Danelectro E15 Headphone Amp

About 4-1/2" high, 3-1/2" wide, 1" deep. 1/4" line in & out jacks, 1/8" headphone out. Power, echo, & distortion on/off switches, and power on LED. Volume and distortion amount thumb-wheels. Belt clip and battery compartment on back, 9volt DC adapter jack. The AC adaptor is optional. Get one from partsexpress.com, they're only $2-3.

Headphones and battery included. Mine came in "Aqua", a funky '50s turquoise-green. I think it comes in Yellow & Burgundy too but there is no designation on the box, I think you get whichever color they grab off the shelf. See a pic @ www.danelectro.com.

I rated this for what it is - a $20 headphone amp. For that its great. Combo's don't get any kind of reverb or echo till the $100-$120 mark. I read some very unrealistic reviews across the Web before I bought mine. Know what you're buying! Its NOT a Soldano half-stack with an Eventide Harmonizer.

I play blues, folk, and rock&roll, with an Epi LP ES (hollowbody, humbuckers) and a home-made LP Special (p-100's).
The clean sound is fantastic. Not perfectly clean but very much so. There's a faint fuzziness underneath with the volume cranked. The Echo is great (and hilarious). Very '50s as advertised - think Elvis not the Edge. Its got a very drive-in theater quality to it.

The distortion is very usable but a little rough to be honest. Some of this is the headphones. I've never plugged any headphones into any amp and not had them sound colder and more brittle than the speaker. I'm sure that they didn't use a diode to clip the signal and that the distortion circuit is just the transistor gain pegged to the point of self-overdrive. Also, lighter pickups sound better with any setting. The p-100's sound better than the humbuckers and my niece's Squire Bullet with single-coils sounds better still. Turning down the guitar volume helps but not completely. I think its an impedance issue.

I have a set of Labtec Pulse 424 computer speakers (two sattelites and an 8" sub). I stuck the little 1/8" plug that goes in the sound card into the headphone out jack. The sound is unbelievable, really good, even with the humbuckers and full distortion. I'm sure any pair of powered speakers would sound better than the headphones.

Very thick and sturdy. Doesn't flex or bend, etc. I wouldn't depend on it in a live situation. Then again I wouldn't use it in a studio either. Its a practice tool so unless you spaz or conniption and throw it against a wall it should last years.

I've never dealt with any company. I've always gotten something damaged or defective and returned it to the store, or its good till it blazes the day after the warranty ends.

I compared this to every other mini-amp and headphone amp I could find both online and retail. This is the most versatile headphone amp and amongst the best sounding. At $20 (Zzounds.com) even the poorest begginer can have one.
The only thing more I wish it had was a little 2" speaker for maybe $25. My interest was more in a portable camping amp rather than a quiet headphone amp. I kept this one because of the echo but if it was "lost or stolen" or I had it to do over I would probably get the Danelectro Mini-Amp ($32 @ Zzonds). Its basically the same but 2" deep, a 2" speaker, and no echo.

This is a compact little headphone amp with reverb and distortion not much else except a line out for headphones and a line out for another amp.Don't expect to do great things with this just take it for what it is, a practice amp great for building ideas with without fiddling about a large amp. I also use it as a preamp for recording on my computer run guitar and bass through it.

I use a Tele and this little baby made it sound completely new to me. The reverb is decent and the distortion is fine but get a better set of headphones the ones you get with it are useless.I just wish it was a little bit quieter distorts at high volumes.

No problems yet!

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I have been playing for five years and I am an average player I own three other guitars and two amps this little thing is a great addition due to the fact nobody can complain about how loud you play. You can sit and watch TV and doodle away. I think if it were lost or stolen I would buy a replacement. All in all a nice little gadget

Manufactured 2001
(versatility) It is portable, about the size of a CD and only 3/4 inch deep. Like a wallet. Extremely light weight, not very rugged design. Single channel amp with effects like echo (really a reverbish sound from the 50's.
Distortion really is not good like overdriving a cassette deck and listening with headphones. I will not be using the distorion much.
(POWER) pretty loud unit has line out, and dc adapter connection. Maybe it sounds better with a dc supply.

Les Paul with Rio Grande pickups, Strat with Lindy Fralin pickups.
The strat really sounds good thru this amp running on clean setting.. The distorion is to 50'ssounding, or transistor radio like. Work with effects very well. More than adequate for practice, beginner, or such.

Don't know yet but the the construction seems fair, this is not a rough road type amp. The pignose would be better for that. But this only cost $49. An abusive person would break this in no time.

No comment

I have been playing a cumulative 10 years. Not a PRO and more of a hobbiest. Have good guitars to run thru this and they sound pretty good.
(BUY AGAIN?) No I don't think so. For $50, you might as well try something else.
What I do like about it is the size, light weight,clean sound, and retro style. I did not compre to others, I had a pignose for about 5 years. That was limited on features, no headphones, and no effects.
The few features it does have, are on or off button at the top, and a gain control for the distorion. I hope they modify this unit some day to sound better on both the echo and distortion.

If you are thinking about purchasing this, make sure you have good effects pedal to use with it. An MT-2 Boss and DD5 sound pretty awesome. I will rate this base on the clean sound.


This is a very useful little unit, good for quick testing of pickup replacement, working on your scales. You can imagine a dozen more uses.