Cool Cat Review

The coolest, sweetest Chorus ever! Once you hear this great vintage chorus, you'll realize nothing else even comes close. True stereo sound with second output jack. As rich, syrupy, and silky as it gets.

Ease of Use:	9
Sound:	9
Reliability:	9
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	9.1
Users rating:	7.8
Comments:	9

overall: 8.3

Reviewed by: fenderfifty6, on july 23, 2008

Price paid: $ 39.99

Purchased from: Musiciansfriend.com

Ease of Use: My Danelectro CD-1 Cool Cat Distortion Pedal is a very good piece of equipment by almost every standard, especially considering that it was 40 dollars. As advertised, it does have a classic sound, but has that grind you like to hear when you need it. The manual is very easy to read and gives you 3 preset examples along with instructions and explanations for all controls. Presets include, "Classic Rock Grind", "Southern Rock Slide Zone", and "Chips and Salsa". // 8

Sound: Playing this distortion pedal through a Hughes & Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX and a Squier Strat, it provides a much different sound as compared to the standard distortion channel of my amp. Hughes & Kettner and Danelectro are both tone-based electronics producers, and with the pedal no tone whatsoever is lost. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This here is a metal stomp box for a great price that will last for a good long time. However, I would recommend purchasing the power adapter. The batteries won't last long regardless, and if you forget to turn it off then you'll most likely wake up to find that you need to replace the batteries. // 8

Impression: For me, my Cool Cat works perfectly for the type of music I play and the sound I love to hear. Although it isn't near the top of the market in terms of technology or sound, for forty bucks you get a much better pedal than what the money indicates. I play mostly alt/grunge/rock/metal, and its capabilities cover these areas beautifully. It tends to be a bit sensitive when bringing up the level, however I suppose that is to be expected. Although simple, I find that the stacked controls for treble and bass is an interesting concept. I did compare the pedal to a Boss pedal that was the exact same price with good reviews, but read that you lose a lot of tone when looking for slightly higher distortion. I had also heard great things about Danelectro, and decided to take a chance. Thus far, everything has worked out very well. // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on february 16, 2005

Price paid: $ 79

Purchased from: Music123.com

Ease of Use: This unit is very simple and straight-forward to use. It's effortless to dial in a variety of warm vintage sounding chorus settings. There are two controls - a Speed for rate control and a Chill for depth control. Rate is how fast the sound swirls, depth is how deep. The settings cover a wide range of sound so you actually hear a big change when you turn them. The single in and stereo out is very easy with the mono side. The manual has some very good recommended settings that sounded very good. The sample settings in the manual are awesome, especially the ones for the combinations of different pedals. // 10

Sound: The sound is quite good. When going in the effects loop, you loose a little depth, but thats ok 'cause this thing is lush. Going through the front end it sounds amazing. It gets a little hard to hear the notes from the guitar with the speed knob up, but it all depends on what type of sound you want. The Cool Cat has its own unique, subtle chorus that doesn't particularly sound like any other chorus. The Speed knob is pretty responsive, on its low settings you can get nice, smooth, shimmery sounds out of it. The Chill knob isn't so responsive, if you drop it past half, you really can't hear the chorusing effect. But overall, it this pedal sounds great. // 10

Reliability & Durability: It's solid metal contruction, you could probably throw this thing off a bridge and still use it. Footswitch very easy to activate/deactivate. The actual housing of the unit is very good. The controls are cheap as cheap can be, same goes for the switch. And you absolutely must buy the AC adaptor because this box eats batteries as a snack. No backup should be necessary. // 10

Impression: All in all, it sounds great and gets that nice slow sweep. It must be heard to be truly appreciated. It can change from a subtle, extended, tube-like tone to a weird, bizarre noise. The variety you can get out of only two knobs is surprising. Looks great, sounds very good and should hold up for a good amount of time. Check it out and stomp away! // 10

Comments

[Thewolf_and_man]

u paid 79 what?? if its dollars or pounds im freakin out

[Kid Fisto]

find one used. problem solved. Danelectro's never die.

[judas_priest66]

Yeah,man I've got a Danelectro FAB Metal and they simply eat batteries. I put in a brand new 9v and it was dead in a matter of 45 minutes,so ac is the only way to go,man. And yeah,Danelectro's never die,they're built solid.

[budgie182]

Thewolf_and_man wrote:

u paid 79 what?? if its dollars or pounds im freakin out

that must be in dollars.
ive looked around and the average price is around £40-50

im considering buying this...

[Mental Hop]

I have owned almost every Danelectro pedal expect the paisley's and the fab pedals. I have tried all of them though. I can honestly say, this is one of the few that is any good. I don't like super syrupy chorus pedals and this is just subtle enough to not make me want to kill myself everytime I turn it on.

[Zetsword]

Yea well I wish I was as lucky as everyone else, I got a Cool Cat from Guitar Center and one week later I try to use it and for some reason I can hardly get any kind of chorusy effect out of it, so there must be something wrong with it's input or something like that, because my cords are workin' fine.

[nevin021s]

uhhh isnt there a danelectro cool cat drive too?

[bluesnewb]

how does the cool cat distortion compare to the boss ds-1
and also how does the cool cat metal 2 compare to the mt-2

[[DookieShoes]]

the cool cats have nothing on the daddy-o.
it works fine as an overdrive pedal (great as a matter of fact) but if you dial it up right you get amazing distortion tones from anywhere to an angus young type thing to some harder death-metal/metal-core stuff, it's really great (as in better than boss for the money)