Danelectro DO-1 Daddy-O Overdrive

Five small knobs. If you have big hands, bring a pair of pliers. For sound: twiddle "drive" and "high" 'til you get there. I didn't, sorry to say. Anyway, nice to see a 3-band EQ. Battery compartment - sure, it's easy to open, but to *close*...man, that plastic's going to break off eventually. Now, the box...heart-shaped, anyone noticed that?

A little noisy (all distortion pedals are...). Now, I expected this to be a beefed-up TubeScreamer and it certainly sounded so in the store but...when I got home and compared it to my TS10, the latter won hands down! On the other hand, it can be used for heavy distortion but there again, my Boss Me(n)tal Zone beat it silly! The Daddy-O sounded better at low volumes tho...pretty grungey. Bottom line, it's good but not good enough for me, and I don't even use boutique pedals. It can't do the "clean boost" thing like the TubeScreamer, it does not boost the signal when distortion is set at lowest. Of course, the Metal Zone also sukx at "slight" overdrive, like the Daddy-O, it always has a trebly harshness to it.

Built like a brick sh*thouse, only smaller. Weighs...quite a lot. But my main gripes are: flimsy knobs and battery compartment flap that has to be forced back in place.

I ended up taking it back to the music store, because my current gear (Squier strat - Swedish Compressor/Sustainer/ - TS10 - Metal Zone - Swedish Tremelo - Blues Junior) sounded better without the addition/substitution - when playing with my band and playing our own songs! Never forget to test any "candidate" gear IRL! Now, if you're shopping for the ONE pedal that will do both decent overdrive and heavy distortion and don't mind it's stunning looks (second to the V-Twin only but that's another decade styley) it might certainly be for you. You be the judge, as always.

Nice flexibility from an overdrive pedal. volume, bass, mid, treble, and gain controls. The knobs, however are small and close together. The manual has some usable settings.

Not very noisy at all. I imagine it would be silent w/ lace sensors or humbuckers. The range of gain is outstanding, from subtle blues growl to hard rock. The effect is nicely transparent at low gain settings, and it is sensitive to picking attack. Medium-gain is useful for crunch and leads, and maxed gain is fairly impressive. The gain is pretty trebly, so keep mids and highs in check.

It seems quite solid, and the switch has a good feel.

I really like this pedal, and I may check out the Fab Tone. I preferred it to all the other overdrive pedals I have played, and it would still be unbeatable in a higher price range. It has nice definition, but I wish the bass could be boosted more. Maybe an EQ pedal would do the trick. P.S. IT LOOKS COOL!

This pedal is as straight forward as can be expected. Five controls;Volume, overdrive, bass, mid, and trebble. The instruction book delivers suggestions for specific sounds from Jazz to rock, or "60's Crunch".

Reasonably quiet...no worse than any other pedal. The sound is great. Very good impression of a tube amp. The controls make this a very versatile, and high quality sounding pedal for $80!

I assume so, it's all metal and looks very durable. Obviously not a cheap little plastic thing!

Just got it...can't say yet....but I don't think I'll need it.

I'd certainly buy it again. Compared to anything in the same price range, well there is no comparrison. I'd also consider a Tube King. If I ever stop playing, the Daddy-O would make a nice decoration!

Not hard to get a decent sound. Some tweaking required for the exacty sound you want. The manual is clear and has some decent suggestions. Good starting points.

As with most such boxes, you can get some hiss by cranking the overdrive and the volume. But it's quiet compared to most others. And the quality of the distortion is terrific. It's organic and rich sounding, not buzzy and fake like most others. The three tone controls make it easy to clean up mushy chords or add an edge or some bottom or whatever.

Seems solid, but time will tell.

It's a terrific box. I bought it to replace a DOD FX-52 Classic Fuzz, which I thought sounded fine but was not too flexible. This is miles better in flexibility and sound quality. I wish the knobs weren't so close together, but on the other hand it looks ultra cool.

The manual has lots of great sounds for rock, a little metal, blues, Jazz, country, and like 60's british tones. simple 5 buttons volume, bass, mid, treble, and O. Drive.

The distortion is the best I have ever dealt with. Yeah it gets noisy when the volume is turned up with a lot of overdrive but what pedal doesn't so I will dis miss that con in favor of awesome sound. Great range from light boosted signal sounds to full blown rock lead sounds. It is a very good pedal.

You can depend on it alright. No backup needed. This Daddy O is built like a tank from top too bottom and the controls show NO weakness.

haven't and probably won't deal with em.

I would buy it again right now. I love the overall sound and hate well I hate NOTHING. I compared it to products like it's brother the Fab Tone and liked the Daddy O's range better. I would recomend it too any serious guitarist for it's great sound. I would ONLY recomend it to a beginner because of it's nice price tag of 79.99 retail in the US. This pedal is for guitarist serious about there sound that want to go out and make music whether on stage, in the garage, or in the studio. Nice job Danelectro

Very simple to operate. Very straight forward. The main critique here is the size of the controls: very close toghether, but the unusual nomber of controls (5) make this a very versatile pedal. The manual is very straight forward, but the best is the suggestions of settings.

This pedal gets a bit noisy at high volume setting, like all distortion pedals, but you don't need to crank the volume all the way up in any pedal to get good sound and tone. The range of distortion possibilities is enormous: from subtle fuzz to pretty good crunch, especially since the distortion range can be tailored with the three tone controls. I'd say it's one of the best distortion pedals i have ever owned. Actually I sold a multi-effects pedal when I got the Daddy O.

I'd definitely use it on a gig. This thing looks and feels virtually indestructible. Very heavy metal casing with easy access to the battery chamber. I won't take back-up.

Have had it for one month. Haven't had the need to call customer support. To be hones I don't think I'll ever have to.

Great piece of gear. Would definitely buy again. Range of distortion is awesome due to all the possible combinations. I love it so much I sold a multi effects pedal when I bought this and ordered the Cool Cat chorus from Danelectro. (I'll post a review of this other pedal.) The price is unbeatable and the looks are great to go along with a Les Paul, vintage guitars, and a tweed covered tube amp. Recomend to anyone beginers and experienced guitarists.

This thing is so cool! YOu just plug in and punch it to the floor. Easy to use is and understatement.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I've been wanting this sound for ages. I spent over 2 hours in the store with my guitar and amp. I got everything out of it I wanted. Just barely breaking up to messed up fuzz. Very smooth and better than Corn Pops.

Can't say. Just bought it. I might buy another one just to turn it into a Fallout Shelter.

I would buy this again in a second. I played with several other boxes while I was there. Some did one thing okay and others did something else pretty well. This is the one that worked everywhere. AND, let us not forget, you can make all your friends jealous because this is the coolest looking pedal you'll ever see. Kinda wish I could drive it to work.

Very simple. Just like an Ibanez Tube-King, there are five knobs. Volume, Overdive, Bass, Mid and Treble. Dialing in your tone is just a matter of tweaking the knobs till it sounds right.
There's an LED light, and it has an adapter jack that will accomodate a BOSS adapter

It sounds GREAT!!. Very warm, natural overdrive. It's very quiet, but gets a little nosier as you turn up the volume (Just like any dist. pedal) The manual includes several settings, such as: 60's British Rock, Texas Blues and Country Twang. Also, there are settings to use if you are running it with the Danalectro Cool-Cat Chorus. The controls are Very responsive, with lots of range. The tone is also very "touch-sensitive", picking harder gies you a more heavy sound, while easing up gives you a quieter sound.
You can get a large variety of tones. From smooth overdrive to "hard rock", and even a little bit of fuzz
Here are my settings for a very authentic-sounding Yardbirds-era Page fuzz tone.....
Vol- 9 oclock O.Drive-3:30 Bass-2:30 Mid-2:30 Treble-4 oclock

Well, I've only had it for a week, so I can testify as to it's reliabilty just yet. However, it's VERY SOLID. The pedal housing is made of die-cast zinc-about an eighth of an inch thick!! It weighs more than the average BOSS pedal. I don't see how it could break. The battery compartment is accessable from the bottom(no screwdriver required!!) and the battery fits securely. Overall, I'd say it's very well designed.

Don't know. The pedal comes with a one-year warranty

I love this pedal. It's the bargain of the century!!! At 90 dollars, this thing is about $25 less than the average pedal, and MUCH less than a TS-9 re-issue. Even if you only find one sound from it that you like it's an incredible deal! I'm sure this won't be the last distortion pedal I ever buy, but it was reallly worth the money. Try this pedal out, you're certain to find a tone you like. It even comes with a free battery--I'll say it again-BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY!!!!

Very easy to use (the manual even had some great sounding suggestions!). Vol, 3 tones, and overdrive.

Great tube overdrive! Quiet, smooth. Comparable to the TS-9 Reissue (I actually though it sounded better!)

Just bought it... It is built like a tank though. Heavy, metal casing. Plus, good rubber sole to keep it from sliding around.

Not used yet...

This is the best overdrive I've tried (Blues Driver, TS-9), and it's less than $60! Sounds amazing when combined with my chorus (60's British rock)

Simple box with drive and level. It has bass, treble, middle pots also. Would give it a 10 but the knobs, even though useful, are small. Manual was pretty good for some factory "presets".

Pretty quiet for a box-slightly above average for an overdrive box. The distortion is great and just like you might have read, very much like a tubescreamer. Compared to my old TS-9 I think this unit had just a little more distortion in the max setting. The 3-band eq. is great-even if the knobs are crowded.

Haven't had it long so I don't know. The thing is built like billet though, its substantial and you could probably defend yourself quite well with it!

Tried to get ahold of the company to inquire about their other products but all I got was voice-mail.

Yeah, I would buy it again. It sounds much like my TS-9 at a little more than half the price. You really have to see it in person to apreciate just how cool this thing looks-sort of a '58 Cadillac with knobs effect. It is absolutely the coolest looking pedal I have ever fondled, it sounds great, and it costs 65 bucks!