| Danelectro Dan-O-Wah Wah/fuzz pedal with multiple voicings. List: $99
by Brett Ratner
January 23, 2001
For costing less than 100 bucks, the Dan-O-Wah sure caused significant buzz at Winter NAMM. And why not? Danelectro really outdid itself with this baby.
In keeping with Dan-O’s other floor-mounted implements of destruction, the wah looks as cool as it sounds. Styled liberally after a ‘50s hot rod, the “headlights” are the input-output jacks and the “tail lights” are red LED’s.
Luckily, the Dan-O-Wah offers more than just a pretty face. There are six different wah voicings, each with adjustable sweeps. There’s also ‘60s-style fuzz as well as an octave fuzz (think Hendrix’s solo on “Purple Haze”).
“It’s a lot of bang for the buck for 99 bucks,” Danelectro spokesman Dan Colburn said.
Two rotary wheels, plus a series of cleverly laid-out switches allows the fleet-footed player an amazing amount of control in real time. You can, for example, switch between two wah voicings and from clean to fuzz on the fly.
The internal circuits, meanwhile, fulfill their responsibility to provide tone befitting the looks and features.
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| Dan-O-Wah in black from the show floor |
The various wah voicings are fat-sounding while the tonal sweep is quite smooth (a wah, by the way, essentially is a tone control with a mid boost). We prefer the lower frequency voicings. But if you want, the Dan-O-Wah can practically give you a haircut with pronounced highs.
The pleasant surprises, however, are the fuzz and octave fuzz sounds. Whereas many fuzz boxes sound, well, too “fuzzy,” these sound smooth and rubbery while a pleasantly pronounced midrange gives single note lines a “crying” quality (especially in the octave fuzz setting). It reminded us of Danelectro’s “Fab Tone” pedal.
The Dan-O-Wah should hit the stores in April. If you dig cool and unique pedals, this definitely should be worth a look. For more information, visit www.danelectro.com. | 
