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Danelectro CTO-1 Cool Cat Series CTO-1 Transparent Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal
Cool Cat CTO-1 Transparent Overdrive

‎06-06-2008 12:00 AM

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.
Danelectro CT-1 Cool Cat Series CT-1 Tremolo Guitar Effects Pedal
Cool Cat Series CT-1 Tremolo Guitar Effects Pedal

‎06-06-2008 12:00 AM

Overall Rating: Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package For the 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...
Overall Rating: Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package
For the 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

then the pedal also is a bit funny looking, oddly shaped, a bit 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.

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: ¿¿¿Better than your vintage amp. You¿¿¿ll dig the square wave setting¿¿¿

It is a surprisingly good sounding tremolo effect, gently wobbling tremolo really similar to a tube amp tremolo, the depth control allows to blend in the amount of tremolo perfectly.
Hard setting, chop chop it goes
Depth control does nothing now, but why ?
Hmmm, now I notice how incredibly fast the rate on this thing is.
Also, no volume drop, which is nice
Reliability/Durability: yup, seems sturdy enough, even though I only had it for a week
Ease of Use: 3 CONTROLS:

DEPTH: controls the intensity of the tremolo in Soft mode. When the Hard/Soft control is set to hard, the Depth control is disabled.

HARD/SOFT: two positions; SOFT simulates a tube amp tremolo, gentle, rounded rise and fall of volume, HARD is for choppy sounds, stutter effect, more an on/off motion. It's a rotary switch, it can be set to hard or soft, respectively square or triangle waveform.

SPEED :
This controls the speed of the tremolo.
Customer Support: perfect customer service
Danelectro CC-1 Cool Cat Series CC-1 Chorus Guitar Effects Pedal
Cool Cat CC-1 Chorus

‎06-06-2008 12:00 AM

Overall Rating: Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package For the 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...
Overall Rating: Danolectro always puts in a lot of effort to create a special package
For the 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

then the pedal also is a bit funny looking, oddly shaped, a bit 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.

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: ¿¿¿3D shimmer and swirl¿¿¿

Now, chorus is the effect I usually hate
I only use the warbly Provibe chorus on my Foxrox CC-2 sparingly, I even found the CE-2 too metallic sounding, and used an EHX Small Clone for a while but always thought it was too much, could only stand it with distortion, but it always sounded too over the top,
For a while I also used a Pearl F-605, because it could do over the top chorus sounds. I kind of gave up on chorus pedals, if needed, I rely on my EHX Stereo Memoryman.

Now this Coolcat chorus has a nice color though
Plug it in and setting all controls to 12 o¿¿¿clock exactly reminds me why I hate chorus.
It¿¿¿s that metallic, classic chorus sound, a sound I profoundly hate.
I don¿¿¿t think this pedal is for me ¿¿¿ I just turn the controls all the way up and I¿¿¿m getting a wacky, spaced out detuned sound, there should be a law against it ¿¿¿
Sick

I never had a chorus pedal that made such an extreme sound (I admit I never tried the Pefftronics Rand-o-Matic, not even an EHX Polychorus) ¿¿¿
Interesting too

So I was curious to hear it with all the controls set to minimum, which doesn¿¿¿t make sense, but it was a good starting point, I found a couple of useful rhythm sounds that I could stand, as long as depth was below 10 o¿¿¿clock and speed no higher than 11, the EQ all the way down and mixing in the effect gently, about 11 o¿¿¿clock already was too much for me, and there I found myself actually enjoying it ¿¿¿

In the manual, there also is a settings for vibrato and rotating speaker sounds and those are useful, the vibrato is still relatively fast at slowest setting, and I really had to sit down for a minute and finetune the depth vs. speed ratio, but all of a sudden I found the soft spot and got that spinning leslie sound
Well not really, but pretty convincing though
Actually nice
Useful
hmmm, I still hate chorus
but the EQ/mix control on this pedal makes a whole world of difference

I¿¿¿ll have to play this one some more, also still need to try it with distorted sounds, I did not find a warbly Univibe sound setting
Reliability/Durability: onlmy had it for a week, but it seems roadworthy
Ease of Use: easy enough

3 Controls :

DEPTH: controls the intensity of the chorus and interacts with the speed control in such a way that slower speed settings can take higher depth settings ; as speed increases, depth may need to be reduced, unless you want a detuned effect

SPEED: controls the speed of the chorus, but you need to have the depth control set higher than zero

MIX/EQ: again, a stacked control
The inner control adjusts the mix (it goes to 100% wet !)
Lowering the Mix control makes the chorus effect more subtle, raising the Mix control takes the sound toward vibrato.
Tthe outer control adjusts the chorus EQ, it adjusts the tone of the chorus only, leaving your dry signal unaffected. Sort of like a high frequency roll off. If the chorus sounds too metallic, this can be sorted by turning the EQ control
Customer Support: great service
LEMA Lantanio Lantanio
Lantanio

‎09-11-2004 12:00 AM

Overall Rating: I play a lot of different styles, and I'd say this is the ideal tool for the classic rock sound, great for solos, it's a one trick pony, but it does the trick Now, one of the great things about this pedal is its appearance, it has a ...
Overall Rating: I play a lot of different styles, and I'd say this is the ideal tool for the classic rock sound, great for solos, it's a one trick pony, but it does the trick

Now, one of the great things about this pedal is its appearance, it has a similar shape as the Bixonic Expandora, so it's round and compact, with old skool metal knobs with skirt and well that typical italian touch, classy and cool, very distinguished and well, attractive.
Sound Quality: well, the LEMA Lantanio is a little bouteek distortion based on the MXR Dist+, with an OP741 Opamp and germanium diodes, true bypass switching and it can only be used with a 9V power supply.
I tried the pedal on my Mesa Boogie Mark I with my Brian May Red Special and it does sound similar to the Dist+, but it doesn't have that chainsaw sound going, it sounds a bit fatter and warmer to my ears, with a huge sustain, actually, it sounds a lot like when I push my amp to amp distortion, it has that thick overdriven tube amp sound, it does that 70's classic rock distortion nicely and it retains the low end very well. Unlike the MXR Dist+, the volume control on the LEMA acts like a master volume, when you turn it down (with the effect on), you get no sound at all, turn it halfway up will get you unity gain, and from there on, it gets loud, louder than the MXR for sure, the distortion control is very picky, it does not seem to do much at first, it remains very subtle and moderate all the way until you get to 80% when the distortion suddenly takes off and moves towards fuzz territory. The pedal uses a 1M log potentiometer and I swapped that one and soldered in a 50K pot and now the distortion control works more or less gradually.
The full blast distortion sound is very nice, prefect for lead work, a nice soaring, singing distortion, great sustain and a gentle feedback taking over. I especially like the way it allows me to play riffs without having to use my right hand to pick the strings.
Reliability/Durability: Well, it crapped out on me the first time I plugged it in, because I used the wrong polarity, so I had to replace the Opamp. Lucky enough there was an Opamp socket on the neat little PCB circuit, so it was an easy fix, the circuit board was nicely put together, the wiring looked a bit shoddy and the shielding was done with insulating tape, not really elegant, but still efficient
Ease of Use: 2 controls, volume and distortion, a green power status LED, a red LED for the distortion and a footswitch, easy enough
no manual included
Customer Support: the Lantanio is hand made in Italy, LEMA stands for Laboratorio Elettro Meccanico Alternativo (or Artigianale). I actually got serial no.1. The pedalbuilder always replied to my e-mails in a friendly and helpful manner, and he sent me 2 Opamps to fix my pedal.
Hot Wire Audio MiG*Boost MiG*Boost
MiG*Boost

‎08-15-2004 12:00 AM

Overall Rating: well, it's a succulent pedal, it's actually based on the DOD 250 pre-amp. Anyone looking for a clean boost pedal that goes all the way into OD territory, the Mig*Boost2 is for you The pedalbuilder already modded his DOD 250 twice befo...
Overall Rating: well, it's a succulent pedal, it's actually based on the DOD 250 pre-amp. Anyone looking for a clean boost pedal that goes all the way into OD territory, the Mig*Boost2 is for you
The pedalbuilder already modded his DOD 250 twice before he started development of the Mig*Boost, basically, a clone of the DOD 250 with a toggleswitch to select between symmetrical LED clipping and asymmetrical Si/Ge clipping. Actually, the toggleswitch selects between a 1N4001 Si diode and a 1n34a Ge diode on the one side, and 2 green 5mm LEDs on the other side and it has a TL071 opamp.
Sound Quality: I tested the pedal on a Mesa Boogie MarkI and my Brian May Red Special and from the moment I stepped the pedal,it was pure bliss. I started with a clean amp setting and the Mig*Boost switched to LED clipping mode and I was able to dial in one of (if not) the most attractive classic rock distortion sound I ever found in a pedal. I swear it sounded like a cranked tube amp. Lovely. Very transparant, and the controls cover a lot of ground, from crispy clean boost all the way up to roaring tube amp distortion (my favorite setting so far). If I had to compare it to another pedal, I d say it sounds a lot like the Banzai Cold Fusion.

I then switched to Si/Ge mode and was amazed once more, the pedal became more a tight fuzz and a smooth distortion pedal, ideal for soaring leads. Most useful. Soundwise, kind of like the MXR Dist+ or the old Ross distortion, but more refined.
Reliability/Durability: hmmm, I've had the pedal for 4 months now, build quality is pristine, clean soldering, quality parts, Alpha pots for the volume and gain controls, true bypass switching, custom made PCB, switchcraft jacks and a Boss style adapter jack, all snugly fitted inside that small MXR styled housing, blue LED and soviet inspired graphics. I'm not too gentle with my pedals, so I would say it's reliable allright. The paint chips off easily.
Ease of Use: there are 2 controls labeled Volumiev and Gainski, self explanatory
and a toggle switch to select between LED or Ge/Si clipping
true bypass switch and a blinding LED
it's a small box, wee bit smaller than your MXR size pedal, and the pedal has a 1.5mm barrel plug for a 9V power supply only, it does not take batteries
Customer Support: it's handmade in Holland by someone who regularly visits the HCFX forums, go there and call for Speeddemon.
When I had my pedal (it's ser.no #2) made, Speeddemon regularly sent me a progress report by e-mail, the pedals are made in limited series, so there may be a little waiting time
Speeddemon also wrote an elaborate manual for the Mig*Boost, fun to read, with some excellent settings and technical info, a little history and tips how to mix cocktails.
Price: $110.00 USD
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