Danelectro DT-1 Tuner

easy to use , when it works.

we use it with a crate vintage tube amp and a fender strat and a fender tele..then, ernie ball volume pedal, the dano tuner, boss chorus ensemble, dod distortion, arion digital delay, and dod envelope filter.

ok im writing this because im a worship leader in a rock band for my church. we meet in a gym, we play on a stage, so we stick out like a sore thumb if anything goes wrong....and today it did. our guitar player that uses this dano tuner was tuning during a slower song and the tuner just unmuted itself. so there he was making huge noise during the song....not good. thats not all the trouble weve had with this thing. it doesnt tune well at all, he usually ends up using my boss tu2 tuner after using that dano thing. also, ours is extremely hard to unmute after tuning...well exept for today when it did it on its own!! we have 2 of these tuners just in case, theyre all like this....i cant believe its a lemon if theyre all this way.oh, by the way, i use a danelectric chorus pedal in my rig and it works pretty well, it must just be the tuner....so, do yourself a favor, buy the boss tu2 or the fender stage tuner.....anything else. youre going to have to fork out a few extra bucks, but its really worth it. thats the life of a musician anyway, isnt it? you may want to frequent ebay to find some good tuners, not a bad idea, and sometimes you can get a good deal.

never dealt with them....i dont think you can fix this tuner. however, i suggested to our guitar player after church that if he would pitch it to me i would hit it with a baseball bat. email me if you wanna know how that works, maybe ill get some pictures on our website. haha.

like i said before we play modern worship. ive been playing for 10 years, my rig is totally different since i play acoustic, ill tell you if you wanna email me.
if it were stolen or lost, i would track down the thief that took it and tell him im sorry that he stole something so useless. maybe he would use it for a paperweight, maybe he would put it under his tire to keep his car from rolling away.
i wish it worked. but its cool, were gonna get new tuners of a different brand this week.
email me if you want to know anything at all! thanks!

I find this pedal very easy to use and reasonably stable if (a) used with an external 9v D.C. supply and (b) placed 1st in pedalboard line-up or used with earlier-in-chain pedals turned off. I am only giving this pedal an 8, because, though I think this is a great tuner, I think that a Boss TU-2 or a Peterson virtual strobe pedal are superior. However, they cost a greatdeal more. One other thing, this tuner pedal is far superior to a DOD Tuna! That pedal truly is a worthless piece of dingo's kidneys!

This pedal does not seem to effect the sound quality when turned off and as I always use the muted output jack, I don't care what it does when it is on.

I have had this pedal for over a year, using it on a regular basis, and have had no problems. The casing is made of heavy die-cast metal and seems quite sturdy. The push-button on the pedal is not as absolute in its on/off functionality as I would like it to be and its physical size is dinky thus requiring a very absolute and definitive touch. For this reason, and this alone, I give it an 8 in reliability.

I have never had to deal with Danelectro's customer support as I have had no trouble with this product.

I play classic rock, blues and church music as well. I like to play the Beatles, Moody Blues, Clapton & Santana etc. I have played guitar, non-professionally, for 26 years. I usually play either a Les Paul Classic or an Ibanez Artist semi-hollowbody into a VOX Berkely Super Reverb valve amp. I use this pedal along with a Boss CS-3 compressor, Ibanez TS-9 overdrive, Boss HR-2 harmonist (for chimey,faux 12-string effects),Dunlop Uni-Vibe stereo chorus, DOD Phasor 201, Digitech X series Digidelay (on "TAPE" setting). I use the pedals in this order with the tuner 1st in line and I power them all with a Godlyke Power-All power supply. In this setup the pedal works fine and I really appreciate the large orange back-lit display.

Easy to use, but that doesn't help much if it doesn't work.

I've always liked Dano pedals, and I own several (love the cool cat!), but this thing sucks. By comparison, I recently played with a guy who had a line 6 amp & flooboard (w/built in tuner), and he could tune his entire guitar faster (and more accurately) than I could tune one string! I've since gone the same route (johnson amp with flooboard) and the tuner is way faster and better than the Dano.

Danelectro = Tank!

The first pedal I got (cream colored)was so crappy that I figured it must be faulty, so I sent it back to danelectro and they sent me an brand new replacement that was supposed to be an improved version (maroon colored). It worked a little bit better, but still way too slow and imprecise. My experience with Danelectro is that they stand behind what they make.

The other reviewers who like this pedal must be very patient people. If you want to be able to check your tuning in 20 seconds between songs (instead of twenty minutes between sets), do yourself a favor and stay away from this one.

Extremely EASY to use! The manual is very simple which reflects the easy of operation of this tuner.

I only use my DT-1 Tuner via the "Out to Tuner" jack from my Fender Bassman. This point is not a factor for me.

The perverbial "built like a tank!" I really like the way it is built, SOLID! I only just purchased it (12 Jan 2001) so I have no long term assessment available regarding structural and /or electronic reliability. So I will I will give it a 5 to remain neutral in this catagory.

No comment at this time as I have not had to contact them at this point.

Reading all the other reviews, the DT-1 Tuner appears to be (on the most part) a "lemon".

I for one do not agree to this point as I play a Chandler Royale 12-String Bass Guitar. This tuner worked exceptionally well (as good or better than most) when tuning the full sonic spectrum of the octaves and fundamentals. I was able to accurately and quickly tune my 12-string bass. In fact it is the best tuner I have ever used on a 12-string bass to date.

I found it "captured" the note(s) quickly enough for me. All in all I really like it. The important thing to remember with this tuner is that "YOU MUST" get the recommended adaptor as for some reason it does not work as well and is slow to respond (as described in the low scoring reviews) powered by a battery only. So it probably is not a good tuner if you plan to employ it that way.

With the adapter however I find it works as advertized. The box now sports a littel sticker that recommends the use of the DA-1 adaptor for meter light and best tuning. I employ it that way as a permanent fixture with my pratice rig. I like the pedal format! I like this tuner!

Easy....it is what it is....a tuner.

Just like all tuner pedals...you lose some but not a lot.

Of sturdy construction...seems like you would have to try to break it.
It's gone on tour and will again in fall.

Never had to deal with them.

I was surprised when I got this thing because it didn't track a note very quick. At first I agreed with all those that said it was worthless. Since you have to get an adapter for the display to light up I decided to get it because when i play it is usually dark on stage. Once I plugged it in it seemed to work much better. I don't quite get it but it works wonderfully with the adapter...hit the string...reads the note...much quicker than with a battery. I have taken this thing on tour and am going to again in fall...my advice...get the adapter when you buy it...then all is good. If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again or steal someone elses.

As a big Dano fan, I was disappointed to find that THIS PEDAL IS USELESS.
Don't consider using one for rehearsals or gigs - by the time this thing tracks a note, everyone will have packed up and gone home.

The chassis is sturdy. Makes a great paperweight, doorstop, etc.

I've dealt with Danelectro over the net, and they were prompt and helpful in responding.

If this thing were stolen, I'd feel sorry for the person that stole it, 'cause I guess that they would've assumed that the pedal was actually worth something.
Save your money. Do not buy this pedal.

I give it one of my higher marks here. I like the pedal layout that attracted me to the tuner in the first place. This is the only one I have seen that has a needle(although digital) instead of leds in a pedal style. The mute out is a nice feature which every pedal style tuner has. I found it hard to read the display of which string I was tuning or the tuner thought I was tuning. So purchased the adapter which is necessary to make the display backlight. I thought this was kind of hokey. I found the tuner needle was jumpy and Indecisive.

Really bad. The last thing you want a tuner to do is alter your sound or produce extraneous noise. I was, emphasis on was, using it in front of my Line6 Ax2. The Line6 has a tuner on board which is very crude so I thought this would be a good tuner in front of my amp. I found the extra buzz and humm incredibly annoying. I couldn't seem to cancel it even with the noise gate, and hum canceller turned way up. It is posibble I had a defective unit.

Two months after owning the tuner with limited usage The display was totally burned in. I only used it a few times before a gig and had it out of my effects chain. Again I could have had a defective unit.

I have to give them high marks after going back to the store and complaining the dealer rep got me a new one which I promptly traded in on a Boss TU2.

Lousy

Pretty straight forward. I feel like a giddy schoolgirl everytime the backlight comes on, very cool.

I use it with a Super Strat and "the beast" a.k.a. my Deluxe 112 plus. It is a tuner, so not really much for sound quality. It has a mute output jack which is nice. Despite what the "other reviewers" out there say, this fits the bill just fine in my book.

*it's a brick....house*

I use it to tune, not much else. All the convience of a tuner in a pedal format.

Very easy to use. Step on it and if it's hooked up to an adapter, it lights up. Has two outputs, one that mutes your signal when you hit the button. The other sends the signal through if it's on or not. One note, the needle is sometimes hard to see, and the button is touchy, many times I've thought I turned it off and I later notice that it's still on, no big deal though.

I play a an Epiphone '56 Gold Top through a crybaby into my peavey classic 30. I have the tuner first in line then the wah. Tuner doesn't add any noise that I notice.

Built like all other Danelectro pedals. It should last.

Never dealt with them.

After owning and using this for about 11 months, I am beginning to get fed up with this thing. For awhile I though it might be my ear, but after awhile, I realized that this thing sucks. No offense to Danelctro, I think there other pedals are cool, but they should have stuck to effects. I'll play a low E and the needle will be right on saying that it is in perfect tune, I'll wait, play it again, and the tuner will try to tune it to an entirely different note. This thing is stupid. Thank God my guitar stays in tune, I don't have to use it that much. I am going to look at purchasing another tuner, possibly a Boss "TU-12H", I've heard that they're pretty good. My $20 tuner that I got when I first started playing 3 years ago is better than this thing, the ease of use was what sold me on this tuner. It's nice to be able to tune "hand's free" so to speak and not have to bend over or go dig out a tuner. For that it's great, for tuning it's not.

very easy to use self explanatory for any one who has used a tuner before

i'm using this tuner in my pedalboard, right after my cry-baby wah; second in line. I use les pauls and strats. I guess it sounds o.k. when the unit is by-passed, but for a tuner itself, it did fail a few tests. For one, it is a tuner and this heavy thing hogs up space in your gig bag, and the actual tuning capabilities cannot compare to my korg rackmount tuner or any thing else with a real needle. The digital needle is slow and awkward to get used to. The light comes on( with power plug only) when you're tuning and it mutes the sound while doing so. It even gives you a choice if you want it muted or not. All I really use it for is to shut off my rig with a tap of the foot to switch guitars during performances, which it does fool-proof, cause the light comes on, and you know it's muted. But I'll tune with something a little more quick and accurate, thank you.

I feel like I could depend on it for an emergency tuner, and reliably for a mute-kill switch for my marshall tube head, (it kills the sound quicker than the fading out stand-by switch on my amp). If it were lost or broken, I probably wouldn't care to much. It seems to be built tough to take constant gigging.

New company, never called them yet, have heard of others having bad luck with them.

I play metal, rock and blues. Been at it for15 years, this pedal has shown nothing new in tuners, except that some of them aren't quite as good as others. I actually traded stuff in on it, and got it to try it out. There are better tuners out there.

Very easy. I bought it with the AC adapter and I was suprised when the backlight came on! Tracking is better than Korg AC-30 and DOD Tuna but not as good as BOSS TU-12.

It appears to be made of cast iron. I've got it on a pedal board that's been slammed around alot.

My experience has been very good. It's been hard to find a tuner that works well with the guitar I have now (a semi-hollow gretsch). Something about this guitar makes it hard for tuners to track the note; maybe it's overtones or harmonics or something like that.
Lately I've been using it together with a BOSS TU-12 which is much faster and better at getting the note right. The Dano is better than the DOD Tuna and KORG AC-30.
It's a good product that I would recommend. I like the Dano's display. It's very easy to read out of the corner of my eye on a dark stage.

I was satisfied with my two other Dano pedals, but this is the worst tuner I have ever seen. Easy to use, in the sense that you plug it in and step on the button, but not easy to use in the sense that it often times does not do what it's supposed to do: Tell you which note you're playing and how close you are to being in tune.

No sound. It's nice that it has an out jack for muted tuning and one for non-muted tuning. I believe that it does suck some tone, though. It is not actually true bypass. It is virtual bypass (with buffered output, I'd assume).

Sometimes its tracking is passable, but other times one would get just as much useful tuning info by plugging into a toaster or something. Also, there have been times when I cannot get the thing to turn off. It neither functions reliably nor tunes reliably. The only thing that has ever helped me was to roll my strat's volume down to about 3 or 4, which tends to help the tuner track notes -- not always, though. I've even tried changing pickup positions, but that rarely helps.

Called to ask them if their stuff was true bypass once, and they got back to me in a couple days to tell me none of it is. I paid for the call. The person seemed nice, though.

This thing totally sucks, and I want the whole world to know. Do not waste your money on one of these. I now need another tuner and will likely have a paperweight which could conceiveably be a backup tuner on the same lavel as Nigel Tufnel's wireless system in This is Spinal Tap. I think Dano's other stuff is pretty good, but steer clear of this hunk of junk.

This is incredibly easy to use.

It is a stage tuner. It has a mute output that works very well and the tuner part works just as well.

As said before, these Danelectro pedals are very reliable. They are built like a piece of led.

Have not had to deal with them.

I read other peoples reviews and was skeptical at first. Then I bought it and saw that it was just like my last tuner. Not to put the others down, but they probably used those tuners that are specifically for guitar and have little green lights that tell you the note. I have been using tuners like this for years. I have played the cello for 9 years and have always had to use tuners with little needles that bounced around, so I got used to how they work. That is probably why I like it so much. If it were stolen, then yes, I would get the same thing. I understand the problem people have with the light and having to get the AC Adapter, but that is not a problem with me because when I play a gig, I have a short extension cord and some surge protectors, because I have a lot to plug in. Overall, I really like it.

Easy to set up, but can't track a note to save its life. Impossible to tune quickly or accurately.

I've tried it with several guitars (single coils and humbuckers) and my Bogner Ecstacy. No discernable effect on signal. Terrible tuning results with all guitars.

Has never failed, but doesn't really work, either.

No experience

This is the worst tuner, and the worst pedal of any type, I have ever owned or used. Just bought a Boss TU-2 which is far superior.

Compared to my Korg DT-3, this tuner can't even track the note without fluttering all over. Terrible tuner!!!

Reliability isn't an issue for something that really doesn't work to begin with.

I use a Korg Tuner for my acoustic and wanted a mute-able, stomp type tuner for my electric. Dano's other effects have good rep's, but they sure blew it here. So much for buying something from a catalog without trying it.

Very easy to use, just plug in your guitar or bass, turn it on, then tune. Sure it's slow, except for single coil pickups like the Danelectro Guitars are. Very slow on my bass (a '97 P-bass.) I hear it works well with Telecasters though.

I don't get any hums or anything out of it. But this is the only pedal I have. Doesn't effect the sound coming out of my amp either, I've never gotten any bleed over.

Aside from taking forever to tune my 4 strings it works well. And I only have to tune once every day so I could probably tune before any gig and not worry about it. With the rugged construction it will hold up forever.

N/A

It's slow with finding the note your tuning to, turns itself off after a few minutes of not being used (not good if the phone rings and you turn it on then try to have a long conversation), can't see the dial with out the adaptor, but at least it looks pretty cool. If it was stolen, I'd more than likely get a good rack tuner.

Fairly straight-forward to use. Didn't have to look at the instructions to understand how it operates except to figure out why the LCD panel wasn't lighting up. You need a separate mains PSU - why the hell don't they tell you that when you buy it? Manual is fine though - printed on brown fleck eco-freindly type paper.

Sound quality fine. Performance of unit utter utter garbage! How I wish that I had read reviews before I bought it. Well - I wouldn't have bought it. The needle waves all over the place, tells you E is G or B. Swapped batteries and leads but no change. Used it with my 82 Strat. I really wanted to like this pedal as it looks gorgeous but it just doesn't work. It is going back to the shop today.

As it doesn't work you cannot depend on it.

We'll see today

Play blues/rock Playing 20 odd years own strat & Fender deluxe 85 amp & Boss BE-5 Would never buy another I love the look & build quality - I hate the fact it doesn't work. Buy the small plastic Marshall stack type tuner. My mate has one he bought for a tenner and it works fine.
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT

The phrase "ease of use" doesn't immediately come to mind when I think of this tuner. I've been a fan of tuning forks for years, but had to buy an electronic tuner for stage use. I've had Dano products before, so I figured it couldn't be too bad. Well, the first night I took it out of the gig bag, it failed on me. Couldn't tune a single string (much less six of them) in the available time between songs. I was actually surprised by the fact that it wasn't living up to the reputation that some of the other Dano pedals had. Also, the fact that I needed an adaptor to light up the LCD panel kinda' irked me a bit. Now that I think about it, though, I would have only been able to see, more clearly, how badly it was working.

The mute seemed to work fine for the setting I was in. My amp wasn't turned up to loud, so I wasn't really concerned with any bleed-over.

Couldn't even think of depending on it. I might use it at a gig as a paperweight, but not as a tuner.

It's impossible to recommend this to anyone and retain a clear conscience. It looks great, is built like a tank, and I'm sure their customer service is great. Unfortunately, this all means nothing if it doesn't work in the first place. I ended up replacing it with a Sabine chromatic tuner.

I'll keep this short and sweet... I bought this tuner about six months ago, used it several times in actual "live" situations and came to the conclusion that, if you are sitting in your room with alot of time to waste trying to tune your guitar, then it is perfect. Otherwise it's the slowest locking tuner I've ever used (see previous reviews) . I finally decided to trade it in for a BOSS TU-2 which is much more expensive, but worth every penny.

I am positive it will look beautiful for decades, since it will never be taken out of the box.

I really, really hate criticizing Danelectro like this, since I own and have used other Danelectro products, and I love all their effects pedals. Its just too bad that they had to put out this one lemon. I gave it a 4 rating overall, since it's still the coolest looking tuner there is, and it does actually work... eventually. But in all seriousness, the BOSS TU-2 tuner may come in a generic BOSS shaped box, but it does the job, and does it extremely well... now, if you would please excuse me, I am going into my room to cry...

Being a huge Dano fan, I was utterly disappointed in this unit. My wife gave it to me for Christmas '98, and here it is not more than 3 weeks later and I'm returning it to Musician's Friend in exchange for the Boss TU-2 stage tuner. [I should've read the H-C review on those *first*, but being the Dano fan I blindly told her to get me the Dano.] Anyhoo, I dunno if maybe I just got a defective unit from Musician's Friend [I've had to send a couple other defective units from their stock as well], but this thing was absolutely the *SLOWEST* tracking tuner I've ever seen in my life! The irony being that the user's manual actually states that it "..tracks *faster* than most other tuners out there..." -- HA! I should've known that something was up when I saw this little white sticker both on the box and on the pedal stating something like, "..if the needle jumps when tuning, then you are between notes, so tune up..." Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. Apparently they've already gotten complaints. As for it's "ease" of use, I gave it a '4' due to the fact that aside from the poor tracking problem, the lighted meter display will only work if you're using an power supply! What a total crock! A 9-volt battery alone only utilizes the "Flat - In Tune - Sharp" LEDs at the top of the unit, and the LCD tuner meter as well (sans backlight), but that doesn't do you a bit of good on a dark stage if the meter window doesn't light up for you see the damn display. Even after I went out and bought the 9-v power supply for the unit, the right side of the backlight would sometimes flicker. Also, sometimes when I would go to switch it off it took two or three stomps on the switch to turn the thing off. I love most of the new Dano gear and all, but I wouldn't recommend this pedal to anyone -- especially if I wanted to keep them as a friend.

One of the unit's good points is letting the user have the choice to go with muted or unmuted output. However, when you run a high-gain 100w monster like the Rivera Bonehead, regardless of the muting you can still hear some of the signal through the amp when tuning -- i.e., it only "mutes" the signal, not bypass/cut it out completely. Of course, the unit does not offer "True Bypass" circuitry, but I couldn't really detect a discoloration in my tone when not in use, so that's another one of it's good points I guess.

As stated above, this thing has it's share of faults. However, the slow and sporatic tracking alone was enough for me to say, "Time for a trade-in." What's the point of being able to tune silently between songs when it takes you 3 minutes to tune all six strings, and the so-called "muted" signal still bleeds through your speakers? Congrats to the ones who happened to buy a good DT-1, but I know I'll never own one again.

I dunno, but I've never needed to contact the Dano customer service before receiving this unit. I didn't even bother to call, for this unit clearly isn't all that I thought it would be so I figured I'd just trade it in for the Boss.

Maybe I just got a total lemon, but from what I've experienced, as well as what I've heard from other locals after they tried the DT-1, this thing should not have been released on the market until they got it right. Oh well... sometimes you really *do* get what you pay for.

A vegetable can use this. You just turn it on and hit a string.

Doesn't pickup notes to quickl or accurately. I was suprised. Usually Danelectro's are of fantastic quality. It's not too bad, but I like the Sabine one I have much better, plus it's about $10 cheaper.

Built like a tank.

Never Had to deal with them.

It's built tough, but that's it. Sabine has a cheaper floor tuner for about $10 to $15 less. It just performs a lot better.

This tuner as about as easy as it's going to get. It's an in-line tuner with your choice of either a mute or non-mute jack. The mute function, of course means that when you turn the tuner on, no sound is heard while you tune. It's easy to read as it has two different read outs. The top read out consists of two arrows meaning (sharp and flat) and a green LED in the middle signaling "in tune." The second is a lit up "70's dashboard style" digital readout with an LCD "needle." (see Overall) It can't get any easier.

I use a Telecaster through a Bassman re-issue and a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 although I'm sure this works the same with any setup. This thing is DEAD quiet and it has the Danelectro TRUE BYPASS so it colors tone in no audible way whatsoever. This tuner is as accurate if not more accurate than any tuner I've owned. I don't think you can ask for more from a tuner.

I've had it for about 3 or 4 weeks now and have used it at about 6 gigs without a problem (except for the time I counted off a song and forgot to take it off mute....I guess that's my fault though...(ha ha) I've heard both good and bad things about Dano reliability but this thing is built quite well and I generally take good care of things so I guess we'll see.

Never dealt with them but I've good and bad about this too.

Well as a tuner, this thing is tops. Best tuner I've ever owned. Now the downs.... One thing that made me kind of mad is that no one tells you until you buy it that the lit up "dashboard" read out needs an adapter to be lit up. It all still works with a battery except that part isn't lit up. You couldnt see it on a dark stage execpt for the top arrows. I guess I understand that the disply would kill a battery too quickly but then why dont they add a few bucks to the price and include the adapter?! However if you get an adapter, you feel like a little kid with a new race track. The display is great!!!!! The only other thing is metal jacks would have been favorable to the Dano plastic jacks. Other than this, the pedal is quite a value. I'm completely impressed with the both the product and price and I am actually quite hard to please. I cant see needing a backup but I would buy another if i had to in a second.