Danelectro DJ-9 Surf & Turf Compressor

This pedal only contains 2 knobs senesitivity and level which make it pretty easy to use yet it works wonders.

I use this sucker with a 70's model LTD lab seires 200 (the amp is horrible), and i hook that into an old big muff stack distortion and play through my squire. Regaurdless of how horrible all the equipment I used was, I still got amazing sustain and tone. When played through my gs30 D.O.D. pedal with a phase and wah it sounds like Vanhalen. I mean each not even in the higher pithces sounds like an explosion.

this hunk of plastic is as cool and condensed as a block of steal and unless you smash it with a sludge hammer, I wouldn't depend on it breaking

Never had to

The thing is just great for slicing dirt off the top of whatever distorsion you have find and then pounding it into the base of the note. This pedal can chop. -------$39.00------ lifetime investment.

Two controls, level and sensitivity. Level just appears to alter
the volume output from the pedal. Sensitivity alters the "amount"
of compression.

Various guitars through compressor, then thru Tech 21 sansAmp GT2
to computer or compressor to Trademark 10 amp. I haven't noticed
noise generated by the effect. It's nature is to amplify noise
present in the signal that is input to it. Play standing next to
a computer monitor and there will be noise.

The only product I can personally compare this with is the compression
on a Zoom 505 pedal, which it basically blows away. However, I have
no idea how it compares with other compressors.

How I use this is essentially to choose the amp model (on the Tech
21 devices) for the sound I want to obtain. I can then reduce the
drive settings on the Tech 21 units down to the minimum level, and
turn the compressor on. Set the level from the compressor about 1/2
way, tweak the sensitivity, 1/2 way to full on depending on what sound
you want to achieve. The effect is to give a "heavy", sustaining rock
sound without too much distortion of the signal. I've found I can
get sounds that are close (to my ears) to a Paul Kossof (Free) or
an early Rolling Stones sound. Good for Zeppelin too.

The pedal seems to have more effect on a clean or partially distorted
guitar sound. Using it before heavy distortion seems to be a waste
of battery power. So, if you solely play Slayer covers, this may not
be a good investment for you.

Has been very reliable so far (2 months or so in)

Never dealt with them

For me, compression was the missing piece of my sound. I could finally obtain sustain without noisy distortion, a revelation. This pedal is perfectly adequate for my purposes, there are likely better pedals out there, I wouldn't know.

Very easy to use. Only two knobs, level and sensitivity.

I just got this pedal. I am at school right now so I only have one of my guitars here which is an epi es 335 dot with a fender lace and a P90 pick-up. It is also coil tapped to get more of a fender sound out of it. I have a custum Les Paul at home as well. My effects are as follows: surf and turf comp>original dunlop wah> boss bluesdriver>peavey transtube bandit. This pedal does wonders for the over all tone of my set up. It makes my solid state sound like a tube, I swear. It also gives my wah a whole new attitude for funk. When I combine it with the BD I got a much more of a thick sound that would sustain forever. I really wasn't expecting much from this $30 pedal, it really surprised me that it has sustain. It is much more quiet than the boss CS from my experience. I also have a digi-tech rp3 that I haven't tried it with yet. I'm still clinging on to it for the tuner and delay it offers.

I have had it only for a short time so I dont know.

???? They did give me a fresh battery with it.:)

Well I think for the price you can't go wrong. I play a lot of bluesy funky stuff and I think this pedal is gonna work out great. I can't get over how much it brightens up my amp. I listen to everything from Eric Clapton to James Brown to CSNY to Phish and SCI. I still dont know if I have found the sweet spot in the settings. I am thinking of adding a Ibanez TS-7 to my rig. (Im a poor college student) I heard that pedal has a lot of bang for the buck. If it were stolen or lost I would be pissed, Then go buy another one.

Let's see uuuhh, Volume and Sensitivity ... yeah I think I can handle that!;~) Set the sensitivity to achieve the desired effect, then adjust the volume to compensate the loss in gain. As with any compressor, take it easy with that sensitivity knob or you might just over compress (unless that's the desired effect). No manual, but who needs one? Find the sweet spot that agrees with your guitar and amp and you're set!

As always, my primary tests are done with guitar and amp only, to get a true idea of the sound. Off the bat, I detected a small click when depressing the bypass switch. Not loud, but present nonetheless.

No audible hiss, but the bane of all compressors is that it will increase any noise present at the input. There was a slight hum, but again, not that noticable. I've played through real crappy, noisy gear in the past, the Surf and Turf sounds pristine in comparison.

I found it easier to achieve a good sound aout of my MIM Fender Stratocaster, the sound was thicker and more even, but not nasal or squashed to the point of sounding muddy.

Using my Pauls, it took a bit more doing to reach that sweet spot setting. With the Sensitivity set at 2 o'clock, humbuckers sounded too squashed and muddy. I ran out of time to fiddle with the settings(had to rush to work) but I am certain that with a bit of patience, I can find that sweet spot setting that will bring out the best out of humbuckers.

I am actually impressed on how rugged this little plastic sucker is! Agreed, plastic will break before metal does, but even the knobs feel solid - I read in another review that there was this one model with the knobs snapped off- that must have been done with pliers and the intent to snap the darned things off!

Honestly, I've only bought it today ... but I'm getting a good vibe from it, it is very well put together.

I might ament this review some time in the future and say it's an unreliable piece of trash ;~) but as it stands, (and based on the rave reviews here) I'd say it's pretty reliable as long as you treat it with respect!

Never had the opportunity!

Could this be the missing link in my pedalboard? Rather than a "sustain enhancer" - which is the reason many of us buy compressors, I wanted something that would bring out the best out of my guitars without distorting the signal.

Praise Harmony Central and the gear reviews, as it helped me narrow my options down to 3 choices: the MXR Dyna Comp, The Danelectro Surf and Turf and The Guyatone ST-2 (I think that's the model!).

All 3 were very well rated as far as sound quality was concerned, but the Dano had the other two beat for the price. Intrestingly enough, I found the MXR Dynacomp for $12.00 cheaper than the Guyatone ... agreed, we're talking different stores too, but it did get my attention.

I have more testing still to do, I want to see if I can get it to enhance my Les Paul tone as well as it does my Strat tone, but give credit where credit is due, it does bring out the best of my Strat ... it's like spices: a little goes a long way, but too little won't do a hell of a lot either! Find that sweet spot and you're a happy camper!

Two knobs. Couldn't be nuch easier than that.

I'm running a Fender P through a Peavey TNT130, and the noise factor is minimal.... no worries here. Danelectro doesn't make any real claims as to what it will do, and that's understandable; it's touted as a compressor, but seems to be just a limiting preamp to me. If you want a compressor, don't get this! It only has 2 knobs, because you can only adjust 2 parameters. A toy that gets old right away.

It's made of plastic, but seems strong enough to last a while. Plastic always seems to fail if you wait long enough.

Didn't own it long enough to have to deal with them.

PLusses: clean sound, came with battery, cute.
Negatives: No manual (no claims, but then you can only adjust 2 parameters). Doesn't compress...cheezy imitation. If you want a compressor, get a compressor....Alesis, DBX, Behringer etc. If you want cool effects, get a multi-effect unit...Zoom 708, DOD Bass 30, Korg AX1B etc. You'll only clutter up the floor with stuff like this (and ultimately spend more money).

Ok, two knobs, one of them being volume, so pretty much, you've got one great big compressor knob. Right for more, left for less. Can you get *any* simpler? :). It came with no manual, but if you need one, you shouldn't be playing guitar, or driving a car for that matter. If you can unscrew a bottle of ketchup, you can use this compressor.

For a $65 pedal, i wasn't expecting much. When i plugged it in, i was very suprized. This thing is virtually silent, which is great, and it gives the guitar a briliant chime. I have a fender american telecaster and through the bridge pickup is where this pedal shines. It doesn't distort or alter the tone, it just compresses, and it does it great. I play mostly clean blues, and this little box really pushes out the sound. 'Street spirt' by radiohead pops to mind when you play an Am arpegio through it :).

Is seems pretty solid, but the ones i saw in the store had its knobs snapped off, so i'm going to go easy on them. The button is nice and solid, but it's not like i'm gonna be stomping on it in the middle of a song. Still, those little knobs worry me a bit...

It came with a *fully charged* battery. (Hint, hint, Boss...)

Well, for $65, this is one very good pedal. It has one knob, so its a no-brainer to use, and it sounds great. Note that when you notch it past 7, it boosts the attack slightly. For size, it's extremely small and cute but those little knobs look like they could be snapped off by a big boot. Exercise caution :). But buy it!

Easy.. two knobs... very easy...

Great... I play a 86 Gibson Les Paul Studio and a 96 Fender American Standard Telecaster through a Fender 65 Bassman Head and a Laney 4/10 cabinet. My effect board has the following stomp boxes: Vox Wah>> Danelectro Surf and Turf>> DOD Overdrive Plus FX50B>> Boss Digital Delay DD3>> Danelectro Hash Browns Flanger>> Danelectro BLT Slap Echo>> MXR Phase 90>> Snarling Dogs Blue DOO. The Surf and Turf is very quiet and I set it as a boost pedal. Almost a volume pedal. It does the job very well, becouse I can get a great sustain and I doesn't change the sound of the guitar I am playing. I saw a picture of Pete Townshend setup of the Who reunion tour and He was using a Boss Overdrive and a MXR Dyna Comp. I love the Who sound. I tried the Dyna Comp and the Surf and Turf. They sounded pretty much the same. The main diference is the price and the size (my pedal board is god damn full). So I choose the Danelectro.

I have three Dano Mini pedals. I just love them... They are very good, strong (yes... It "is" made of plastic.. so what.. This little guy is hard as a rock).

Haven't dealt with them

Buy it... now... I am a very big fan of all Danelectro effects. It sounds great... you know that vintage sound... That's it... If you like this kind of sound... buy all of them

Two knobs; level and rate, easy to use and yes it sounds pretty darn good.

I play thru a Vibroverb (retubed) with a '57 Strat and a homemade Telecaster. The Surf-n-Turf sounds quite nice on both guitars. The compression is quite variable, from very subtle levels to Byrds-single-on-AMradio squash! This thing looks like a toy but works as well (or better) than many other heavy duty comps I've had around. Was relatively noise free in my practice room at low volume levels (two on the amp's main channel).

Plastic casing, tiny plastic knobs. I'm gonna be careful with mine. Be gentle on the footswitch, too. I am already considering replacing the knobs with something more substantial. But think about it - there are lots of pedals that are die-cast and still have plenty of plastic parts that bust up on you at the worst times.

Haven't dealt with customer support, but all the Danelectro pedals that I bought new had fresh batteries in 'em! Thanks, Danelectro!

I play a sort of minimalist pop music I suppose. Like to play Kinks and Who covers and 50's/60's country too. This comp is right on target for all this stuff as far as I can tell.

What everyone else says...two knobs. End of story.

I may be the most unqualified reviewer ever to grace these pages. Though I've been playing for 35 years, it's never been professionally...only weekend stuff, often with significant gaps between bands. I've never been real "systematic" about my set-ups, though I certainly have tried a number of pedals over the years.

But I will say this: I'm astounded that after all these years, this dinky little $39 unit has come closer than anything I've ever tried to giving me what I want...that is, a full, sustained sound for soloing that's CLEAN and not distorted, and that doesn't alter the tone of my guitar. I've tried a couple of other compressors over the years, but they always clipped the attack too much. This one is right there doing just what I want it to. It's quiet, too.

I play a 1965 Rickenbacker through a 1968 Fender Vibrolux tube amp. Most of what I'm doing now is vintage 50s rock 'n' roll/rockabilly and 60s punk. I've got the fuzz I need for the punk covered by another unit; this thing fits in perfectly with the clean sound I need to get on 50s stuff (i.e. Chuck Berry -- death to any guitarist who plays a Chuck Berry solo that's all fuzzed up!!!!), Carl Perkins, Paul Burlison, etc.

Take it for what it's worth, but I love this damn thing.

No idea...too new.

Hope I don't ever have to find out about this.

What can I say? I love it.

Two knobs. You turn up the volume to your taste, then turn the sensitivity to the amount of compression you want.
There's no manual, but you don't need one (see the above directions).

My setup is as follows: '69 Reissue Fender Mustang -> Surf & Turf -> Dunlop Hendrix Wah -> Snarling Dogs Tweed OD -> Crate GFX-65.
This thing is silent, and that's the idea. It evens the volume out from string to string perfectly (no piercing high E and thuddy, quiet D string). It sounds great for everything from Chili Peppers covers (though not exactly a Kiedis tone) to a clean solo boost. It works great to squish my overdrive sound, too. It's great!

Even though it's almost all plastic, it's not exactly a pedal that would require a huge stomp.
I don't gig a lot (yet), but I'm too poor at the moment to have backups. I wouldn't need them anyway, all my pedals are tough.

N/A

I play alternative rock, punk, and some new Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque pop. The Compressor is perfect for the Chili Peppers, or any other clean songs. It also complements my Overdrive perfectly. If it were stolen, I'd probably buy another one.
I had a Boss CS-3 before, but it fried on me. I liked the way is compressed AND sustained, but its time passed. I would like it if the Surf & Turf sustained the tone a bite more. Other than that, it's perfect.