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Danelectro AX-1 Distortion
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Danelectro AX-1 Distortion
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Published on 12/01/11 at 19:04
This pedal is a really thick, gainy distortion, perfectly appropriate for the titular genre if it weren't for the fact that it robs you of almost all volume. It also makes dynamics almost non existent. It's definitely a digital distortion pedal, and a cheap one at that. It's pretty cheap and it sounds it, too. Nothing in the way of midi or audio outs.


UTILIZATION

It's a pretty easy pedal to set up. Just a 9 volt or AC Adapter, and four knobs: Level, Low, Mid, and High. They are subtitled R.I.P., Guts, Pain, and Scream, respectively. This shows you just how much more of a novelty this pedal is as opposed to a legitimately good sounding pedal. There's not much need for a manual, everything is pretty self-explanatory. Trying to get a good sound out of it is difficult.


SOUND QUALITY

I bought this pedal because I went through a short death metal phase. It's a pretty awful sounding pedal. It feeds back a ridiculous amount and it robs you of almost all volume, in exchange for a punishingly brutal wall of noise. It's not a good noise either, like Sonic Youth or Liars tend to use. It's just mud. It doesn't even really sound that good for death metal, because it doesn't have enough punch.


OVERALL OPINION

I used it for about a year or two, when I was about 11 until I was about 13. At that point I realized that the Marshall I was using had a better distorted channel on the amp than I would ever get with this pedal. Even though I was young, it still boggles my mind that I could have been so impulsive as to buy this. I don't really like anything about it. I tried a few models in the same price range and didn't like those very much either. I guess that was the lesson I should have learned: Good Gear doesn't usually come cheap unless it's used and looks awful. It's not worth buying for $20, let alone the $80 I spent on it then. I can't even believe they still make it. Avoid at all costs.