Danelectro DW-1 Dan-O-Wah

well this thing IS UNUSABLE live...they put these dumbass small buttons on the side, and all this crap and expects you to use these live.. I had very bad experiences with danelectro but their products are extremely fun to smash and see their guts all over the pavement..

one guy hit it on the nail BUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSS (raido turns on) WTF!!!! how in the hell am i supposed to use this piece of crap with out the radio turning on???!!! i think that this was the worst christmas present ever... BUY A VOX or a crybaby.. this thing is unusable live or in the studio..so beware. btw...i have two amps... a fender princeton chorus and an avt 50 half stack...what the hell, my fender princeton chorus' distortion sounds better than this? tisk tisk..thats really low... my avt just kicks danelectro's @$$

hahahahah i smashed this with all my other cheap @$$ danelectro pedals... I hate these things

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!! they were drunk, and smokin weed when they made this thing

bottom line is, stay away from this company/pedal. it will make your crappy equipment sound good. and that scares me... it makes me appreciate my fender princeton chorus's distortion..don't let that happen to you. The pedal turns on this freakin weird country and western radio station and it doesn't work out with punk..so i smashed it... my musical style is the misfits, bad religion, nofx, lagwagon, millencolin...ect and i got this as a present that i didn't ask for.. i've been playing for 10 years and my band gigs alot. so smashed into smitherines...goodbye..wait, no..just bye..wait..good riddence

It's a wah. Up. Down. It's a wah. Except . . . the switch to engage/disengage the wah is so touchy that I found myself hitting it when just trying to sweep the wah. And I don't have a lead foot. Normally I think the switches on wahs require too much pressure.

This thing sucks. It has no useable sound unless you want to save yourself the time and trouble of making a patch labeled "CRAP" on your multi-effects unit.

Cheap plastic. Would not even think about playing live with it.

Never dealt with Dano.

I was fortunate enough to be able to sell this right after I bought it. I wanted to like this pedal. I love Dano and have a ton of their wacky crap, but this, this . . . atrocity shall not soon be forgotten. Dano, did anyone actually test this thing before you shipped it? I feel so, so bad for anyone who paid the original retail on this.
Worst. Pedal. Ever.

Its a wah pedal, works like any other basicaly. However, changing wah presets with the tiny little, closely spaced buttons can be difficult to do standing with your feet. Mabey some yoga lessons might make it easy someday........

I've played this wah through my Fender Hotrod Deluxe 2/12 and my peavey classic 30. The wah effects, regardless of preset used, is just plain terrible. If you decide to used it with any form of overdrive or distortion, it only gets worse. The pedal also has a built in distortion and octave effect. The distortion by itself is possibly the worse I've ever heard. With the octave effect engaged, which only works as part of the distortion effect, the sound is very unique in a noisy disturbing kinda way. I've come to realize after buying this pedal that drugs do indeed impair my judgement to a dangerous point. As a result, I now don't do drugs anymore. Yes, its that bad.

I expect this pedal will last forever. Because I don't intend in ever using it. And cannot get anyone to trade me anything more than mabey to packs of guitar strings for it.

I don't expect to be contacting them. For the reasons said above. Thus, I'll give a -middle of the road rating.

I have to be honest about my opinion here. And folks this is mine.

The buttons and all are pretty straightforward but my feet are too stinkin big to use the thing live! I ALWAYS step on the distortion when I go to hit the wah. Other than that, you just push a button and get a sound. No knobs or anything...simple but not laid out very well. I have tape ALL OVER THIS THING so that I can keep the sound I want. I tried to disconnect the distortion but, no dice there!

Running X2N-equipped USA strat into Dan-o-wah, assorted dist and fuzzboxes, a couple modulation devices, a digital delay or two, to a 5150 half stack. One of the 6 wah sounds I really like. A great "porn-wah" sound! The rest are OK at best. The distortion is COMPLETELY UNUSABLE LIVE! When coupled with the wah, however, I can get a cool ring-modulator type effect that is only good in my bedroom. I use this ring-modulator on one of our songs: go to http://www.brotherlush.com and go on the "music" page choose the song "Revolution". I use this pseudo ring-modulator in the second verse.

It's all plastic and, as I always miss the switch, I tend to hit it hard. It hasn't broken yet but I think it will if I gigged with it still.

Well, for 26 bones, I can't complain. I have a wah for use in my studio and that's it! If you have small feet, don't mind, taping up your effects, and can get a closeout buy like me, I recommend it! Otherwise, save for a vox or whatever.

You don?t have to be a rocket Scientist to operate this thing, Quite basic the manual is written in plan English tells you how,what,when.. etc. So as far as "ease of use goes" no hidden tricks here...

Using this with a JCM 2000 (TSL 100) Head and MC1960A Cab - With Gibson SG & Cort G290.

Okay, This is where this product simply crashes and burns! It is fine when played with clean but as soon as you kick in the wah. "BUZZZZZZ HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" Pretty much shouting out "TURN ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Then if you are brave enough to attempt to kick in distortion after that.... You get hit with the nastiest sounding "distortion/fuzz" CRAP! you will ever hear! Overly Load! WAY WAY WAY too much Gain! Just Plan NASTY!

So i thought to Combat this i would simply use Amp Distortion leave the Wah on Clean and should i need to use Distorted wah then i will simply kick in Distortion and bobs your uncle (As you do with any normal wah pedal) Well sounds good in theory.. However in practice! "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ HUMMMMMMMMMMMM BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ HUMMMMMMMMM" Absolutely HORRIBLE way too noisy!

IN SHORT SOUND QUALITY = BLOODY TERRIBLE!!!

Well Its made out of some hard core plastic so it looks solid enough.. Although I would if it was made out of a steal this would bestow a bit more confidence in this product (Until of course you try use it!).. But hmm I think with frequent use it will evenly die! I can just see it happening... That?s if you are game enough to use it frequently in the 1st place.

For the price I paid for this pedal I was expecting something a HELL of allot better! Do your self a favor people DONT BUY THIS! Keep well away from it! Save an extra 50 bucks and get a CRY BABY! This pedal SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Far too complex for the design layout...manual is confusing.....just a lousy design

To be fair, i did find a wah or two that were decent sounding, but honestly, there just isn't enough variation between the 6 presets to be able to call each one unique...the so called distortion is absolutely, hands down the worst sound i've ever heard...the octave feature, if it's really there, doesn't do anything

I tried this peadl on approval, and i do not approve...i fibnally pullled it in the middle of a song when the crap-stortion went on by itself and WOULD NOT TURN OFF!!!

The dude that resurrected danelectro poured lots of money into it, came out with some good stuff, some terrible stuff, and then self-destructed...probably too much partytime...the IS NO customer support...you're on your own

I've been playing for 33 years...i am still a compulsive gear hound, even though i'm trying to reform...ordinarily, i can find a way to use just about anything, and i'm usually fairly generous in my comments...that said, i will say this about this pedal....and i mean this, really and truly...i thank God that i tried it before i paid for it...i literally wouldn't have it if it were given to me

Somewhat complicated, and impossible to use on-the-fly during a show... if you don't have shoes with a narrow point, changing among the wahs and the octave on/off switch is virtually impossible. But at home or in the studio, easy as pie.

It's noiseless when passive, and the wahs are unbelievable. The best, by far, I've ever heard. After trying Dunlop, Morley, VOX, etc. etc. etc., this one has 6 unique sounds. the first 60s and the 3rd 70s are the best, with wide sweeps and presence. The second 60s is very smooth, the second 70s sounds just like the wah-intro to Three's Company...
EXCELLENT sound quality on the wahs, which is what it's meant for.
The distortion is adequate. It's not designed for hardcore great distortion sounds - stay with your Marshall - but it does an alright job. The octave effect is almost useless unless you're trying to find a really different sound for an intro or solo or something. Using the wah with the distortion or distortion+octave = NOT a good idea. Sounds terrible... Just use the wah with your amp's distortion and you'll be fine.

It's plasticky...and I wouldn't throw it around much, no... but if you let it sit in one place, it'll do jusssssst fine.

Wah sounds = fantastic. Distortion = ok. Octavizer = ehhh.

Pretty easy to get a good sound if you keep it simple. I'm basically only using the bottom 60's button, since that sounds best to me.

I've used the Dan-O-Wah with my Epiphone Demon through a Peavy KB-160 amp and a Zoom 505II pedal. Even though the wah pedal has a bunch of other options (distortion and 70's wah sounds)I'm basically just using that one 60's setting, since that is the sound I want. The unit is very quiet and has a good wah sweep, very funky sounding.

Only used it for two gigs so far, but I'm pretty light on my feet (not bad for a guy who weighs 250 pounds), so I expect it to last for a while. Sure, I'd use it without a backup. This is the first wah-wah pedal I've owned since I sold my Foxx wah-volume pedal back in 1977 and I've done OK without one till now.

Sent them an email (see below) but no answer yet.

I play oldies in a 5-piece band and classic rock covers in a trio. The Dan-O-Wah is a fun effect if used sparingly. I've been playing since Woodstock (the first one). If I lost this pedal, I'd probably get another one as long as it was only $30. I really like the cheesy car design. I'm thinking of painting some flames on mine. I dislike the distortion, which is so loud as to be unusable during a gig. I emailed Danelecto to see if there were any kind of mod that could be done to lower the distortion volume, but they haven't answered me yet.
Anybody know of any way to do this?

It's a mixed bag here, big pluses and big minuses. The LED indicators are really handy. The side buttons stink. Pedal sweep is good. Distortion and channel switches at the end ot pedal sweep are a good way to accidentally murder your eardrums. Overall, okay. Lots of stuff crammed into very little space. I think it would have been better to just have two wah sounds rather than six, and use that space for some knobs to control things.

Better than you'd expect! Frankly, the wah sounds are WAY better than the common Crybaby and Morley pedals. No, they don't beat a Teese or Fulltone boutique pedal, but they're nothing to be ashamed of. The 60s and 70s channels give you the two main voices of wah, although the variations in those channels are too subtle to matter. It doesn't load down my signal even when bypassed - say THAT about a Crybaby!

The distortion and octave effects are a separate subject. Here's my take... taken as fuzz rather than distortion, the "distortion" is pretty good, really. It's useful for a number of things. While it seems subjectively much louder than the clean signal, it's not really (so sayeth the peak/clip meters on my Lexicon Vortex downstream, anyway). Distorted sounds seem naturally louder to our ears than clean sounds - that's just physics, and i have the same problem with all my other heavy distortion devices too. Now, it WOULD be nice if Danelectro provided a couple of knobs to actually CONTROL the distortion, so it was subjectively more reasonable. But hey, it works, and it doesn't suck nearly as much as some expensive dedicated pedals i've tried.

The octave effect is not really different from the Octavia that Jimi used... some people seem to expect a harmonizer, but an octave distortion is much more subtle than that. If it isn't working for you, try switching to the neck pickup, rolling off the tone control, and playing only the high strings above the 12th fret. Then you'll get how it works (if your guitar is a single bridge humbucker with no tone control, it sucks to be you). Listen to the lead in "Purple Haze" to hear how it's supposed to sound. So it works fine. Whether or not it's a useful effect for you depends on what you're playing and how willing you are to adapt your picking to the needs of the effect.

Oh, my setup... Gibson Blueshawk, Trace-Elliot Velocette tube amp, a ProCo Rat II for my main heavy distortion, Prescription Electronics Germ for clean buffering and overdrive, and various downstream swirly echoing things. The Danelectro plays well with others.

Haven't owned it long enough to form an opinion, but the cheap plastic housing is questionable. Fine for playing in the basement and the occasional gig. I'd expect professionals to spend more than $30 on a wah pedal!

I play jazzy, psychedelic weirdness. I want everything to sound warm and lively, and it works really well for that. And hell, it was thirty bucks! I use a lot of effects, but i'm VERY picky about them, and they have to meet high standards for sound quality and usefulness. It's not the greatest pedal i own, but hey, it's better than my Crybaby was!

It's not too hard to get a good sound out of this, but it's REALLY easy to get bad sounds. (I'll get to that later.) It has 2 switches on top, 1 under the pedal, and 4 push buttons on each side. You get 3 "60's" wah sounds(full-range), 3 "70's" sounds (trebly), distortion, and an octave-up effect. You can mix and match them to get dozens of sounds (good, bad, and ugly).

Like most wahs I've owned, I had to adjust the pot a little. Out of the box, it was too trebly and noisy in the toe-down position. The wah on/off switch was noisy. So, I opened the bottom, pulled back the notched strip that turns the pot, and turned the pot back a little. Now it sounds MUCH better and quieter. I'm not subtracting any points for this, because I've had to do it on Crybaby and Maestro wahs, too.

I'm subtracting a couple of points for lack of control over the distortion. The lack of a level control really burns me. I'm also knocking off a couple of points for the placement of the push buttons on the sides. It's hard to hit them with your foot.

I'm using this with a Fender Strat and a Lab Series L7 amp. It's not noisy now that I adjusted it (see above).

Like I said above, you can get some nice sounds out of this pedal. The middle 60's setting is good for Hendrix type stuff. The first 70's sound is bright and funky. The distortion is okay- IF you don't plan on switching between clean and dirty sounds. If you do, you'll find that the volume difference makes it unusable. When you kick on the distortion, you're suddenly 5 or 6 times louder.

This brings me to the bad sounds. For some unknown reason, the wah is placed after the distortion in the circuit. Ugh. Also, the octave effect adds way too much high end and thins out the low end. The octave only works when the distortion is on. Combine the distortion and octave with one of the 70's wahs, and presto- instant crap.

I'm only using the wah effects. I've given up on the rest. I put a Tube Works OD after this pedal and it sounds good.

I'm giving it a 5 because it's such a mixed bag.

People complain about Danelectro's plastic pedals. But I've had a couple of their mini effects for two years and they haven't broken yet. The push button switches on this pedal worry me though.

I don't use a wah at gigs, but I use a Dano Tuna Melt all the time at gigs without a backup.

Don't know. Never dealt with them.

I think Danelectro tried to put too many features into this thing, and not enough thought went into sound quality. An output level for the distortion would improve it greatly. So would putting the wah before the distortion.

But for $30, it's a good deal. I'd be upset if I paid more for it.