Danelectro DJ-21 Black Coffee Metal Distortion

"Pretty freakin Simple to use" is about all you can say about this little pedal. 3 knobs Level,Bass,Treble.I bought it new about 1 year ago (when they were about 40 bucks cheaper then they are now)and there was now actual instructions on it, just a little suggested settings card for all Dano pedals in the mini range.

I have a ElDegas strat-like guitar with a humbuckerin the bridge and a Gibson LP with T500 in bridge and T490 in neck--->yamaha YT-150 tuner--->Black Coffee--->Dunlop crybaby Wah--->DigiTech Envelope Filter Synth Wah--->Marshall MG50Dfx hooked up to a 4x12 slant.
This is one of the most noisest pedals ive ever used!!
but thats not always a bad thing.its like those puppy dogs that are so ugly that their cute.this pedal is so noisy it sounds good.
the effects are strong but you cant ajust the distortion like on the T-bone but the dist on this pedal is set extremely high.When i played this pedal through a single coil strat into a craptacular little 10 watt amp at my friends house I could ALMOST hear a Randy Rhoads vibe and that was the closest i ever got to hearing any artists sound.

The dist on The B.C. is really good and is awsome as a sustainer but is extremly trebley all the time and god forbid you stop playing because the hissing screetching gargleing feedback that comes out of it is horrible at times.

O YES VERY DEPENDIBLE the peal is very sturdy even though it plastic.One time i dropped it off a second storie balcony and it hit the pavement with an awful crash but when i rushed down to get it it still worked and only had a crack in casing.Watch out when you change the batt though witch the black and red wired connecting tha batterie it looks like the might be pulled out easily but as long as you dont yank the batterie out hard it will probably be fine.
I would use it in a gig without a backup because i only swith it on for lead and soloing as it sounds like crap for rythem

I havent dealt with them but ive heard good things.

i play alot of metal but its not good for rythem just lead and solos. if it were stolen or lost i probably buy another one because i got this one as a gift and didny pay nuthin for it but i dont really know because the price on the dano minis went up alot since they came out.I like how all the dano minis have the knob guard that is removeable so you dont screw up or break you knobs by stomping on them.I never use it for writing music i just use the distortion on my amp for that insted of wasting batteries wehn i dont have to i mostly use it to jam with my band or my friends.It used to bea great deal becuase they were cheap but now they are a little expansive but if you like to play a lot of high treble sustaind metal solos like form the 80's Ozzy,Early Metallica stuff, Etc than this is the pedal for you.

Its easy to use , 2 knobs : level ( volume )
treeble and low ( resonance ) .
with treeble and low you can setting the resonance !
so like the grilled cheese but just better !!

The quality is good , but sometimes the settings are very same as other . but if you have an other pedal , you can switch on distortion
and black coffee ( metal ) , than its not so bad !
this effect has got lots of sustain , but thats the reason for
those great muted metall riffs , so ... quiality 9 , but like i said ,
buy another effect ( i've got the marshall jackhammer ) so you have got a perfect stage sound !!!!

The black coffee is very small , but not small on his sound !!
perefect great sound on gigs !!!
the sound at home to practice is not so metalic as on gigs !
the sound quiality is the best I've ever heard !!
no one can get off him on the stage !!!

I dont need any reapear , cause the black coffee is very good
in the material and if you got a knobsecurity , there will be nothing !!!

Its a perfect sound for metal , and the best sound of the world if you play it on a stagegig !!!!
-my words : BEST EFFECT EVER!!!!!!!!

can get a good sound out of it but lack of level/distortion controls to independently cut the noise makes it a drag. use it to beef up a solid state practice amp with the digital/tube emulation dano does so well.

sounds like a fab tone hopped up on 'roids but no ritalin to calm this thing down. for the money what do you expect? not good with a tube amp, like i said, danos are awesome with solid state amps.

use a 9v power pack and battery backup.

n/a

with better level/tone controls this thing could be a gem. grittier and more head-ripping then the fab tone, this is cool. distortion harmonics might be better controllable if this thing was upgraded. dano should make some of these mini pedals the full sized brick like they used to, then you could throw them thru the window with confidence.

It ain't real hard..

A pawnshop prize. I bought this because it was cheap and I'm a stompbox junkie. Dont expect this thing to be the miracle metal distortion because it is not. However, it does have some cool sounds.Think of it more as a pre amp treble booster. Run your amp clean, set the box like this:level at 9 o'clock, bass at 3 o'clock' and treble at 9 o'clock. You will get pintch harmonics all freakin' day long with little effort. My unit is not very noisy with the level cut back. The level is output to the amp, not a distortion increase/decrease. I use this only for a lead breaks..dont use it for rhythm..try it with single coil guitars. It will sustain well and it facilitates cool note break-up on long sustains. At this price you can play with it and use it for a unique sound every now and then. Even if you only use it in one or two songs...its cheap

It dont feel real sturdy, it is plastic, but I have other dano pedals that have held up well. Dont beat the crap out of your equipment !

It's cheap...who cares...just buy a frekin' new one

I have been playing all types of music for 16 years. I play lp knock offs, strats and teles, and a toranodo. If you try, you can make just about any stomp box sound decent somewhere, in some song. Buy 'em used, and buy 'em cheap...keep 'em and you will eventually find the perfect song/riff for even what is generally a crappy box...

Three knobs, but the manual blows. The unit itself is pretty self-explanitory.

This little guy has a great sound. Well worth the price. It's the ideal metal/punk pedal; but don't try to play blues on it.

Yea, definateley reliable; unless you stomp on it exceptionally hard. Remember, it is made of plastic.

Never worked with the company, I got this guy at a small music shop near where I live.

I play metal and punk; mostly metal. I now have this little peavey amp with alot of effects, and I am currently playing a B.C. Rich guitar (bronze series). If stolen or lost, I would definatly buy it again, unless I could find a cheap Black Licorice.

There is very little sound versatility here, and what there is is very simple. No trouble with the adjustments.

I run an Epiphone Demon FX (a SWEET cheap guitar)-->ProCo RAT-->EHX Big Muff Pi USA Reissue-->Dano Black Coffee-->EHX Bass Balls-->Dunlop Crybaby Wah-->Dano Backtalk Reverse Delay-->Crate MX212 Amp

OK, this pedal gets knocked a lot for how it sounds, and I understand that. In my opinion, this pedal has no place in a standard metal player's arsenal. It just doesn't have that metal sound, but I find that it flat-out ROCKS as a psycho super-high-gain fuzzbox for my psychedelic/arty noise stuff. Not something that anyone should use as their main distortion, but a neat little trick, in my opinion. It's thin, fuzzy and noisy as all hell, but sometimes that's a good thing. If you want metal tone, look elsewhere. If you want to blow people's freakin' minds, stick this thing in front of a Dano Backtalk Reverse Delay and play a wacked out solo, making use of the sick sustain this thing gives you.

One trick pony, for sure, but I really dig the trick. They should have called this thing the "Coffee and Cigarettes Fuzz Box", rather than angering the metal community by implying that they sound like this... heh.

Well, it's small and cheaply made from plastic, so it's not gonna hold up to too much abuse, but I never take a backup to a gig. If this thing gave out on me, I'd be able to carry on without it.

Never dealt with them, but the things I've heard were pretty negative. I'll leave it blank, because I don't know first-hand.

I play a mix of Sabbath-style dark stoner rock and modern psychedelic art-noise. This thing has a definite place in what I do. I love those totally filthy trashfuzz sounds that this thing makes, and if it picks up some ethereal radio voices during a psych-jam, so much the better, right? The hum I could do without, never have this thing on when not playing! Overall, this thing is a good tool for making my music, but you have to know its place.

The knobs are small and they wobble. The distortion knob has no range- even at its lowest setting its so distorted that nothing happens when you turn the knob up.

Very noisy pedal. Heavy distortion that has no character and wont clean up when you lower your guitar volume.

It worked a few times before it just fell apart through no fault of mine.

4 get about it!

This pedal sucks, and so does the entire Danelectro line of pedals. Its just cheap plastic crap manufactured for teenyboppers who shop at Guitar Center. THis pedal is even worse than the Snarling Dogs pedals!

very easy, just play with the knobs and you will find different distortion sounds, easy as any other Danelectro mini pedal.

Very good, a little bit noisey when you ARENT playing but its nothing very annoying just shut it off when you arent using it. For me, through a 200 watt PA system the sound is absolutely perfect for what i need it for playing rock. The sustain is great on both high and low notes and i have no trouble playing pick harmonics (i could only get them about 70 percent of the time with other distortions). I highly recommend buying this pedal if you want to play hard rock to metal.

I just use the AC adapter so i dont worry about batteries, i HAVE used it on a gig without a backup and it worked fine. It's a Danelectro and i have never broken or seen a broken danelectro pedal. Just be careful with it as i would with any pedal.

It's perfect for hard rock. I like it just as much as the Boss metal zone MT-2. If it were lost or stolen i would be pissed and i would definately buy another one, MAYBE look at the black licorice but I would definately go back to Danelectro, and will buy more of their pedals because I like all of the ones i have.

This pedal was really eazy to get a good sound out of, if you cant figure it out, maybe you shouldnt be playing guitar, 3 knobs, simple.

it sounds like shit thru a marshall if it has low batteries, but if you play it thru anything else when it has low batteries it kicks even more ass, its really good for punk and metal and shit like that, youre best off using this with a guitar with high output pickups

this is where it sucks ass, changing the batteries in this sucks ass, and it has a plastic screw to hold it together, pussy shit, when i got it the bass knob fell of but i fixed it with some model glue, and its plastic, not like good heavy plastic like in the arion pedals, but that brittle cracky shit

i use it with a gibson les paul special w/ P90's, its a good sounding pedal, it wont take much stomping though. i wish it was made of metal. it is a really good pedal and it has a decent price tag- sort of chump change.

Plug it in
Push the button

Mega mega distortion. There is no distortion adjustment.
Factory set at 110% distortion.
Sound quite trebly & very fizzy

It looks very fragile. Built like a toy which it basicly is
The on/bypass button is iffy from new

Built like a toy which it basicly is. I bought it for a bit of fun
IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO ADJUST THE DISTORTION LEVEL YOU HAVE THE WRONG PEDAL
NOT REALLY A SERIOUS GIGING PEDAL
Seriously, this pedal should be rated based on its intended sound
Dont complain that its no good for other sounds/styles.