Danelectro Dan-o-wah Reviews 3

Id wanted a wah pedal for a long time, seeing as my FX unit didnt have an expression pedal. I spotted this unit for £35 in Dawsons music. I didnt try any other wahs, i went straight for this because of the price.

I like the overall sound of this unit :) It has 6 wah modes, 3 rock and 3 funk, but to be honest there isnt much difference between the individual types. I'd consider it to only have two main modes. The Octaver is nice, it adds an interesting twist to your sound, but I dont really use it that much. The wah range is quite impressive, and coupled with a decent distortion pedal after this unit in your signal chain, you can really get some interesting sounds.

Okay, the Distortion is rather poor. Its very fuzzy and there are no controls for it. But, I didnt buy this pedal for distortion, its a wah after all. The other complaint is that to switch the wah on and off is far to easy. I've knocked it off by accident many times before. Also, the switches for the distortion and wah type are too close to the foot pedal, so that when turning the wah on, you can inadvertantly turn the distortion on, or change the type of wah. Not good!

I dont have any serious gripes with the construction quality, its made of plastic, but it can hold my weight, and I'm a big chap! I dont think you could take a sledgehammer to it, but it will stand up to a beating. I intend to take on stage with me at the next gig we play without worries.

Overall, I like this wah a lot. Having never really played any other, I cant really compare. It's an excellent first pedal, not very expensive, with a good range of sounds. If you are interested in a wah pedal, try this one out, I think its a good buy.

Daniel :) rated this unit 5 on 2004-02-23.

I got this for €125 in Perfect Pitch in Dublin. I was passin by the window with €130 burin a hole in my pocket when I saw the most beautiful pedal sitting in the window... and I just had to own it!

What do I like about it? The way it looks.. shaped like an old style car with it's own little reg plate... excellent! I love the way the brake light is the distortion and the indicators are the different wah settings! As for the ways it sounds... well the less said about that the better!

It's pathetic! You constantly pick up Spinal Tap style radio interference with the octave on. The built in distortion sound like someone choking on their own blood, and if you hit more than one string nothing comes out but an incoherent hiss. It's not much better clean, it's seems to compress the tone slightly... and well what's the good of a wah pedal with crap tone? As for the 6 different wah setting, well they all sound pretty much the same!

Made of plastic...what more can I say? It feels cheap and plays cheap.... and it cracks when you lean on it too hard!

Thus pedal is no good for any subtle wah manouvring, it makes your guitar sound cheap, and well it just plain sucks! It looks pretty, if you buy it just leave it in your window for passers bye to admire but don't hook it up...or you'll be cursin your stupidity for parting with your cash!

Funky Steve rated this unit 1 on 2003-04-14.

Bought it brand new from Gerald's Guitar Clinic for $80.

Has a good 60s and 70s sound to it. Like the distortion that comes with it. Awesome look with old car setup. Easy to control with the foot and feels comftorable. Makes some wild sounds.

On certain settings, it has way too much feedback.

Actual pedal made out of sturdy plastic, the bottoms is made out of metal. Awesome grips at the bottom that keeps it from going anywhere.

Good if your a beginner at the Wah-Wah. Good to use for recording, but not for live shows.

Ricky(Rick Dawg) rated this unit 4 on 2003-01-07.

Got this thing on sale for around $70.

I was dissapointed in this wah. I thought that since it had 6 different wah sounds that it would give me more flexibility, but I really only liked one of the sounds, and I didn't like it a whole lot. I also don't care much for the design (looks like a car).

Seems to be well built.

The sound I was looking for was not there.I used a cry baby wah years ago, and I think it had a better sound. I'm going to sell this thing and get a Morley Bad Horsie wah.

Axe Murderer rated this unit 3 on 2002-04-08.

I bought the Dan-O-Wah pedal on e-bay new for 59.00. With 7.00 shipping it was a pretty good deal. Elsewhere you can pay up to $129.00 (my local guitar shop!)

Variety of settings and functions.....cool looks.......Lights show what's on or not. Pedal funtions smoothly. Cool 60's sound settings, three to be exact.

Too much backround noise. Octave function ate my crate speaker (had it replaced).....This pedal doesn't like my Marshall amp very much.........The distortion just makes an EXTREMELY LOUD feedback-type noise that wakes up people in the neighbor hood. I can't even use the distortion on it with the effects loop on my marshall (valestate 100 head), but i ran it into the guitar input of my crate and it rocked pretty good. 70's sounds too much treble....

construction was pretty good. The actual pedal you step on is plastic. THe car oart of it is metal (sturdy). Apparently the battery door isn't very secure but i will just use an AC adaptor. Buttons function good and the lights on it are very helpful so you can see whats on before you hear it.

I used the pedal with a crate GX-30M amp and a BC Rich Raven II with a platinum series pickup installed. THe pedal sounded awesome with the distortion and wah settings. Although the amp didn't have a effects loop, i ran the pedal into the guitar input. I used the same pedal with my Marshall Valvestate 100 Head and it just didn't sound as good.....?..... Too much hum and backround noise........the distortion sounds like crap hitting a jet engine...It screams abd wails therefore i can't even use it. Even when i turn the effects loop down. Although the 60's settings rock on the wah pedal, the 70's sounds are just too treble-sounding. The distortion was good only running it into the input and not an effects loop. Beware though.....the distortion combined with octave effect EATS GUITAR SPEAKERS FOR BREAKFEAST!!!!!!!! I had to replace my crate speaker as the octave funtion blew part of the coil out. Not an award winning pedal, but for the money it's fun to play with. Not the kind of thing to use often. How did this unit get the editor's pick award from Guitar Player????

Jude rated this unit 3 on 2002-03-04.

Acquired on ebay for a total of $85: $75 for the pedal, $10 for shipping

Has several distinct wah sounds, that are pretty good, the distortion and octave distortion are pretty cool, plus it's set up so that you can change between different wah sounds or wah with distortion. Of course, it also looks pretty stylin' being modeled after a forties car ...

I wish that they had either given an option or changed the ordering of the wah and distortion on the unit. It is currently set up so that it is distortion then wah, allowing no subtle wah sound to be used be the distortion. On some of the lower voiced wahs the volume drops out a bit when you use it with the distortion, something that could be remedied by making the order wah then distortion. I have noticed some radio interference as well

The pedal is made of thick hard plastic casing and rocker. Construction appears to be solid, though I do wonder how long it will last with only plastic casing, and it seems like it could possibly crack easily if dropped accidently or stepped on the wrong way.

Its a fun pedal, gets good basic sounds, could use a little improvement thought

Davey C rated this unit 3 on 2001-08-01.

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