OVERDRIVE- (used) DANELECTRO Daddy-o Overdrive... a Marshall Gov-nor v.1 clone

 DANELECTRO DADDY-O OVERDRIVE 

$30.00 USD (used)

I do not usually list 'used' pedals. But this is both
a great pedal and is nearly always available on-line
you can get one in good condition for around
$30.00 USD even in mint condition
they go for $60.00 USD
I know a lot of guys will want one.

FIRST A LITTLE DIGRESSION
In the early 90's Steve Ridinger decided that he could best sell the pedals he made if he could get the rights to a good name. So he made a modest bid for the rights to the Danelectro name.

That year he took his pedals to NAMM and everybody loved the sound , the look, and the price. BUT??? Everyone who made an order wanted the guitars too.

He had never thought seriously about the guitars.
But the following year he took a few prototypes of the guitars
back to NAMM to get some feedback.
He got orders for hundreds.
And as the cliche goes. Everything else is history.

NOW BACK TO THE OD
The '90's pedals were actually well made ...not like the plastic junk that followed them.
The '90's pedals came in a cast metal case. The colours and look were borrowed from the American cars of the 1950's.
The electronics were well designed to compete with the best and they all sounded very good.
A few like the Daddy O. sounded amazing.

It is a clone of the much coveted and NOT cheap ...
...defunct 1988 Marshall Gov'nor v.1.
JHS still does a Daddy O. mod taking it right up to the Gov'nor's exact spec.
But even as they come they sound very, very close.
To my ears the Dano is a bit gritier and the Gov'nor has more headroom.

I do love a gritty pedal but the extra detail in the sound with more headroom
of the Gov is nice.
The bottom line is that the gourmet clones are not dead on the same either.
The best is the Wilson Blue Sparkle but it has even more headroom ...
which to be honest does not necessarily make it better.
It is just different. Both clones are 'in the same ballpark'
So why not go with the silly cheap solution???

HANDS ON

I made a $30.00 bid for one in good condition. Accepted?  YES !!!                                         
So today I got my prize.

FIRST THE GOOD BAD NEWS!!!

There is virtually no room to get your fingers in around the knobs to move them!!! Go figure??? because the pedal is huge!!!!
Take a standard MXR box and put a bigger pedal ...the kind with 2 foot switches beside it then lay the Daddy O. sideways on top. yup it's that big!!!!

OK ....NOW THE GOOD NEWS !!!

First it is gorgeous and is built like a tank ...and this is not a figure of speech!!! If at a club a fight breaks out and you fear your safety quickly grab your Daddy O!!!! LOL

With the customary setting with everything at noon the pedal is damn loud and all upper mids and highs.
I settled on full bass ...mids on 12 o'clock ...highs on 2 o'clock and gain on just shy of 3 o'clock.
What I got was one the very best medium gain sounds I have ever heard.
Do not get me wrong this is not a ...OH WOW! pedal!
I am talking about exquisite tone. Tone with depth and character. The Daddy O joins up with my French OD the Celmo Pimento Sardine as a lifetime keeper.
I have accumulated a lot of ... 'OH WOW!'  overdrives and have found they can be bumped from their throne. I kept a few as they do sound good and are great for a number of tunes I use them in.
BIG BUT... sooner or later I do find another that inches past them. In fact I have 2 pedals right now on their journey from Europe that have the potential of both being King of the hundreds out there!!!

The pedal is a killer for pure tone. It is the kind of sound you can hammer away on backing a vocal and enjoying the experience as much as you do when you get to shred on a really hot OD.
I have said it many times. You spend most of your R&R life accompanying the singing. Having the perfect pedals for that is more then important. This will enrich the whole tune ...the chords will sound sweet ...yet small bridges and any ornamentation, arpeggio's and short riffs will jump out with great tone.
Bottom line! A great pedal at ANY price!!!