All user reviews of 3/5 for the Danelectro DJ-21 Black Coffee Metal Distortion

This is a one-trick pony over the top, in your face, mega distortion heavy metal pedal. Connections are through basic (mono) 1/4" cables, I believe it works by clipping a diode, but I'm not an expert in this arena. It has three knobs to control level (volume), bass, and treble. It is a small pedal, and when they were new, I remember Dano marketing them as "mini" effects.

UTILIZATION

It's very use to use, just plug it in, set your knobs, and viola - instant distortion. I wouldn't recommended using it for chords, but you can get infinite sustain with a pedal like this if you can somehow set it to avoid the feedback.

SOUND QUALITY

This is a guitar effects pedal, I wouldn't bother trying to use it with bass. The sounds quality is about what you'd expect for $30 - noisy, but still useful in some instances. I once used it for a guitar solo through a Mesa Boogie Nomad 55 1x12 combo amp, and was able to get a great tone out of it, even though the cheap level knob had already broken off at that point.

OVERALL OPINION

The thing I liked most about this pedal... it's cheap.

The thing I liked least about this pedal... it's too cheaply built.

You get what you pay for when you buy this kind of budget effect. It is not built well enough to stand up to live gigs or even an aggressive practice session with a band. Let's face it, at this low-price point, it is intended for someone of limited means who is playing out of a crappy practice amp (aka young, teenage guitarists). In fact, I may have still been 19 when I bought this effect, come to think of it...

For $30, it's really not that bad, especially if you're just going to set it up in your bedroom and not mess with it too much. Set the right way, it would likely improve the sound quality of a cheap practice amp.

I'll never buy one of these again, as I'm long out of that price point (and hope to stay that way!). If you're a serious musician with pro-gear, you should know better and stay away from Dano stuff anyway. Otherwise, if you're a young, aspiring heavy metal rocker, pick up ones of these at the bargain price and rock the hell out of your parents' basement or garage. Just don't get too upset when it eventually croaks on you.