Danelectro Danomatic tuner

This thing take F....O.....R.....E.....V.....E.....R to read the pitch and display it. Not very fast, which is what I want for a stage tuner. I'll stick to using my cheapo Arion Stage Tuner in its crappy plastic case.

The LCD display is abyssmal to read compared to the cheapo Arion's LED display. If you're going to use this, use an AC adapter.

Nice solid chassis ... I haven't had any problems with it. Of course, my Arion is faster, so I'm only using the Dano at practice.

It's a chromatic tuner, so you should be able to tune anything with it. I just don't need to. For this price, I wish it were more useful as a stage tuner ... too hard to read, too slow.

get the ac adapter. The lightd meter is way easier to read onstage

I play bass..i've used it alone and with effects. It's quiet, it does not seem to color sound like the omnipresent BOSS ones do

It never failed me, is a little slow sometimes, will pick up fret buzz, hence some people's reports of mis readings. Also I 'd like to point out that there seems to be 2 different tuners being reviewed here..the heavy tan all steel stage tuner, and the smaller plastic crappy tuner. I have the heavy tan stage model

never dealt wtih them never needed to

I have been playing for 17 years, I have used many tuners..I have no complaints, it's built like a tank..I would say that the LEDs may be the weak link, if you use the ac adapter you will get better performance, but I like it better than the BOSS I am now using . I may actually put the old thing back into service...It is a little slower with bass frequency than guitars..not sure why.

worst... tuner... ever.

As you can see from all the previous entries here, this tuner just doesn't even know what tone it's looking for. There isn't a manual switch to tell it what string you are trying to tune, which is the saving grace of other crappy tuners that jump all over the place in trying to figure out what string you are playing.

Anyway, you can play the same string 10 times without changing anything and it will tell you something different every time.

I got this from musicians friend, which I LOVE... I wanted a quick and easy, reliable stage tuner, but this is not quick, reliable, or a tuner, for that matter. If you take this on stage, prepare for a long, quiet set of people watching you cry and pull your hair out trying to get in tune.

A set of tuning forks would be more efficient to take on stage with you.

It's not hard to figure out how to use this piece of junk, it's just hard to get the thing to perform as advertised. As for the tuner itself, when it works, it works fairly well, and is accurate enough for Rock & roll. THe trick is getting it to turn on on demand.

Tuners should not add noise to your signal chain and this one does. Within a month of my buying this, the light started flickering. TO use this on a dark stage, you have to use the AC power supply, as running the tuner off the battery power doesn't bring the light on. The light comes on in bypass mode (you turn this on and it mutes your signal while you tune), and my light starts flickering, and witht he flickering comes a horrible static out of my amp as I tune. I hate this thing.

Honestly, I think it worked as advertised once. In addition to the terrible noisy flickering light problem, the main switch became unreliable on the device. I stomp on it, and it flickers on for a second and then goes off. THere's no satisfactory click when this thing comes on. I have to smack the button with my foot several times before the thing will stay on.

Non-existant, which is terrible for a company that makes such rotten products as this. I can not find any contact info for these rip-off artists. This company STINKS!

As mentioned before, I hate this thing. I play bass. I have a passive MTD Beast 5-string (like the Grendel). I run it through an EBS octabass, an Electroharmonix Bass Balls, a Big Muff Pi, and finally into this heap of trash. I've now replaced this with a Boss Tuner which is more expensive, but 3000 times more reliable, and completely trustworthy. I also feel like the Boss tuner is more accurate than this one. I'd sell this, but I actually like other people and wouldn't want to bring this level of frustration down on anyone, so I feel saddled with this thing for the rest ogf my life. I may smash it onstage at our next show. I would never purchase another Danelctro product again as long as I live.

Do not get one of these. As you can read below i had a couple of replacements. Well, my last one quit in less than a month and it is still sitting here. If I send it again, I will have spent more in shipping than I did for the tuner. and I am not using it improperly or roughly. It still looks mint. The thing is, once in a while it will work. You just never know when. I may try replacing a few parts myself (mainly the cheapo jacks).

I keep lowering this as well. Yes they will ship you a new or repaired one back everytime (usually they just replace it), but it sure would be nice to talk with someone instead of only contacting them via letter or shipping out the pedal. I actualy think they may have just shipped nack the old one this time as it does the same thing.

Forget it. Never again. They have some super pedals, but this one is not it.

there's one input jack for your guitar cord, and two output jacks, one for regular output with sound, the other for muted output. also one footswitch, of the same "button" design found on the other big Dano pedals from six or seven years ago (Cool Cat, DanEcho, FabTone, etc.)

the battery-only display includes a green "in tune" light at the top of the front panel, flanked by two red "tuned low" and "tuned high" lights with arrows showing whether you're sharp or flat, as if you couldn't tell. (i don't know, maybe some of you can't.)

or you can use the 9-volt adapter (not included, of course) to light up the front panel, backlit LCD display, which is both cool and, for some people at least, problematic.

in fact, i think what messes a lot of people up with this pedal is that the needle isn't real -- it's a function of the LCD display, a "virtual needle" if you will. so rather than a smooth, pendular, analog swing back and forth as it zeroes in on the proper Hz., it kind of dances around amongst several preset display positions. which is not to say that it doesn't do a decent job of tuning; it always seems to find "true north" when you get the string there. but it can be hard to get a feel for the unit's action without using it a while.

also (and here's my GRIPE for the day), no tuner I DON"T CARE HOW GOOD is the last word on tuning. you still have to use your ears and your mind to get a guitar properly tuned. use a tuner to get you in the ballpark, then.....LISTEN!!!! IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT.

oh, i forgot to say the display inclues "sharp" and "flat" indicators -- this is a chromatic tuner, so if you tune down for your Gn'R covers, this will still work.

i'm not sure sound quality is an issue with a tuner. it doesn't seem to color the sound, which is good.

i've used mine without problems for about five years. i don't gig, and i don't kick it around. never had problems with the switch or anything.

as a company, it's apparent that Danelectro has gone completely out to lunch. too bad, after making such a big splash five or six years ago with their neat, budget reissue guitars and funky pedals, they essentially disappeared for more than a year -- no announcements or information on their website, nothing. their website went without being updated, LONG after their guitars were out of production and impossible to find in stores. and there was no obvious way of contacting them; i don't think there was even an email link. LAME!!!!!

now they've reappeared -- sort of -- with this new "Wasabi" line of pedals....shaped like vintage automobiles! HUH? WHAT DOES A CONDIMENT SERVED WITH SUSHI HAVE TO DO WITH OLD CARS? WTF???!!!!!! you get the idea that after they were committed to the pedal design and the housings were in production, some genius decided they needed a new marketing schtick. so now the pedal design and the pedal name have nothing to do with each other, and the ads show some fat-ass sumo wrestler, like he could even fit behind the wheel. i guess it's no surprise the company has had problems.

anyway, i still own six or seven Danelectro pedals besides this one, including the Cool Cat chorus and the DanEcho delay. i use them as backups to my "real" pedals and won't get rid of them because i like their sound, but if either one of them died, i wouldn't even know who to call for service. most likely i'd just go to eBay and buy a new one for $20 or whatever.

would i buy this pedal again? who knows. beyond my EXCELLENT LockOn, i'd probably step up to a strobe tuner for my rack, anything to avoid buying crap from Boss.

IN CLOSING: IF YOU'RE OUT THERE, DANO, GET YOUR S*** TOGETHER AND START MARKETING YOURSELVES AGAIN. WANKERS!

i've used a handful of tuners over the years -- from entry-level Korgs to a beautiful, wooden (!) LockOn unit i bought about 10 years ago and that's still going strong strong strong. i'd put this one somewhere in the middle. it's not the world's best tuner, but it works a lot better than others give it credit for.

and again, it's only going to get you close -- if you can't use your ears to fine tune your guitar, you need more help than any tuner's going to give you.

its easy, just step on it and turn it on... the button can be pretty sensitive though.

i wouldnt rely on this if it was the last tuner on the planet... it isnt very accurate. i guess its ok for a practice tuner, but dont think you can use it to tune up in the middle of a set. you have to hit the string making sure that there is absolutly NO other strings vibrating and no noise and wait for the tuner to sense the note and then wait for it to stop jumping around and you have a small window of time when it is accurate. so work fast.

not worth the money, get the boss pedal tuner, its the best. the fender pedal tuner works well too.

This is an update on my previous rating. I just had my new one quit. I shipped it out and had a brand new replacement in two weeks. This could be an awesome tuner if they would just put better jacks in them

I had to lower this. yes, they replaced it no questions asked, but it sure would be nice to be able to talk to a tech or even a support person instead of having to listen to a prerecorded phone message and ship it to them on faith. Their web page is terrible. If you look real hard you can find in small print a link for contact information. They have no manuals online for their products and currently only have a very small portion of their products on the page.

Super Easy to use. Bypass works well, very quiet. Plus in to the right jacks and go!

No noise. Sounded great. It didn't affect my tone at all.

OK. This was a tough one. I originally got the tan version. It was impossible to tune with it. It never seemd to lock on to the note. It woould take 20 minutes to tune and was a pain. I will go into thsi more in the support area. Lets just say I got it replaced with the newer reddish colored modelwith the new and improved sticker and it now works perfect. It is built liek a tank. Very heavy duty! I give it an 8 because I returned the first one. 10 on the replacement.

I give them an 6 here. First, the address and number in the pedal box was no good. They had moved. There is no contact info on there website (at least then there was not). Luckily I had just purchased a Danelectro Wasabi Overdrive so it had the new contact information for the Evetts Corporation (who I guess owns the line now). I called this number and got the phone system. It is totally automated and never gave me the option to talk to a human being. So, on faith, I packed up the origianl tan model with a letter explaining my problems with it not tuning properly. I asked for a repair and even offered to pay a little if needed (I bought this thing at a local sho closeout for $29.95...it was a $70 pedal). Well, I never heard from them, but two weeks later I had a Brand Spanking new replacement, the red version with the New and Improved sticker on it. It works fantastic. Well that part of the suppport is a 10, but the fact that I was never able to talk with a human, or find an email address, and the fact that their website has no real contact information, lowered it to a 6 in my opinion.

Well, I give this an overall 8 when you factor in support and one replacement. If you can find the new Red model brand new, grab it. It is a solid 10. Very nice. I must say I am quite happy now, but I went through a little to get there. Iguess I got a steal at the price when you add in the free replacement though.

All tuners are the same, A is A, right?
Not so according to Dan O'Matic. This pedal will tell you every note you're not playing, but not if they are in tune. Confused? I was.
This is the worst thing I've ever seen, ever. The meter jumps around from flat to sharp, and the note selector switches all around 5 times a second. I got this thing for on stage tuning. Anytime i wanted, right in the middle of a song even, i wanted to be able to tune. I was jealous of people with pedal tuners, so i traded 3 fender lace pickups for this one. I've never even used it on stage because it would make things worse. If one string was out of tune, this thing would tell me they are all out of tune. Plus it takes between 5 and 30 attempts to turn it on. The switch is crap. The pedal is the worst design i've ever come across. I would expect more if i made it myself.

hmmm. sounds like me getting ripped off.

I wouldn't count on this thing to hold down the papers on my desk, even though it weighs about 15 lbs. My band is hard up for tuning on stage, and no one will use this thing.

No idea.

I play in an all original band, somewhere between Metallica and Nirvana. AIDIUM RULES! I play a knock off Randy Rhoads V made by Hondo. My first guitar from 9 or 10 years ago. I just got it back. It rules. This goes into my Dunlop wah, and into my Peavey Stereo Chorus amp. Back to the pedal. The worst peice of crap ever. This is the first time i have ever written to someplace about something, but i just had to say this thing sucks.

You just turn it on and tune, so it's a easy to use technically. But in reality this pedal is soooo slow registering notes and then needs some extra time on top of that you catch the pitch change as you tune, so you never quite know whats going on.

I'll admit it doesn't play with your tone at all so this catagory gets a 10

You couldn't depend on this pedal at all. In the 4 months I've had it mine's had the footswith break, the led break and the adapter input is so cheaply designed that I had to duct tape the adapter in. I treat all my gear very well and the pedal went back in the box after each use. so it wasn't misused, it just fell apart. If you gig with this and no back up, I hope you have a good ear.

I gave mine away instead of sending it back cause I don't even want a free new one. But a freind of mine has sent back his broken Dan-o-Matic FOUR times in the last year and a half and each time they sent him a new one so they must be pretty good about replacing and fixing these.

This pedal is an absolute piece of junk that I personally feel stupid for buying because I thought all tuners are probably the same thing in diffent boxes. So I bought this one cause it looks good.
I noticed everybody's reviews of the Dan-o-matic mention how good the boss tu-2 is. I bought one myself, it's great and now I gig with peace of mind again. In reality, those little 15 dollar korg pocket tuners are better than the Dano. I've been gigging pro for 15 years, and I work in a guitar shop so I have a pretty good grasp of the difference between quality gear and junk. Either way, one peice of gear I'm NEVER going to regret getting rid of is the Dan-o-Matic. If it were stolen I'd probably buy the theif a beer for helping me out. Get the boss tu-2 or if you can find one, I had had an old arion cheap plastic tuner pedal that survived 13 years of gigging and worked great. Trust me, don't throw your cash away on this TOTAL LEMON of a pedal!

Very easy to use, just plug it in, stomp on it to mute and tune, another kick and you're back on track.

My setup is Ibanez musician MC200, Gibson ES135 modded with Duncan P-90s and a Bigsby into the dano then to a Laney LH50-R II Head connected to a selfmade 1x12 cab equipped with an E-Voice EVM12s.
Can't realize any effect on sound, seems to be a true bypass.

Just got it for a few days so i won't post any rating by now.

Never dealt with them.

Like metioned before i use a straight guitar to amp setup, so there is nothing that could have any bad effect between the dano and my guitar, yes it's a bit lazy if i use the neck pickup, but used with the bridge pickup it works well. Just bought it cause the price was ok for trying it before i spend 75 Euros on a Boss or 60 on a Fender pedaltuner, but now i think i'll keep it it tunes, mutes, doesn't change my tone and thats all i wanted, nothing more, nothing less. But in fact it's heavy as a brick, you could probably kill someone by throwing it after them. i'll give it a 9 overall, a 10 may be too much for what i read before.

Very Easy to use, plug in, and either run out the mute or straight out if you want to hear yourself, or allow everyone to hear you tuning. Step on the button, and it comes on, step on it again, it turns off. I think it turns itself off after a few minutes. I also wasn't to fond of the LED display. On stage, standing over it, it's somewhat difficult to read what key it's picking up...see reliability for more on that.

I never noticed any effect on the sound.

Here's where I have a problem. I used mine for about 2 years, gigging once a week. I used it with power adapter to get the backlight, and because I hate batteries. After about a year the LED that is 'supposed' to show you what key you're tuning to wouldn't work half the time. It also liked to tell me that I was tuning to the wrong key, say a B when I know I'm plucking an E. Had a hard time tracking. I did gig w/o a backup, but I also know the others in my band have tuners!

Never dealt with them.

It has all the functions that I wanted, mute out, but it didn't pass the test of time. I've since purchased a Boss TU-2. For $20-30 extra, get the Boss, it has a much easier to read lit display, tracks on the spot, tunes more accurately and has many more functions for alternate, drop, or tuning flat/sharp.

You stand on it to turn it on and again to turn it off. You can't get any simpler. I tune by the 12th fret harmonics and that responds a lot faster than open strings.

My rig: Patrick Eggle Berlin Plus -> AKG Wireless System -> Dano Tuner -> Trace Elliot SuperTramp 100Watt 1 X 12 Hybrid Combo.

There are two outputs on this thing, one for tuning with volume on, and one muted. I use the muted and this works perfectly. When the tuner is switched off (bypass), I get no signal colouring or loss at all. Perfect.

I've been using it for about 9 months now doing 2 gigs a week on average. Built like a brick, nothing's going to dent this baby. I do gig without a backup. One of the highlight LEDs has failed though, so if another goes, it's going back for a replacement. I might take it back anyway before the year's up, just to get a brand new one.

No dealings with them, but the other responses here are encouraging.

Good bit of kit which does it job and doesn't get in the way. The Boss TU-2 was the only comparable thing I could find and the local shops wanted another #20 to #30 quid for that! There used to be one made by Arion but I couldn't find one of them anywhere. Also looks the dog's bollocks which always impresses punters at gigs. If it were stolen, I'd use it as a blunt instrument to perform brain surgery on the thief. If I was sticking with my current setup, I would replace it but as I'm looking to get an all singing, all dancing rack preamp with a built in tuner I would probably get that first, and then the Dano. One mark knocked off for one LED going so 9.

in theory, great - you plug it in & tune up. In practice, it's tracking is slow, it gives false readings, etc.

no effect on sound, which is fine.

This is the main problem, as with all Danelectro pedals that I've had. I tried using it in both bass and guitar set ups. Forget using it for a bass - it barely picks up the notes at all. for guitar it is slow and inaccurate. The power socket fell to pieces, so it only works with a battery, and that means that backlight doesn't come on. You couldn't ever trust it for gigs, so mine's banished to my practice room, for occasional use if i don't have my usual pedalboard.

never tried.

very poor. i got it because I wanted a pedal tuner in my gig set up. I have now replaced it with a Boss TU2, a pedal that I can't recommend highly enough. the Dan is temporamental, inaccurate, and basically a waste of money.

very easy depending on where you put it in the chain of effects. if you use it on its own its as easy to use as any tuner but if you have it at the end of a chain of effects then the effected signal is hard to trace and so is hard for the unit to track and hard to tune

good to mute the chain of effects bu this will reduce the tuning aspect but bad to use as mute if put at begining as a signal that is distorted is very noisey

very, big metal, fight your way out of a gladiators ring with it

n/a

good on its own, or at begining of chain, NB: plug it in to get the back lit screen, for stage use, well good.

From reading the other reviews about the Danomatic, there are two camps on this product: Love it or hate it. I love it. Absolutely no effect on sound. The mute option is nice. A point that shows up frequently in the reviews is that this tuner seems slow to respond. I agree. This hasn't annoyed me much--although I see this as the product's only real flaw. I think the needle read indicates pretty clearly when notes are sharp or flat.

Gibson Les Paul with Marshall amp. As I said before, no effect on sound.

Very solid, metal construction. Nice hefty feel. I depend on electronic tuners--can't get in tune without one--so I need a backup no matter what I use.

No dealings.

Okay. I admit it. I think the retro design is the ultimate in cool. I began to suspect that the sometimes erratic performance (the slow response and occassionally jittery read) had something to do with dying batteries. I got an adapter and this seems to have solved the problem. Plus, having a lighted dial now (something that happens with an adapter) is nice. Boss as a replacement? Maybe. But chicks go into a trace over the appearance of the Danelectro alone.

This thing is sssooo unsensative and it really annoys me!!! It has no effect on your tone but it tunes pathetically!!!! Only thing it's good for is muting the sound.

I use Fender guitars and a Laney VC-30 with a Vox wah, TS-9 and a TS-7 tubescremer in front of it. The only thing it's good for is the "mute-out" output. This allows me to cut the single and swap guitars silently which is very handy but if you're looking for a tuner STAY AWAY from this pedal. I give it a 10 for muting the signal but how hard is that??

Never broken and is built really well. I don't have a back-up and woulodn't want one. If it broke down i'd be glad cos it'd be an excuse to buy something else!!

Never had to use them

All in all i would never rocomend this if you need/want a stage tuner!! Spend a bit more money and get something good. BUT like i said it's cool if you wanna mute your sound but other pedals will do that aswell so honestly try other things!!! for my sake!!

Fairly easy to use - but it's pretty slow. Hit the string, wait a second or so for it to recognize what string you're playing and tune it. Make sure it's not thinking you want to play sharp (#) - I didn't notice the sharp was boxed in on a couple of strings and when I thought I was done tuning, it was way off - only did that once. The tuner is always about a second behind you, so you have to make your adjustments really slow.

No effect on sound.

Seems to be very solid - like most other "full-sized" Dano pedals.

Never dealt with Dano directly.

Overall, it works pretty good. It works great for the price I paid (FREE). I've only been playing for around a year just for my own enjoyment (no gigs, now or ever) so the fact that it's a little slow isn't a problem for me. You may be able to find something that works better for less money - I've always used one of those AA powered tuners that you just set next to the amp (don't plug into it) and it has always work fine, too.

easy to use... and tune away... not good though, if your playing live. the display is too small. its like reading a cheap lcd tuner... at your feet, and it does a shit job as well

i use my music man sting ray into it... and it still gives a shit read out

took it back, and bought the read deal tuner pedal... Boss TU2

This tuner is not easy to use. It does not work properly and therefore it can't be said that it is easy to use. It is very difficult to tune your guitar with this tuner.

I use an old telecaster, with a Marshall tube amp.

There is no sound quality as this is a tuner.

The unit functions properly, however in that proper function it does not effectively tune your guitar.

This effect should be taken off of the market. I bought the White BOSS chromatic tuner for myself, and the silver Fender tuner for the other guitarist in my band, and they work much better than the Danelectro.

easy to use.

no effect, hey it's a tuner.

it doesn't work very well, but it does work poorly very consistently.

n/a

the needle won't move as your tuning, (even very slowly) then it jumps way over. I could die of old age trying to use this at a gig. It also may show you every note in the scale while you are trying to tune one string. Is it A#, F, D#? I hoped when I got AC power to it it would help, but it's no better.If you never play live and have lots of time, this is the tuner for you.

I hate it. Works okay, but you have to have an AC adapter for the LCD to light. You can see that the note is flat or sharp, but you can't see what the note is. Bad when you've got the thing muted and you are using different tunings.....

Straightforward, no options, nothing to change or set

It's not supposed to sound, so no rating here

Very solid built, no problem

Well, here's the bad thing: This thing doesn't do very well the job it's supposed to to! In fact, this is the worst tuner I ever had. It takes a long time to recognize the right string, suddenly displays a completly different tone, switches back and so on. You mute the string and the display doesn't change for 2 seconds. Very bad in live situations when you don't have time. Danelectro may be good at effects, but they shure don't know how to make a digital tuner! Korg tuners are far better. Don't buy this thing. It looks pretty cool but it's functionality lacks. I'll throw it away.

The thing I like about this tuner is that it mutes your guitar. It also lights up, so when it's dark on stage, you can see it.

This tuner doesn't take away any of your guitar's tone. I have a Fender Stratocaster. The amp. I use is a Classic 30 all tube combo.

I can depend on it because it tells you your battery runs out.

Nope never delt with the company before.

I compared it to the Boss tu-2. The TU-2 is real sensitive,so it takes forever to tune.

Great in-line tuner for quick on stage tuning. Has two outputs (muted and unmuted).

It's great.

It's reliable.

I had an old one that I broke within the warranty. They sent me a new one and I've only used this one like 5 times. Now I have the POD with built in tuner.

It's a great tuner.

pretty easy to use, some delay on tracking the note sometimes, nothing too bad

im using a fender american strat through a marshall 2x12 amp, the only problem ive had is the cheap plastic used for the input and output begins to pop and crack when i move my cable

works fine except for the input problem, would be a great pedal if the used metal instead of plastic

never dealt with them

great pedal, works good except for the problem with the input jack, replace the plastic with metal and itll be indestructable, but because of the cheapness of design ill have to give it a 4

Just plug it in, it's automatically on

Sound quality is just fine, it's a tuner so it doesn't change anything.

If there was a nuclear war, I have no doubt that Keith Richards and Dano pedals would survive

I've emailed them, they are very fast and friendly.

I used a Qwik Tune before I got this one. This is much better than the Qwik Tune because the Dano allows alternate tunings and can pick up the low B on 5 and 6 string basses.

Seems to be a lot of people had problems making this thing work - slow tracking, etc. but I've found it very easy to use. Used with the neck pickup and lowering your volume a bit and turning your tone knob to zero it tracks fast and well. Works as well as most tuners I've tried, and was the sturdiest floor tuner at the store. It's also great for changing guitars silently. I like it!

I don't really notice any significant change in the sound quality when using this pedal, unless of course I step on the mute switch. I play with a Gibson Les Paul, or a Nighthawk (set up with a Dobro Nut) through a Tone Lizard amp (small Canadian boutique outfit - they're cool)

I've gigged with this pedal without a back up many times and it's worked great. I'd gig without a backup for this or my Daddy-O without a huge fear of let down. Dano makes good stuff.

Emailed a few time with questions and they were prompt and informative. More than I can say for Gibson.

Unlike most people who submitted reviews, I like this pedal. It does the job fast and well If you just turn those knobs counterclockwise a bit. If it were lost or stolen I'd get another. Its a good pedal if you know how to use it. I suggest buying one used from some dumb kid who couldn't make it work with the bridge humbucker of his Ibanez with the volume and tone wide open through a MetalZone into the tuner. Seems to be a lot of them (judging from the reviews here) and I'm sure they wouldn't want very much for it. Vive la suckers!