD, "Armadillo in the Road"

Still, it meant carting around an extra amp and cab which produces space issues (both in the car and on smaller stages!) so a convincing Leslie pedal was definitely the way to go... We've tried a few - Korg (can't remember the model - OK, but not all that convicing) Multivox MX10 (hard to find - sounded great, but too noisy ) Univibe (unconvicing) Hughes and Kettner Tube Rotosphere (expensive, but sounds great, if rather noisy). Owen is currently using a borrowed Rotosphere, but was keen to try the Rocky Road, as it was cheap, compact and runs on 9v supply like his other pedals - unlike the Rotosphere.

We both play Strats through a variety of Fender amps (silverface Bandmaster, Blues de Luxe, De Ville etc ) and Owen' also has a totally fabulous Matchless Chieftain (lucky sod!). Live, Owen uses a range effects with the Armadillos, notably a Boss compressor, a Vox wah and an original '80s TS9 Tubescreamer.

So, to the Danno... Right - first things first - the gain thing. Yes it's there and yes it could be a problem if you let it. Mind you, with the gain turned right down, it's probably just about workable - you might need to back off the volume on the guitar a bit when the pedal's kicked in, which would be a pain, but the pedal sounds so damned good otherwise, that it'd probably be worth putting up with, if you couldn't be bothered with the gain mod.
The pedal is remarkably quiet (miles better than the H&K or the Multivox) and the Leslie effect is very useable and quite convincing (as good as anything I've heard), though the time it takes to ramp up between the "slow " and "fast" could do with being shorter. Having the option of a speed control is a nice bonus over the H&K. It does lovely lush choruses and a terrific Fender Vibratone sound - very like SRV's "Cold Shot"/"Couldn't Stand the Weather" tone.
The gain problem aside, this is a truly fantastic-sounding pedal - how do these guys do it at the price?

I've just got this, so have little practical experience of its reliability or otherwise - except, that is, for my comments about what happened when I took it apart to try the gain mod the other reviewers suggested(SEE WARNING BELOW).
Construction-wise it doesn't look any too strong - plastic case, pots/sockets attached to the PCB, funny little footswitches (and this is one pedal I would find myself stomping on a lot ( to go between speed settings).

Having said that, I've gigged a couple of the other pedals in this series for sometime (a delay and a tremelo) without any mishaps, so maybe this concern is misplaced.
I wouldn't bother with a backup because if it packed up, I could manage to finish the gig without it.

No contact, though I hope the guys at Danelectro have read everyone else's comments and taken note - this kind of shoddy behaviour is quite unacceptable from any company! It's not enough to simply make good geat - you've got to take care of your customers, too!!!

Right then, the famous gain mod.

First of all, a big thank-you to the guy who worked out this fix and decided to share it with the world. It works perfectly, transforming a rather flawed but brilliant pedal into a thoroughly useable bit of kit. Thanks, too to the guy who worked out that a judiciously-applied blob of solder on the relevant resistor (they are tiny, aren't they?!!!) would do the trick as well as a wire jumper. It makes the job relatively simple, even for cack-handed idiots like me, armed with two ham-fists and a16-watt soldering iron!
A WORD OF WARNING: When taking the pedal apart, extreme caution is needed when removing the knobs from the two control pots (necessary before the main pcb can be removed). I thought I was being careful - an even, gentle tugging with a suitable pair of pliers - yet I managed to snap the shaft on the "gain" pot. It was lucky it was the "gain" pot (ie the one I'm not likely to want to tweak - it can still be moved with a small screwdriver, like a preset pot) and not the "speed" one! This aside, the mod was relatively easy to do - though I did double-check I had found the right resistor, by bridging it with an opened-out paperclip while running a signal through the guts of the pedal, before committing myself to solder!

If this thing was stolen or lost, I would get another (and hopefully manage to modify it without damaging the pots!) I love the compact size, the fact it runs on a 9v supply, the fact it did not cost a fortune - but above all the sound of this little brown baby. It's as good as anything on the market - better than most.

Pet hates?
The fact you have to wield a soldering-iron over the circuit to get the most from it. (Why on earth did Danelectro feel the need to make it this way - and when are they going to come to their senses and rectify this glaring mistake?)
The fact the two footswitches are so close together - those us with big feet find this hard to deal with! A better option might be the inclusion of a remote footswitch socket for the "ramp" switch, to allow better separation of the switches.
Also, it would have been nice to have a stereo output - though at this price, its an understandable omission and in any case, it's questionable how many guitarists would use this feature.

To anyone weighing up the pros and cons of buying one of these, I'd say: It's cheap enough to take a chance on - and it sounds tremendous. And don't be afraid to attempt the mod it's not that hard to do - just a bit fiddly.

Easy.

The sound quality, as noted below, is good but suffers from a truckload of unwanted gain, which is not good. Do the modification and it's much better

???

???

The mod is a must. I'm no electronics expert and I feared doing it, seeing the warnings below. But a little use of my high school chemistry knowledge suggested vto me that I could jump the r44 capacitor without actually tapping a tiny wire on each side. I just dumped a glob of soldering fluid over the whole thing, and guess what? It worked!