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Fireguy8402 « Poor Man's OCD? »
Published on 11/19/11 at 13:11The Danelectro CO-1 Drive is a gain pedal rumored to be a clone of the Fulltone Obecessive Compulsive Drive (OCD) Unlike the “Food” series of pedals from Danelectro this pedal has a metal housing, metal input and output jacks and is true bypass. These are great upgrades without putting the price through the roof. The CO-1 runs off of 9 volt battery power or a power adapter. Also these pedals have a new look and the design is much more professional looking. Mono input and mono output, a knob to adjust the gain, volume and a tone knob to tweak with. Simple overdrive layout, used on hundreds of pedals.
UTILIZATION
Much like my review for the Transparent Overdrive (TOD) from the same Danelectro line, this pedal goes great in front of a clean amp, or an already overdriven amp as a boost. The jacks are located on the top of the pedal as opposed to the sides like most pedals, which makes it a tight squeeze getting the power plug in when using a One Spot with right angle plugs. Having all this at the top of the pedal is no big deal to me because I find it’s more of a set it and forget it pedal.
SOUND QUALITY
The first version of this pedal is no longer available due to the fact that it was supposedly a close clone of an OCD by Fulltone. It may be a very similar circuit, but I feel the Dano is lacking. I owned both the OCD and the CO-1, and while many people were selling off their OCD’s in favor of the CO-1, I didn’t hear what they were hearing. Hands down I think the OCD beats it out, and it should, it costs more than double what the CO-1 does. This pedal has some good light distortion sounds to it, but I would much rather use the TOD for clean to light overdrive sounds. The TOD is so transparent (hence the name I guess) and the OC-1 puts a flavor on your tone. Now I’m not saying it’s a horrible change, but it makes a difference in your tone other than just adding gain. I wish Dano would have put the dual EQ knob on here like they did with the TOD as well. You can get some rocking tones out of it with the gain maxed, but it sounds at home at medium gain levels. I feel it’s a little less organic sounding and dynamic than the OCD and out of the three of these I’d put the CO-1 in third place after the OCD and TOD
OVERALL OPINION
Dano did a good job with this pedal, but they knocked the ball out of the park with the Transparent overdrive. If a person was looking for a pedal with more gain on tap than the TOD and didn’t want to spring for a real OCD then this would be a good place to settle. I don’t feel it lives up to the hype of being as natural sounding as the OCD, but it’s a good little drive pedal at a great price. The CO-1 is leaps and bounds ahead of several Boss distortions like the DS-1 and BD-2 in my book and true bypass to boot, which helps preserve your true tone unlike some pedals in the price range with poor buffered bypasses. A good basic drive overall and a great value.
UTILIZATION
Much like my review for the Transparent Overdrive (TOD) from the same Danelectro line, this pedal goes great in front of a clean amp, or an already overdriven amp as a boost. The jacks are located on the top of the pedal as opposed to the sides like most pedals, which makes it a tight squeeze getting the power plug in when using a One Spot with right angle plugs. Having all this at the top of the pedal is no big deal to me because I find it’s more of a set it and forget it pedal.
SOUND QUALITY
The first version of this pedal is no longer available due to the fact that it was supposedly a close clone of an OCD by Fulltone. It may be a very similar circuit, but I feel the Dano is lacking. I owned both the OCD and the CO-1, and while many people were selling off their OCD’s in favor of the CO-1, I didn’t hear what they were hearing. Hands down I think the OCD beats it out, and it should, it costs more than double what the CO-1 does. This pedal has some good light distortion sounds to it, but I would much rather use the TOD for clean to light overdrive sounds. The TOD is so transparent (hence the name I guess) and the OC-1 puts a flavor on your tone. Now I’m not saying it’s a horrible change, but it makes a difference in your tone other than just adding gain. I wish Dano would have put the dual EQ knob on here like they did with the TOD as well. You can get some rocking tones out of it with the gain maxed, but it sounds at home at medium gain levels. I feel it’s a little less organic sounding and dynamic than the OCD and out of the three of these I’d put the CO-1 in third place after the OCD and TOD
OVERALL OPINION
Dano did a good job with this pedal, but they knocked the ball out of the park with the Transparent overdrive. If a person was looking for a pedal with more gain on tap than the TOD and didn’t want to spring for a real OCD then this would be a good place to settle. I don’t feel it lives up to the hype of being as natural sounding as the OCD, but it’s a good little drive pedal at a great price. The CO-1 is leaps and bounds ahead of several Boss distortions like the DS-1 and BD-2 in my book and true bypass to boot, which helps preserve your true tone unlike some pedals in the price range with poor buffered bypasses. A good basic drive overall and a great value.