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Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah

Summary
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Manufacturer URL http://www.danelectro.com/
Ease of Use 6.6 (56 responses)
Sound Quality 6.1 (54 responses)
Reliability 6.1 (44 responses)
Customer Support 4.9 (15 responses)
Overall Rating 6.0 (54 responses)
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Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 11/13/2007 at 02:19pm by Lenny A.

Ease of Use : 10
Its pretty easy - one pedal click for wah on. Then a top button for left side (60's) or right side (70's) then you have 3 seperate EQ choices for each sound + an octave effect -Buttons on each side of the pedal.
& the EQ settings are great for getting those mid pedal position tones -alah Mick R.(during his bowie days etc..)
In addition there is a second top button that turns on/off a fuzz-distortion effect.

Sound Quality : 9
A 10 here would be a magical wah pedal that does all clasic + vocal + Synth sounds & every thing in beetween.
But short of that this pedal Kicks Major *** !! Trust me - it will get ya every dunlop/vox like wah tone you could ever want & a lot more.
& The octave effect is nice a usable as well. In addition the pedal is adjustable (via alen wrench) for how tight or loose you like it !
NOW ON TO THE FUZZ -Which because some reviewers dont like the sound of , they proceed to pan the entire pedal & tell you its crap ? LOOK ITS A BONUS TONE ! IF YA DONT LIKE IT, DON'T USE IT ! !
I HAVE PERSONALLY MODED MINE TO BE FULLY ADJUSTABLE (BTW-A SIMPLE MOD) But what I think they where going for was an over the top snarly 60/70 ragged Fuzz Tone - Sort of like Zappa kicked on during the Live at the Fillmore show/album. & I Love it -For a change of pace while recording or for a solo But Not for your main Overdrive sound -Its not a TS tone ! And The main thing a mod does is allows for variation instead of the full on cranked fuzz ( Its a very over the top Fuzz !)
This also is now a sweet tone with the octave left on.

Reliability : 7
I purchased mine used (about 4 months ago) & can see that the Battery wires will need a quick hit with the Solder Iron to make them more solid, But otherwise it seems good
The bottom (The Hot Rod Car) is all solid metal but the top pedal is plastic. This could easily be replaced with a more solid top via a broken ebay wah with a similar size /shape.
Obviously I hope it lasts a long time but these types of wahs can be fixed a lot quicker than a Morley type anyway & for the current price of these used on feebay $35-$65) its a damn steal !

Customer Support : 5
Never Dealt with them.

Overall Rating : 9
Look - If you prefer the classic wah tones of Page/Hendrix/SRV/Cream/Mick R. etc.To the more (In My Opinion) sterile dull tones of the Morley snap back wah pedals. & you don't have $2 or $300+ to spend on some boutique wah (which is a joke anyway) This thing will give you dozens of really nice wah tones both clean & dirty + the aformentioned fuzz & octave tones along with smooth & fully adjustable pedal action. AND WHAT I HAVE LEFT OUT SO FAR IS THE FACT THAT THIS PEDAL LOOKS BAD ***ED & BETTER THAT ANY OTHER PEDAL YOU WILL OWN (MINE IS THE LONG CANDY RED CAR) THE WAH LIGHTS ARE THE CARS TAILS & THE INPUTS ARE THE HEADS. GREEN IS WAH & RED IS OFF & THE WHOLE THING SITS SECURLY ON 4 BLACK WALL TIRES !!!! HOW SWEET IS THAT.

Btw - I have now played this thing thru a Frenzel 40W custom , A Peavey Transformer & a custom 18w class A job & it sounds great with all 3. So go find one for under $50-60 on ebay , then get this pedal ASAP It a solid wah pedal, with a ton of nice tones...


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: Euro 40 USED
Submitted 10/24/2006 at 06:31am by Ternil

Ease of Use : 6
It show some difficult for many guitar player.

Sound Quality : 8
It is a great quality of sound for wah, but i don't like the fuzz.

Reliability : 5
I don't depend on it.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 10
For any type of music it is optimal, there is a Wah for distorsion and for clean.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: USD 25
Submitted 09/20/2006 at 06:23pm by dave
Email: dave<at>spnz dot org

Ease of Use : 8
It's an oddball, for sure. There are three voices each of "60s" and "70s" sounds, which to me sound like just moving the notch frequency of the wah. There's on/off for the octave effect on each side, that only works with the fuzz on. The fuzz is set WAY too loud and has no controls... use it if ya wanna get freaky, but most of the time, you'll just find the wah setting you like and then it's as simple as a Crybaby.

One weird thing is that when you power it up, it turns on sort of randomly... fuzz may be on or off, octave may be on or off, and wah may be on or off, 60s or 70s. Strange.

Sound Quality : 9
The wah effect is surprisingly good, if you can stop thinking in terms of either the classic Cream/Hendrix wah sound, or that dreadful cheap Crybaby that doesn't sound like Hendrix either. It doesn't kill tone when bypassed (although I'm sure it's not true bypass), and the sweep range is good and useful. Noise is managable.

The fuzz and octave sounds are harsh, baby, harsh. Which may be a Good Thing for you, or maybe not.

Reliability : No Opinion
I wouldn't count on it to last forever, but it hasn't broke yet. I don't know whether it uses a pot (wears out) or a lamp (burns out) for control.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I can't imagine it can be repaired, and warranty is long gone.

Overall Rating : 10
Actually, I totally love this pedal, and it's been my main wah for some years now. Yeah, it's cheap and cheesy, but the sound just keeps me with it. Don't sneer at it... it may well be a classic in a couple of decades.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: US $79.99
Submitted 03/07/2006 at 12:30pm by chuck

Ease of Use : 9
Looking at the reviews here you'd think this was a horrible pedal, quite the contrary from my experiences though. The sound quality is great. Depending on where you have this pedal at in your effects line, it produces very unique wah sounds that can only be achieved with this wah. It's not the crybaby, so don't complain that it isn't the crybaby. The manual is pretty straightforward, you have over 16 different ways of using this wah (plus distortion, plus octave effects - how could you go wrong?).

Sound Quality : 10
This is the most unique wah pedal i've ever used. Don't be turned off by the danelectro name, this is a very nice pedal. I love the 70's funk it produces (with a nice ghost octave thrown in the mix). I send it through my vintage MusicMan 212-HD. I use many different effects, but at the moment my favorites are the DOD FX-25B envelope filter, the Marshall Supervibe, the Marshall Guv'Nor+ and then the dan-o-wah. I usually place the dan-o-wah last so that I have more of a subtle effect out of it. The only thing that could turn people off from this pedal are people who don't know how to use it. Spend some time with it, get to know it, and then try it out. If you want a crybaby sound, go buy a crybaby. My musical influences are Radiohead, TOOL, Pink Floyd, The Verve, The Stone Roses, Led Zeppelin, My Bloody Valentine, and Blur. This wah pedal is perfect for those bands. If you want Pantera, again, go get a crybaby. This is for those with more Psychadelic tastes.

Reliability : 10
I depend on it almost constantly. I have gigged without backups plenty of time. After owning this for 7 years, and gigging steadily (and practi cing nearly 5 out of every 7 days) this pedal has had NO problems. I don't know what the other reviewers did to their pedals, but mine has had no problems. I take good care of my stuff though, perhaps they don't?

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with them. If I had too, i'd just buy another one instead of trying to get it fixed anyways. You can find them for about 1/4th of the price I paid for it new.

Overall Rating : 10
If you're into cookie cutter sounds and want to be someone else, go ahead and snap up their crybaby's and play the rockstar. If you want to tread your own path with a brilliantly underrated wah pedal, then look no further than the dan-o-wah.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: $125 (AUS)
Submitted 09/30/2005 at 08:18pm by Juan

Ease of Use : 4
Pretty simple to use although you cant tell what settings its on until your on stage great fun.

Sound Quality : 4
Using to with an epi explorer and varying amps, wahs are acceptable distortion is painfull to listen to the only good thing about the sound of this thing is when using and buggered battery the distortion is delayed about a second creating some pretty amusing effects with the wahs.

Reliability : 1
NO NO NO NO this thing is a joke the plastic is weaker than lego mine snapped where pedal meats the base and is unfixable.
well i cant use it so im not about to depend on it.

Customer Support : No Opinion
never delt with them.

Overall Rating : 3
worked ok for a while just dont touch the fuzz, wahs arent bad most wahs can be acheived.
Should be made of metal.
Save up and buy the real thing this thing is a toy buy a vox or a cry baby it will be cheaper in the long run.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: US $99
Submitted 08/06/2005 at 02:42pm by sheastang

Ease of Use : 8
It's easy to use. Three buttons on each side for different tones.

Sound Quality : 8
Sounds pretty good. Keep in mind it's a little different than the competition though. It has some sick built-in distortion, but if you don't keep it under control you can get painful highs. One crazy thing about it though, that I don't believe you can find in other pedals - you can have a 70's funk wah setting with an additional lower octave distortion. It's different, weird, but cool also.

Reliability : 9
Yeah, I would use it on a gig without a backup. I have faith in it.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 7
99 bucks because I got it when it came out as a gift. I think it looks pretty cool. It's shaped like an old car, and doesn't have bad looks. If you're looking for a stranger, different sound in your wah, it might lie here. If you're looking for a plain Wah pedal, move right along to the Dunlop Original Crybaby.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: 80 (Euro)
Submitted 07/03/2005 at 03:05pm by jan
Email: janni77 at gmx<dot>net

Ease of Use : 4
Maybe not that easy to use. Though the pattern of knobs at the sides of the pedal is symmetrical, it makes sense for the Wah settings only. You get two banks of pre-sets for "60ies" amd "70ies" WahWah-Sounds to choose from, but two identical buttons for fuzzed and octaved effect on both sides as well. These don`t differ in function, so only one would be sufficient.
Different Wahs can be chosen by pushing the buttons as a preset on either side. A bigger control button at the front of the pedal then switches back and forth between the two main presets (60ies/70ies-style). Another switch left of it is for the fuzz, both are adequately sized and quite easy to hit while playing.
Unfortunately the preset-buttons do not stay down after being pressed, so optically one cannot tell which Wah-Wah-Style has been set.
The whole device looks like a toy Cadillac car, maybe this makes things even worse ...

Sound Quality : 6
There are six different center frequencies for the Wah.
All of them sound good and are really quite different, ranging from slight and trebly (so called "Funk"-style) to dark and growling, which is quite effective with distorted guitar sound.
I use it with a Laney 50 watts Head cranked up and an overdrive pedal (ShredMaster). Especially when I play with more distortion gain, the Wah tends to be noisy, so that I can really hear my foot stepping and working on it - it is also microphonic and picks up radio waves frequently.
The fuzz tone maybe is meant to be a joke, for noone will honestly use it as a basic effect. It sounds very harsh and piercing, has no controls to adjust volume and gain and has been set up far too loud.


Reliability : 6
Wah-pedals must not be made of plastic, in my opinion, but this one is ! So I don?'t expect it to be reliable.
I always take a backup with me on stage.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I have never contacted the customer support - the pedal is still working.

Overall Rating : 5
A good sounding Wah, built in an ugly plastic case looking like a toy car. Additional ultra-fuzz without controls and an ear-splitting octavider distortion. I have a lot of fun with it experimenting in my room - i came quite close to Jimi`s lead guitar in "Purple Haze", for that's what the octafuzz sounds like (although it's so damned too loud). But honestly I think I should have bought a solid Wah made of metal with only one good sound.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: US $50,00
Submitted 06/16/2005 at 10:15am by alfacorrea

Ease of Use : 8
Pedalzinho de Wah-wah f?cil de usar. Tudo bem, n?o t?o f?cil assim. Pra quem est? acostumado aos pedais e Wah-wah que existem no mercado, este at? que ? um pouquinho complicado. Neste pedal n?o basta pisar e tocar, h? que se configurar conforme o gosto. Tem 6 varia??es, cada uma com op??o de oitavador e uma distor??o. Multiplicando tudo, considerando o pedal ligado ou by pass, d? pra tirar uns 48 sons diferentes. Tem que fu?ar e escolher o melhor. O manual ? muito bom e ajuda muito na hora de configurar. Ningu?m merece ficar virando e desvirando o pedal pra entender os bot?es.

Sound Quality : 9
Eu uso uma Ibanez Artcore AS-73, junto com o Dan-o-Wah e mais um Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-808 e um Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-5. Ligo as crian?as em um Fender Blues Jr. N?o percebo nenhum som que n?o seja proposital. A distor??o do Dan-o-wah ? sofr?vel, mas eu tenho a minha pr?pria "f?brica" de overdrive, n?o preciso de mais nada. Quanto ao wah-wah, considero que a rela??o custo-benef?cio ? a melhor do mercado. Tudo bem que um Dunlop Cry Baby pode at? ser melhor, Um VOX tem um som incr?vel, os Morley s?o ?pticos, mas olha o pre?o!!! Eu acho o som do Danelectro bem honesto e razo?vel. Quer saber quem usa profissionalmente: Big Joe Manfra...

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 10
Custo-benef?cio m?ximo por um pedal honesto.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: US $40 used
Submitted 05/16/2005 at 07:49pm by drpeen

Ease of Use : 9
This is a pretty self-explaintory unit - it's a wah pedal with six presets and a distortion with overdrive. Eight buttons. Pick one and play. The buttons are on the side and a little hard to change on the fly, but frankly I can't think of an occasion where I will want to change the settings in the middle of a song. Lights on the back make it easy to see what mode you are in.

Sound Quality : 9
Yamaha AES820 guitar (stock setup); JoeMeek VC6Q compressor/EQ; MesaBoogie amp; homemade preamp, distortion, octave divider, phaseshifter; Psychoflange. Sounds quiet, esp compared to the noise-floor of a Cry Baby. It gets noisier with the power supply I notice, but that could be another piece of gear in the same power strip messing with it - I didn't really check too closely 'cause I use batteries mostly.

The effects sound great - don't buy this expecting it to sound like a Vox or a Horsie - if you want that sound buy the real thing and stop whining. Judge this on its own merits and it's a terrific pedal with good sounds. Yeah, the distortion is WAY over the top, but again, if you want a Big Muff, buy one. Danelectro has always specialized in really extreme effects (psychoflange anyone?) and if you look at it like a new tool, not like a copy of something else, you'll be really happy.

Reliability : 9
It's pretty solid even though it's plastic. I'm not sure what other reviewers of this pedal do on gigs, but it's tough enough for anything I put my equipment through (progressive metal). It's been fine so far.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never had to deal with them.

Overall Rating : 9
I like things that make interesting sounds - progressive metal is the name of the game here. I really have no interest in copying anyone else's sound, so this is my kind of unit. Ignore the punters who have been slagging this kit - they obviously wouldn't know a good creative tool if it bit them in the ass. If you judge this pedal for what it can do (not what you wish it would do), it's pretty terrific. Yes, the distortion is super saturated, but it has some great posibilities. I spent two hours wailing away on this pedal in octave distortion mode with an E-Bow creating the coolest sounds I've made in years.


Product: Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah
Price Paid: US $39.00 used
Submitted 03/07/2005 at 12:34pm by Wain Ashely
Email: uglybro50 at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 10
EAsy to use; lots of buttons to play with. Don't have a manuel, bought it used.

Sound Quality : 6
Fender Strat Deluxe; 92 Tele American Standard; Gibson ES 355"the dot" Newburgh Steinberger; amps: Fender DeLuxe RVRI; Roland Jazz Chorus 120(made in Japan); old Peavy 4x10 Classic (no effects loop); Fender Blues Jr. Dan O Wah has too short a sweep; the octave effect is OK for single line leads in high register; the distortion is controllable if you back off on the volume of your guitar.

Reliability : No Opinion
It is used and it works; I would use it without a back up.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion
Neo-classical, fork, country, rock, RnB, contemporary Christian, jazz, pop.

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