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Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo

Summary
Price New Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo @ Musician's Friend
Manufacturer URL http://www.danelectro.com/
Ease of Use 8.5 (48 responses)
Sound Quality 8.2 (49 responses)
Reliability 8.8 (33 responses)
Customer Support 7.9 (10 responses)
Overall Rating 8.3 (44 responses)
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Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 10/08/2002 at 01:15pm by Santa Ana

Ease of Use : 5
digital delay - to me, harder to nail the EXACT sound but a little over the 375 mark makes it sound like a model for the electro harmonix memory man WITHOUT that pesky noise gate!

Sound Quality : 8
played thru a gibson SG to pedal board to an orange 30 watt twin channel head, crystal clear, does not corrupt your sound on or off. preserves distortion the way you intend it.

Reliability : 7
i don't believe this has a battery option, must use an AC adaptor. don't kick the plug out!

Customer Support : No Opinion
n/a

Overall Rating : 8
good for emo, space rock, f-ing with people before you blow your stack live. i sold my EH memory man after buying this, because it used to suck the life out of my sound with its "gain" control - now this pedal lets me preserve the signal and mimics the EHMM pretty damn close. as for the sound on sound, read your manual, or crank the repeats to max, hit echo, play a 1.5 second (maximum) sound bite, hit SOS and fire away. it will loop your lick, then you get to play clean/distorted/effected over it............cool!


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 10/01/2002 at 06:41pm by Tim Noonan

Ease of Use : 9
It's pretty easy to get a basic echo happening. The sound on sound thing was a little quirky but easy enough after a minute and a half. Frankly, I'm not sure why this paragraph is even relevant for most pedals.

Sound Quality : 2
Sounded pretty decent clean. Sounded like it wanted to be an analog tape echo.

The painful shrill came when I tried it with a mildly overdriven tone. What an awful sound. It was brittle, harsh, <insert more synonyms here>.

Unless you are looking for an echo for just clean tones, stay away.

Oh, did I mention it was noisy too.

Reliability : 8
It seemed like it was made OK -- not as sturdy as a Boss pedal but I don't think there would be too much to worry about here.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never used their support.

Overall Rating : 2
I didn't end up buying it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone really. There are much better delays to be had for around the same price.


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 09/29/2002 at 05:14pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 10
simple sound on sound worked for me but I would never use it anyways

Sound Quality : 8
Just got it yesterday. I put the dry out into a Fender Tone master w/ 2X12 cab and the wet to a Peavy Classic 30 w/ 4X12 tonemaster cab. (Normally I use a Fender Twin for a second amp) I've tried other delays (SPX990, Boss DD7 or something ect ect) but they would break up or alter the sound too much, this didn't do it as much and if there was that analog sounding distortion to the echo cutting the highs on the unit would help a lot. Little bit of noise plugging my guitar direct in then to the amp but thru the loop of the Tone master it was pretty clean for an inexpensive delay.
I really like setting the delay as a VERY short delay or doubler with this setup, very thick sounding. I tried that with the SPV990 and it sounded like crap. I'm trying to find a reason to send it back but it's just cool enough not to. I wanted to try a real Echoplex or the like but I saw this in an add and had to give it a shot for the money.
I will use it for a while and after 30 days if I still like it i will keep it. I does not do just one reapeat though, you can still hear trails after no matter what but they are quiet so in a live situation it won't be a problem.
I think it sound decent for the cash.

Reliability : No Opinion
Never bought anything Danelectro before so I don't know. I never used a delay giging before because they all soundlike crap (to me)if you dont mike the amp and go through a board. This may be the first delay I try playing out with. I may just end up using it to thicken my sound by putting a few milliseconds between amps and occasionally for some slide stuff. I don't like over using any effects.

Customer Support : No Opinion
don't know

Overall Rating : 7
Classic rock, blues, southern ect. Playing 25 years ( shit I'm getting old!)I would probably accept that it was fate if it got stolen and give up on delays.
I still have some toying around to do with it before I'm sold on it but I have tried a few and they go back almost instantly so they must have something here. If it takes away from either of my amps I will send it back. I didn't pay $4,000 in amp gear to fuck it up with a $150 dollar pedal but if it works for me I will keep it.


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 09/20/2002 at 05:24am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
Easy to Use

Sound Quality : 4
Has a white noisy, whiny quality to it. This unit is not defective, it sounded a little off.

Reliability : No Opinion
NA

Customer Support : No Opinion
NA

Overall Rating : No Opinion
When I first heard about the Reel Echo, I thought it would be a cool idea. I purchased it at Guitar Center (I hate them, but you can return stuff without a hassle-which I do a lot). I brought it home and it just didn't sound good.
I am not an analog or boutique snob, I have a mix of boutique stuff, with cheap stuff. I own a Danelectro PB&J Delay, which I bought for $25 used. I have had a Boss DD5 and a Maxon Ad-80, and the PB&J is a perfect for me, the DD5 was too "perfect" and the AD80 was too muddy. What I'm trying to say is, I'm open minded.
The Reel Echo was a big disappointment to me, I was hoping to get a fun pedal, but it just killed my clean sound, on or off. I'm not super anal about my sound, my single coil guitar buzzes near my amp, and I don't jump off of any buildings or anything, but this pedal sounded "wrong" to my ears. Definately not worth the money, and probably not worth the money at $50, because it is unusable to me.



Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $150.00
Submitted 09/11/2002 at 11:37am by Dino Martino
Email: steelrainband at yahoo<dot>com

Ease of Use : 9
IT's very easy to use but will take some time to get the setting right for particular effects, ie. I took it to a gig the same day I purchased it and thought I had it set for a slight echo, as used on CHina Grove (Doobie Brothers) but when I kicked it in, starting that song, the echo was as loud as the original signal. I've since made mental notes of about where the "mix" control should be according to the effect you want.

Sound Quality : 8
I'm considered a tone freak by most of my comtemporaries and playing live, I was very happy with the tone. It does produce some hiss but not more so than many other pedals. I tried using a very short echo, ala slap back for Roy Orbison & other 50's tunes and loved the way it sounded. YOu can get a chorus effect by turning on the warble effect and setting the echo very short, which sounds cool. I have tried using the sound on sound feature and it seems useless to me - I expected to play a phrase and step on the s.o.s. button and play over top it but with the controls sets per their instructions it does a poor job of recording and looping - I'd get the Line 6 unit if this is a feature you will use.

Reliability : No Opinion
Haven't had it long enough to know how reliable it will be. Buy the AC adapter, batteries only last several hours.

Customer Support : No Opinion
N/A

Overall Rating : 8
You don't go out and buy a Dan Electro pedal to have a state of the art pedal. I buy one because they are reasonably priced, they sound good and they are a lot of fun. I own an original solid state Echo Plex and have really enjoyed using it over the years. It does require some maintenance and I don't like to take it out and get it banged up, since it's 20 or 30 years old. The Reel Echo does a very good job of recreating the sound and "feel" of my original and I am pleased with it. I do wish the sound on sound worked better but for $150, I'll get my moneys' worth out of it.


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $142.00
Submitted 09/10/2002 at 11:11pm by Tom Bukovac

Ease of Use : 10
Pretty self explanatory,although I think the one I bought is broken.I messed with it for a couple hours and never once could I get the "sound on sound" function to work at all.
I'm definitely sending it back from whence it came.

Sound Quality : 5
Disappointing.I have owned many Echoplexes,and currently am using a Roland 501 Space Echo religiously.This pedal couldn't even begin to muster the musicality and sweetness of a real tape echo....and here's the most important thing.... IT WON'T DO THE CRAZY ROCKET SHIP THING where you turn the repeats up full blast and then mess with the delay time....you know,like the middle of "Dazed and Confused" and about a million other classic 60's & 70's records.
Who could ever create a "tape echo simulator" that won't do the frickin' rocket ship thing fer Chrissakes????
Oh and did I mention that it has a nasty 60 cycle hum but ONLY when you switch the echo effect on??(Another useful feature)

Reliability : 5
I think the brand new one I just got is malfunctioning....what does that mean about reliability?

Customer Support : 10
I'm sure if I sent this back to Dan-O they'd replace it and send an extra T-shirt...however I'm gonna send this back to dude I bought it from on Ebay and let him deal with it.

Overall Rating : 5
This pedal is lame....if you absolutely MUST have a digital delay at least get the green Line 6 box....the Line 6 colors your tone in an undesirable way but it can yield some form of a cool usable delay effect without noise.....the Boss DD-5 is great for tap tempo but the delay effect is unbelievably sterile and totally un-musical....(kinda like "N-Sync")......
IMHO,if you want awesome sounding warbling organic delays that even Radiohead would approve of,you must play your guitar through a real tape echo.
Therefore,you must pay to have it serviced like the rest of us....you must feed it new tapes occasionally.It's really the only way.


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $137
Submitted 09/10/2002 at 08:50pm by joel rudnick
Email: rudnick at charter<dot>net

Ease of Use : 8
Fairly easy. You get the hang of it after a few minutes. I can't really get the sound on sound feature to "loop" the way they say it does, but it's not like I'd use it that much anyways. The manual is adequate. This is basically an upgrade from the Dan-echo, which I thought was a decent unit for some things. It is an improvement as well. It looks kind of goofy, kind of cool. I like the color. Not the graphics.

Sound Quality : 8
It's a fairly good unit. I use a setup with two amps and am auditioning this to use for my distortion amp (69' Marshall Jmp-50, modified by Voodoo amps). In comparison to a real tape echo, this of course is just a fascimile. But, this seems as though it will work fine for my application, as most analog units I had previously used for my distortion amp were too warm and broke up too early, muddying up the sound. This, however walks a good line between warm and, well, not-warm. It adds less distortion and the thickness of analog circuitry, basically. My amp's sound is thick enough. It has a good sound, less inspiring than my deluxe memory man, but it isn't bad at all. In comparison to the dan-echo, it is the dan-echo to the second power. Longer, cleaner repeats, and just an overall better unit. Compared to my deluxe memory man (which I run through my clean amp), it is noticeably thinner and less prone to distortion and run-away echo. It actually just seems like a digital version of the DMM. In comparison to analog units, it's really a different animal, but for my application, it works quite well.

Reliability : No Opinion
seems sturdy..... the plastic slide switch for delay time makes me nervous, though.it's new though, so I cant say.

Customer Support : No Opinion
dont know....

Overall Rating : 8
It does it's job... For my apllication, I think it will work nice, but my goals probably aren't the same as others. If it were lost, I might check out other units, but would probably just go ahead and get the reel thing then.


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $150.00
Submitted 09/10/2002 at 08:49am by jim

Ease of Use : 10
Manual is specific enough to get you running fast. But it was easy to figure out right out of the box.

Sound Quality : 8
Close.....really close. And the versatility is neat too. I'll use it in the studio, but it won't be moving onto my pedalboard permanently.

Reliability : 9
It is the first Dano pedal I've purchased. Many of my peers have used their product for years without problems. This is consistent with what they've done before, so I would consider it reliable.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
I'll be able to use it. Which is the most important thing to me. It got some good sounds in it which makes it a good buy. It has a funky vibe to it as well and that makes it kind of fun, which doesn't hurt.


Product: Danelectro DTE-1 Reel Echo
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted 09/06/2002 at 09:06pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 10
Very easy to use. It's pretty self-explanatory. Manual is basic, although not very clear on Sound on Sound function- but easy enough to figure out.

Sound Quality : 7
Okay. It sounds good. That's about it. It looks and feels a bit like a toy. It's cool, it's vibey- but toyish (and that's okay). The solid-state mode sounds really good. The tube mode sounds a bit boomy (I weird low-end thing). I've never used a real tube tape unit- I don't know how this compares to the real thing. However I have used solid state models (Roland Space Echo, Echoplex, and other cheapo solid state echo units). Feels and sounds like a digital version of an old sound. It's cool, don't know if I would use it in a professional situation. It's fun, however not as inspirational as others digital simulations (Echo Pro, etc). The Warble function is cool- but a bit sterile. I'm a bit of a delay/echo freak. I've got a bunch of analog delays (tube and otherwise), several tape delays (s.s.), and plenty of digital delays and simulations.

Reliability : No Opinion
I just got it yesterday. But Danelectro products that I've had in the past have been very reliable. This seems pretty sturdy- heavy casing- pretty good feel on the footswitches.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Don't know.

Overall Rating : 7
I am a producer that works with pop, rock, country, singer-songwriter, heavy, and soundtrack/instrumental music (so far). I've been working for about 10 years. Own a studio and a ton of gear (a bunch of delay/echo products). If it were stolen, I'd buy another Echo-Pro. I like the vintage vibe (color)- I hate that it sounds digital- but like it because it's a decent digital delay with some vibe. Compare? Not really- it's cheaper than the Line 6 Echo models, but maybe a bit pricey for what it does. I'm not sure it will help me too much- I might give it away or sell it. I got this because I hardly ever buy anything new, and I was a little intrigued- so I thought I'd give it a shot. The guys at the store said it was "killer"- (it's not, by the way) and I've always felt like Danelectro made good products. I'll keep it just for the vibe if I don't give it away. I'll stick with my analog pedals (DM-3, Memory Man) and digital model (Echo-Pro).

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