Danelectro Fab Tone

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:34 am

I lent a friend my IC Muff recently and he insisted that I borrow his favourite pedal in return, a Danelectro Fab Tone. I wasn't expecting much from this pedal and loved it. Just wondering if anyone knew of any clones of this pedal that have true bypass as I might think about getting one? Failing that suggestions of any pedals which are similar (with true bypass) would be good.

P.S. I know the situation re the Dano CEO so no need to bring it up again, especially as i'm not actually think of buying a Dano pedal but a clone or sound-a-like - if such a pedal indeed actually exists.

wwrrss · Post by **wwrrss** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:37 am

Isn't Fab Tone a run of pedals, not a single pedal itself?

edit: no. I'm wrong.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:39 am

Nah, the original big metal series had a Fabtone distortion:

Don't know about any clones though, although I owned 2 of them in the past, it was my faaaaaaaaave for years.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:42 am

To be more precise, it's the Danelectro DD-1 Fab Tone and it looks like this:

Doog beat me to it, but yeah - that's the one.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:51 am

I had one, and it sounded amazing with my Tiny Terror, but cack with my Champ. Don't think it's a clone of anything: pick up a secondhand one and put it in a loop? If you make a feedback loop you can use it to make batshit insane squawks too. Regular feature on Mogwai's boards too, donchaknow. And for what it's worth, I never had any grief with the bypass.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:59 am

Thanks for the suggestion Benecol but i've just moved to a smaller pedalboard and space is at a premium, not only is the Fab Tone huge but I wouldn't have space for an additional true bypass loop pedal and don't have a spare power jack to power it (the loop pedal that is).

matt.dines · Post by **matt.dines** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:03 pm

I think my local music shop has one. Ill be popping in tomorrow if you want me to grab it for ya.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:11 pm

How much is it going for? I've been looking for a 2nd hand one but not found one yet. I don't want to pay the Â£60-70 that i've seen new ones go for on the web and i'd rather not be giving my cash straight to Dano, i'm sure you know why.

S. Thompson · Post by **S. Thompson** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:44 pm

I used one of these for a while last year on my board - pretty wild distortion. I'm pretty sure where most other pedals' gain controls go from 0 to 10, this one goes from 10-20. Any setting gets you a heavy sound.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they haven't made these since the 90's, have they? They should reissue it!

- Steve

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:50 pm

Some stores seem to sell them but maybe it's old stock.

sp3k · Post by **sp3k** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:06 pm

i think they stopped making them for a while, but now they're making it again, every store seams to have them.
I love this pedal, the switch sucks, but i never had bypass problems.
I think i read somewhere this was a ds1 copy with some extra stuff, but might have dreamed it or something.

matt.dines · Post by **matt.dines** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:31 pm

I'm sure it's used. It's about Â£40 I think. It's been there for ages.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:45 pm

For Â£40 i'd take it, but as it's been there for ages if you could try and knock them down i'd appreciate it. What condition is it in?

matt.dines · Post by **matt.dines** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:52 pm

I know it's really dusty! I picked it up was going to plug it in one time but I never bothered. I think it was my friend steve's at some point and it's in really good nick.

Dingus · Post by **Dingus** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:32 pm

The guitarist in my first band had one of these and it actually sounded great through his strat and little amp pushed hard. I bought one semi-recently and I enjoy it. I've read it's actually just a Boss MT-2 without more sophisticated tone shaping controls:

http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2064

onedaycloser · Post by **onedaycloser** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:03 pm

Lots of talk about the Fabtone lately .. I'm still kicking myself for getting rid one mine. I do recall wishing there was a way to get just a little less distortion with it at times.

I'm going to have to break down and find one.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:39 pm

johnnyseven wrote:I don't want to pay the Â£60-70 that i've seen new ones go for on the web

Really? I've seen them floating around ebay for Â£25 this year, in fact there's one on ebay now Â£35 BIN and one bidded up to Â£10.
Someone famous uses this pedal and i cant remember who it is now. *sucks on a werthers original*

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:44 pm

benecol wrote:Regular feature on Mogwai's boards too, donchaknow.

Bathchair for Lubas!

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:48 pm

No, its a decent guitarist that uses them, cant remember his name..

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:52 pm

Ummm... Ace from Skunk Anansie?