Danelectro DO-1 Daddy-O Overdrive

The one thing that stands out in my mind when thinking of the Daddy-O is the range of the EQ. By far it's the widest EQ covering a HUGE range of frequencies which can give you a lot of sonic possibilities, but it can also be frustrating if you've never used anything like it before. Make no mistake, it is worth the time learning how to use, so do it.

My lineup starts with an Ibanez SZ720 going directly into the input of my Trace Elliot SuperTramp Twin (100W 2x12 trans/tube combo). Any effects I use go into the effects loop of the amp, so from the output of the amp it goes to the Daddy-O to a Cry Baby wah wah to a Boss volume pedal and finally to an Alesis MicroVerb before going back into the amp. The amp currently has crap Silver series Celestions, but these will be replaced with Vintage 30s soon.

This is NOT a distortion pedal, you won't get metal tones out of this thing. If you try, it will just sound bad. When thinking of the sound of this pedal, think of a Fender DeVille or Hot Rod sound. It's that bluesy, warm garble and sparkle. You can crank up the overdrive to fuzz but I've never been a big fan of fuzz so I don't do that. As I said, the EQ is fantastic and frankly I don't think a Tube Screamer can hold a candle to this thing. Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's better. This pedal is warm warm warm.

Extremely reliable and well built, like an old Chevy. The knobs are solid and the casing is built like a brick house. The electronics seem simple and dependable.

Never had to deal with them, hasn't pooped out on me yet.

I play blues, rock, and some metal. I've been using the Daddy-O mostly for it's EQ since my amp has great distortion, but horrible EQ properties. This pedal can really add bottom end and great overdrive tones when not using my amp's distortion (tube 12AX7). On top of that I get some really interesting characteristics by layering the overdrive and distortion together. I really do believe that this pedal should be in any serious guitarist's line up. Is the Tube Screamer still a great pedal, yes, but I wouldn't settle for one anymore. Go with the Daddy-O, you won't go wrong.

Easy? It's a pedal, and if it's even if it's your first, the controls are exactly like an amp, so if it's puzzling you're already in trouble. Once you realize it's a distortion pedal and not an "overdrive" as it's billed, you're good to go.

Not all that easy to get great sounds out of, but works as advertised.

I was really taken with this big ole yeller thing at first. magically i dialed in a fuzz-like drive that had that certain awesome buzz i was looking for, and this was after about 20 minutes of playing with it.

Good to go, except it does little else all that mind blowing in my opinion. Good pedal, just much more limted than the 5 knobs would've had me believe. It does not clean up very well, and won't replace your blues driver or screamer. trust me, i tried every possible setting, really wanting to unlock more than just that one (with a little variation available) cool distortion, but no luck my friends. To my ears, it does a cool, unique distort, and that's it.

That one sound I found rocks though, to i'll definitely be keeping it. They're cheap, so buy one of your own and mabe you'll find your own cool sounds too, maybe? I don't know, my friend got a Nobels that sounds a lot better, very underrated and awesome. About the same price, so try both I guess. I like that the daddy O is unique, so if you like that idea go for it. If you're looking for utility, like most players want in an overdrive get a VooDoo Labs or TS or the others.

Or get a Nobels, they're good. I have a bunch of others, so the Daddy O is a welcome and rocking tone for my tool box.

lthe jacks are plastic. everything else is solid though. i actually don't really care, but i bet this would survive a tour.

a couple tours though? i'd have to see the insides, and i'm just not that worried about it.

don't know, don't really care.

It's a lot of fun. Has a tone of it's own, which appeals to me. It can sound pretty terrible on some settings, but some settings go places no other amp or processor I have can get, so I like it.

Lots of balls for 50 bucks, cool and blistering. Waaaay better than the old dods and crap that used to be available. For the price, it ain't perfection, but it'll be a great fit for players who like a good burning tone, like me. I'll give it an 8, fine piece of gear but room for improvement. The unique sound is basically what it's all about, so you'll know if it's for you.

Overdrive is not a complicated affair, no matter what pedal you use. A good overdrive takes care of all the complication for you, producing a good sound without having to over-tweak or program. In that sense, this pedal is great. The three-band EQ is really handy, and the stomp switch is easy to find with your foot. Stomp on, stomp off, Daniel San.

I'm using a Fender Strat with Lace Sensors (Blue/Silver/Gold). This pedal produces a pure, true sound that is clear and colorful. The pedal is very warm, but it sounds best with the OD knob right around 1:00. It's got grit and it's very responsive to the volume knob on your guitar. The three-band EQ allows you to dial in most manners of clear overdrive, which is handy.

This is my first overdrive since my Tube Screamer Turbo, which I got rid of about 7 years ago. This thing is a much more organic, useable pedal than the TST. The TST was incredibly brittle and gave a very nondescript sound to your playing. I can't speak for the TS808, or the Maxon OD808, or the Tube Screamer reissue, but the Tube Screamer Turbo was one of the defining reasons I disliked overdrive. I thought, it my young stupidity, that the TST was expensive and therefore good, and if that's what good sounds like that then "good" overdrive had no place in my chain. And that was my state of mind for the last 7 years.

Fortunately, upon trying the Daddy-O, I've found an overdrive that's warm, colorful, and full of life. It's very expressive, and I know there will be scoffers that balk at my preference of Dano over the Ibanez Tube Screamer Turbo, but I've got to go with my ears on this one.

I play psychedelic music, and I'm a pretty big fan of effects-heavy guitar. The Daddy-O a great, clean alternative to my Big Muff, French Toast, or Maestro Fuzz tone.

I've owned about 13 Dano pedals, and only one crapped out on me (Chicken Salad Vibrato). I guess they're a bit iffy, but the higher-end pedals are made quite a bit better than the Mini Dano's.

*shrugs*

I fell in love with this pedal, but perhaps that's because of my underexposure to Overdrive. Having never played through an OD pedal in literally 7 years, I guess I kind of lost touch with the effect. Upon plugging it in and and strumming a few, I thought to myself "Gee, this doesn't do much for my sound." Then, after fiddling with it for a while, I realized that this was the beauty of a good overdrive. I had been missing this crisp, transparent clarity in my effects, since all my others are thick modulators, synthesizers, or fuzz units. The Daddy-O is a very subtle effect, and I like how it lets your guitar do the talking. For the price I paid for it, I'm extremely happy. Also, this unit is quite replacable, should something go wrong.

I guess the reason I'm most happy with this pedal is because it put me back in touch with a long-gone period of time in my playing. I used to be huge into blues. I loved SRV, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, the Three Kings, etc. From there, I found myself averted by Hendrix, which started me on a long, beautiful psychedelic kick that to this day dominates the music I record. This pedal makes me feel like a 17-year-old kid playing along with "Pride and Joy" or "The Thrill is Gone" in his bedroom.

I don't regret my trip into psychedelia, but this pedal was a breath of fresh air.

I've used this pedal in a number of different set ups, it was first bought to provide a dirty channel because my amp overdrive was weak, now i use it in conjunction with other pedals. It has always been easy to get great sounds out of. The controls are straight forward, you can hear the results straight away and the EQ is a really useful feature.

I will however moan at the closeness of the knobs, can't be helped i guess but it is a bit irritating, i'm just glad i don't have fat fingers.

Like i said, i used it by itself at first and it provided a pretty nice sound, if a little "dry" maybe?

Now i used it in conjunction with a boss dual overdrive SD-2 and it sounds awesome. The boss is noisy and raucous and the daddy o quietens it down, fuzzes it up some more and gives it a rich creamy sound which is equally good for power chords, open chords or high squealing notes (think smashing pumpkins sound, but not quite as ball-scrapingly heavy, more shoegazery). Every note is clear.

My set up, by the way:

Fender Musicmaster/Jaguar -> Ibanez DDL delay -> Boss SD-2 Dual Overdrive -> Passive splitter (splits the signal into two paths)
1. Daddy-0
2. Marshall Guv'nor (though i'm looking to replace this with a second daddy-o)
these are both fed into an A-B box and the single output from the box goes into my Marshall JTM-60 Amp. I can then change whether the signal goes through the daddy-o or the guv'nor with the flick of an a-b switch. clever huh? and cheaper than an LS-2.

I've also used it for bass and whilst it can't match a dedicated bass overdrive pedal, it does a damn fine job.

The slight dryness when used by itself means i have to give it 8.

Nothing has ever gone wrong with this pedal, i've had it for nearly a year now and it's always been ace, either with batteries or psu.

The shell is solid, the battery compartment is solid, the button is solid, the knobs seem flimsy but to be honest nothing has gone wrong as yet.

n/a

Eesh! Looking back now, #60 seems a ridiculous price, i must explain that i bought it with credit after returning the godawful metal zone pedal from whence it came.

I'm actually about to trade my marshall guv'nor for a second daddy o, then i can have one at a higher volume and bassier setting for really heavy sections. It works so well with the boss SD-2 that there's no point trying any more pedals (i bought the guv'nor cause i didn't want two daddy-o's and it looked pretty similar, with EQ and all that jazz - it's just not fuzzy enough!). Plus they're so reasonably priced now that i'd be mad not to snap one up.

It's unfair to rave about this pedal too much, as it was only the coming together of SD-2 and Daddy-O that really made my sound complete. Every rig is different, but this pedal is so versatile that I think it can be applied to most things.

5 little knobs and your imagination!

Most versatile overdrive out there. From clean boost to either bassy or midrangy dirt. There are some really nice units like the expensive Klon Centaur that I've tried, but at under 100 dollars, the Daddy-O is a KILLER value. I play bar band rock n' roll with a loud Fender amp and Fender and Gibson guitars, as well as a Maestro fuzz and a Crybaby. This set-up has to be flexible to get a lot of rock tones, and the Daddy-O can do a lot for the price

This is from the first series of Dano FX, which are heavy duty and rugged, not like the 2nd series, which are tiny and plastic and cheap.

Kick Ass!

Well, it's not your typical overdrive pedal. It has five knobs; a Level, a Drive, and a Low, Mid, and High EQ. Knowing that, you've got to know that there is a wide range of tweakability and sounds to be found in this pedal.

It's a little bit difficult at first, but once you get the swing of it, you'll be rockin' and rollin' in no time flat. or sharp. I never noticed that you can use both terms like that and they're both musically adapt. Ha!

This pedal can churn out tones that range from just barely clipping to high-gain crunchy fuzz. In the middle rests a sweet spot; a milky, warm, unadultered warm-sounding overdrive.

The subtle settings (gain from 0-10 o'clock) on this pedal give you a crunchy tube amp tone. As warm as a Twin? Nah, not quite. But it gets you in the territory.

The mid-range settings (gain from 11-2 o'clock) give you the classic Led-Zep/ACDC tones that were so famous. Does it sound just like a Classic Marshall Stack? Nah...but it gets you in the ballpark.

The heavy full-on settings (gain from 3 o'clock and up) keep the straight overdrive character but it boosts itself with a fuzz circuit so you have a very good overdriven fuzztone. It sounds very similar to the gain circuit on a lot of Fender amps these days, mainly the little "Mini Twin". Very good Jimi-tone, I'd say.


I would not recommend this pedal as a booster, however...it colors your tone way too much and it's not transparent like a lot of boosters (SD-1, TS-9, BD-2, etc). It doesn't like to mix well with other distortions either.

It holds its own on my pedalboard pretty well though.

Well, it's about twice the size of a regular Boss pedal, and it is made out of solid metal. The footswitch is el-cheapo, not as bad as the mini's, but still seems really fragile. I've taken it out once before but there's something about it that I just can't rest easy with.

I think it's going to break someday when I least expect it to.

I like to play Alternative/Hard Rock. I like my subtle overdriven tones, but I also like to dink around with fuzzboxes and Mesa/Boogie modelers. I particularly favor the Marshall and Mesa/Boogie Hi-gain tones.

This pedal really didn't fit the bill for me. However it seems like a great pedal for those who really want to rock out and want a subtle overdrive to step on for high-boosted solos.

This pedal would work great for a clean channel overdrive. Let's say you're playing a sweet sounding song on your clean channel with the neck pickup of your ES-335. All of a sudden the break comes and you can step on this bad boy and solo 'till your cows come home.

THAT is what this pedal is made for. And THAT is what this pedal is best at. It's better than the Boss SD-1 and TS-9 for these types of things, in my opinion. The SD-1 and TS-9s are better as boosters. The Daddy-O was designed as an Overdrive pedal for solos, and that's what it does.

It has 3 knobs for treble, mid, bass boosting, 1 knob for the level of distortion, 1 knob for the volume. Very simple. Maybe the knobs are too close, and your fingers won?t enter the chinks easily (not too good for a fast regulation while playing).

A great overdrive for blues men, excellent for Texas blues. . Perfect with single coils. You can get the ?Texas Blues? setting from the user manual? I think it?s great for jamming on some SRV? stuff. I would not suggest it to ?crunchers?; the sound is smooth, fatty, vintage-style. I often enjoy this pedal alone, and it?s enough? can really give the right mood to riff! There?s another great setting in the manual for mellow jazz.

Solid rock.

Dunno.

Good design, warm sound, solid stuff.

Five knobs allow for a wide variety of sounds, but it is hard for me to find a setting I can stick with.

I play a mexican strat through a fender blues junior. The pedal isn't really noisy. Effect is pretty strong, but not quite a tube amp. This pedal sounds much better on my solid-state fender sidekick reverb 25. But on tube amps, at least in my opinion, the pedal comes up a little short, even for its price range.

Seems reliable, I don't go on tour or gig or anything. So I wouldn't know.

Not good for punk or metal. Better for blues, maybe some alternative rock, and even for some country. If it were lost, I'd look towards some more high-end pedals like Fulltone or Analogman or something.

It's hard to NOT get a good sound with this one, I think. One of the most usable distortion/overdrives I've tried.

I've got one pedal board with nothing but overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals, and half of them are ones I've made myself. The Daddy-O got itself a spot on the main board within 5 minutes of unpacking it. It's capable of a wide range of od/dist flavors, and the 3 band eq is very nice. I find myself using it for medium dirt settings the most with my 335 clone. If I can find another cheap enough on eBay, I'll certainly snag it, too.

Metal, heavy. Don't use it as a hockey puck and it'll live.

No idea - bought it used

Awesome little unit for mild to moderate dirt. Cleans up well with the volume knob. Not as responsive to picking dynamics as my Rangemaster clone, but, that's why I have a whole board of dist. units. Nothing is going to be perfect every time. For blues to classic rock to rockabilly-esque stuff, this is one useful little box.

Regardless of the price, this is the best overall distortion pedal I've ever used. It has a 3 band eq, a volume and a distortion knob, and with that, you can get every distortion sound imaginable, except for some very heavy death metal sounds.

I play several different guitars on stage, mostly with after-market pickups, and mostly humbuckers, and a marshall half-stack. The Daddy-O has no noise, no unwanted feedback. I can easily get classic 70's and 80's metal sounds from this setup, from Boston to Megadeth. It's also easy to get stoner metal sounds, like Fu Manchu and Clutch... surprisingly, not with the knobs on the pedal, but on your guitar. My settings on the pedal are all three eq's on 10, the distortion on 10, and the volume straight up (12 oclock). Then, using the volumes and tone knobs on my guitar, I can get any sound imaginable (saves a lot of bending over on stage). For crunchy, mid-rangy classic metal, I use the bridge pickup and tone and volume knows all the way up. Switch to the neck pickup, and back the volume down halfway, you get the classic BB King blues sound. Neck volume up and tone knob down, you get a nice fuzz that sounds a lot like Fu Manchu. As mentioned, I don't think this would work well if all you play is super-distorted, floor rattling death metal, but for everything else, especially if you play a lot of covers and need a lot of different sounds, nothing beats the Daddy-O.

It's built from cast metal, weighs around 2 pounds, and has a very sticky, textured rubber bottom. The switch is also cast metal. Built like a rock, and stays put on stage. The input and output and power supply jacks are on the front of the pedal, making for much less clutter on stage. The battery fits in the bottom of the pedal. The knobs could be a little better if they'd gone less for style and more for reliability (they're too tall and flimsy, need to be more like the knobs on Boss pedals for more reliability). I actually have two of these... I use one and take the other with me on gigs in case something happens to the first one.

Never had to deal with them.

I play mostly metal, from the 70's through the 90's, along with originals and studio work. I've been playing for over 20 years. I have several distortions and overdrives, none of which I use anymore... a DOD Death Metal, a Boss Overdrive, a Boss Distortion, an MXR distortion, and an original Big Muff... other than the Death Metal, the Daddy-O gets all the sounds the other pedals do. I was just messing around today with some older Judas Priest songs, and dialed in the exact same sound using the Daddy-O, even using a smaller Marshall practice amp. If you buy one distortion, get this one... because it'll cover everything the others do. Though I don't play nu-metal, this pedal does scoop out the mids very nicely for that detuned, artifical sound as well (this setting works well for industrial music, too).