Danelectro DJ-21 Black Coffee Metal Distortion

its got 3 adjustment,,

good day,,well,next to my humphrys audio slo-diezel modded mt-2 and my mont allums recto mod,,it sits perfect.i play a hot rod deluxe,set up with 12at7 preamp tubes so it stayes clean,,i use pedals thru this amp,best set up i ever had,,yes i have a great tone out of my set up,,,,,but hear is the deal,,ive had 5150-soldano-splawn,,,yea yea yea,,i get better tone out of my set up,,and i get great tone in the living room,,and with the band,,,,this pedal is my go to for over the top,,and it delivers tastfully,,

yea,i dont have a small penis,and i dont have to jump up and down,to switch ch either,,but it is plastic

are you kidding me it was $13,,

i paid $13 for the coffee-$141 slo diezel mod,$80 mt allums ds-2,,,all deliver in thier own way,,,nuff said,,,

This stomp box is a little monster. I have used it with a Strat and a Peavey T-60. I have never used a distortion box that is more powerful than this one. It will make a small practice amp scream for mercy, and make a 100 watt amp melt the walls. Controls are simple enough for a child to set.

Sound quality is excellent. When you hook it up turn the power all the way down on the box before you turn on your amp. It may make you soil yourself if it is turned all the way up. This is my favorite effects box.

It is made of thick plastic but is still very durable. As long as I have either a power adapter or extra batteries (It does devour batteries fast), then I have total faith in it's durability. If you dropped an amp on it or something you might have a problem.

I have never had a problem with it, so I do not know. I have used it for three years without a malfunction other than batteries going dead, but I solved that issue by getting a power adapter.

This is great for Classic Rock to Metal. I doubt you would need it for anything else. I have been a musician for 30 years. I had a Boss Overdrive and replaced it with the Black Coffee. I misplaced it once and did buy another. For some reason it was hard to find a replacement. I found my old one and gave one to my son who had been begging me for it. I love the straightforward simplicity of the controls. Three knobs...Volume, Bass, and Treble. Even though it is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, I must stress that if you use one to turn the volume all the way down before turning it on. It might blow your eardrums out. I also got the ignorant idea to try it on a bass. I highly recommend that you NEVER do this, unless you hate your speaker and want to blow it up.

it is good very good it has good sound,geting the sound taks time.
and thare is no manual for it.it i have never upgraded it and i dont
know the firmware revision number.

yes i can get the sound from iron maiden to megadeth and i use the
distortion an a washburn flanger pedal and creat amps and the sound
is great.it can get very noisy. it gets weak somtimes but it will still sound good.

i would like to use it on a gig but maybe get a backup.
and i can depend on it.

never i have never got it repaired or upgrade.

i play thrash metal and it is a good match and i have ben playing for five years, a digitec 150 guitar prosseser and a washburn flanger
and a creat 120wat combo amp and i play b.c.rich guitars.
if it was lost or stolen i would try to find one again like it because it is small and my favorite feature is the way is the shape of it. i don't the plastic body.but it makes music.

Very easy to use. only three knobs: gain, bass, treble. Since I bought used over ebay, I did not have or need a manual

very loud even at half gain. Treble and gain together reminds alot of Randy Rhoads tone on the first 2 Ozzy solo albums. i run it through a roland Microcube amp( the small one with all the effects on it) and a Kustom 12 tube amp. It boosts the distortion tremendously. Although I like alot of feedback, those who don't would not like this pedal, especially on the treble setting. Very trebly

I can definitely depend on it but if I had to gig I would have a backup just in case the first one screws up though.

Never had to deal with them but if I did I would email them in a heartbeat.

A mix of Black, doom and heavy metal styles with blues, classical, and classic and prog rock thrown in for good measure. Like I said before, this pedal will give you the classic Randy Rhoads sound in a second and suits my style, black metal very well. Those who prefer a downtuned or clean sound will not like this pedal.

You're really a stone age idiot if you think the Black Coffee is hard to use.Very simplistic.Could use a "middle" knob though.But what the heck, the easiest pedal i've ever used.

Master of Puppets(Metallica), Rust In Peace(Megadeth), Dragonslayer(Dream Evil), these are examples of the distortion tone you can get.

Even with 3 knobs ( Volume, Treble, Bass),
I was really surprised with the dozens of tones i could get.

My setup is:

Yamaha AES620 -> Black Coffee -> Line 6 Constrictor -> Boss NS-2 ->
Line 6 Space Chorus -> Boss DD3 -> Marshall JCM

It sounds good on practically any setting.Its has a fuzz like tone and sounds killer when you shred it.This is the ultimate solo pedal.If you switch to the bridge pickup when soloing, its soudns f**ckin cool!!!

When playing rhythm,it is really chunky, especially if your using a humbucker guitar.The Black Coffee is far superior to the Boss MT2.On ANY setting, it produces a fat, chunky tone when palm-muted.The best thing about the Black Coffee is that it gives you a vintage, old-school distortion tone.Unlike those distortion you find in the Digitech Metal Master, which sounds mediocre compared to this baby.

Death Metal, Black Metal, Speed Metal, Trash Metal, True Metal.
The different settings that i tried sounds fantastic.
Even with the EQ set at low(Volume, Treble & Bass at 9 O'Clock),
This little beast kills.

The settings i like using are as follows:
(the Volume knob just raises the volume so i'll just state the Treble and Bass settings)

For a bright, piercing tone- Treble at 3 O'Clock, Bass at 1 O'clock
Ballsy rhythm tone - Treble at 11 O'Clock, Bass at 2 O'Clock
Violent Solo tone!!! - Treble at FULL, Bass at NOON

Yes.This pedal is noisy, on really high settings(8 treble, 5 bass)
But if you set your effects chain rgt, and utilize a noise gate, the noise could be subdued without any problems.

I read the "negative" reviews.These people surely arent metalheads.They are just posers playing nirvana stuff or something.Stop complaining about the Black Coffee not being up to your standard.This a Metal Distortion pedal.Not for grunge, alternative or other pussy genres.

This is the perfect tool for metal.
If you're a metalhead, shreds on guitar, hates the BOSS Metal Zone, On a budget, dislikes distortion pedals with a gain knob, get this.Its really worth your money.

Oh yes.I've gigged 4 times since i got this baby.
It just keeps sounding better with every amp i use.
Although its entirely made of plastic, its really tough.
The activation button could've been bigger though.
This will be the only "Metal" Distortion i'll ever need.

I've never dealt with them.
I write this review with the purpose of supporting this product.
Thats it.

I play mostly METAL,
Traditional/Black/Death/Progressive/Symphonic/Speed

I've been playing guitar for 4 years, my first effect was a ZOOM707II.
I decided to look up on this one as i hate the dist tone on that ZOOM707II.

I will not lose it.I sleep with it beside my pillow everyday.

The Black Coffee is like a small animal that terrorizes the giants.
Initially i had a few choices; Ibanez Smash Box, BOSS MT2, Digitech Metal Master, BOSS DS1 & The Black Coffee.

The smash box sounds a little weak, MT2 is a bit too dry sounding, Digitech is too expensive and doesn't feel right, The BOSS DS1 is very good and is the only distortion pedal that rivals the Black Coffee, but in the end, i chose the Black Coffee as it has more gain.

Very good product, helps me headbang more comfortably.
Buy this, headbang violently, and then have those BOSS MT2 users feeling jealous of you.

\m/ \m/

3 knobs. bass treble volume simple

my friend had this pedal hooked up to a bronse warlock going into a peavey transtube practice amp and we would rock the house with this thing. yes it can be noise but the key is to turn down the volume on the pedal to about 5 and it will be fine. bass is fair. defentely enough for
so bedroom death rock. nowhere near as much as any of the dod metal pedals. but the treble is wear this pedal really shine. you can get more highs out of this then a death metal or for that matter any metal distortion pedal i've ever seen in my life. so basically if you want the kind of sound were your sliceing of heads rather the smashing then into mush this is the pedal for you. actually more like more high end then any distortion pedal i've ever seen. period

well it is all plastic. but we never broke it

never came up

i think its a great pedal. best for the highs

It is pretty easy to get a good sound out of it. That is IF you like fat and razor sharp tones.
I didn't refer to the manual.

I am using a Jackson DXMGT>>>Dano Black Coffee>>>1961, almost priceless, solid state amp.
DO NOT USE THIS PEDAL WITH ANY OTHER PEDAL! IT WILL SCREW THE PEDAL UP AND GIVE YOU TONS OF NOISE!
You can't get a sound from any artist except maybe Metallica.
This pedal is very unique and had just the sound I wanted. Extrenely sharp!

I wouldn't gig with it unless it had a metal casing.

Never dealt with company.

I play most all Metal. This is a very sharp toned pedal. It is not meant for something like punk or anything.

three potis, level, bass and treble, very small ones, fairly hard to turn but it works. no drive poti though which makes it very hard to adjust the distortion! bad work!

it is VERY noisy, no drive poti to adjust so there is only one mode which sounds like crap. anybody telling you something else has no knowledge whatsoever about a decent guitar sound! there is nothing else to say, get the metal zone or something like that if you want to get a better tone out of your amp!

dont know, it's plastic. won't keep it for that long to see if it holds...

piece of crap in terms of an effect but a very nice toy for your 3 year old son / daughter to play around with, kinda looks like a car...
FORGET IT!!!

the pedal has simple controls level tone and bass, however there is not gain setting and so the amount on distortion cannot be controlled.
the pedal came with a single suggestion for settings (and this was nothing special)

i have used various guitars with this product and used it through head phones , tascam recorders and marshall amps. personally i dislike the sound from this pedal, the distortion is harsh and the amount of distortion cannot be altered and i feel is too distorted.

distortion maybe suitible for solos and extreame heavy metal but it terrible for anything else.

pedal looks good but its small and so might get damaged at a gig.
the input socket for my pedal broke on the inside and so i feel that the quiality is poor however this was a simple problem and was easily repaired with a piece of wire and some solder

i havent tried contacting customer support and repaired the simple problem i had

pedal looks really good and is well styled however the sound in my opinion is terrible. may suit extreme metal genres.

pedal would be much better is a gain control for the amount of distortion was added

Very easy pedal, 3 knobs (level,bass,treble), just take a few mins to tweak this like Beast and you can make is sound Huge. Some people say they have a terrible sound, those people are wrong, try this pedal out and you will be surprised.

I have an Ibanez Iceman ICX220 and an Ibanez RG370DX into my Danelectro Black Coffee with a Digitech Death Metal, Digitech X-series Synth Wah Envelope Filter, Ibanez CF-7 Corus/Flanger into a Boss PSM-5 Power Supply and Master Switch. I like the Black Coffe more than my Digitech Death Metal, i use them for 2 diff things, i use the Black Coffee for the heavy stuff and the Death Metal for solo's and ish. This is all runnigninto a Peavey Bandit 112 Transtube. I can get mostly all the sounds of my favs with this pedal(SOAD,deftons,metallica and more). This pedal is perfect, i recommend it for all metal players.

This pedal is cool cuz its small, the only thing is that its plastic, but even so its still pritty tough. The button you step on is tiny and the knobs are small...overall GREAT pedal just TEENY in size haha.

Ordered it from Ebay, fast and easy.

I play all styles of metals and this pedal is great for all of them. Ive been playing for 6 years now, if this was lost or stolen i would MOST DEFF get another one, its an overall awesome pedal just a tad bit too small.

Like most Danelectros, This is a pretty standard, simple pedal. Very easy to use.

Can somone explain to me why this is called a mini effect? This thing is A BEAST! I've never heard something so Hardcore in my life. My setup: Fender Strat Repl.>>>Fender M-80 (clean)>>>This pedal>>>Danelectro Pastrami>>>Danelectro PB&J. It's a very sharp, very noisy pedal, but adding bass can make it very close to Metallica. Unlike what most people say, this thing works whisper quiet for me on the humbucker, there's hardly no feedback at all, which is great.

I would absolutely gig with this, because I'm not rough on my pedals. I have to agree though, it's hard to sit on the fact that it's made by plastic components, but still... how damn rough do you have to be on these things? You push the button, it works, and it runs on a 9V battery. Simple! I don't see the point in stomping the Sh*t out of this thing and kicking it around on stage.

Never had to deal with them.

I play Heavy Metal, so this was right smack dab what I needed. For 75$ (CAN), this is by far the best pedal I've used. I'm a guy who is used to the boxed in sound of he amplifier itself's distorion, so it makes for one hell of a jump. I strongly reccomend it for anyone and everyone who are into Heavy Metal.

Well... I'm sure there is a use for this pedal, but not in my set. When I think of a "metal tone" pedal, the old Rampage or Metal Master pedals come to mind. The "tone" that you get from this pedal is awful. It's very thin, sizzly, not anything you can seriously rock with. Do you remember those old guitars with the speaker built in and "distortion" effect? That's what it sounds like.

In "passive" mode, your batteries still get eaten up and there is noise added to the clean signal.

The knobs are very thin, one has already broken off while in my gig bag. Overall, the reliability of this thing... you can count on it to always sound like crap.

With a little tweaking, it's pretty easy to get a usable metal guitar sound out of this pedal. And by metal, I mean late 70s/early 80s bordering on hair metal, but that's what I like.

I'm using this with a Strat, Tele and Dano 56U2 and a Fender Blues Deluxe amp, and this pedal makes them all sound the same, so the sound really lives in this pedal. It can be noisy since the distortion seems to be set to 12 internally, but I found that I can control it with my guitar's volume. That lessens the distortion and gives you more control over it. I like the bass and treble controls. For me, what works best is having the bass at 3/4 and the treble at 1/4. Sounds like Van Halen to me. Add a flanger and you're Eddie, without the bad lead singer choices (C'mon Eddie, swallow your pride and beg Dave to come back!!)

Haven't gigged with it yet, but I've gigged with other Danelectro pedals and they're fine. Just don't stomp on them like a monkey.

Don't know and don't care. If it broke, I'd find another one on Ebay, or not.

I play all kinds of music and I like to listen to all kinds. This pedal appeals to my metal side. Not really usable for any other style of music. Maybe for adding a really metal solo to something.

For me, this pedal is easy to get a good sound out of, but then again, this is my ultra gain pedal. The pedal has three knobs, Level, Bass, and Treble.

My setup is Hamer Vector or ESP LTD MH-201 into this pedal, and into my drive 30w SS 1x12 practice amp, or my Peavey Vintage Tube Series Rockmaster 120w tube head with a Laney 2x12 cab. The pedal does have a hum to it and is noisy because of the high gain, but what high gainer isn't. I have, now, two really great and heavy distortion pedals. One that is kinda Mesa voiced, and can go from blues to death metal and beyond (now that's high gain), but I really don't like using it for that. So, using these two pedals makes my amps a nice three channeller rather than a one channel amp or a two channel with a bad distortion. The effects are quite strong and work very well. I can get a vibe of my favorite artists which is a lot more inspiring than having an exact copy of the sound, because having my own sound is always best. My favorite artists are Megadeth, Metallica, Children of Bodom, Anthrax, etc. The reason this gets a eight instead of a ten, is because for those who don't play metal, aren't going to like this. However, I really like this, and I would get it a 10, if only it weren't noisy. Noise pedal would probably solve a lot of problems

I can depend on this, since I dont jump on this thing. Would I gig without a backup? No, I wouldn't gig with it at all. Why? It's a little too abrasive for a band situation, meaning it wouldn't stand out, I dont think.

I play metal. It's a good match for thrash, death, black, power, and other extreme types of metal, but as for hair metal or something, nah. If this were lost, stolen or dead, I would definitely buy another. It's a fun toy to mess around with. If it were more than 40, I would get a Rocktron item. But for 30 bucks, it's a fun pedal to mess with. Also, this gets a 10 because it fits my needs perfectly.

already been covered; simple

Horrible...I use various guitars, most of which are equipped with Seymour Duncan pickups (and usually hot humbuckers at that). It's not really too noisy on it's own...the tone is just very lifeless and low quality. No mojo. I used this a little on a couple 4-track home recordings, and usually with other fuzzes and distorions for more gain saturation...basically, I used it to create noise.

I've used these mini-danos before and never had any problems. I refuse to give a low rating just for the plastic case

never dealt with 'em

I play a little bit of everything (classic rock, modern rock, blues, experimental, etc.) This pedal is mainly only useful for noisy experiments.

I don't need to worry about it getting stolen 'cause I already sold it...doubt anyone in their right mind would steal it anyway.

I've used a Big Muff, Univox Square Wave, Maestro Fuzz Tone RI, Vox Valvetone, DS-1, Subdecay Stupid Box, etc. etc. etc. The Black coffee is definitely more along the lines of fuzz, but without the character of the Big Muff. Of course, given a choice between the Maestro reish and the black coffee, I'd have to go with the coffee. But I'd take just about anything else over this Dano.

Overall, I sit on the fence with Danelectro products. The stuff they've got is pretty unique and inexpensive. Lot's of low-quality stuff, but once in awhile you stumble across a gem (Fish & Chips, Surf & Turf, Tuna Melt, Dan-Echo, Cool Cat, etc.)...I'd never recommend the Black Coffee to anyone.

As someone strongly addicted to black coffee, I can honestly say I'm offended to have it named after my favorite drink. sick.

It's very simple to use. I'll give em that much.

When I first got it, it sounded good. After continuous use, it kept getting worse. It was really noisy when you weren't playing and if the pedal got a little bit cold, it would'nt even distort anymore. It sounded like a fat guy farting. It was just really bad. I thought maybe I just got a defective one and got different one and I was wrong. Apparently they're all like that. It's just a peice of shit. No one I can think of uses one. (No the battery wasn't dead either. I change my batteries every month and use power sources when in my house.) I also owned a Danelectro Wah and "Pastrami" overdrive and they were just as bad if not worse. They have no character or personality or a decent tone.

This thing is a poor excuse. The knobs all busted off a couple month's after I bought it. The casing is incredibly cheap as well. The fucken thing split in two! It didn't even have a long fall to the ground. The input jacks were also coming apart.

Never Dealt With Them.

I play metal and this thing just didn't come close. I should have spent like 20 more bucks and got a BOSS pedal when I got this thing. Here's a hint: It's probably not a very good pedal for rock or metal if it's named after food, Black Coffee Metal Distortion? Grilled Cheese Distortion? Pastrami Overdrive? What the hell are they thinking? No serious artist would use something with "Grilled Cheese" in the name. I'm begging all of you not to buy this or any other Danelectro pedal. You'll be very disapointed in the long run.

Danelectro is famous for ease of use, simple, predictable, absolutely no surpises (i.e. move the knob a pinch, gets crazy) here.
Couldn't get any simpler than Danos

Too much noise, just way too much for me to give it a good rating. The only way to cut down the noise is to (almost) kill the treble, which is not good. Sound very dry also.

I could never play this stomp alone & plugged straight to clean channel. The best (& only) way for it to be usable is to use it with other distortion or thru the overdriven channel.

After tinkering with it for a while, I finally found a use for it. For a pre-amp volume/treble booster when you're onstage whipping out a solo and need extra "bite" to come thru the sound of your rythm player(s).

One last thing: It doesn't do well with tubes.

Can't really tell. I've used it about 3 times onstage, but never really "pushed" it to the edge of breaking.

Never Dealt

I play Heavy Metal, the melodic kind (i.e. Children of Bodom, Cradle,etc)
Very noisy, ended up being an "auxiliary" pedal, doesn't really do anything special.
Still a good bargain though.

Good way to get a great rock/metal sound, is to keep the friggin treble down. When its up, it sounds like crap. WIth the bass at 6-8 and the treble at around 2-3, you can get a really good sound.

Im using a Tradition Soulster (with SD distortion pickup) - - Seiko Tuner - - Danelectro Black Coffee - - Kustom QUAD65.
Its noisy, relaly noisy. But that can be changed by adjusting the treble, it really helps. I love the sound i get with my new amp, on the old one it sounded like crap.
I dont know who it sounds like, but it kicks arse anyway.

Its in a weak casing, but for the price, who cares. Its all plastic, so dont stomp too hard with it. Id gig without a backup. But always replace the battery before a show, sounds like shit on battery.

Never delt with them

I play prog-metal, death metal, rock, and some ska/punk. it sounds good with it, but the distortion is off the charts, so it really suits more hard metal.
I would probably buy someting else if it was stolen, but i like it right now anyway.
I love the sound, i hate how it was built. Really weak.
I bought it on a whim, when i saw it, and the price, im like "Yeah 8-)".
I wish it had a gain knob, that would have been nice.

Three knobs, volume, bass, and treble. The knobs are very small I felt. It was kind of annoying to try and mess with them and I have small hands for a guy so it must be hard if you have big hands. Bought it second hand from a friend of a friend without hearing it, but it was only ten dollars so not TOO much lost I guess...

When I hooked it up and hit the button with my foot I couldn't believe how loud it was! I was just standing there not playing and this noise from my amp blaring. The noise is just ridiculous. Never stop playing with this thing or people will be booing you off stage. It's also really trebly, which I don't like so it really doesn't suit me at all. I don't know why they call this a metal distortion because I haven't heard any metal bands play somehting like this. Maybe would be good for a Steve Albini sound (Guy who produced Nirvana's In Utero and was in Big Black, hardcore metal band in teh 80's) but I don't know. He has a real harsh, dry sound. It's really harsh and I can't take too much before I turn it off. Not a lot of control I feel from the knobs either.

hmmm it's plastic, so doesn't look too good on this front. Knobs wer wobbly and the guy before me hardly used it either.

N/A

It's really cheap but I still wouldn't bother buying it because there is very little usefulness for it. I doubt that many people could find much use for it. Save your money and buy a Boss or something.

Simple enough. Threre isa treble, a bass, and a voliume level control on it. Can get many tones out of it with a good amp. Dont even bother with batteries. Its not worth geting the batterie case open! Just my opinion. Ate up my dano 9 volt like me eating a sandwhich. But thats just because dano batteries SUCK!

Never used a noisier pedal. It sounds great though. The thing i like to do is run it through the overdrive/gain channel on the amp with almost no gain. This gives it an exellent more vintage 70s distorsion. I use it more. The clean channel gives it the trebley metal tones. Another thing is the sustain on this pedal. It can hold notes until the cows come home. It can get some big muff tones with the bass up a lot. One other thing i do is used the guitars voliume controls while the pedal is on. This will instead of lowering the voliume just lessen the distorsion. I have a fender princton chorus and a peavy rage 158. The pedal sounds magnificiant through the chorus with lots of chorus and mid. Through the peavy on the gain channel, i like to set it to a vintage amp model. It gives me 70s power rock like blue oyster cult and led zeppelin. Excellent. Amazing tonal versatility.

Only thing to really watch is the knobs. The level knob broke right off at the stump. TO AVOID THIS, DONT PUT IT IN YOUR GUITAR CASE!! Danos "vintage" metal looking knobs are just reinforced HOLLOW plastic!! Dont stomp on it with a boot either.

Never did send this pedal in tix the knob. However, i did send in my broken dano mini amp. Even though im here in massachusits and dano is in CA, they sent a NEW mini amp within 2 weeks. Very nice! I give a 9 for there annoying press 1 for... phone message thing. Its like a maze.

perfect for ANY music with distortion!!! Through the gain channel and clean channel. Just expieriment with it and your amp and it will definetly surprise you. It goes far beyond a metal distortion pedal! Great for its price. Will match any BOSS or EH distortion pedal anyday

"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.