Danelectro DJ-3 BLT Echo

I bought one Dano effect (Tuna Melt) it was o.k. so I ordered a BLT slap echo. Sounds cool-like Scotty Moore the Elvis guitar player. However the plastic screw that holds the back cover was broken when I got it. Sent the screw back with a letter and they sent me the broken screw back, no new one? They are hard to get ahold of by mail, always changing their address, no e-mail, don't return calls. I work in a machine shop so I made a metal screw out of a 12-28 thread. Doubt the cheap plastic housing will hold up to it.

I use mostly Fender tube amps, play old rock and roll, Rockabilly, blues, Sounds good for this and Bo-Diddley. Gets a good slap-back and a kind of reverb.

It was already broke new so how could I trust it?

No customer support, see above.

Sounds o.k. but I see why they they name them after food. Good today gone tomorrow buy more. I will not buy any more of this brand. Not worth my time to send the whole thing back. (Ordered on line.) I consider this a cheap lesson to buy locally.I knew before but forgot.

Very easy.

I use only for playing harp through. It's fine for it's price and because very small. Doesn't sound nearly as nice as my DOD FX-96 analog delay or my Yamaha Magicstomp. However, I sometimes use it with a mini amp for practicing. Sounds decent for what it is.

No problems.

For being dirt cheap, it's pretty decent and simple to use. However, there are nicer sounding pedals out there.

This unit is very straightforward and easy to use. Two knobs and an on/off switch is all you really need for this effect. By simply adding it in between guitar and amp like any other pedal and making a few adjustments to suit one's individual taste, one can have a usable "slap back" sound within seconds. The parameters of the controls do not allow for a great deal of variation, but this pedal is designed to serve a very specific and limited purpose anyway.

I tested this pedal with a Strat into a Vox amp, and the results were very satisfying. This pedal lends itself to rigs like mine intended to produce retro tones from the fifties and sixties. If you're a shredder, punk rocker or metal head of any sort, you should stay away from this pedal. It does, however, produce a warm and mild echo reminiscient of an old analog tape delay. The best and most recognizable examples of this sound are found in the old recordings from Sun Studios, such as early Elvis with Scotty Moore on guitar. For a more recent reference, it's similar to Brian Setzer's sound. The pedal is very quiet both when engaged and disengaged; switching is also virtually noise free. Overall, the sound is very warm and not at all harsh or sterile like the Boss DD-6 Digital Delay it replaced in my rig (which also cost me nearly 4 times the price paid for the Dano BLT). Any player who seeks classic electric guitar tones for Surf, Rockabilly, Blues, or Alt-Country should buy this pedal - there are many on the market that can do the same basic thing, but none for this price!

I perform regularly and would have no hesitation whatsoever in playing live through this pedal. Some users have reported "horrible white noise" after a period of use with the BLT Echo, but I suspect this is simply the result of battery failure (since this is common with many types of pedals). I recommend using the pedal with an AC adaptor, since access to the battery compartment is inconvenient compared with most pedals on the market. Also, I wish the chassis were medal instead of plastic. I haven't encountered any problems with this yet, but we'll see how this pedal holds up to having its little brains bashed out by me while gigging.

I haven't had to deal with Danelectro yet. To me, the best customer service is the kind you never need to resort to because the product doesn't break in the first place.

This is a good pedal even though it is designed to serve only a limited purpose. It does its job well, especially for the price. If you're a player who wants to sound like your favorite old recordings without the expense and reliability risks of using vintage gear, buy this pedal.

The easiest pedal unit I personally own. Two knobs "mix" and "repeat" to adjust the amount of dry/wet signal and to adjust the number of echoes.
You don't need any kind of manual or instructions. Just mess around with it for a few hours and you will discover the settings you like.

I play with Fender Telecaster/Ibanez RG -> EHX Doctor Q -> EHX Double Muff -> EHX Small Stone Phaser -> Behringer OD100 -> Danelectro DJ-3 -> Korg AX1 -> Marshall JCM 800 w/ 2x12 cabinet (100 W).
This unit doesn't make any noise but it makes noise sound louder when it is on, probably beacuse it echoes everything that reaches its input. So try and be careful with the amount of noise that comes from the rest of your FX chain. i.e. an overdriven autowah sound with the DJ-3 on it is annoyingly noisy when you don't play anything.
You can use it with both knobs around 11-12 o'clock as a reverb unit or with both knobs at 9 o'clock to add some sustain. Very useful settings for lead parts and solos. When you turn both knobs at maximum you get a sound perfect for country and bluegrass styles...which are not my thing. It is also useful for creating a richer distorted rhythm guitar sound with mix knob at 11 o'clock and repeat at 9 o'clock.
The only bad thing I found is that when you play clean rhythm guitar using delay it kinda sucks out almost all the harmonics.

Made out of hard plastic it seems to need an extra care when carrying it out for gigs, recordings or rehearsals. But I've done all these and nothing bad happened to it.
I also must say that I bought it (1,5 year) used and it was in perfect condition. The knobs and the footswitch are working alright and the plastic cover is not broken or cracked.

Never had to deal with Danelectro or the dealer that sold the unit to me...but I shall mention that when searching at their website I found almost nothing. No technical specs, no dealer catalog, no big pics...just a small image of the pedal and three lines of useless information.

Well...before I bought it I was thinking "if it wasn't used I would have to pay double the money I paid for it and 60 EUR are too much money for something like that and I would never give it". But when I plugged this very-very small piece of fx into my pedalboard I found out that I could make it useful in many different ways. I love the rich smooth guitar sound and in most songs I play with tons of delay. Using it with my delay unit I can create at least 5 different, very nice effects so I think it's worth the money it costs.

Of course out there you can find many other more expensive Echo units that probably can create more sounds and have a better quality. But when paying 40-60 EUR you know what you can expect...and beleive me you expect less than it can give! If you want my opinion don't go and buy one of those expensive, vintage, short delay units unless you hear this one! I think it is capable to give this extra "echo thing" to your sound and you won't have to pay a fortune.

I own it the last 3 months and I really love right now! I would go buy another one if it was lost or stolen...but I am not such a jerk to lose my gear!

Two knobs: depth and repeat. Can't get much simpler than that.No manual, just some suggested settings on the back of the package(which you really don't need. Just twist some knobs, it's impossible to sound like crap).

I'm using a late 70's/ early 80's Memphis '72 Tele Custom copy, through the BLT, a Dan-o Tuna Melt tremolo, and a Fab Tone distortion, to a Music Man 65 112 RP. I play a mix of old school country, blues, rockabilly, and garage. This thing is designed to emulate the slapback echo on all those mid-50's Sun records and Cliff Gallup's tone on the Gene Vincent records. It comes DAMN CLOSE. Conjures up images of a hot-rodded '32 Ford deuce coupe with a flathead V8 and a flame job, with a Bettie Page-lookin' chick in black leather in the passenger seat smoking a cigarette, with Gene Vincent at the wheel. However, turn up the mix and the repeat towards max, with the Tuna Melt set on "hard" with the depth all the way up and the speed at 3 O'clock, with the Music Man's built in phase shifter results in some ungodly weird space alien sounds. Not too sure how usable that setting would be live, but it's fun as hell to play around with.

Not had it long enough to tell, and I'm primarily a bedroom player these days. Never had a problem with any Danelectro gear. They ARE plastic, but as long as you don't stomp on them like an idiot they should be fine. What the hell do you people do to break your pedals anyway?

Never had to deal with 'em

As I said before, I'm a country, rockabilly, blues, surf and garage player, and I got this to give me those mid-50's Sun records sounds. It'll do that and does it VERY well. I've been impressed with all the Dan-o minis so far. Great stuff, especially considering that everything else out there is 4 or 5 times more expensive. If you're a rockabilly cat or a wannabe rockabilly cat and on a budget, take a gamble and get one of these little blue bad boys. I don't think you'll regret it.

Rate and Depth ,2 knobs on top , just twist till you hear what you like. No big learning curve, I got free so no manual.

Its a cool verb sound with both dials at 12 o clock ,and 3 o clock. Both Maxed gets alittle metalic sounding ,but others may find bthat cool. Not noisy while on or off. I use a 50 watt Marshall combo ,and 15 watt Behringer practice amp, sounds good with the 15 watter, and nice on the low (clean ) channel on the Marshall. With a Dyna Comp, I can get good Rockabilly,Conutry,and Twang, at the 12 o clock setting, smokey lounge lizard Jazz with the 3 o clock stting.with the amps or other OD , it can get lost in the mix , but I like either really clean, or crushing Fuzz.

Plastic , but Plastic is tuff, it will outlast human beings , and metal can rust, plus no paint to peel off!Would I gig with out a backup, I,m not buying another one , if it breaks , its in the trash.
But it would take alot to break with your foot. Most people hate plastic on their effects, but the Dano's are the first ones I find this cool on.

really could not tell you ,if I have to repair , I'll try to myself ,but if I can't fix , whats Danoelectro gonna do for me , I got it free remeber.

Good for Counrty ,Blues , Rockabilly, Jazz, or any Twangy guitar part.I love to play along to the Sun session Classics with this baby. If it were lost , I may get another one. But I would check out other verbs ,so I might get something else (just bought a Rocktron short timer on ebay)It does what it was made to do give you verb.

The most dead simple delay i've ever used, that's for sure. With 2 knobs you'd probably think it was TOO simple, but both offer a pretty good wealth of variation, surprising for such a simple little thing. I ignored the 'manual/packaging,' as it's pretty simple, seriously.

Hard to get a bad sound at all, if not impossible. It's a little shrill if you dial it in MAX and MAX, but surprisingly very nice sound throughout the dials. I got this sucker cause I needed to blow the rest of a gift certificate, and my expectations were nil, but I gotta say I love it. I have a few delay pedals, both cheap and expensive, and this cheapo sounds great. I hate BLAH reverb and only use delay usually. This gives me a dedicated 'verb replacement, and frees up other delays for spacial runs and sample-styling.

Not noisy. Not true-bypass, but retains a sharp signal when bypassed (and like many us, I am indeed picky about this).

I have had several mini danos, and all are working after years now. They won't last forever, probably (what does?), but so far so good. The sound is better than other metal-housed pedals... and what's more important??

Never dealt with.

A definite score for me, hasn't left the signal chain since day one (about a month ago). I'm always yanking pedals out that aren't being used enough, especially if they're dulling my signal/sound, but this one's still there, and rarely off. Sounds great.

I think more control options are always attractive, but having other more convoluted delays, I love that this is very set-and-forget.

Good pedal. Good sound. GREAT price.

Don't waste your money on 'vintage' short delays without trying this one, because your search could be over.

Simple to use, two knobs to control. PLug in and find the right mix for your taste.

I use various guitars at the moment. I mostly use a Fender Telecaster with Texas Spacial pickups. I also use an Epiphone Sheraton or a Danelectro 59-DC. The pedal gives off a very slight buzz, at least with my equipment, but nothing that I can't deal with. My amp is a Fender Blues Junior, simple for the type of music I play which is blues and blues rock.

The pedal does what it is supposed to do, give off that 50's effect. Perfect for adding a little texture to my rhythm and can provide a good rockabilly tone. Sounds rather nice with clean chords, just enough echo for me.

So far it has worked when I needed it to. I'm not one to abuse my equipment so it should hold up. If you are careful, gigging with it doesn't seem to be an issue, I wouldn't jump up and down on it.

Have not dealt with them, never needed to.

For blues, jazz, rockabilly, early rock, I think this does what it is meant to do. Perfect for those needs, very limiting if you were hoping for something else. I have been playing for 20 years and this was an affordable way to get the tone I wanted for my new band. It is simple and you can tell the difference when it is on or off. Thus far it has done the job and I am happy with it.

It's easy to use.

If you expect to much from this dinky thing, that's your problem, not the pedal. I probably don't use this pedal for its intended purposes. I mainly keep the presence of this effect low and combine it with some overdrive just to get a unique texture. This makes the guitar sound as if its being played through a giant pop can. Yeah, I don't really want that mid-50's guitar sound you could potentially use this for. By the way, I play an Epi Crestwood ET-290 or an Ibanez Jet King through a Maxon OD808 overdrive. I really like it for recording vocals too, again in combination with distortion. All things considered, I find it quite enjoyable to play with. It can add surprising flavor to some commonplace textures and tones that every guitarist is confronted with.

I've only brought it on stage once, and I actually forgot to use it. It doesn't seem like it could take much of a beating though.

Haven't had to deal with the company.

I write and play jazzyhardcorepoprock music, and this pedal helps me get a distinct sound, a unique flavor I can call my own. I play through a 65 watt Peavey StudioPro 112 (TransTube), which has a reverb effect that for some reason is comparable to the sounds I like to try to get out of this pedal. So, sometimes I just use that instead. Not a lot of the people I play with like it much.

Two knobs, repeat and mix. The only pedals I have simpler than this are a one-knob MXR Phase 90 and a no-knob Orange Sunshine fuzz. There's only one delay length, a short slapback, so either you like that or you don't.
Battery compartment is hard to open.

I used it with a Gibson SG and Mesa Boogie. "Instant Duane Eddy," my lead singer said. I've also used it on a Danelectro battery-powered pracitce amp. Nice for fleshing licks out with space and twang, but can thin your tone a bit.

I had it for a month and it died. Instead of echo, it just squeals. (The repeat control still works, so I get repeating squeals.)
I like some of Danelectro's stuff, I have a DC-3 guitar that's really nice, and the Honeytone is a good?though sometimes short-lived?practice amp. But I expected this to last more than a month!

Stupid me. When I brought it home and it worked, didn't send in the warranty card.

I liked the pedal a lot. I mainly play punk, rock'n'roll, old soul & R&B, psychedelia, and reggae, and it fit all of them, was simple to use and easy to carry. But there's not much point in lugging a dead pedal around in my gig bag, is there?