Danelectro DJ-5 Tunamelt Tremolo

2 knobs and a toggle for "hard" and "soft" sounds---easy

For the money, this is the closest to a Fender amp tremolo. The Voodoo Lab pedal that does this is really great, but it will never be in the price range of the Tuna Melt. This thing gets great sounds: like, "How Soon is Now," by the Smiths, old Bo Diddley, "Cuban Slide," by the Pretenders, etc.etc. Lotta great sounds for not a lot of cash

The little plastic thing is rather delicate, therefore, it is permanently hooked up to my effects box.

no experinece here, thus...no opinion

very vintage-sounding, very versatile, very economical----Dangerously close to the ultimate:a Fender amp tremolo unit! Awesome.

Easy to use, manual is a joke

my setup consist's of a 62 fender jaguar through a load of stompboxes and into a fender deville, sounds great on the clean clean channel, not quite as good when distorted, although when on the hard setting with the depth ramped up gives some great square wave sounds

i would use it without a backup although i think the dannelectro mini pedals work and sound better with battery power rather than a mains adapter, the casing is plastic so it,s not going to last a life time

never needed it

i recentley bought a second one as i needed two different speeds instantly, one of the best value pedals i've seen

This is an update of a review I did a few days
back, after some feedback from others.

My Tuna Melt ticks audibly, even when off. Without
a second one to try, I did the usual troubleshoots --
different guitars, different amps, different cables.

I'm not imagining it...it ticks.

I corresponded with one reviewer, and read
the review posted immediately after mine. Having
done so, I'm willing to give the suspect bypass
design the benefit of the doubt, and conclude that
my unit is simply defective. That's not exactly a
feather in Danelectro's Quality Control cap, but
it at least indicates that the basic design is
not necessarily total crap. I'll retract my bypass-
design rant, though I'm sticking to my guns on
everything else.

I'm still pretty unimpressed with it sonically,
but now I feel justified returning it to Dano
for a new sealed unit, which I can turn around
and re-sell unopened in order to recoup most of
my losses. Dano's supposed to be pretty good about
such things, so I expect that to go smoothly. I
could not have sold the first one to someone else
in good conscience.

Thanks to the other reviewers for addressing
this issue. As I mention in my 1st review,
I went to three different stores looking
unsuccessfully for one to hear before I decided
to just buy it by mail order so that I'd have
trem on four amps instead of just on my Princeton.
Finding a second unit to audition in person
probably isn't practical in this case.

It's good to have a place where quick feedback
is readily available. Magazines tend to
sugar coat even their less than positive
reviews for fear of lost advertising. It's good to
see stuff where you don't have to read "between the
lines."

Thanks again...

(And off goes my sickly Tuna Melt to San Clemente, CA.)

speed knob, depth knob, and a switch for hard/soft tremolo. When in hard mode, the depth knob becomes irrelevant. Manual is non-existent, but it is not hard to figure out.

I read another review that mentions a ticking sound when it is off? I don't hear a ticking even when it is on. I can hear whatever noise is in the signal being tremmed at the appropriate rate, but no ticking. The pedal does cut the highs a little bit when engaged, but the bypass of this pedal seems to be on par with my Boss, Ibanez, and DOD pedals, but not as good as my Visual Sound Route 66, which is a great pedal by the way. Good trem sound. the hard mode is good for slamming the front-end of a tube amp for a "Who Are You" type of sound. I am using this with a Parker Fly Deluxe and a highly-modded Mexican Strat through a Boss PW-10 (great), VS Route 66 (amazing), Boss DS-1(classic), Boss MT-2(you know), Boss CE-2B(Bass Chorus, it sounds good), Dano Octave(iffy), Dano French Toast(good for a few tricks), Dano EQ (perfect), Dano Tremolo, Dano PB&J delay (good stuff), Ibanez Chorus Flanger Tonelok (not great). All somewhere in front of or inside the effects loop of an Engl Jive (great little German amp).

so far so good, but I'm really nice to my stuff. They are made of plastic so they will not stand up to a Boss in terms of reliability

N/A

Got mine as part of a collection that was supposed to be the mini-tuner, french toast, octave, and vibrato, but instead of the vibrato, I got the tremolo. Reading HC, I figured I lucked out 'cause the vibrato didn't get as good reviews as the tremolo. This pedal is permanently in my chain, and I have never heard it tick. I suspect that something is electronically wrong in the below user's unit, and suggest that he try to find one at a music store to see if it ticks or not. For the price and decent sound quality (not-quite-transparent), I'll give it a 10

Easy to figure out, though there's no explanation
of how things work -- just 3 sample settings on an
insert sandwiched into the hanging "blister-pack".
Battery change is the usual one clunky
"Dano Mini Series" crappy rubber screw. The battery
harness wire is too long, which means you need to
stuff it down -- not too swift.
Ease of use docked one extra point for not having
even a cusory explanation for novices of what
the controls do.

I dunno, ok I guess. I've always found tremolo to be
an effect best used in extreme moderation. That
brings me to a complaint...
The pedal's packaging boasts of a "virtual" bypass.
Apparently, "virtual" in this case means "not really"
or "not exactly" a bypass. Or perhaps "we shouldn't
even use the word bypass in referring to this unit."
Most or all tremolo circuits "tick" as they pulse at
whatever time rate you set; even one on a good tube amp
will have at least a slightly audible tick. The ticking
tends to increase as you dial up more "Depth" or "Intensity."
This is perfectly normal WHEN THE EFFECT IS ENGAGED.
But when the tremolo's switched off, you shouldn't still
hear the ticking -- and you wouldn't if there was any type
of a "bypass" worthy of the name.
Well, this little beast ticks like mad EVEN WHEN THE
EFFECT IS OFF. This isn't of much consequence to me
personally, as I'd most likely just use this effect
as a pad sound, way down in a mix. It wouldn't drive
me crazy, because I'd just unplug it when I was done.
Or I'd use my Princeton Reverb, which has a Tremolo
circuit built right in, instead of one of my non-trem
amps.
But pedal board types take note: If you leave this
box in your signal path, you're going to be listening
to that ticking sound all night long, whether or not you're
using the effect. That really sucks donkey hog. Off is
supposed to mean off...
So I'll give it a 5 for its effect quality (it sounds
fairly convincing at a few settings, though I agree that
the controls are somewhat fickle.) But leaving it plugged
in during a live show would be completely unacceptable
to me. I suppose a noise gate might help, but how over-
processed do you need your sound to be???
So: 5 for the trem sound, plus 1 for the ticking, divided
by 2, equals a 3 rating. Disappointing.

Used gently it should be ok for a while. Dano switches
and knobs are notorious for breaking off or for
failing, but I can't personally say that it's ever
happened to me.
I don't like the strain placed on the too-long battery
harness wires, either. I've had to re-solder a lot
of battery harnesses over the years, and in most
cases it's because the battery compartment is a poorly
designed afterthought.

Well, I'd like to return this, but the packaging
(a hanging plastic blister-pack) is pretty much
impossible to open without damaging it. With
shipping, and a 20% restocking fee because of the
damaged packaging, I'd be out about $15 just
sending it back.
I'm hoping that it will break under warranty, and that
they'll be out of new ones. Who knows -- maybe they'll
substitute something decent (like from another manufacturer.)
Hmmm... hopefully not Jim Dunlop... I can dream, right?
And while I'm griping: The packaging pisses me off.
If a product sucks, then at least have the decency to
put it in a re-sealable box so that we dissatisfied types
can get their money back. Otherwise, they start to
think twice before they buy any more of your "Most
Favored Nation" crapola. It's called damage control.

Some day I'm gonna learn not to buy solely on the recommendation
of others. God bless Harmony Central, but hearing is a
subjective thing, and how each player actually uses their gear
affects what they do or don't hear. The exact same setup in
the hands of two players will often be radically different.
I know that; I just forget sometimes.
To be fair to myself, I did try 3 different stores
looking for a Tuna Melt to hear. All 3 were Dano dealers.
Nobody had one in stock, so I mail ordered one. Now
I'm stuck with it for a while. I'll never make that
mistake again with a Danelectro box.
It doesn't actually sound too bad (better than the digital
tremolo on my Lexicon MPX100) but that friggin' ticking when
it's off makes me want to fill it with rancid Egg Foo
and fling it back to China. And did I mention that the
packaging pisses me off?

Fairly easy to use. Hard/Soft switch and two control knobs. Push-button foot switch.....No manual came with mine, although, I don't think one was needed

Mine was used, but still worked (kind of). I got this because the reviews were favorable, but I was not impressed with the sound. The controls were too sensitive and it went from one extreme to the other. You get what you pay for, and I feel like I spent little money for a little pedal with little use for me.

Fairly cheap construction. Unlike the DanEcho, this has a plastic housing with the circuit board not being very protected. Also, the pedal seems to have a mind of its own giving me tremolo sometimes and doing nothing at others with very little play in the knobs

No opinion.

I was told and read this was a decent pedal for the money. While that may be true, this has left a lasting impression on the Danelectro mini-effects in my mind. I had a feeling they were cheap and would not sound all too great, and, in my opinion, this pedal supports that hunch. That being said, what works for me, might not work for you. For the money, you can try it and if you rarely ever use tremolo, you probably will be happy. I don't expect to use tremolo every time I play my guitar, but I need a pedal a little sturdier and with a more consistent sound that this. I know it's cheap, but I can't give this pedal a very good rating at all. Nothing's a deal if you aren't going to play it. I hate to be this negative, but I was really dissapointed with this pedal.

This pedal is quite easy to use, really self-explanatory. My only complaint would be that the speed is so slow as to be useless until about noon on the dial, which means half of the dial is useless, and you have to be very precise to get the sound you want.

I use this on my bass setup: Epiphone Powerbass II with the electronics all switched out ---> Zoom 607 Bass Effects ---> Tuna Melt ---> Crappy Fender Practice Amp

And on my guitar setup: Epiphone Demon FX (GREAT cheap guitar, btw) ---> Dunlop Crybaby 105q Bass Wah (I tune down a lot) ---> ProCo RAT Distortion ---> Tuna Melt ---> Crate 120W Twin 12" Amp

It can nail that vintage Tremolo sound, as heard in "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells, but it's not quite punchy enough to nail that RATM "Guerilla Radio" sound. The Boss tremolo does that much better. I don't use this very often in my guitar setup, but it's good at doing it's vintage trem thing.

Well, it's a little too flimsy looking for me to feel comfortable with, but it doesn't really come up because I've never felt the need to use it at a gig before.

No idea.

I have been playing for about a year and half now, and I'm just starting to get serious about my sound. I play Glam-tinged Nu Metal (Think Kittie and Godsmack with a lot more glitter, both in the sound and on the stage), and as such, I rarely have use for this pedal. I use it more at home for just messing around than anything, but it does totally nail that vintage sound. On the other hand, it cannot do the "Guerilla Radio" thing, which the Boss totally NAILS. Awesome at what it does, useless for anything else.

This is a reply to the person named "gunnar" who said "(Strat-Surf&Turf comp-Ibanez TS7-Auto Wah-Tunamelt-Korg Pandora for noise reduction-Pignose)." The reason why there is just noise with the overdrive pedal on is because of the increase in gain (noise) and the volume boost overriding the noise reduction. try setting the noise reduction so it's strong enough to take out noise but still leaves some sustain on clean mode. also, to take some noise down try lowering the compression on the surf & turf. right now i'm playing with pretty much the same setup and know exactly what you're talking about!

dead easy. tremolo is quite a simple effect and this took me no time at all to get the hang of - and i am a slow learner when it comes to guitar gear!

absolutely amazing. i play a custom sg thru a cry baby, rat2, dd3 and "occasional" pedals such a this. i use an old carlsbro 50 top cranked to the max. this pedal sounds warm nd really cuts through with no volume drop. nails that voivod/the heads weirdness easily. sounds equally cool with or without distortion. combine it with a wah and phaesr and you can sound very strange indeed!

definately. dano now house their mini pedals in the dano-protector, a plastic guard which covers the knobs. as a result this is very robust and i have leapt on it with no problems.

some dano pedls suck, but this isnt one of them! very "authentic" tremolo, at super cheap price. not a pedal i'll use ll the time, but a lot of fun!!

easy to use and get a good sound - 1 knob for speed, 1 for depth and a switch for hard / soft which also makes things interesting. The manual suggested settings are quite useful - in fact i probably use them the most. only downer would be the little knobs!

i am using this with the idea of getting something similar to the sounds of chicago blues artists of the 50's, 60's - commonly they used fender amps, fender guitars (lots of clean single coil sounds that get distorted when they are cranked). i am using it with a maton mastersound electric (good for clean sounds) and a yamaha amp, which is also quite similar to fender style in that it doesn't distort easily. In my opinion, this pedal does the trick - it has a warm, rich and consistent tone, a reasonable variety of settings and doesn't affect the guitar tone too much. it can really enhance your sound as a very subtle effect, or you can get more experimental with it. you can even get some echo type sounds with the hard switch on. It sounds pretty good when an overdrive is put in front of it as well.

no problems yet, but i'm pretty gentle with my gear and i haven't gigged with it.the plastic case would worry me a bit if i did.

no experience with them.

i play mostly blues and some experiemental stuff. Listen to some of John Lee Hooker, or Magic Sam's recordings when they uses tremelo with a slightly distorted single coil sound, and that's what i was after with this pedal. The pedal fits in well with others, i like to put the speed on maximum and place it before my wah in the chain to get some spacey sounds. i would get another if it was stolen, as it is a cheap but very worthwhile effect. i love the sound and 'vibe' of the pedal, but i wish it was big and metal and cumbersome because then it would seem more authentic or something.. a level control might also be useful, but what can you expect? it inspires and helps me to make music. i have used it for home recordings, etc. and found that even on a very subtle setting for leads or rhythm applications, it is very effective. the reviews for these class of danelectro pedals generally say that this is one of the better ones. And good luck to Danelectro for daring to be different with their pedal ranges and guitars etc.