Danelectro DJ-8 Hash Browns Flanger

Of course it's very easy to use - 3 knobs and an on/off switch.

My rig: guitars with boutique humbuckers or single coils going straight into this pedal and then going straight into a Pignose G40V. The sound quality is fantastic, but if you are used to the typical Tom Morello-style overbearing flange, you will find the tones that come from this pedal to be a little weak. I have always used flange a little differently than most people - I turn the depth up high and keep the speed and regency down very low. This adds a special color to my tone without "flanging your ears off." It thickens up your distortion and juices up your clean tones without the effect taking over. At this setting, this flanger is perfect for me. The sound is clear and sparkles nicely. It works just the way a pedal should - provide a little more color to your great existing tone. It is a bit of a noisy pedal I suppose, but no more so than many other pedals more expensive. Excellent tones, overall.

Don't be scared of plastic. They make artificial hearts and bullet-proof glass out of plastic. I gig without a backup and have never had any reliability issues. My Digitech flanger died before this one did. Full points here.

I'm not the type to call customer support when my gear breaks. I buy cheap gear and let my hands do the rest of the work. If this pedal breaks, I will just buy a new pedal. Why bother with customer support?

I've been playing 12 years or so. I play rock and progressive rock. I have owned a couple of other flangers. The Boss and Digitech units had more features, but the tone was less "organic," by which I mean that you could tell that it was a Boss or a Digitech, but you couldn't tell what amp or what guitar. This flanger on the other hand sounds great, but still sounds LIKE ME. If flange is vitally important to you, then yes I suppose you should go with a more expensive unit. This one is simple, sounds great, is a bit more subtle, and has fewer overall settings. Personally, I think it sounds much better than the Digitech or the Boss units I had - and it has lasted longer! Definitely has a great vintage vibe and pairs well with any setup.

It's very simple. Turn it on and listen to how the knobs change the sound when you twist them. Set it where you like it.

It's a little on the cheesy side, but what do you expect from a $30.00 flanger? Kinda thin and noisy, but you can get some nice silly, chewy over-the-top sounds out of it. It does an okay rotating speaker impersonation, especially when combined with tremelo.

Mine lives on my pedal board, so it's relatively safe. I don't think it'd last long if it was plugged and unplugged from a line of pedals on the floor in front of me every time I played. Again, for thirty bucks it's alright.

Wouldn't bother if it broke. Wouldn't surprise me if it broke.

I play a wide variety of music and have been doing so for thirty years both professionally and not. Basically I think anyone who takes a flanger seriously as a pedal is a dork (or Robin Trower...). That said, swooshy sounds for $30.00? How can you go wrong? For that price I'll be a dork too. If it died today I wouldn't be sad and I wouldn't rush right out to replace it either. However, if I happened to have a couple twenties on me the next time I went to a GC to buy strings I would consider picking up another one. For the money it's a cool pedal, but it's not what I'd call a great pedal. I keep it on the pedal board mostly for amusement and sonic comedy.

Its easy to use.
3 knobs.

Its killing my tone on my tube amp.
Using a Fender Deville 2X12 60 watt tube.
The oscallating woosh is gross.

one knob fell off, it looks very much plastic and not able to stand up to the riggors of violence that one occurs during a show, puke, boots and the "OOPS spilt beer"

Id gig with out a back up because Id just throw it in the trash if it broke.

never called them

Its harsh, even at low volumes its sucking my tone.

Ok, let me try again at HIGH tube amp volume,
BRB...

GAH, it sounds ok I guess. Just had my amp loud enough to have my pant legs vibrate and chest emplode.

I used it in the effects loop as suggested but it did not sound any better.

Try this, have no volume on your guitar, turn it off then turn it on then just let it stand there you can hear a wooshing sound even at low setting if the unit.

I have a digital flanger also and I dont use that.

It kind of fattens up or doubles your toneat very low setting but the constiant oscellating effect of my tube hiss *60 hrz sound* is goofy during silent parts.

Also I have an ENORMIOUS amp and its hard to get past volume 2.5.

Im thinking this would be better for humbucker pickups and a 10 inch amp or smaller champ.

Well its not getting along with my Tube amp and its amplifing my tube humm.

Its going back in the closit or perhapse Ill use it with my 12 string guitar.

To sum it up, $800 tube amp, $900 guitar plus $25 flanger plus single coils was bad and tone sucking!

The sound was "Cool" but even at lowest settings the "WOOSHING" was enough to make me unplug it and go back to tone.

*Kind of fattened up my sound but I think ill get a Keeley Mod $200 pedal*

For $5 It was not worth it but if you can get one on ebay for $10 and you like to collect guitar things you might use or might not then its ok.

I use Waves VST plugins and even though its a $2000 collection of effects it always sounds bad compared to hardware. In this case of the hashbrowns it smokes the hashbrows. I took this to my friends house and he would not even plug it in, he knows much more about this stuf then I do and said look for something analog from BOSS.

K, was cheaper then a 6 pack of beer but also gave my tone a hang over.

If it were stolen or lost id look around bars and clubs for the woosh sound untill I found the guy (Not the device)

Been playing for 20 years on acoustic, this is my first fender strat.

I compare this to waves plugins and my digital device but the digital device is a lot "Lower volume" and does not woosh at low guitar volume.

THe hash browns name is dorky, I remember when this device came out new and I they were BUDGET items that enabled you to buy their entire salid of effects for very low money.

just three knobs, not too difficult! only problem is that there is very little variation possible so whatever the settings, you'll wind up with the same sound anyway: eg speed doesn't go very slow or very fast etc.

it's very noisy. even compared to my EH polyflanger. and again: it always sounds like a very typical, cliche flanger.

the whole thing is made of thin plastic. doesn't feel very stable or solid. i took out the electronics and built it into my modular synth, where no-one can step on it.

don't know. never had to deal with them.

i've been playing for thirty years now (old fart!). only bought this because of the packeging and the name, really. it does good work now as a modulator for the white noise module in my modular analog synth. but i wouldn't dream of gigging/recording with a guitar.

A monkey on roller blades could use it. 3 knobs speed, regen, and width. easy to get great sound of. the suggestions on the box are cool.space ship sounds really weird.

Gibson explorer--this--danelectro dan o wah--dano pastrami--dano black licorice--dano bacon and eggs--digitech Grunge--digitech hot head--Marshall Half STack. Awesome and im 11 years old. this is the best flanger pedal. i use it at every gig.it is way better than that boss and digitech ones.

I would depend on it. i would use at a gig with no backup. it's plastic so don't crush it!

never had to deal with them

AWESOME PEDAL!!!!!!!

Easy to get good sound.

Works a little better in the effects loop of amp.

I use an Ibanez electric with humbuckers, a Peavey Studio Pro 50 and Fender Champ.

Pedal is not especially noisy. Can get subtle effects as well as jet plane effects out of it. Does not seem to color (or suck) tone very much.

I bought it used over a year ago. Have only used it at home. Seems like it would be OK as long as you don't abuse it. I may assemble a pedal board and add this in. Keeping your effects on a pedal board
and in a case of some sort may be an option for those who freak out everytime they see a pedal made of plastic.

I have an old distortion pedal that has a metal case - that old pedal also has TERRIBLE TONE.

I would rather have a good sounding pedal with a plastic box than a crappy sounding pedal in a metal case.

I got an email reply on some questions back about 5 years ago on my Echo pedal from Dano.

I play mostly classic rock, alt and some blues.

Lots of bang for the buck with this pedal. Try it before you buy it.
ITs not going to be perfect at this price, but you may find it useful.


It would be nice if it were a little larger with more space for the knobs and addition of a stereo output.

This pedal requires minimal brainpower to get the desired effect. It is a simple stompbox that has a great Flanger sound, with less noise than other flangers I've tried, and it is incredibly in-expensive as well. Probably the best value out there for a flanger. It has a 9v adaptor or works off the battery. The button is small and the case is made of durable hard plastic, but unless you're an ape with BAD AIM, it should be simple enough to activate. The button is noise-free. I don't have a manual. I bought this pedal used. It is very easy to operate.

I generally use a wah, distortion, phaser and this pedal. I have used this pedal by itself during practice. It is not noisy, and doesn't seem to suck the tone out of the pedal although it isn't a "true-bypass" circuit. The flanger effect is perfect.

This could be made of tungsten steel and have a foot-sized button made of titanium and it would be unbreakable. But I take decent care of my pedals and this would gig with no problem. It is plenty solid for what it is.

Never have needed customer service.

For the money the Hash Browns is an incredible value, sounding every bit as good as 80% of the flangers out there right now at normally less than half the price. However if you don't want a flanger, obviously you shouldn't get one!

Pretty easy to use. Speed, regen and width knobs. If you don't know what they mean, just fool around with them and find out. The stomp button is idiotic though. Easier to miss than many think.

I use a Fender Highway 1 Strat, a Crate GX212 combo, a Boss PH-2, an Ibanez DE-7, and of course the Hash Browns flanger. For one, I'm not all too big on flangers, and I find this one more repulsive than others. It is good when mixed with the distortion, but that's about it. It's kinda noisy and I've found (at least in mine) that if you use those new E2 Energizer batteries for it, it worls for about a minute, then completely shorts out. Overall, I'm not too satisfied with this pedal.

This thing is the biggest piece of crap ever built. First of all, it's made of plastic. PLASTIC! The knobs are mounted really badly and are VERY easy to lose of you're not careful. It gets chipped just by being on the ground. In regards to the battery door... where is it? Having to unscrew the bottom just to change the battery is bad in two ways: it's a pain in the ass, and THE CIRCUITRY GETS COMPLETELY EXPOSED! I can't even begin to think of all the fun mishaps that can turn your $20 or so investment into a table prop or coaster.

Don't even want to bother with those morons.

I got this pedal as a gift, and it truly is the thought that counts. Though this pedal can get the job fairly done at a reasonable price, I don't recommend it at all; not even for the poor musicians. Just go out and find a phaser (Boss PH-2 is the best if you can find a good used one) or if you want a flanger that badly, I suggest an Ibanez chorus/flange (that way you have the lush sound of a chorus at your disposal if you suddenly find the sould of a flanger utterly repulsive). As for the Danelectro company, here are a few tips: ditch the plastic pedal idea. It's the worst. Redesign your pedals, because they are the most ridiculous looking things I've ever seen. Make a bigger stomp button (at least) because sometimes, people step a little too short of it, thus failing to turn the effect on or off. Last but certainly not the least, DITCH THE STUPID NAMES! Go with the first two letters of the name of the effect, or just call it Danelectro (insert name here), but quit the Hash Browns, Pepperoni, Milk Shake, Daddy-O 50's crap, it's horrendous and annoying.

3 knobs. I was already familiar with Speed, Regen, and Width so it was no time at all to get good sounds.

Has an absoulutely beautiful sound! I play it with a Seagull S6+CW acoustic guitar, Digitech Main Squeeze Compressor, Zoom 707 multi effects processor, and then the Hash Browns flanger. I usually set the speed at 1:00, regen 9:00, and the width at 3:00. This produces a beautiful chorus sound with a slight swirling effect. I use this for slow songs mostly and can't get enough of playing with this sound! The only problem I have with the effect is that there is no output control, and the pedal seems to increase the signal slightly. I set my Zoom 707 to be used as a volume pedal that decreases the volume by 2dbs. When I use the flanger I decrease the volume by 2dbs and the ouput level stays the same. Not a huge difference, but when playing a quiet song you don't want to draw attention to the effect when you turn it on.

No problems so far. It's plastic and the knobs aren't mounted very solid, but it's a flanger and I don't plan on stomping on it. The sound quality is excellent for the price and the pedal is worth taking care of and not abusing.

N/A

I have been playing electric and acoustic guitar for 15 years, and bass for 2. I play acoustic guitar driven modern worship music in my church, and for slow songs this is my dream sound. Using a chorus like setting, it sounds like a blend between an electric and an acoustic guitar. I bought it because of the very good reviews on this web site, and because I didn't want to spend alot on a flanger. This is a very quality sounding effect for a very reasonable price. I would definately replace it if something happened.

Three buttons and one stomp button. Need I say more?

Mine is loaded up in the mini-case with four other Dano pedals. It doesn't sound near as good as the MXR Flanger I had in the 80s, but it also didn't cost anywhere near what that MXR did. For the price, it's a pretty decent sounding pedal. I works great with my Les Pauls, but it has a nasty sound with my single coil guitars.

I use it without a backup. Would I be heartbroken if it quit working? Probably not. Would I replace it? Maybe.