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Danelectro Daddy O Overdrive
$92.00
The Daddy O Overdrive was conceived to emulate the sound of a tube amp, a virtual "stack-in-a-box". While many players out there would shun the brand name due to its plastic-shelled, food-series siblings, this pedal is proving to be worth its weight in tone.
For this review I used my home practise setup:
Epiphone G-400 / Fender MIM Muddy Waters Telecaster > Dunlop GCB 95Q > Danelectro Daddy O Overdrive > Behringer BEQ700 > Vox Pathfinder 15R
Build / appearance
Upon first encounter, one would be struck by the retro good looks of this fella, and upon handling it you feel a certain amount of power due to its weight. It's no joke, this pedal is HEAVY, rivalling my Dunlop Crybaby in terms of heftiness.
Apart from the heftiness, the next thing I noticed about this pedal was its on-board 3-band EQ, which is rare in modern drive units of this price.
The pedal is finished in pale yellow. Unfortunately the finish proved to be somewhat fragile and I chipped it 10 minutes after taking it out of the box.
The knobs are finished in chrome with a small marker to allow the user to identify the reference point of the knob. It might be difficult to see these markers in low light, similar to the marshall range of pedals.
Many Danelectro users have reported of the default switch being unreliable, and after many months of using this pedal, I can concur that this is a truth, and one would do well (if financially able) to change the footswitch to a more reliable component.
However, when switched on the unit's red LED lights up very well, giving the impression of positive capability.
The input / output jacks are of the plastic variant, and are positioned on the top bout of the unit. If you take care of this pedal (as I have done), whether the jacks are plastic or otherwise would be a concern that does not linger.
The unit features a very user-friendly battery-access hatch, and it actually has space for more than one battery! Good space to use for extra battery perhaps?
thus far: 8/10
Sound / tone
Given that this unit is designed to yield a vintage crunchy overdrive, what surprised me is that it is somewhat versatile and capable of producing convincing tones of a variety of styles. Also this was aided by the manual which came inside the box.
The knobs are laid out in the fashion of: Volume > Bass > Mid > Treble > Overdrive.
As one would understand easily, the volume knob allows one to tweak the pedal so that it would fit into an existing pedalboard setup with ease.
The 3-band EQ allows the user to adjust the gain of each respective range of frequencies enabling the player to access a wide variety of tones, from metal-esque chug to rhythm crunch to blistering leads.
Aiding the tone-sculpting attributes of the EQ knobs is the Overdrive knob. When turned low (9 o'clock) one would be able to hear a subtle crunch which does not do much, but rather only hints at what lies in store upon further tweaking.
This pedal only starts to come alive when the OD knob is turned to 12 o'clock. This produces a pleasant overdrive crunch which would place G'N'R fans at ease, and is a perfect starting point for boosting with a gain booster for lead playing.
When the knob is turned to 2 o'clock, instantly the monster within begins to roar. The notes retain their clarity and chords ring with authority. I found the best tones with the volume knob at 11 o'clock, EQ knobs all set at 3 o'clock and OD at about 2 o'clock.
Using my telecaster with the above-mentioned settings, I was able to recreate a very useable "whole lotta love" sound. Switching to the bridge pickup produced a very nice lead tone that alternates between "communication breakdown" and believe it or not "stairway to heaven".
Upon plugging in my Epiphone G-400, I was able to get very nice, somewhat modern-sounding rhythm tones which was very reminiscent of Angus Young. Lead playing did not yield extremes of sustain, but overall the humbucking tone is still very usable and even enters a ZZ Top realm.
Bearing in mind that this unit is somewhat fuzzy, the overall sound is very crunchy and is not prone to fizzing out with excess graininess, unless used in conjunction with a low-wattage practise amp. Lowering of the guitar's volume knob, however, does not clean up the sound of this unit.
thus far: 8/10
Issues
Some people might be turned on by the fact that their stomp box is of a heavy-duty metal casing. This pedal takes that concept to a whole new level, and the analogy of "built like a tank' would probably elevate this pedal to the point of being "probably indestructable".
Do take note that this pedal is heavy and it would dramatically increase the weight of your pedal board.
The dodgy switch also needs to be of a higher quality.
Conclusion
Given its tonal versatility and ability to suit different genres, this pedal is a definite keeper. The on-board EQ allows you to tweak the overdrive to suit both humbucking and single-coil guitars with ease, and the gain knob allows you to have decent rhythm and lead tones, but mainly in the realm of hard rock, country twang, blues rock and perhaps some modern rock.
Do note that this is not a heavy metal pedal. Despite it being of.. a "heavy metal" make.
Overall score: 8.5/10
Pros:
good tones are easy to create
"probably indestructable"
suits humbucker and single-coil guitars
Cons:
heavy
knobs too close to each other
dodgy switch
plastic jacks a turn-off to metal jack purists
What else would do the job:
SansAmp GT-2
Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n[/img]
Danelectro Daddy O Overdrive
$92.00
The Daddy O Overdrive was conceived to emulate the sound of a tube amp, a virtual "stack-in-a-box". While many players out there would shun the brand name due to its plastic-shelled, food-series siblings, this pedal is proving to be worth its weight in tone.
For this review I used my home practise setup:
Epiphone G-400 / Fender MIM Muddy Waters Telecaster > Dunlop GCB 95Q > Danelectro Daddy O Overdrive > Behringer BEQ700 > Vox Pathfinder 15R
Build / appearance
Upon first encounter, one would be struck by the retro good looks of this fella, and upon handling it you feel a certain amount of power due to its weight. It's no joke, this pedal is HEAVY, rivalling my Dunlop Crybaby in terms of heftiness.
Apart from the heftiness, the next thing I noticed about this pedal was its on-board 3-band EQ, which is rare in modern drive units of this price.
The pedal is finished in pale yellow. Unfortunately the finish proved to be somewhat fragile and I chipped it 10 minutes after taking it out of the box.
The knobs are finished in chrome with a small marker to allow the user to identify the reference point of the knob. It might be difficult to see these markers in low light, similar to the marshall range of pedals.
Many Danelectro users have reported of the default switch being unreliable, and after many months of using this pedal, I can concur that this is a truth, and one would do well (if financially able) to change the footswitch to a more reliable component.
However, when switched on the unit's red LED lights up very well, giving the impression of positive capability.
The input / output jacks are of the plastic variant, and are positioned on the top bout of the unit. If you take care of this pedal (as I have done), whether the jacks are plastic or otherwise would be a concern that does not linger.
The unit features a very user-friendly battery-access hatch, and it actually has space for more than one battery! Good space to use for extra battery perhaps?
thus far: 8/10
Sound / tone
Given that this unit is designed to yield a vintage crunchy overdrive, what surprised me is that it is somewhat versatile and capable of producing convincing tones of a variety of styles. Also this was aided by the manual which came inside the box.
The knobs are laid out in the fashion of: Volume > Bass > Mid > Treble > Overdrive.
As one would understand easily, the volume knob allows one to tweak the pedal so that it would fit into an existing pedalboard setup with ease.
The 3-band EQ allows the user to adjust the gain of each respective range of frequencies enabling the player to access a wide variety of tones, from metal-esque chug to rhythm crunch to blistering leads.
Aiding the tone-sculpting attributes of the EQ knobs is the Overdrive knob. When turned low (9 o'clock) one would be able to hear a subtle crunch which does not do much, but rather only hints at what lies in store upon further tweaking.
This pedal only starts to come alive when the OD knob is turned to 12 o'clock. This produces a pleasant overdrive crunch which would place G'N'R fans at ease, and is a perfect starting point for boosting with a gain booster for lead playing.
When the knob is turned to 2 o'clock, instantly the monster within begins to roar. The notes retain their clarity and chords ring with authority. I found the best tones with the volume knob at 11 o'clock, EQ knobs all set at 3 o'clock and OD at about 2 o'clock.
Using my telecaster with the above-mentioned settings, I was able to recreate a very useable "whole lotta love" sound. Switching to the bridge pickup produced a very nice lead tone that alternates between "communication breakdown" and believe it or not "stairway to heaven".
Upon plugging in my Epiphone G-400, I was able to get very nice, somewhat modern-sounding rhythm tones which was very reminiscent of Angus Young. Lead playing did not yield extremes of sustain, but overall the humbucking tone is still very usable and even enters a ZZ Top realm.
Bearing in mind that this unit is somewhat fuzzy, the overall sound is very crunchy and is not prone to fizzing out with excess graininess, unless used in conjunction with a low-wattage practise amp. Lowering of the guitar's volume knob, however, does not clean up the sound of this unit.
thus far: 8/10
Issues
Some people might be turned on by the fact that their stomp box is of a heavy-duty metal casing. This pedal takes that concept to a whole new level, and the analogy of "built like a tank' would probably elevate this pedal to the point of being "probably indestructable".
Do take note that this pedal is heavy and it would dramatically increase the weight of your pedal board.
The dodgy switch also needs to be of a higher quality.
Conclusion
Given its tonal versatility and ability to suit different genres, this pedal is a definite keeper. The on-board EQ allows you to tweak the overdrive to suit both humbucking and single-coil guitars with ease, and the gain knob allows you to have decent rhythm and lead tones, but mainly in the realm of hard rock, country twang, blues rock and perhaps some modern rock.
Do note that this is not a heavy metal pedal. Despite it being of.. a "heavy metal" make.
Overall score: 8.5/10
Pros:
good tones are easy to create
"probably indestructable"
suits humbucker and single-coil guitars
Cons:
heavy
knobs too close to each other
dodgy switch
plastic jacks a turn-off to metal jack purists
What else would do the job:
SansAmp GT-2
Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n[/img]