Overall Rating: Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package. For the new Coolcat Series, again they rely on the retro vintage style. The Coolcat pedals come in a colorful cardboard box with a pic of the pedal, the new Coolca...
Overall Rating: Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package.
For the new Coolcat Series, again they rely on the retro vintage style.
The Coolcat pedals come in a colorful cardboard box with a pic of the pedal,
the new Coolcat logo, a vignette with the silhouet of a head, bit like James Dean
I think there must be at least 7 different typefaces used on the box alone
Hmmm, interesting Dano Facto
On the box it says
¿¿¿When was the first guitar effect pedal invented ?
It may well have been in 1950, when Danelectro introduced the Danelectro ¿¿¿Echo Box¿¿¿, a compact reverb unit¿¿¿
I did not know that.
Inside the box is the pedal, in bubble wrap
A fold out manual, English only, that covers the entire Coolcat series.
It¿¿¿s a well written manual, it starts with an overview of features common to all Coolcat models, and then it goes on to explain all the controls and all the features of each Coolcat pedal in detail, and some useful and entertaining sample settings are given as well.
Also, in the box is a warranty card for a 12 month limited warranty, 3 swags and a thumbnail size foldout color catalog with all the Coolcat pedals and Danelectro guitars.
Tthe pedal also is a bit funny looking, oddly shaped, a bit reminiscent of an old bakelite shaver and a seashell, I did not like it at first glance, but it doesn¿¿¿t bother me either, these are compact sized pedals, the housing and bottom lid are made of metal, probably cast iron, light as a feather.
bright blue on/off status LED in the middle
kind of tacky adhesive label
what appear to be silkscreened labels for the controls
on top of the pedal are the controls, not too close to one another, black ribbed plastic knobs with a white marker,
in and output jacks are where they should be, made of metal as well and the familiar Boss style adapter jack
Bottom has rubber and a plastic battery compartment with a plastic battery cover and a wrapped Danelectro 9V battery inside, which is nice.
The lid of the battery cover is also made of plastic, looks like it could break easily.
One of the acclaimed features of the Coolcat pedals is that they have true bypass switching. It¿¿¿s an integrated little lid on the front that triggers a 3PDT switch underneath, the switch itself is fitted on a separate little circuit board. When you stomp the lid, you¿¿¿ll hear the distinct click of the familiar 3DPT switch. Actually, you really have to put your foot down to engage the switch. My foot always covered the LED when I stepped on the switch, when I tried using the tip of my shoe, I eventually flipped the pedal (I¿¿¿ll admit that it takes a little practice but it¿¿¿s possible).
In conclusion, I¿¿¿m not too excited about the shape, but it doesn¿¿¿t put me off either, what¿¿¿s more important, the design is functional, the controls feel right, the build quality seems solid, I feel the urge to peel off the silly label, but why should I bother, it¿¿¿s the sound that matters
Sound Quality: I used my LP Special, Diego Tele and Tokai ES for the test
custom made FAD Freeqi 15W amp, bit of a mix between a Superchamp and AC-15, with a volume and tone control, bright/dark switch, it¿¿¿s my fav amp, I¿¿¿m using it with a Framus Dragon 2x12 cab with greenbacks
and I also tested the pedal through a Fender Twin.
¿¿¿Clean boost to glassy crunch¿¿¿
this pedal is supposed to let the guitar voice shine through, even at high overdrive settings, making it useful for a lot of styles, from Country to Rock.
Now trying to cop the sound of an overdriven tube amp with the CTO-1 with the amp set clean
Treble/bass at 12 o¿¿¿clock
Gain at 70%
Volume at 70%
nearly nails it, I can hear that snappy Tele twangy sound and it is almost as if I¿¿¿m playing through an overdriven amp, struggling with the treble bass controls to find some useful settings, the treble boost is great, very glassy and crunchy indeed, I¿¿¿m not too excited about the bass boost though
with the gain all the way down, I¿¿¿m getting a decent clean boost, and the bass boost works better in this setting, I can even get the Tele to sound jazzy
The bass boost also works better with humbuckers as well as with P90¿¿¿s on the LP Special
So at some point I had the treble boost all the way up, bass at 12 o¿¿¿clock (no boost/cut) and volume and gain all the way up and it put a big grin on my face (In the manual this setting is referred to as Woman Tone)
Now, this was a pleasant experience, so I pulled out a 350$ Overdrive pedal, my beloved Banzai Cold Fusion, now I still prefer the Cold Fusion over the CTO-1, but in all honesty, they almost sound similar ¿¿¿
Reliability/Durability: only had it for a week
no probs so far
seems sturdy
metal casing
Ease of Use: Easypeasy, 3 controls
GAIN : sets the amount of overdrive. As gain increases, low frequencies will ¿¿¿bloom¿¿¿ slightly
TREBLE/BASS : this is a stacked control, inner control is for treble, the outer is for bass, I had some trouble to set these, adjusting the outer control I also changed the inner one, and vice versa. As I said earlier, the manual is well written, so in there it is explained that it is best to first turn both controls at the same time until the bass is set, and then adjust the inner treble control (careful not to change the bass setting)
These controls cut and boost, so at 12 o¿¿¿clock you have no effect (the transparent setting)
VOLUME : there is lots of volume on tap, with high gain settings, the volume also adds more gain. No sound with the volume all the way down.
Bright blue ON/OFF Status LED
true bypass switch
Customer Support: I emailed the folfs at Danelectro and they promptly replied.
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