i got to play one of these bad boys today:
(note: in reality, the pedal is roughly 500 times the size of this image.
)
i'm eventually going to get an analog delay to complement my dd-3, so i had my eye on the unique-looking dan-o unit for the past couple days.
now, i've never had any experience with an actual tape delay, like a space echo or the fulltone unit, so i can't say how well it simulates that sound. for my uses, i simply treated the unit like a funky lookin' bucket-brigade-based delay.
Features:
the three chrome knobs, from left to right, control the effect mix, the effect level, and the feedback. the feedback is straightforward--it just controls the number of repeats. the effect level controls the relative volume of the repeats. the mix knob controls the balance between the original signal and the repeats. on one extreme, the repeats are completely killed, while at the other extreme, the original signal is completely gone, but the repeats are still there! very bizarre.
the delay time is set by the fader, where the delay times are marked in convenient increments. the delay--1.5s max--gets really long for (what i assume to be) an analog unit.
what i imagine is the most tape-like feature of the pedal is the option to switch on some "warble." it's a very subtle sort of chorusing that i found to be very pleasing.
additionally, there is another switch that allows you to switch between "solid state" mode and "tube" mode. the solid state mode retains the top-end of your signal, while the tube mode has repeats that are substantially "furrier" by comparison. this is a very nice feature to have if you want to be able to get digital and analog-type sounds from a single unit.
i had absolutely no idea how to use the sound-on-sound function, though i tried to activate it.
oh well. not a feature i was particularly interested in, anyhow.
My Verdict:
this is not a pedal i will be getting, though i can easily see someone else enjoying it very much. i certainly wouldn't snicker behind my computer monitor if i saw it crop up on some bass-talkers' pedalboards.
the sorts of "extras" that it offers (warbling, solid state mode) i already have covered with chorus and digital delay. i have no need for 1.5 seconds of analog delay. also, changing the delay time did not seem to alter the pitch of the repeats, which is an essential quality in a delay pedal for me.
as for oscillation... my particular demonstration was ill-suited for really seeing if it could do much. i decided to use a sadowsky p/j four-banger (why not?
) as my test instrument, into the danelectro unit, then into a genz benz amp and cab. unfortunately, the clerk who was helping me out selected a power supply that was ill-suited for the pedal (the supply's problem, not the pedal's), so when i turned everything on, i got this massively loud noise that was progressively getting louder. fortunately, i was able to roll off the volume on the amp before things got damaged, and then some other clerks sorted out what the issue was. (at least this sort of thing wasn't my fault, for a change.
)
...yeah, so after that, i wasn't going to go out of my way and try to get the thing to oscillate. ...that being said, i did attempt it by cranking the feedback up, but i was unsuccessful, which, honestly, was probably a good thing at the time.
(again, though, oscillation is something i require from delay pedals.)
oh, and the pedal is friggin' enormous.
afterward, i tested out the mxr carbon copy. the modulation on that unit was far more subtle than the warble on the danelectro, and the delay time is significantly shorter, but the mxr is tiny and oscillates like a mutha.
in short, the reel echo is off of my gas list, while the carbon copy has made it on. however, someone with different needs from a delay pedal could very well find that the danelectro unit is well worth the money if they have the space for it.
