Danelectro Fab Tone: Mid-90s Distortion Exhumed And Reviewed

[magicorubik]

it looks like it came from the 50's.

[ookthomas]

I traded my aria gypsie guitar (D hole) for one of these, still not sure I made the right decision..

[RedSandStudios]

The clean signal already sounds trebly and distorted. If you want this pedal to sound good, start with a nice clean signal (sounds great with a telecaster) and put i t through a good tube amp.

[MMZen]

we never got to see this on bass! I like this demo as at is one of the few that shows the true audio filth you can get with this thing. I actually think it has a similar timbre to the DOD grunge and internet rumors seem to say DOD stole the circuit but it's not real clear.

[mouthbreather1]

I really feel like the big Danelectro pedals are really underappreciated. I bought a Daddy-O Overdrive & a Cool Cat Chorus for next to nothing, and the overdrive sounds ridiculously good. Great on its own, even better for adding some extra "oomph" to solos when paired with my Russian Big Muff. Yet everyone I know rips on them...

A place around here is selling one of these for $25. Don't have a choice... I NEED to get it.

[SensibleMusician]

2:30 demo starts

[sunilthegreat]

I'm more at home in my Galaxie!

[shanerbiy]

nice use of galaxie!!!

[MJMorrey]

I could have got one of these for £10 off the market but passed on it at the time because I wasn't sure if it worked or not....

[WhenToWatch]

Great review, adorable reviewer! Especially the feigned response as the plastic inputs roared in protest...

[feildmouse]

but where is the warranty card?

[BPL1980]

Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai loves this pedal. He collects them because they're so prone to breaking.

Me too.

[TrustNo121000]

I thought they still do make them. It's on amazon new for $43

[akaboo69]

I Used to own this pedal it was descent just had harsh trebel response and needed more mids but it still sounded pretty cool

[Random5able]

I traded mine for one of my instrument cords.

Pretty certain I got it for a steal.

[cpthobby]

back in the 90s I used to use two of these on my pedalboard. great pedal!

[MrBlink41SUM]

This pedal can do some damage with a decent tube amp. With treb way down and bass way up it sounds very nice. I got mine for $20....I haven't seen any much higher than that. You really cant complain for the price.

[christoofart]

Worst POS pedal I've ever owned. Totally useless for anything approaching musical notes played with guitars. Works well as paperweight , however

[Scyerf]

i use that for heavy HEAVY metal shit lmao. i really do

[ElDissidente]

"I dont think they're true bypass"...??? WTF is this supposed to be a professional review??? please investigate before doing a review.

[ljljosue]

this demo is lame, gearwire is lame, the clean tone of the guitar is lame, the pedal is great so please don´t check this demo, go find another one

[twb176]

GAH!! How come no one who reviews this pedal knows what the fuck they're doing?? This pedal is capable of sounding SOOO much better than this. This pedal was made to be played through a nice, loud clean tube amp like a Fender Twin or an old Music Man. It's a rather nice vintage sounding fuzz pedal then. If you play through some craptastic little solid state amp like it sounds like this dick is doing, it will sound like shit.

[NoFishCanSwim]

I love this pedal! BUT it is very hard to control. I can get awesome feedbacky, wacky sounds on both bass & guitar, but the volume, in particular is very sensitive... the smallest movement can produce huge effects. However, find the sweet spot & this gives you some awesome noise! Warning, be prepared to position yourself around your amp to control the feedback, but if riding that moment of chaos is your thing... I heartily recommend giving one of these a try.

[MMZen]

yeah there's really no reason to even use the distortion knob on this thing, it's just like a lot of the dod pedals it's already so saturated with just the volume knob. Aren't the guys from Mogwai really into this thing?

[BPL1980]

@MMZen

Yeah, Stuart from Mogwai loves this pedal. You can hear it all over their records.

[ryoga415]

What on earth is this guy playing through? Some little 10 watt crate solid state? Sounds horrible man

[ilikeatarinerd]

mine has the same plastic input jacks

mine shorts out to radio

[GayForJohnnyDepp93]

That's a really bad Clean signal to add effects to.

[highcom77]

hahaha i got mine for £9.99 and it sucks!!!!

[whistler147]

I picked up one of these pedals and it was just so over the top for me I didn't really find much use for it... UNTIL... I played my bass through it.

The Fab Tone sounds way cool on a bass guitar!

[DeadAmaranth]

@whistler147

I have to agree; this thing does sound very nice on bass guitar. I knew a fellow who would play Obituary guitar riffs on his Soundgear with this thing, and it almost exactly nails the tone. Brutal sound. Not so hot for guitar, but great for bass.

[phostenix]

Plug this thing into a bright, small amp & it will sound screechy and horrible. Plug it into a big amp with some 12" or better speakers & it's an over the top distortion that can't be tamed. Never subtle, but cool in its own way.

[phostenix]

Settings: Vol - 9:00, Bass - 3:00, Treb - 9:00, Fab - 3:00.

I would describe this pedal as a Boss DS-1 with the distortion turned all the way up & a little "cocked wah" sound to the midrange. In my experience, the Fab control isn't a distortion control, but more of a "Thump" control. You need some big speakers to really get the effect - it adds low end chug & thump.

[faustoj26a]

it looks like a cockroach, but sounds good

[dk123123dk]

sucks

[SerialDiscrepancy]

sounds like a sick pedal to get sludge tones with

[KevinCube]

People who go to the trouble of posting a demo of a pedal... should go to the trouble of getting a DECENT AND USABLE CLEAN SOUND first. It's not really cutting it to hear the pedal when I know exactly what it's playing over, and it's playing over crap sound. Not really fair to the pedal.

[try2bcool]

You can buy these again. Musicians Friend and others.

[pswoods]

two minutes and still talking. aaaaaagggghhhhhh!

[foursprings]

You are the Richard Dreyfuss (1975- Jaws) of music!

[miktruk]

I tooke out a few components to reduce the gain of this thing and it's a nice pedal now... but SERIOUSLY if you like it in it's origional state.. GET YOUR HEARING TESTED MAN!... AS IT IS PURE CRAP!!!

[goingwithzed]

thats awesome.

[jimillama47]

I got mine for $5 at a yard sale lol I love it!

[danreset]

this pedal's sound is terrible!!!

[bardukk88]

here is a tip for this pedal, if you use it trough a solid state amp: put te trebble in 0!!!!

this pedal is amazing!!! but the trebbles are horribles, killl them from the pedal and boost them from the amp o an eq!!

my english sucks :p

[askrere]

Your totally right I bought Mine for a solid state, and any treble ruins the sound. BTW when the pedals off is it supposed to not allow a clean signal through?

[bardukk88]

I didn't understood your quiestion, my english sucks =S

but if the pedal si in bypass, the signal must be clean, unless you run the pedal in the overdrive chanel of your amp

[coronet67]

Did I hear Blind Melon?

[coronet67]

I always thought it was misnamed. I hear "fab" and I think 60's like the Beatles.

[StagemasterHSH]

yes it is not mid 90 s distortion it is 70s or 60s distortion. it is vintage distortion but great ON METAL my friend has got it and it sound same as on this video but i use in my band for playing metal Boss metal zone but this sounds too great

[heretherenothing]

fuck what amp is he playing though? I play though a tube amp and I have the fab all the way up and the treble and the bass. But on the amp I don't have it all the up like that. I've got a vid on my brothers channel though.

[hendrixkixas]

are the new plastic coated ones the same sound quality?

[kimjajestem87]

I just bought this pedal and it kick ass...it's way better than my old Boss Ds-2...If you want to buy it just do it !!!!

[BlackAngusYoung]

Very good demo vid!

[tytbtytb]

cool!!!!!!!!!!!

Blind Melon??

[fullmetalfunk]

I always have my guitar volume at like 9 or 10 so I roll back on the volume on the pedal put the fab at about half way and give iot a little more bass thanm treble because God knows it's trebely enough alreay. I love the feedback I get from it. It's an intregal part of my sound along with my Big Muff.

[meversesyou]

No sorry, I'm in the UK

[meversesyou]

Anyone want to buy one. Got one years ago and never really used it - its boxed too

[fullmetalfunk]

Yeah there's nothing else like it. It's got that nasty distortion you can't get in anything else. I'll have to check out the Dan Echo. What kind of music do you play?

[fullmetalfunk]

Who gave me a fucking thumbs down for complimenting this pedal?

[fullmetalfunk]

No other pedal sounds like this one. It is awsome. Sounds amazing. It's like mixing all the best of the Big Muff Pi and the DS-2, and add a little tube distortion sound for good measure. Mix it all up and that's what this pedal is. I love the feedback I can get from it.

[ibanezjem224]

this pedal sounds good for guns n roses, or at least with my guitar it does

[surfco]

I hate gearwire reviews

[asdfasdfsdfsd]

that sounds really nice

[Shlotzkin]

When you put this into an effects loop it sounds awesome

[mrcat1990]

if your into bands like mogwai/my bloody valentine/a place to bury strangers this is your pedal its just nuts no subtlety at all but its also great for vintage sounding lead lines

[MMZen]

Belinda Butcher uses the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal

[fullmetalfunk]

One of the guys from Mogwai does use this pedal.

[mrcat1990]

stuart loves them he buys them alot as he says "they break alot so whenever i come across them i buy them as they dont make them anymore" i love this badboy pedal

[fullmetalfunk]

YEah I guess he's refering to the plastic input/output jacks when he says they break alot. I've had no problems out of mine. (Knock on wood.)

[MMZen]

I used to love this pedal. Lately it sounds like shit to my ears.

[akaboo69]

I like my Fab Tone it just needs an eq boost to fatten the lead tones or atleast with my guitar with dimiarzio pick ups the lead tones are to thin

[fullmetalfunk]

Are the dimarzio's single coil or are the humbuckers?

[thechoclateman]

I wanted to hear it with the "fab" knob all the way up!

[davidronca]

Like he said in the video, the "fab" knob is pretty much useless, all the way down is nearly like all the way up. Just that all the way up makes feedback easily. So it's not a bad pedal, great sound but the amount of distortion can't be adjusted very precisely.

[thechoclateman]

I just realized that after reading you comment. Thanks for correcting.

I feel like such an idiot!

[akaboo69]

To much Gain I have this pedal the gain great set 3/4 of the way

[metallica1426]

sooo sometimes i cant even tell if he's criticizing it or positively expressing it.

[mainframeking]

If you are gonna review a distortion, may as well show the full range of distortion. Why do reviewers stop halfway. You may not like the pedal but maybe others will. He says it has ridicuolous amounts of distortion, and then doesn't show it. To much talk, not enough demo. The guy who was trying to swallow a bowling ball was better at reviewing the gear. Despite the inside the box treatment.

[pasowen]

Watch it again, friend. I turn the distortion knob all the way clockwise, but it doesn't have much of an effect on the gain saturation at all. -Owen

[custom513]

I have this pedal and it just collects dust ! It has way more gain then I would ever use but for some it would bee a great tone

[hateupponassholes]

The problem with gearwire is that they speak speak and speak instead of shutting upp and just give us a demo play of the product !!

[Antiks72]

@hateupponassholes Yeah really, they love the sound of their own voices.

[LtWilliams56]

idk, I just can't get into the tone of this pedal. not so fab. and the fact that you cant really adjust the distortion much. like how its just so hot when its turned all the way down. that sounds more akin to design flaw than the nature of pedal. idk, also still a little too fuzzy for my tastes.

[Petesy68]

I use one of these with a '70s Les Paul Custom with a Duncan JB in the bridge and play through a bass amp. I love it and every time I hit the first chord when I plug in it makes me laugh out loud.

[wilrecar77]

holy shit that is so fucking awesome.

im getting this :)

i hope it works with an acoustic pickup

[ultimatebas]

cool :P

[ic300x]

whenever i by danelectros

there break the next day

[OlviMasta77]

why are all the gearwire reviwers so smug?

[gearwire]

While Owen admits to mild smugness in this video, he assures you, he is capable of other moods as well (condescension, flippancy, aloofness, self-righteous fury, coy insincerity), but don't take our word for it; you'll just have to surf on over to the Gearwire website and see!

[DylanSwift]

dope.

[danrupert]

I have one of these and have always thought they were underrated. I use it for bass distortion.