Heard an awesome distortion pedal yesterday...

ThePrettyDamned

Duncan powergrid? Nope.

Wampler triple wreck? Nope.

Tc rottweiler? No...

Ehx metal muff? No...

It was a danelectro fab metal!

No idea what circuit it is, switch was a bit weird and the pots had slightly odd taper, but christ that thing sounded huge!

Any wisdom on these? Genuinely tempted, although I love the Bandit drive sound, this thing could push the mids out in a way the Bandit doesn't do by itself.

Pyroman

If it sounds good to YOU, and you're in the market, buy the damn thing! It's not like Dano pedals are horribly expensive... I'm in the same boat- my favorite distortion is the $60 MXR Classic Distortion I got from the used bin at GC. The other is an MXR '78 Distortion, which isn't very expensive either. Likely a similar or nearly identical circuit, just with an added crunch switch. Both of those are kind of mid boosty, too. Even when the gain knob is turned down, and they're not adding much dirt, they do add something that makes my guitar sound huge. Both of my amps have solid state/ digital preamps, too. You gotta love those inexpensive and unassuming pedals that turn out to sound great!

ThePrettyDamned

Yeah, I love the dist iii for the sheer bigness of the overdrive sounds, and the way it pushes a Marshall without getting too nasty.

I might get one. I reckon it might screw with my dry signal if it has bad bypass, but I might see if I can mod it for true bypass. Hmm.

I can't access any of my money right now though. Maybe that's a sign.

d8m

Those danelectro pedals are supposed to be pretty good bang for the buck.

I've heard rave reviews about many of them over time with the transparent overdrive constantly popping up.

My only danelectro pedal experience was not so good though.

I tried the tremolo cool cat and when it came it had a faulty switch, severe volume drop and intermittent sound issues so had to go back.

ThePrettyDamned

Yeah, that series is mostly clones I think! This the even cheaper, plastic fab range. No idea what it is, but it sounded pretty great!

d8m

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Danelectro-D3-Dano-Metal-Pedal/dp/B0009FUTHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389730235&sr=8-1&keywords=Danelectro+metal

@ThePrettyDamned Was it that one?

Looks like an absolute deal!

Flanging_Fred

I've got the FAB distortion and it's not bad at all. It isn't too far away from the sound of a Mk1 Guvnor and it cleans up better than.a Boss DS1. The only downside I found was that it was very noisy when used with a daisy chain. Power it with a battery or isolated power supply and it was fine.

ThePrettyDamned

d8m;132639" said:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Danelectro-D3-Dano-Metal-Pedal/dp/B0009FUTHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389730235&sr=8-1&keywords=Danelectro+metal



@ThePrettyDamned Was it that one?

Looks like an absolute deal!

Yup! Switch was temperamental, but the actual circuit was kinda cool sounding. Some have said it's a boss metal zone, but I'm not convinced. If I get one, I'll happily gut shot, but I suspect it's all SMD components and impossible to trace without knowing what I'm doing (I don't).

I've heard worse sounding pedals, let's put in the that way!

d8m

At that price SMD components are pretty much a sure bet.

I just checked it out on YouTube and agree that whilst there are some similarities with the metal zone but seems to have something different about it.

ThePrettyDamned

Yeah, not much in the way of demos to be honest.

You're talking to someone who doesn't mind the metal zone - it does what it does, and I know there is at least one good sound in it. The dano seemed much easier to sound good with, but it's been a while since I tried a metal zone...

57Deluxe

Dano 'Metal' pedal models are well regarded - are two FAB and a Cool Cat. My CCat Danos (Drive, Transparent Drive and Vibe) are used a lot - because I am skint and have no job?? - NO -  because they sound great!

kelvinburn

I have a coolcat vibe. Its very good indeed. I would like to try transparent drive and the fuzz too.

juansolo

It'll be a clone of something, maybe with a couple of tweaks. Most Dano stuff is.

kelvinburn

Theres one ont evil bay for a whole pound sterling; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/danelectro-fab-metal-pedal-/271370571920?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item3f2ef25090#ht_22wt_1190

ThePrettyDamned

Well, if I get one, I'd offer gut shots but I suspect it wouldn't be much use...