Danelectro DJ-5 Tunamelt Tremolo

Very simple controls, easy to use, just the way I like it.

I use several different guitars, both LP-style, Tele-style, ES-355-style, and even a Dano' 63, all of these combined with my fender Champion 600, an Epiphone vale junior cabinet, and 3 other Danelectro pedals.

The sound is great, so great that I have sold my strat, because I no longer feel that I need it's Tremolo arm, and I haven't used it for a while. This could be a way to replace the Trem' arm of a strat(in some ways) if you are not NOT a fan of vibrato bridges.

Never dealt with them:D

It's well wort the money, and more. It's far better than the trem' sound of any multi effectboard, so try to listen to Mark Knopflers: "True love will never fade" and "we can get wild". If you like that that sound, you'll love this baby.

very easy to use - mine is the older unit with the toggle switch instead of rotary to change from "hard" to "soft" modes. Two knobs for rate and depth. The knobs are small and sensitive, a bit difficult to adjust on the fly on dimly lit stages...I use a homebuilt poser supply to power my pedals

This is the last effect on my pedalboard. I use it with a variety of amps depending on the venue. No noise whatsoever. There is a bit of volume boost when the pedal is engaged. Although I was initially annoyed by this, over the years by actually using it on countless gigs I have found this to be useful. It helps the effect cut through instead of being lost int the mix. The "soft" setting is definitely the winner. Classic tremolo sound. The "hard" setting, I have found no use for after ten years. Goes from on to off. I bought it from a band mate about 10 years ago for 20 bucks at rehearsal. I plugged it in, switched it from "hard" to "soft" and started playing some CCR. He instantly wanted to know how I got "that sound" out of it. Geeze!

Well, it has had a permanent position on my pedalboard for about 10 years. I would say that is reliable enough.

never contacted them, I only own two dano pedals

I play classic rock, blues, alternative, contemporary adult and original music with some folks from Nashville. I love the small footprint on my pedalboard. I love the classic vibe of the effect. It is not used often, but it fulfills it's intended purpose for cheap. It has not let me down for nearly a decade. Too bad it has been redesigned.

Built the way trem pedals should be built - just like an amp tremolo, just with two knobs.

Simplest thing to use.

Want to add that there's a very slight boost to the affected signal that just keeps at the same level as the unaffected signal. The boost is nicely done - not too much, just enough.

For this price? The best in its range, or anything costing twice as much.

Just really nice and warm tremolo waves like amp tremolo. This must be the cheapest (and best for the money) solution if you have a tremless amp.

The only drawback is the fact that the knobs are just so tiny, making it hard to turn on the fly. Have considered just housing the guts in a bigger metal case with bigger knobs.

These dano tunamelt things are the winners in the cheapo dano range. I've got 3 of them. Enough said.

Not hard at all, but knobs are so small it can be tricky to tweak them just right.

Danelectro are a budget brand, and as such, this pedal performs well enough. You get a tremolo that works, you can choose whether it's fast, slow, whether you want it subtle or strong etc, etc. It works fine. But the problem is it really doesn't cut through that well all the time and gets lost a bit on some settings, even when you set it to a hard tremolo. It just lacks a bit of solid umph that you'd get with a better pedal. If you're thinking of trying out tremolo, get this and then decide if you want to invest a more expensive one that will inevitibley work and sound better.

Had mine for a few years, and it had the stomp guard with it, so very solid.

Nice little tremolo, but if you're experienced with this effect, spend a bit more and get a better effect.

easy

Great sound when switched on, absolutely useless in bypass mode, it seems to mess with the phase, had to remove it from my board. It's a shame because the trem itself sounds beautiful.

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I'll have to try another one, unfortunately...

The guitar player in my former band had this pedal. I borrowed it from him once to use in my bass setup. Immediately ordered one for myself.

A great tremolo pedal with just the controls you need: speed, intensity and a switch for soft or harsh tremolo. You won't need a manual to get the effect you like out of this baby. Just plug in and start twiddling; You'll find a setting to your liking in no time.

I use this stompbox at the end of my bass effect chain:
Boss GE7B Bass Equalizer -> Electro Harmonix Q-tron -> EBS Multidrive -> Danelectro Tuna Melt. I play Reverend, Fender and Squier basses through a 1972 Fender Bassman rig. It really doesn't matter what bass I plug in; the Tuna Melt just does what it needs to do. With both knobs at 3 o' clock and the switch set to 'soft' it gives me a nice tremolo effect for quiet, spacey movements. When it has to be freaky, I turn every knob at max and turn on the Q-tron. Sounds wicked.

There's a very, very small alteration in my tone when the pedal's on, but it doesn't bother me that much. Hey, this is a pedal that costed me ??? 27 right out of the box. I'm not gonna complain about a slight change in tone. Besides, this thing ain't noisy at all, so there's another plus for it.

I didn't bother trying other tremolo pedals. I noticed the guys from Oceansize using it so I guessed the stompbox had to be decent. It is!

When I borrowed the guitarist's Tuna Melt the intensity knob wasn't working. According to him the knob functioned normally before he gave it to me...and after I gave it back :S

I would gig without a backup, but don't put too much faith in its reliability. If it would fail on stage, I'd probably toss it and play on.

Never had to deal with them.

I've had experience with other Dano pedals (distortion, tuner) but didn't like 'em that much. I was a bit sceptical toward the Tuna Melt therefore. However, it's a great pedal, certainly for the money I paid. What's more to say, the pedal just does what it's supposed to do. Nothing more nothing less.

If it would break down or was lost, I'd probably look into other tremolo pedals out there. I'd try to locate a more reliable stompbox and one that would even had less effect on my tone.

It is very easy to use this tremolo pedal. It has a Rate/Speed knob, Depth knob and one toggle type High/Low tremolo sound selection switch. This pedal has a very warm, full and rich sound. It has really amazed me when I first heard it. I used it for both acoustic and electric guitars and it is superb. I mostly use its Low end tremolo sound by selecting it from the toggle switch. The Low end tremolo effect is a real pleasure to play. I found its sound very smooth and have not noticed any backgroud noise. It did not come with a manual and I think there is no need of it because of its very simple understandable operation.

I found its sound quality one of the best. It is very smooth, rich, warm and has plenty of depth to be used in any kind of home or live situation. It can produce from the most mellow to the lightening tremolo effects with ease. It is not noisey atall. It remains noise free at any setting. The effect produce by this small box is very strong. I do not agree with some's review that it has a very weak sound effect, mine has a real powerhouse of tremolo effects. I think may be someone has got the defective one, he should better replace it from the company if it still falls under warantty period. I have used it for both single coil and humbucker pickups guitars and found great. I am using Fender FM212R, Yamaha G50 112 III and Yamaha JX50 combos and it handle each of them perfectly.

I have been using it for the last one year and it has not yet give me any sort of trouble. I have used it in live gigs and it is okay. But I did not like its thin plastic body. The knobs are again very small and thin, pedal looks to me more like a toy against Boss pedals. I like the thick metal base plate which gives it a heavy feeling and more reliable bottom side to withstand the rough handling at stage. Circuit & operation wise I will give it 9 points but body wise I will give it 5 only.

I play rock, blues, popular and country music. It is a very good match for all kind of styles I play. I have been playing guitar for the last 27 years. I have lot of gears including Yamaha Studio Lord SL400S (Les Paul copy)1980, Yamaha AES620, Yamaha Pacifica 412V, Epiphone les paul black beauty, Ovation CS257, Fender 12 string D6 and Yamaha FG470S guiars. I have lot of Boss pedals and other brands pedals. If this is lost I will buy it again because of its sound quality otherwise I would perfer to buy the Behringer Ultra tremolo pedal because of it good professional shape and same price range.

The knobs are small and I can't get the sound I need. The pedal is absolutely worthless to me. The battery is a little difficult to get to for a mass produced pedal. I expect to pull out a screw driver for my boutique pedals but not for a plastic cheapy.

This pedal is worthless unless you are only looking for a slight trem effect. So much of the original guitar signal comes through it's difficult to hear the trem effect at all. Even at the "hard" setting you don't get a hard sounding trem.
There seems to be a slight decrease in volume also that is impossible make up with this pedal. Not a problem if you have a boost pedal, but it's annoying. It's just not good enough for pro use.

It's cheap plastic but it seems sturdy enough at that.

Didn't deal with them.

I hate this pedal. I can't say it any more plain than that. Maybe I was expecting too much for $39 but you can barely hear the trem effect because so much of the original signal comes through. The slight decrease in volume is unacceptable. Maybe it would be good for a bedroom jammer, but even still, there are much better pedals out there.

Great sound, but small knobs make it difficult to change settings in live setting. You'll probably want to find your setting and leave it, and also get one of those plastic protectors that Danelectro makes. I put it on top of my amp, and don't stomp on it, so the fragility doesn't bother me.
Basic two knob function of classic tremolo, with added bonus of having the hard switch, making it sound like you're turning the power on and off rather than the soft which is like turning the volume up and down.

Fantastic. I also own a Carl Martin tremolo (SurfTrem) and this sounds just as good at half the price. Plus, unlike the SurfTrem it has the hard switch, which allows me to get machine-gun like heavy Cramps style tremolo effects. Versatile, high quality sound and cheap. Get it!

I play secular music so I like to keep mine on the soft setting with both knobs around 2 o'clock, more or less, or for the Cramps sounds, put it on hard setting, crank both knobs, and crank the reverb on your amp. You will become a bikini girl, baby!

Cheaply built case and knobs, but worth it for the sound. I've had mine for about three years with zero problems. I set it and forget it, leave it on the amp, not on the floor.

Fantastic value. Cheaper than a set of bass strings, but it sounds great.

Easy to use-take a little time to find your sound.

Sounds great to me regardless if some may think it looks cheap. Who cares-if you get the sound ya want and you take care of your equpiment it should last you. Made of thick plastic and the smaller compact version is great to save room. 2 tremolo style--old classic and newer. does the job and is great. Better to use a power supply tho. Sounds just as good as more expensive pedals. Higher price doesn't ness. mean better sound. That's all also to do with someone's own ears. Some may like it some may not.

Yes great. Just don't use it as a hammer.

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Great pedal, if you're concerned of the plastic, mod it by putting it into a different metal box then. But great sound, looks, everything.

Pretty much explains itself. Easy.

I love this thing. I especially like pairing it with distortion. Reminiscent of Chicago blues tone. Plenty of variation can be had when tweaking. I tend to go to a subtle setting more so than the Tommy and the Shondells thing. Mine is very quiet and the price was definatley right. I only use it with guitar.

I gig with it with all confidence. Granted it's plastic but I've had mine for a bunch of years and have never felt I had to treat it any different than any of my other sturdier effects.

No idea. Never had to contact them.

Been playing 42 years. I've learned to let my ears determine what I like and not what a particular artist endorses. I do put a lot of stock in the reviews found here.

That said, I do have some favorites in my chain like an Ibanes AD-80, Boss ce-2 silver screw, Analog Man modded ts-808, block logo phase 90 and Dynacomp. This pedal fits nicely in the chain and I find myself using it frequently. One downside is too much "depth" feels heavy and uninspiring to me.

One last plus is it doesn't make that tell tale "click" that the tremolo pedal on my Twin makes when I engage it.

It may take awhile to get the tremelo setting your looking for but once I figured mine out then it wasnt hard for say someone else to mess with and for me to still find my old settings

Im not too familiar with tremelo's at all but I tried the boss TR-2 at guitar center and still loved my tunamelt's sound, it's fun to mess with as far as with other pedals like distortion or wah especially.

I use a Fender HotRod Deville 212 and American Telecaster as well as other effects, I used to own the milkshake and hashbrowns and these were great sounding pedals too so to me they all sound nice but I like this pedal cause it does put out some nice sounding tremelo and it's just simple and cheap.

I hate the plastic part of this pedal and the fact that its so small compared to other pedals

For example I have trouble finding a spot for it on my pedal board because its so short and other pedals are so much taller than it that my foot has to push others away before I can click it.

Its too light as well, my patch cables sometimes make this thing Lopp sided.

and no volume knob :( Somtimes its too loud when I turn it on and other times its not loud enough but I have this same problem with my other pedals so compared to them the volume is set just right

I may or may not keep this because this is a beginners pedal in my opinion but its doing well for now and sounds great and this is all one really needs but I make get pedal picky in the future and buy another tremelo pedal but it seems this pedal just keeps getting better the longer I own it.

For example little things like knowing what kinda 9volt ma adaptor it needed conveinently placed on the bottom like other pedals should.

Easy, has Speed, Depth, and Hard/Soft controls. Turn the knobs and listen.

First of all, I purchased this pedal because I love simple old-fashioned tremelo. I love that Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells tone, or Love Hurts by Nazareth. I just wanted this to pick chords arpeggio style or strum simple chords. I always use Soft mode, always leave Depth at around 3 o'clock position, but I do vary Speed according to the song. And for what I want this pedal works very well, gets the tones I mentioned before. I own a 1958 Premier Twin 8 amp with fabulous tremelo. This pedal is not quite that good, but close enough. It is warm and full sounding. This pedal is not noisy at all, but does give a slight volume boost when you kick it in. I do not find that it affects tone when off in the chain at all. I have tried the Hard mode but did not care for it. Not saying anything is wrong with it, just not something I'd ever use. But for good old fashioned vintage tremelo, this pedal is very good. If I had to say anything negative (and it's not really a negative) about this pedal it would be that you have to carefully tweak the speed.

I currently own 7 Danelectro pedals and have never had a single problem with any of them, some over 10 years old. I play in a Classic Rock band and use several of them on my pedalboard. Not all Danelectro pedals are great, but some like the Daddy-O and the Fish & Chips 7 Band EQ are. They are often far better than "name" brands that cost 2-3 times as much. I am never afraid to take my Danos to the gig, they have proven themselves over and over again. I have had a few of the expensive names brands break, but never a Dano.

Never had to contact support 'cause these pedals never break down. The best customer support is a good product to begin with.

I give this a 9 because this pedal gets me very close to the old vintage tremelo I want at a good price. I have tried other more expensive brands that were far worse. I have been playing 34 years, play in a Classic Rock cover band, so I think I know good tone when I hear it. If lost or stolen I would buy it again for sure. Danelectro makes some good effects pedals, and this is one of them.

easy - bought new in 2005

guitar >>>>> a s**tload pf pedals >>>>>>>>>> amp

not noisy - I use it with a tweed bassman / strat
this gets the right sounds for me
It does effect tone when bypassed.

so far/so good.

40 yrs playing - past 10 yrs gig x2 per month in pop-rock/party oriented cover band ( translation - a garage band that does pretty well ) I use tremolo for maybe 15 minutes in a 4 hr gig. I have been the happiest with this cheap little plastic box. - much more organic and warm. Others I have tried: Swamp Thang ( $200 boutique box - whatever that means ) Dunlop ( the one that pans - the tone on this was the worst of the bunch ) Voodoo labs box - uh uh. vibrato on a re-issue vibrolux reverb I sold in 1999 ( $900 ) - this was pretty good - but this $10 little yellow box
( ebay ) is better.


there are only 2 downsides to this pedal:

1. it effects overall tone when off - so I use a true bypass looper to keep it out of my chain when it's off.

2. you might be embarassed to have people see this little thing next to your 'boutique' pedals - but you can cover it with black tape and stick it inside a cardboard box stuffed with paper and spray painted black so nobody will see what it is.

Extremely Easy!
Play a note and fiddle with the knobs until it sounds like you want it.

Brilliant!
I play a mixture of styles (Heavy to 50's / 60's) and it somehow fits in everywhere. Works particularly well on a clean setting with just a touch of Reverb...

Again - faultless.
I bought one of these little boxes about 5 years ago. Bearing in mind that I *do* look after my kit, it hasn't gone wrong at all.
Power consumption is almost negligible, so I've not had to change batteries very often at all (although this isn't the easiest thing in the world - a bit fiddly, but certainly not Rocket Science...)

As I've said, 5 years without a single fault - I've had no reason to call them.

My basic setup is this - Sexy Mexy Telecaster / Tuna Melt / Occasional Delay Pedal / Classic 30 valve amp.
This setup covers almost everything I need to do and the Tuna Melt is a great (and dependable) piece of gear. I bought it un-played as a bit of a cheap risk, with a view to buying a more expensive unit if I really liked the sound. I'm still using my faithful Tuna-Melt. It's great. I'd be distinctly upset if it got stolen / broken / lost, but at this price, I'd go and buy a replacement the very next day. I can't rate this little beast highly enough.

Incredibly easy to get a good sound out of this. No manual needed at all. They give you a few example settings, and those work good though.

I don't find it to be noisy, and it works great and enhances a lot of other effects. Overdrive, ring modulation, chorus, you name it. This does what it is meant to do, and very well.

I got a little plastic protector with it. I don't think it is gonna break anytime soon.

I have never contacted Danelectro, but I assume they would be friendly. I've always considered Danelectro a company on the verge of bankruptcy, but that is just because they discontinue stuff often and have a cruddy website.

I play shoegazer/gothic/post-punk/post-hardcore. I use it mostly in slower noisier songs, as that is where it shines. It is a great effect, and the hard/soft switch makes it more than a one trick pony.

Two knobs, speed and depth, and a hard/soft switch. Piece o' cake, except as mentioned before the knobs are tiny.

My setup is a late 70's/early 80's Memphis Tele Custom copy(don't laugh, awesome guitar from back before Memphis turned to complete shiat), Tuna Melt, Danelectro Fab Tone distortion, into a 70's Music Man RP 112 65 watt combo. I play a mix of blues, rockabilly,surf, old-style country and hillbilly(not this Toby Keith watered down Bon Jovi garbage), garage, punk and 70's style hard rock. I used to be in a few bands years ago, but now I just play mostly around the house. I got this specifically for that Duane Eddy/John Fogerty/Bo Diddly/Louisiana swamp blues sound and it NAILS it. A friend of mine used to have a '66 Vibro Champ and this thing could give the Fender's trem a run for its money. I think I detect a SLIGHT volume loss, but nothing major. Switch this thing on and it's the early 60's again. I thought about other tremolo pedals, such as the Boss, but I'm on a fairly tight budget, and this little yellow box will do all I need it to do and sounds INCREDIBLE for the money. I'll give it a ten, considering how inexpensive this little yellow beauty is.

Can't say as of yet, as I've only had it a couple days. However, I've had other Dan-o pedals and never had a bit of problem out of them. Switch seems a bit dodgy, but for the price I can always get another. Stupid Dan-o battery that came with it crapped out in 20 minutes though.

Never had to deal with Danelectro on anything.

Like I said previously, I'm mostly a retro style player and got this for Duane Eddy, Bo Diddley and CCR type stuff, and it nails it. Any rootsy guitar player looking for a tremelo, you'd do well to take a chance on one of these before shelling out $100 and up for something like a Boss.

I didn't like changing the battery on this pig. Couldn't be designed any more poorly. But hey, use a digital power for all your pedals and you're golden. They're cheap. Also, I didn't like the tiny little knobs either, but I guess that's part of the charm of the 'Dano' pedals.

I was playing my strat through an Ibanez UE-300 multi-fx compressor/tube screamer, then the DJ-5, holy grail reverb, out to a crate vc-2110 EL84 amp. Sounded real good, no loss of high end, just a little putt-putt on idle which wasn't bad.

However this little pedal is no longer with me - I actually put an axe through it, then my lawn, after trying to wrestle the battery out after an apparently too long day at work. I'm embarrassed. Geez there were little Chinese plastic parts all over the place. It really was a cute pedal.

Otherwise, I think it would've held up pretty well.

I highly recommend using a power supply with this pedal.

Extremely easy to use. There is no manual - just some notes on the packaging.

I love it! I've wanted a tremolo pedal for a long time, but they're so damn expensive that I could never justify spending the money for one. This thing really sounds great - I'm very surprised. It seems very quiet too which is amazing for such a cheap pedal. I spent a couple of hours playing with it after it arrived - must have played Born on the Bayou for 20 minutes....

OK - it's plastic, and the footswitch doesn't seem very solid. I was thinking about trying to either replace the footswitch or even moving all of the components to something a little sturdier, but I'm not ready to start hacking this thing to pieces. The good news is that it's cheap enough to replace and I may even buy another for a backup.

Haven't had a problem yet.

Fantastic value for the money. I just wish the footswitch were a little taller and sturdier.

Pretty easy to use. just two knobs, a switch, and the on/off button. not exactly rocket surgery. getting the speed set to the exact rate you want can be tedious though. that's not all that uncommon with tremolo though.

The main guitar I use this with is my Les Paul and I run it into a Fender Blues Jr. I have other pedals, but thats irrelevant. The tremolo effect itself is pretty good. Not great, but good. I like how the volume doesnt drop like the Boss TR-2 does. I used to have the TR-2. The TR-2's effect sounded better and was more flexible, but the volume drop turned me off. I use the tremolo a lot of the time for arpeggios over strummed chords and if the volume drops, i cant be heard so the TR-2 was almost useless to me. The Tunamelt though doesnt have that problem. Doesnt sound great, but for the price, it certainly sounds good enough. If I had $120 to blow, I wouldve gotten the Voodoo Labs Tremolo pedal, but this will do.

dunno. i'm sure its not Boss reliable, but i'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt and say i'm not worried about it fizzing out or anything.

never dealt with them

I play Brit-rock and this thing gets the job done. I rarely use tremolo, but when I do, this thing works fine. I've been playing for almost 6 years and i've had 3 tremolo devices. One being the boss tr-2, the other being on one of my old tube amps that i no longer have, and the third being this. this is better than the tr-2, but not as good as the amp's tremolo. if it were lost or stolen, I dont know what i'd do. I probably wouldnt get another tremolo pedal for awhile and i dont know which i'd get if did get another. I bought this on an impulse. it was $30.49 (including shipping) for a new one (still in packaging) and i've been wanting a trem pedal for awhile so i snagged it. i'm definitely glad i got it. $31ish isnt much for a pedal, especially one that is pretty good.

if you want a decent tremolo and are hurting for cash, this thing is great. great value.

Very obvious and easy .. speed, depth. And a switch for hard vs. soft trem.

One minor complaint is that because the input and output jacks are so close together, I can't use two of my right-angle patch cords with it; one has to be a straight jack.

I don't have any experience with other trems, but I have absolutely no complaints about the sound. It does exactly what it's supposed to, with no obvious signal degradation or noise. When I say "obvious", I mean in a live gigging situation ... I haven't tried it for recording.

I'm using it with a Strat and a Gibson GA-15RV combo. I use it mainly to get some vintage trem sounds like for the intro to Born on the Bayou and similar. Also planning to use it to get the lead-in to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", though I think to get that to sound right will require me to change the order of effects, putting the trem before the overdrive pedal.

I have no reason yet to be concerned about reliability. Seems well constructed for the price, despite having what appears to be a plastic body. I've played gigs for 3 years without it, so if it failed, I'd just return to playing without a trem until I got it replaced.

I'm putting an 8 just because I haven't owned it long enough to give it a 10.

No experience with customer support. If this unit broke, I'd probably just buy another.

How I bought this: I went into the rec.music.makers.guitar forum and posted a question about decent quality trem pedals. I got lots of good advice, but the recommended models were all in the $150 to $190 category. WAY too much for an effect that I use on maybe three songs in a 50-song gig. Then someone highly recommended this unit and suggested that I could get it on e-bay for only $30. I found one on e-bay, bid, and sure enough, won it at $30 the same day. It arrived in like-new condition. I am very happy with it for the price; if it were stolen I'd buy another.

I've never seen an easier pedal to use. Just 2 clearly labled knobs and a switch for hard (choppy) and soft (classic, traditional) trems.

The hard switch is for that stutter, cutting the volume completely out of the picture, the soft switch is more like what you hear on your classic rock and blues songs.

Have you heard this thing? Have you heard any of the pedal-sized competition? I think this blows them away. It is definately an upgrade from the Boss Tremelo pedal.

It also sounds organic, natural, and smooth. I can't think of anyone who needed a tremelo effect who could say a bad thing about this pedal. I think the most important part of it is how well it blends with good equipment. I do notice a very very slight volume boost, but not enough to even really notice. If anything it makes the parts you play with it stand out just a human-sized hair more than it does with the effect off.

I am loving all of the Creedence Clearwater Revival covers our band has been doing lately and thats why I got this. I compared it with the Boss Tremelo and it was no contest in sound, although I know the Boss is built like a tank.......but why could'nt it sound as good as the Dano Trem??!!??

Great sounds for that classic trem, and the hard switch nails the Green Day "Blvd. of broken dreams" stutter effect at the beginning. I like a nice smooth trem that is medium tempo, great for blues. If you like that wet/vibe sound with your trem all you need is a chorus effect before it!

Some would argue, but Ive personally never saw one broken and Ive even used a few other Dano mini effects for at least 3-4 years with no problems. Thats all I can ask out of a $30-$40 dollar pedal.

I know they are extremely helpful and kind. I had 1 mini pedal (ordered) that was defective upon delivery and they replaced it no questions asked.

I don't understand how any person could say anything bad about this particular effect unless they simply have a hard-on for steel housed pedals. What I mean is to at least try one. I have used the dano mini EQ for 3 years with no problems so they have to be a little tough. I don't treat them any more gentle than I do the steel pedals.

Sound, that's where this little puppy shines. What else is there to know?

Dead easy. Two knobs (speed and depth), one switch. On/off button. Go figure. The only complaint is that when the removable plastic cover is in place, it is hard to access the knobs, but I guess that's the point of it, so I can't complain. It does mean that during a gig (when presumably you would have the cover on) it is very fiddly to change the settings. The knobs are very small and quite stiff, but I have podgy fingers, so maybe it's my problem.

Great. Unlike other reviewers on here, I cannot tell any different in overall volume with the effect engaged. It is a very transparent effect, by which I mean it adds a tremolo effect, but does not change the tone or volume in any other way at all. It seems to be pretty quiet, and does not generate any adverse hum. Hmmmmmm.
All effects pedals benefit from a level setting, but seeing as the level setting is only there to allow you to ensure the overal volume is the same with the effect on and off, and this pedal does not seem to affect the overall volume, this is not really necessary.

Can't comment. I've only had it a week. It has not broken yet! It is made of plastic, and seems less robost than some other pedals, but hey, it's #30 so what do you expect. If you insist on stamping on your pedals as if they were cockroaches then they will break. Treat them nicely and they shouldn't. As another reviewer correctly said, you don't stamp on your guitars do you? I don't. Mine are too pretty.

No comment. Never had to deal with them. I have however looked at their website and it's rubbish, so I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I like it. I wanted a nice late 50's early sixties sound to use with a telecaster, a little distotion courtesy of a Death Rattle, and dripping in rich springy reverb. Boing. I then go through a cry baby, and into a 1970s Traynor TS-50 combo. In this guise it sounds delicious. It makes me think of drive-ins, diners, lipstick tubes, black leather and chrome. And a vampish young lady drinking milkshakes and smoking dirty cigarettes. That might just be me though. I find the "soft" setting is far more useful than the "hard" setting, although I do use the hard setting when soloing. (hit a note, let it ring for a bit, then switch on the pedal with the hard setting, a moderate rate and maximum depth. Nice action. I use it like this instead of vibrato sometimes.) For #30 you can't really go wrong with this. It's a cheap basic, unassuming pedal that does what it claims to, and does it pretty well. It's yellow too, which is cool. Go get one. <a href="http://www.masht.com">www.masht.com</a>

Speed, depth, hard/soft switch. Not rocket science lol.

How can you go wrong with a decent sounding $30 pedal? And this thing (out of all the dano minis) is probably the best sounding one. It can distort a tad under heavy attack. I wouldnt use active pickups on this. But otherwise it has a very warm cool sound.

It is plastic. It is also $30. But if you treat it nice it should be fine. I have had this thing for about a year with no problems.

Never dealth with em.

For 30$ this is a GREAT sounding Tremelo. As mentioned below, when it is on hard, you can still hear the guitar way back there, but I mainly use it on soft, so for my purposes it sounds great. Have used this in the studio and even there it did great. Just as good as any $150 pedal would. Like I said, it can clip a bit under heavy attack, but even then it is a musical clip. If it were lost I would replace it. Who can afford backups?

Although the knobs are clearly labeled and easy to understand, I've got big meaty fingers that have a hard time switching the toggle from Hard to Soft. I ran into this problem with the French Toast Octave pedal too, but it's not that big a deal.

Pretty good. It has a warmth and vibe to it that is very inspiring. Soft mode is more versatile, with a good amount of country and blues to it. It's not what I would consider super, but it is a very useable sound. It's great to add a slightly colored shimmer to your sound, and this mode just loves open chords. Hard mode is good for that stuttering, "Money" a la Pink Floyd sound, but it's not a true square wave sound. Between the oscillations, you can still hear your signal, although it is rather quiet. In a well-mixed studio track or in a live situation, it will sound like a square wave tremolo for all intensive purposes.

I'm leary. It hasn't screwed up yet, but I had a Chicken Salad Vibrato that died literally an hour out of the box. I can't help but mistrust a line of pedals that go from new to dead in under 60 minutes...

This pedal specifically seems to work fine. Still, I'm apprehensive...

Pfft. Like they give a rat's tail about these things brand-new, let alone after they've been bought and played through...

For the money, this pedal is a steal. I try not to let one bad apple ruin the bunch, but you've got to remember that paying $30 has its costs, and in the case of Dano Minis, it's not in the sound. You're playing Russian Roulette buying these things, so beware...

I truly do like the Mini series, though. I'm a studio musician and I like to experiment with very effects-heavy sounds. Being that I'm not a millionaire, when a track needs a good sounding tremolo I'm apt to find something good n' cheap rather than spring for the big daddies. If you're okay gambling with your money, the Dano Minis are everything you could hope for.

Its extemely easy to use. The knobs are very small so when setting the tempo on the trem its hard to get the sound you want. A tap tempo would improve it. Other than that though the sound is excellent. I love the pedal. I hate the Danelectro Minis to be honest but this one is worth more than what i paid for it

With this i am using - Fender Jazzmaster - Big Muff, BOSS MT2, BOSS PH3, de Milkshake Chorus, BOSS DD3, Line 6 Echo Park, de Reverb and a BOSS Ns2 noise gate through a line 6 Spider 150watt combo and the Tremolo makes no annoying noises at all. The power in the trem is massive and you can turn your guitar sound into something very ambient but just turning on this pedal.

I use this pedal as part of a giggin line up and although its plastic id say its reliable. Obv if you get carried away and batter the switch it will die on you but i could rely on it,

Have never needed to get in touch

You cant beat this pedal for value. Although its plastic you if have never come across a trem i trust more than this one. I try to make my guitar sound as little as a guitar as possible and this pedal helps to do the trick. Id defo replace this if it broke because i know i can depend on it.

Piece of piss. Dano minis aren't brain teasers. Knobs are small and fiddly.

Gordon Smith (Gibson style) guitars amd Marshall valve amp, plus a load of FX from Dano, Electro-Harmonix, DOD, Line6 etc that I never have more than 2 on at a time.
This is where this particular pedal shines. I have a few Dano minis and this one punches above its weight. Slightly compressed edge to the sound, and a useable range of speeds and intesities. Sounds retro and cool.

Cheap, plastic....reliable in the way a burger is reliable. They're everywhere and you know what it's gonna do.

Dano minis have the WTFWT factor-you turn 'em on and people say What The F**k Was That?! Get a load of 'em and hit one for each solo in your set.
They all suffer from some bad points: they're too small if you wear wide-toed shoes, they're plastic, the controls are fiddly. Who cares, they're fun and cheap.
Some other Dano pedals sound lofi and cheap, and I like their charm. The Tuna Melt is a bit different in that it can hold its own against pedals costing twice as much.
Do you really need Tap Tempo for a once-a-set pedal? Naaa...

If you can't figure out how to use this tremolo, you probably shouldn't be playing any instruments other than the bongos. The pedal comes with a manual with some example settings, but it works best if you just fool with it to get the sound you want. It couldn't be any easier to use.

I'm using this pedal with a Fender USA Telecaster and a Sans Amp GT2. I have found the tremolo pedal is very quiet, but if the gain is up really high (I mean really high) on your amp/preamp, you'll hear modulation (woosh-woosh-woosh) even when not playing the guitar. That's just the way things go for mod effects-- there is nothing noisy about this pedal. I think this pedal sounds as good (if not better) than the Boss tremolo which costs over twice as much.

I don't gig, but I think this pedal would be okay live if you're reasonable. I am concerned that over the long term, the pedal (which is about 100% plastic) will conk out. But I paid $28 new so how can I whine about it!? For home studio use, this pedal is great. If you weigh 250 pounds and like to jump on your pedals while death-metal rockin' at a club, this pedal probably isn't going to keep up with you.

Typical American-owned, Chinese-slave-manufactured product. You will likely never really get to talk to a human at Danelectro, but I can't say that they are any worse than Boss or other companies. These companies have all realized there is more money in succesfully hyping and marketing a shoddy product and selling a ton of them to kids than in researching and designing a fine product for dedicated musicians. Why else do you think Danelectro would make a PLASTIC food pedal? I've seen these things for sale at the music store in the mall, but hardly ever at musical instrument shops.

I think this pedal is a great value, but I would have paid more for (and been happier with) a metal casing or a higher-quality plastic pedal. It sounds great and is very easy to use, but my only concern is the long-term reliability. As long as I keep using it in a home studio, I can't imagine there will ever be any problems.

You turn two knobs, flip a toggle switch, then step on it. Its easy to use and easy to make annoying...if thats what you want.

Guitar-Black Bawl Wah, MXR Micro-Amp, Voodoo Lab Micro-Vibe, Boss CE-2, Peavey Classic 30-f/x loop(Dano-Land)-Tuna Melt Tremolo, French Toast Octave Fuzz, Fish & Chips EQ (mid boost), Mu-Tron Volume/Wah, Fish & Chips EQ (mid & volume cut), PB&J Echo.
Its not really noisy at all, especially compared to the Micro-Vibe(noisey swirl anyone? must be defective after 2 years) I love the soft setting, its quite warm. Has a much smooter and fatter tone than the built in tremolo on my Dad's Peavey Delta Blues. Sounds similar to his '66 Tremolux...just not nearly as sweet. It works for those classic CCR tunes, old school Blues, and a really cool jazz Piano/Fender Rhodes wanna-be tone (using piano style chord voicings). The hard setting is kind of fun to play around with, but it can really get annoying if used more than once or twice a set..

I've been using the majority of my Dano-minis for a little over a year now and I've only had to replace one of the EQs...still kind of works...but not really. Don't stomp on them too hard or be stupid with them and they will be alright for a while. Besides, these are like $20-$30 pedals...you get what you pay for...just remember that when your using them.

why?

Rock (50's-early 90's) and Blues. I'm happy with a new pedal as long as it sounds descent I can find a use for it for more than 3 or 4 songs a night. This one does. Seeing as how its cheap I would buy it again. I like the tone, I hate the plastic. I wish it was a little more durable but I'll deal with these Danos until I can afford stuff I "shouldn't" have to worry about.

Really easy, in a few seconds you'll be sounding like you want!

I use it with a Fender AMST Strato and a Epiphone Les Paul Classic in Marshall VS65R amp and some other effects like boss compressor, ts9, vox v847, boss eq, boss chorus and boss delay. This tremolo is vintage and awesome! I compared it to the boss' trem and the dano sounds really better, it haves the old amp's tremolo, very good pedal, the only thing I think could be better is the level of output!

The new ones came whith a plastic protection for the knobs, and is durable, but is plastic

Haven't deal whith them!

It's a very good pedal for a very nice price, take a look if you can, is one of the bests of danelectro's mini pedals, i thing it's the best! very vintage nice tremolo!

Easy. It might be kind of difficult to learn how to control the speed, but it's ok.

here's the example:
www.rodikkoles.narod.ru/tuna.mp3
(sorry for the low speed, but it's a free hosting)
sounds great. really. I like the surf. I like playing tremolo.

low. some people are used to marshall or boss pedals. they like to kick them to turn on/off. if you kick tuna melt, you'll break it. but... do you hit your amp, guitar, or cut the wires with a scissors? I don't.. therefore, reliability is not important. just treat it as you treat you guitar/amp/etc.

It won't break, unless you break it.

never needed one.

Two major disandvantages:
1. NO bypass (at high gain and volume you'll still hear it, even if it's turned off. but if you are using power adapter - as I do - it's easy to just cut the power, and the problem is solved)
2. HIGH durability (don't hit/kick it, and this problem is solved)

after all, it's a great pedal. I like it, and I hope you will like it too.

2 knobs, speed & level

a switch for hard or soft trem. it doesnt get any easier than that without having some ho's kick your fx on & off for you :)

a very good, very useable sound. whether you need the soft setting for traditional/classic trem, or the hard setting for stutters, this pedal delivers. i have not noticed any extra noise when using or bypassing this pedal.

im running a strat into a wah, trem, then marshall and with the gain about midway for a nice little crunch this thing sounds so sweet.

i do know that if not abused these pedals WILL last, but it is plastic, so i cant rate it as durable as a metal box

however with care it should last a long time

i have dealt with dano (eets corp.) before and they were extremely helpful and prompt with return

great deal on a great trem. it sounds better than alot of trems out there, but its not in a metal box with a boss nametag so it gets overlooked.

just try one and see for yourself. if you have a need for trem, this will work. if you dont really need a trem, i guess they all would be useless.

Es muy sencillo de utilizar. No hace falta ser Einstein!
Quiza el unico defecto que le veo es que el mando de "Speed" es un tanto logaritmmico, es decir, a partir de la mitad de recorrido se disparan las repeticiones con tan solo mover el mando unas micras!

La calidad de sonido es aceptable (sobre todo por su precio) aunque lo cierto es que hace un ruidillo de fondo q en estudio puede ser inaceptable, aunque para casa o concierto sobra calidad

Es altamente recomendado en cualquier estilo, digo yo

El tremolo es un efecto esencial en casi todos los estilos (al menos esa es mi opinion!)
Ya que no deberia faltar en tu pedalera uno, pienso q es buena idea tener uno tan bonito y tan barato como el Dano Tunamelt y ahorrate el dinero para pedales en los que la calidad sea definitiva (distorsiones, delays, etc)

Two knobs. Waveform (?) switch. and an on/off button

I like effects. And I like melody and I like noise. One this is an effect. Two this is melodic, three it can be all cooly cool for werid noisy stuff. I liked my friend's delay alot until I bought this pedal. Now I'm a trem fan (Note: I've always loved modulation, so Well yeah.) I also thinks this beats the pants off of the Boss TR-2 which my friend who works at Guitar Center was telling me to buy. It has character. And does what it says it does. Well if it could talk.

As long as I don't go nuts on it. I see this lasting. Plastic and all. I ausually take good cre of my equipment

Um. At the moment Danelectro seem to be inbetween hands, so I don't know how the customer service would be, but I really wouldn't bother. I also don't forsee any problems, and if there were I would just save up for a new one.

MY friend and I stand by Dano products. We have never tried anything by them we didn't like. Say nay to naysayers. These pedals fight Fascism

If you can't figure this one out, you should probably take up basket-weaving and forget music.

I have mine run in the FX loop of an all tube 50 watt amp. Rarely use the 'hard' setting....mostly use moderate ( 11- 3 O'clock ) Settings on the speed and depth controls, varying them to suit the song. Recently, Myself and three other proffesional guitarists were playing back to back sets at an outdoor festival and since we all use tremelo, we set up all of our trem pedals in line and all played through the whole line of fx. Between Boss, EH, Dunlop and Dano, at the end of the the night, we all had to agree that the Dano was, by far, the best, most musical and unobtrusive of the lot.

I now own three and have yet to have a problem

great little device whether used all the time or occasionally.Would not gig without one. Been playing proffesionally for 15 years, I'm not a FX nut, but this thing is great!!!

This thing is real easy. Two controls, depth of tremolo and speed. There's an extra switch which turns the depth knob all the way up, so you could conceivably get two settings out of it, but why bother.

I don't like this pedal on its own. But in tandem with my analog delay, it gets the job done. It's a harsh, square wave style tremolo, if it's harsh enough that you can hear its effect on your tone then you have the effect of somebody plugging and unpluggin your guitar really fast. No smooth, Pink Floyd "Money" tremolo here. If I set up a distortion unit before it, and after it, and use my analog delay to fade it out a bit, I can get the sound of REM's "Monster" Album pretty well, but there's not too much variety. It has two usuable sounds out of it:

1. "bubbly" fast and soft tremolo, which makes you sound like your guitar is scared of the dark.
2. Helicopoter takeoff noises.

Not really worth the money, I should have gotten a used Boss one off of Ebay where I could choose a smoother waveform. But it gets the job done.

It's plastic. But strong plastic. The optional footguard is a gem.

I got one by mail order, and it didn't have the optional foot guard. So I sent it back, and they gave me a new one. I think I had to pay for shipping. Funny, the corporate headquarters is in my town, and I couldn't just walk in to replace it. Oh well.

Not smooth enough, not very versatile at all, but I like the fact that a stomp on it can bring up helicopter effects. The extra "hard/soft" switch is superfluous, but it's not a bad effort for the price. Although, I have to say, I had twice as much fun with the Dano Pastrami Overdrive, and it was half the price.

The "hardest" part of figuring out this pedal is deciding where to put it in your signal chain. I settled on my effects loop so I could use the trem on both clean and distorted sounds on my Yamaha DG60-112. It's ridiculous easy to get a good sound out of it. The only way I could see anyoneh aving a difficult time with this is if someone had the trem depth set too low for the pulse to be audible.

After two years of use and abuse this pedal has provided some of the best musical moments I've ever had. I love finding new ways to use it: whether by itself with another instrument (bass, trumpet, lap steel), with other effects (varying the order of your signal chain is always fun for a bit), or playing what might seem like a mundane picking passage in time with the trem.

I prefer the HARD setting for my sonic explorations. Teamed up with generous amounts of delay just about any reasonable speed setting (for me, noon to about 2:30) on the Tuna Melt and you've got a surreal effect, especially if you can sync up your delay via tap tempo to match the speed of the trem. I don't find myself using the SOFT setting for much other than strummed, quieter chords. That setting adds a nice depth to chords, but I really, really bought this pedal for the helicopter-like staccato chop.

The only negative comments I can make about this pedal are, and maybe this is just in my setup, but when I click mine on the overall volume of my playing is boosted a bit. A level control would be nice to help tame slight increase in volume I can hear. Also, when it's on and you're not playing it's very, very loud and hissy, even on clean amp settings. Distortion is obviously another story. I think a level knob could help this tremendously by reducing the idle gain level to the rest of the signal chain. My setup is usually pretty quiet for the most part.

Other than that, this is one of the best <$50 purchases for music I've ever made. It's dead quiet when not on, and when it's on you know it, which is a good thing.

I have had it for over two years, Velcroed down into my pedalboard, and running off the PedalPad's power supply. It has never once failed, surged, or otherwise crapped out.

I've never had to deal with Dano myself, but any company that makes wah pedals that look like Cadillacs can't be all that bad.

As I said above, it's easily one of the best <$50 musical purchases I've ever made. For guitar, bass, or anything. I've always been tempted to get a Boss or similar equivalent (yes, I do have Gear Acquisition Syndrome like all of us), but I always ask myself "Why the heck would I want to do that? This pedal is awesome!" Plus, it's bright yellow, which is a bonus. It helps to pick up chicks.

Knobs and micro-switch can be a tad fiddly if you need to change something on the fly. Battery changes aren't super-easy but I've seen far worse. Actually operating the thing is damn simple. If you don't understand this then for your own safety you should probably only play electric guitar under careful supervision.

No noticeable noise problems - I haven't noticed any extraneous ticking, humming or pops when the switch is pressed. I can't hear any notable loss in volume/treble etc when using this unit.

If you're comparing this effect on a true scale, with the finest vintage amp trem at the high end, then by rights you'd expect to find this right down at the other end. you'd be wrong. This unit produces a highly pleasing throb which sounds surprisingly analog. I wouldn't say it's as fat and buttery as a boutique pedal such as colorsound or electroharmonix or a classic amp trem, but it's appreciably close. And I'm not factoring in the price right now, just comparing the sounds up against each other on a level playing field. If the vox/fender trems are a 10, this one is an easy 6.5/7.0

Now factor in the price...

Other guitarists, and normal people, seem to like the sound of this when I play. So do I. I use the 'soft' setting the most - the 'hard' one can be a little dramatic, but certainly makes the point if you use it judiciously.

I haven't experienced any problems.

Battery life seems pretty generous even with the crappy own-brand 9v they throw in. I've replaced it once in several dozen hours' worth of playing.

Actually, when the battery's into its last 2 hours or so of life, the pedal starts going completely wierd, speeding up and slowing down of its own accord and -freakiest of all- doing some strange compound rhythm like <dut-dut-dut... dut-dut-dut...> - frikkin' morse code?!?

I imagine one very heavy stomp would mean game over, however I don't tend to leap up and down on my *own* equipment ;p , neither do I wear diving boots very often while playing so I think I should be OK.

Never dealt with them.
If this unit breaks I will simply give it to my missus to make some kind of trendy kitsch decorative home feature with.
And I shall laugh in a carefree manner while buying another one.

It must be said however, the styling does kind of make you expect tic-tacs to drop out of the jack socket every time you press the footswitch. But bravo for making it look interesting and different. The design is unashamedly tacky and lightweight, however the circuit itself would not sound out of place in a cast-iron, over-engineered unit at a considerably higher price. (How about a heavy-duty deluxe version with a half-speed switch and a rotary soft-hard knob, Danelectro?)

My overall rating isn't 'for the price', it's a rating up against EVERY trem unit I've tried on a completely level playing field. If we do factor in the price I'd say if you want any better than this then you need to get either a #200 boutique hand-made pedal or a fender/vox amp with trem. So my advice is to buy this pedal REGARDLESS while you save up for one of the big guns. You may even, like myself, decide that this is the trem for you, full stop.

So simple even a drummer could use it:)

I use a decent LP copy and go through my chain to a DI and mixing board (No amp). I tested this with a boss distortion pedal before the tremelo.
Interesting sound, but not exactly what I was looking for. The speel range is from fast to really fast. The "hard setting is kind of interesting--by setting it both speed and depth to max you can get an almost tone-wheel effect.

Seems solid enough for a plastic box.

I play mostly metal (gothic/death). I think it has possiblities for textural playing.
I am definately going to get another trem though--one that has a wider speed range. (I'm thinking of using a analog lfo/vca combo it the studio. If I lost this I would probably pick another IF I could get it at a similar price.

This is easy, no need for a manual, sounds a LOT better then the overpriced Boss tremolo, more high cuts,more vintage sound.

I use a CIJ Jazzmaster with SD Antiquity pick ups, a Vintage 60'ties Farfisa F/AR solid state reverb unit and a Dinasour Digital delay on a Sovtek Mig 100 and also on a 72 Silverface Fender Bandmaster reverb coupled on a Marschall 1960 A 4x 12" cabinet.
It's sound nice as long as it got a fresh 9V battery in it, if not it reduces the overall volume quiet a bit.
I wanted to add a trem effect to my playing, but now with the Bandmaster which got a built in tube tremolo it is becomming a bit obsolete.

I gigged with it several times and it's reliable (with a FRESH 9V)
it serves it purpose as it should, so no problem there.
I got a backup in the Bandmaster, but didn't need it so far.

never dealth with them.

I play mainly instro Surf stuff and some Jazz. It sounds sweet in those old surf tunes together wit a nice wet reverb.
I play for about 12 years now and used a lot af gear so far, but the Tuna Melt is one of my better effects.
If it were stolen I wouldn't replace it, but get a foot reverb/tremolo foot switch for my Fender Bandmaster instead. (Nothing beats the Fender tremolo, IMO)
I wish it wasn't as plastic as it is, but I don't complain.
I compared it with the Boss Tremolo and the Tuna Melt is so much sweeter, more edged and clear, the sound is very vintage when compared to the Boss effect. It comes close to the Fender Tremolo.
I wish it didn't eat batteries as it does.
Surf's up and the Tuna Malt makes the waves, what more can I say...

if you can't figure this out then you probably can't feed yourself either...has tiny little knobs and toggle switch though, something a bit larger would've been nice but you know, cost blah blah blah.

I suckered a girl into buying this for me a few years ago...I was in a band that did mostly garage rock type stuff and I figured it would be a cool addition to the sound. I only used it on a couple of songs but it worked nicely and I didn't have the extra noise/volume drop that you often get with amp tremolos. I play mostly rockabilly and 50's blues type stuff now and I hadn't even looked at this thing for a couple of years. I dug it out the other day and plugged it in and was pretty impressed. I'm a vintage snob to a point (I probably wouldn't buy this now but wait, I didn't buy it anyway...) but haven't always been. I used to not think a whole lot of old gear but I've come to find that the vintage stuff really is the only way to get the sounds I like. Anyway, this is a modern pedal but it has a nice warm trem sound. Doesn't color your tone too much (although it seems to a little), if you plug it into a good tube amp you get a nice, warm throbbing tremolo sound. It's not quite as good as a good amp tremolo but doesn't suffer from the noise and volume drop that you often get with amps so it's a pretty good trade off. I usually just use the "soft" setting and it's a cool/spooky vintage sound. I could see recording with this.

I did use this live for several gigs and I also have used a Danelectro overdrive and slap echo and never had any problems with any of them. I take care of my equipment and never really abused these things though. It seems like it wouldn't take much to break one of these and Dano doesn't have the greatest rep for consistent quality. I've never personally had any problems with this or any other Danelectro gear but I never really put heavy use on any of it either.

I've been playing for about 10 years and have had 3 or 4 amps with tremolo. It's not a feature I use too much these days but every once in a while it's a very cool thing. Like I say, I just rediscovered this and was surprised at how nice it sounded, very vintage sounding. I wish it had a metal case and was a bit larger but beggars can't be choosers...Really, a good effect for the money, tremolo pedals have always been pretty pricey and this does the job as well as a lot of them for not too much dough. If it were stolen or lost I probably wouldn't worry about it too much but I like knowing it's there, sometimes you just want to get that humid, creepy thing going and this gets the job done.

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!!