Danelectro CTO-2 Transparent Overdrive

American analog boost and overdrive pedal. Made in China.
Two 1/4" metallic jacks for the input and output.
One connector for an external 9V PSU with negative center. It can be operated with a 9V (6F22) battery (located under the pedal).
One 9V Danelectro "Vintage Power Source" battery included.
Electric current measured by myself: 4.52 mA inactive and 5.80 mA active.
One True Bypass switch.
One LED (blue).
One gain knob, one volume knob and one concentric control to adjust bass and treble.
Analog built-in circuit: One wide bandwidth dual JFET input LF353 op-amp.
4 DIP switches inside the battery compartment to activate blue or red clamping diode and JFET-type clamping pairs. The last one provides 6dB of additional boost (12dB in total).
Surface-mounted components (SMC) (see pictures under "Media").
Cool Cat series: Aluminum case.
The bottom of the pedal is covered with rubber.
User manual.

USE

It's relatively easy to use, except for the DIP switches. It won't take you hours to find THE sound.
The concentric control for treble and bass is a very bad idea and it's very unfortunately placed (between the gain and volume pots), making it difficult to set.
The small DIP switches at the bottom of the battery compartment can be adjusted with a pick.
The housing seems sturdy.

SOUND QUALITY

Light and effective overdrive that responds well to string attack.
6dB or 12dB boost with DIP switch 4 engaged.
I use the boost with a bit of gain (the knob set to 11 o'clock or less) to get a light crunch with a solid-body equipped with single-coils and plugged into a solid-state amp.
I don't use DIP switches 1, 2 and 3 right now.
The pedal's major strength is its transparency. The output doesn't lack anything, from the lows all the way to the highs. Not being a fan of TS-like pedals, it was precisely this characteristic that made me go for it (besides the price).

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using it for six months.
I hate the design of the Treble/Bass knob.
I love its great transparency, which makes it worthy of its name.
I really like its '50s household-appliance look and I think it's much more original than the usual square boxes.
Truly UNBEATABLE value for money!
If it ever breaks, I'll get another one.

Features / Use:
My comments apply to all Cool Cat models I review.

Good manufacturing quality. Unbeatable value for money.
On the other hand, it's not user-friendly at all.
The knobs on the rear of the pedal require you to be on all fours to see what you are doing.
You have to set it once and never touch it again.
It's a pity because some Cool Cat are really versatile.

USE

See below.

SOUND QUALITY

Nice and responsive overdrive

OVERALL OPINION

I don't really know what they mean with transparent.
But it does its job fine.

Analog overdrive, as stated above.

USE

Very simple, in theory, but accessing the controls is not so great, in my opinion. Especially regarding the Bass/Treble, which is split in two and not easy to access. It's not easy to move one without moving the other. And don't forget the switches in the battery compartment...

SOUND QUALITY

Very good sound, as far as I'm concerned. It sounds very different when you change pickups (single-coil or humbucker). I haven't tried it out with active ones. It's true bypass!!!!

OVERALL OPINION

Very good and not expensive pedal. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again. I couldn't try it out at a store because I couldn't find it. I tried my luck buying it online. The way I saw it, it wouldn't be a big loss for 30 bucks, anyway. With hindsight, I wouldn't hesitate a second to buy it again. There surely are better options out there, but this one does what I expect from it.