Danelectro Nifty-Fifty

I purchased this cute little amp on October 22, 2000 to use as a practice amplifier. I play rhythm (and sometimes lead) in a swing band and like the amp for its nice clean tone. It is limited to one channel and no reverb, but the tone is so nice, I don't miss the reverb aspect.

I play a blonde Epiphone Zephyr with one neck pickup and use Thomastic-Infeld flatwound strings. The amp works wonderfully with the humbucking pickup in a jazz setting. The amp can get an overdriven sound, but then it starts to hiss a gret deal, so I keep it on clean.

It's been very reliable by virtue of having so little in the way of components that can go bad.

I've never dealt with the Danelectro, but they have a really well done website at this URL: www.danelectro.com/.

I love this cute little beauty with its nifty retro styling. It doesn't have chrome hardware protectors on its corners, so you have to be careful with it and not abuse it, as the leather covering is rather delicate.

Bought it used in 1999. Not very versatile, but fine for a little portable. Only one channel, so you are stuck in gear unless you can drop out and turn the knobs in mid song. For the size, weight and price it is fine.

I use it to practice and in a church praise band. I play a Telecaster and Les Paul Classic through it. Both sound fine. The clean (sweet) setting gets plenty loud without distortion. On the dirty (distoted) setting it clicks some like it has a short.

No problems.

N/A

I have played over 20 years. I hav an old Epiphohe practice amp that sounded terrible with mega hum/buzz. The Nifty Fifty is super in comparison.
I love the size and weight. It looks really cool vintage/retro.

Bought used, small cut in covering.Using a Danecho with it for Harp playing.I know solid state for Harp sucks. This Amp breaks that rule, and Im speaking as an owner of a 59 Bassman RI, A 4-10 Deville set up for Harp and a Pro junior.The secret is in the Mic, Im using a Shure Unisphere 585, if youre luckey enough to find one jump on it. Ive been playing with a Blues Band with some veteran players in it and they really like the sound of this setup miced with a 57 thru the P.A. I set the Danecho as follows, facing it left to right,left knob at about 1/4 up or to taste. next two knobs at 0, last knob full or 10.The toggle switch to the right.I also use a 58 sometimes, both mics sound good.

So far this has been a great little Amp.

I first heard a Harp player blowin thru one of these at a local Gin Mill and thought how weird, then I noticed it for sale on Kevins Harps web site. I dont think Id buy a new one, but a used one maybe if some fool stole this one..

This your basic solid state practice amp. It has one channel with a master volume and gain, three band tone, low/mid/high. I wish it had reverb, but I bought the new Dano mini-pedal Corned Beef reverb for $40 and fixed that problem. It's pretty good little PRACTICE amp and it just looks friggin' cool!

I'm using a Mexi strat I wired with Rio Tallboy pu's and a Richie Sambora standard strat. This thing does hiss even with nothing plugged in, but I didn't expect superior quality with a cheap, Chinese, practice amp. In my ears, it does a pretty good job of emulating an old tube amp. I really don't care for the distortion on the amp and prefer to use my TS-9 overdrive. It does distort at higher volumes, as to be expected, but I was impressed at the volume output and the lowend on this amp. Very good for my needs. I have a fender blues deluxe "gig" amp that is just heavy enough that I don't like to carry it out too much just for practice. This light little guy can put out enough volume to practice with the guys and that's why I bought it.

I've had it for about a month and there's not problems with it so far.

Never dealt with Dano.

I've been playing 9 years. I got rid of my old practice amp about 5 years ago when I got the blues deluxe. Now that I can afford another one, I wanted a practice amp for late night playing and practice sessions. This was, for me, the perfect combination of good looks and tone for a cheap price. I'm really impressed with all the new Dano stuff. In fact the only thing I don't own of theirs yet is a guitar. Based on the great experience I've had with this amp and my 4 Dano pedals, I'm thinking about getting a 56-U2.

Its a small amp intended for practice, recording, or jamming as long as you have a quiet drummer and nobody's amp is much bigger. Read the other reviews for details on controls. It's not incredibly versatile, but it is terrific in its range/purpose.

This is a classic-sounding small, semi-enclosed combo amp. It handles most 50s-60s-early 70s tones very well, from roundly clean to gritty trebly crunch. For example I can play almost any Who song -- with Strat, Les Paul, or Takamine -- and get real close to the right tone. As others have said, for metal/alternative this is not what you want, and there is some noise. But a lot of pros use these now for recording and as on-stage monitors (including Billy Joel) and I agree with them that for a sub-$100 the tone is outstanding and a little hiss is worth it.

Like all Dano stuff, built exceptionally well for the price. Rubber coated cabinet, leather handle, grille logo...not much to break and the plastic dials and pots and on/off switch seem high quality. Separable power cord is separable, so if that bothers you it will.

Cool web site. Other than that, no idea.

I've got a POD (which is really all you need unless you gig) as well as a Marshall VS series and a Roland 405 along with the Nifty 50. If I could only have one "amp" it would be the POD for sure. But I got the Marshall for jamming with friends and harder rock playing; the Roland for cleaner stuff and recording at home (before the POD came along) and the Danelectro to be a kick-around practice amp. For what it is I love it, and paired with a boost pedal (DOD 250 works great as does a Metal Zone) and a Les Paul you've got a very versatile amp with great response for almost no money. If your favorite albums were made in 1975 or earlier, you'll love this. If not, look at the Marshalls, Peaveys, etc for more modern overdrive sounds and thump.

Has 'Dirty Sweet' which in a perfect world would be aptly descriptive
and standard level, bass, mid, treb nobs. Has a headphone jack that
I'm wondering how well it would work as an out jack to another amp/
cabinet....I wanted an inexpensive solid state practice amp and admit
the look got me and I have the whole DanO line of pedals anyway..

I have to admit I need to tweak this amp a bit more to discover how
I can shape the sound; I have a lot of pedals (Dano's, a boss Metal
Zone, and Fulltone Soulbender/70's which will make almost anything
sound cool anyway)and run this baby pretty much clean; bass up w/mid
treb moderate 'dirty sweet at like 3:45. This amp sounds really warm
when run direct and clean; too muddy for metal, o.k for blues and
surf. I feel this amp is too mushy with 'spacier' effects settings.
My rating is an average of clean(10) vs effect laden(5)

I have not had this amp long, nor do I abuse it. I do not gig
currently and this is strictly used as a practice amp.

I have a fair amount of confidence in their pedals having used them
awhile, and I trust the dude at the dealer I bought it from so I think
this will be a non-issue with me

been using for about a month; I do plug in direct and damn this sounds
REALLY good cleaner; the hiss does annoy me a little but I can't
recall ever thinking about it after I turn it on and start playing.
I love this as a practice amp over a pignose(o.k. so the pignose is
more portable being batt powered) or a crate or gorilla. I have a Peavey classic 30 tube amp and a classic strat and for a cheap non-
pro amp this is fine. And yes I want to eventually own Mesa/Randall/
Roland/Fender etc......if they had $100 amps I would. Otherwise
the DanO is Fine.

I'm assuming the Nifty Fifty amp that I owned was made in '98... Problem is that I bought it based on its looks and not it's sound. I'll admit it is a cool looking little amp, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Think it only has one channel as well. For the price, this little guy had ample power for my use (bedroom) "Dirty Sweet" distortion wasn't as tight as I wanted it to be. Mid sounded like it didn't work, either.

I play a standard Squire Strat with single coils... Didn't really suit my tastes in New Rock/Alternative. Problem with this amp was that it emitted an annoying little "SSSSHHHHH" every time you turned it on. I ran a Nobels trem pedal through it and the "SSSHHHH" became a really annoying "SH,SH,SH,SH," Amp was really only good for one type of fuzz as well. Other types of distortion sounded really crummy. Gotta say, when the amp was played clean, it wasn't all THAT bad.

No problems here... Even accidentally dropped it a couple of times and it still worked fine...

never dealt with the company. Year warranty. Pretty cool website, though...

I've only been playing for about half a year now. I realize now that I really rushed into buying my very first amp. Word to the wise... TAKE YOUR TIME IF YOU'RE A FIRST TIME BUYER! I also have a KORG 411 multi effects... I ended up trading it in for a VOX Pathfinder which is a much better product hands down... I really liked the vintage look to this amp, but didn't care for the sound. Not the best of investments in my opinion.

one channel 3 bnd eq dirty sweet knob, i only use "volume" you can get a $100 practice amp w/ tons of features this has few but i dont need em.

play with humbuckers, does nicely on clean, usually keep it at about 9o'clock volume just for quiet living room kinda stuff. nothin like my peavy 50/410 but its a hell of a lot easier to move and it only cost 100. best sounding of all the $100 practive amps on the market(don't buy the crate)so i give it an 8.

funny power cord that unplugs from amp shakes loose on a whim, fixed w/ duct tape:) always the same, very reliable

never had the pleasure of reaming them a new one so i couldn't say

if you are looking for a $100 practice amp that sounds good and can punch a little when mom leaves too this is definately the right choice.

There aren't a whole lot of features. Level, Dirty/Sweet (distortion), Hi-Mid-Bass. Personally, I am annoyed by a mass of meaningless knobs and faders designed to impress. Put them on something that can use them like a mixer, thank you. You can get a lot of variety without the extra knobs so who cares?

I play my vintage U2 and my remake U2 through this puppy. My playing style has been described as a weird cross between Beefheart and Fripp, if you can imagine that... It sounds great for a solid state and I've only played a couple of solid state amps that I liked as much or more. But my being partial to tube amps, I had to lean towards a 9 on this. I have been playing for about 30 years and like distinctive sounding amps.
One word of caution though. Do NOT crank up the ditortion too far. It is not a replacement for a good distortion pedal (why should it be)and will start to sound bad fairly quickly. But again, if ANY amp distorted that much ever without the benefit of a distortion pedal, it would find itself sailing through the window. With a little manipulation it is a great sounding amp.

My amp broke down a few months after the warranty passed, bad thing. But how Danelectro acquitted themselves in handling the situation is impressive (see below under Customer Support).

As I mentioned above, the amp rolled over and died a few months after the warranty passed. I contacted Danelectro about it and their response was: send it in and we'll make good on it. They stand behind their products way above and beyond the call of duty and that is the sign of a great company. Of course, YMMV, but I was impressed...

Again I've been playing for about 30 years. I would definitely buy another. In fact, was thinking about it (with some concern of course)before Danelectro responded so admirably. Now I wouldn't hesitate. It's not a tube amp, but it is one of the best sounding small solid state amps I've encountered especially for the money.And believe me I've played through a LOT of different amps. Just stay conservative on the Dirty/Sweet knob and you'll get a good sound for yourself. The new Danelectro is showing themselves to be much like the old Danelectro, an incredible value. Quality at a low price. The same thing that made them a threat to the other companies before is being repeated again (the old ones were voluntarily banned by many music stores in England because they so severely undercut the homegrown brands). BTW - Their guitars are great too. Distinctive sound, well built and inexpensive, if you can find them (often the music store employees yank the first ones that come in).

Bought this amp new in July 1999. In terms of features, you've seen it on previous posts. I like the simplicity of the controls (level, sweet/dirty, tone). Plenty loud for home use.

I play a Standard Fender Strat, single coils, no effects. Considering the size and price, the amp's tone is great, the distortion is nice, and it is very versatile. BUT, as with a previous reviewer, what bugs me is the hiss!! This amp produces a constant, noticable, annoying hiss, even with the guitar unplugged, and independent of the control settings. Only one thing stops the hiss: the power switch. Didn't notice it at the store due to a lot of background noise. The hiss is most annoying through headphones. It is bad enough that I can't stand to use it for late night headphone practicing, it just drives me nuts. A lot of the nice tone disappears through headphones as well. Granted, the hiss aversion may just be a personal problem, but if you have similar tendencies, stay away from this amp!

I opened up the box (trying to figure out where the damn hiss was coming from!) and found nothing remarkable. Cheap integrated circuits slapped together in a Chinese factory.

I've only been playing for two years, so I won't pretend to have a lot of experience with guitar amps. But I have been designing and building electronic equipment for 25 years, and I know that the hiss produced by this thing is orders of magnitude louder than what you would expect from even an amateur design. My guess is that when trying to cut those last few cents off the production costs they made big sacrifices. Totally inexcusable.

I hung on to this amp for six months thinking I'd get used to it, but I haven't. I'm currently shopping for a new practice amp. I'll probably give the Dano to my dog.