The Danelectro Fab guitar pedals are pretty much the cheapest stompboxes on the market. At only about $15 each, they are a nice option for guitarists on a budget.
The main criteria for decent pedals in my opinon is that they must be
A. Durable
B. Decent sounding
C. Affordable
A. Build quality here is actually better than I expected for a $15 pedal. Of course it's nothing to write home about, but it has a thick metal and rubber base and a fairly strong (ABS?) plastic outer case. If you literally stomp on the pedal, it would only take so much abuse, but if you aren't too rough there shouldn't be any problems with durability.
B. The sound quality is par for cheap pedals, but it does cover a wide range with its two knobs. The tone knob can range from very mellow to harsh, and the distortion can reach levels no one should ever need. The volume can reach very overpowering levels, to where I almost worry about blowing the speaker. To get the pedal's volume to match most amps' volumes without the effects, it needs to be turned down almost all the way. The only big issue here is that it does get rather noisy.
C. Affordability is second to none, which is a huge plus here. Not much else to say about that.
Something else worth mentioning; this pedal is tiny. It easily fits in your hand and the button to turn it on and off is also very small. It's not a dealbreaker, and the small size is a plus for portability, but it is a little hard to find the button at times.
Another thing that surprised me is how complicated the internals are. I am in the process of building my own amps, and the amount of circuitry crammed in... I can't begin to figure out what it all does, but it sounds good :)
Pros:
Cheap
Decent sound
Simple to use
Huge volume
Portable
Durable
Cons:
Not a whole lot of options
Noisy
Doesn't come with a 9v wall adapter
Made of plastic
Small button
All things considered, this Fab pedal is a good deal if you want a distortion pedal. If I had the choice of buying it again, I might pass on it because the Mustang 1 can cover plenty of distortion without it and buying it also involves buying more cables and batteries/wall adapters. Anyway, I still occasionally use it and it is still a great deal. I would recommend it because it is so cheap and the pros definitely outweigh the cons.
8.5 of 10 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment