Give away (6)

Yes, it's time for another give away (notice it's always happening on a Monday?). Here's another contribution by Davis GMC; the Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe pedal for all the coolest vibrato sensation on your pedal board (assuming you have one). Item is a BNIB FYI:

• Send me a blank e-mail with the subject: Vibrato vibes!
• Do not disclose any details till I reply declaring you as the winner
• Winner will self-collect the pedal, details will be disclosed in the said e-mail
• The item is still sealed, brand new in box
• No cut off date as usual- try your luck...

Belated congrats to Shawn Koh, the Give away (5) pedal winner.

Davis GMC mini SALE.

Davis GMC is preparing 2 new venues as part of their store expansion, Janet told me one would be an FX-based store, the other would be a studio. As such, they are clearing some stuff, a SALE of sorts, at one of their new venues- located next to the escalator (facing the fire station across the road) at the exit of Excelsior basement. All FAB pedals are clearing for $19...

... the Cool Cat pedals which come in a 3-in-1 combo pack; these are going for $75.

The above SX guitar is clearing for $199 subject to finish & fretboard type availability. When I was there yesterday, the blonde + maple fretboard version was available.

Booming cat

Was too fatigued to get a post going last night, part of it was attributable to playing bass rather excessively. The chorus effect should be everybody's pick should they need to enhance clean tones. A properly tweaked chorus would not overpower the clean tone but give it a chiming blanket. A good chorus unit should supplement all manner of clean tones, the lower frequencies included. The (Danelectro) Cool Cat chorus has no problems making my (Smash JB-1) bass sing, for the better of course. I believe the lower frequencies could benefit from a little chorus crunch & this proved just that.

October's here!

Feline chorus

So I bought a new pedal to supplement my acoustic tone, coincidentally, it sports the same colour as the guitar.

The pedal in question is the Cool Cat (Danelectro) Chorus, a simple supplement for a simple need. Before the final selection, I had the following pedals on my consideration list:

• Beta Aivin CE-100: Chorus Ensemble
• Electro Harmonix: NANO Clone
• Joyo: Classic Chorus

My requirements for a chorus unit are rather fundamental as well; not overwhelming + adequate features control. The NANO Clone is a 1-knob affair, I was looking out for its tone above all else. There was no way to access the effects oscillation speed so it was struck off the list- I am rather annoyed by the higher levels of oscillation as it makes the effect sound too psychedelic. The Joyo has a healthy sweep in both its rate & width controls but it tends to over-power the overall output as it lacks a LEVEL feature once activated- no go for this one as well. The CE-100 has the most number of features on board & would easily appease the player in search of details but in my case, the overall output wasn't rich enough. My idea of a chorus is a rich sounding voice; a tingling effect so to speak, which is the best pairing for an already favourable clean tone- this, the CE-100 does not possess. It isn't a dud pedal, mind you, it will give you a thick, fat chorus if you are in search of such an offering.

So my final pick was the Cool Cat for its rich sounding chorus & blend feature which I deem to be crucial because it determines how much chorus should be in the signal & hence the ability to offer the user a mild or rich register, depending on the need. All for a good $36.00.

Thanks Janet @ Davis GMC for the excessive try-out.

Driving hyde!

My VS' Son Of Hyde is one of the most rewarding distortion unit I own (it might not be so for you, it's ok... you are not me) due to its grittiness. Today I had the chance to pair it with the Cool Cat Transparent OD, on other days, I usually coupled it with my TS7. The result was a thicker, overall distortion voicing. This pedal would be more rewarding with an external bass control knob...

Danelectro: Hodad (2)

Was gonna replace my Danelectro mini amp battery when I saw this in the cavity.

Danelectro: Cool Cat Distortion

I've been skeptical with the Cool Cat range of pedals namely because they are entailments of the FAB effects series which could have been better in so many aspects of features & QC, namely (some of us simply regret buying them, it's all understood). Anyway, I've managed to try some cool cat pedals & was impressed with all of them in terms of tone & feature offerings; all for less than $40 without the FAB series' dodginess. That's fantastic to say the least.

I bought the Distortion pedal as it proved to be complementary to my tone set-up; currently embracing the distortion raunchiness as a booster for an already driven amp. But the CC Distortion here is a very capable stand-alone distortion source as well. Particularly pleasing is the distortion sweep, from very mild to a commanding raunchiness which would reasonably give the Crunch Box (MI Audio) some competition. Of course, you didn't read the label wrong; it's true bypass.

My message to people reading this entry: Danelectro did themselves some good by refining their most affordable pedals & still keeping them very enticing price-wise. The fact that it's reminiscent in design with the defunct FAB units might deter genuine interest but it's all about believing after trying, of course.

Danelectro: Cool Cat pedals

Remember the very affordable FAB series pedals by Danelectro? Well, these have been given a make-over & are now known to the world as the Cool Cat series.

I did buy the FAB Metal but found the pedal to display a dodgy switching mechanism. Nevermind what it's called now, hopefully the reiability issues have been given some revision as well.