Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive
Contents |
General Information
Original Author: Staffay
Weapon: Overdrive
Make: Danelectro
Model: Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive v.1
Price: 39$ (if its available)
Sound
This box is nothing bout a rip-off of the well-known "Timmy"-pedal by Paul Cochrane. It is built in order to add a transparent overdrive, eg. it will NOT change the sound of the amp, just add some overdrive. By now, the box is discontinued since Danelectro was threatened by a lawsuit from Paul Cochrane since they took the whole circuit design. (rumour, but the circuit design is EXACTLY the same, see schematics below)
Soundwise this box does the job fantastic, it really doesn't change the sound of the amp at all. No added overtones, or added frequencies. There is adjustment knobs for bass & middle, but they are'nt needed unless You want to re-shape the eq when the box is used.
There is also a volume, which act as master volume and a gain control. These two works in conjunction with each other, just as an amp volume & gain will do. You can go all the way from no crunch to REALLY heavy crunch without no change in tone.
The box is built in metal and have all the controls on the back in conjunction with the input/output jacks. This is the only drawback since the controls are a little bit hard to adjust in a playing situation. The pedal claims to be a "true-bypass" -pedal which it also is - no change in sound appears whether it's connected or not. The foot-button is large and there is a noticeable "click" when you press the button. Also there is a light that shows when it's operating or not.
Sound Clips
Feel
Everything is great about this product, especially the price. It sounds fanstastic and with it's metal-casing, it just feel's like You won on the lottery without having to buy a ticket!
Overall Impression
Danelectro makes the Cool Cat series of pedals, which is really a great serie for a resonable price. What impresses me is that it is possible to make such a great product for under half of the price than the original "Timmy" -box. It makes a great job with especially Fender -type amps (and any tube-amp) to make them "crack-up" at a reasonable volume-level. If You have one of these, keep it, it might well be a collectors item!
Alternative Weapon
"Timmy" by Paul Cochrane, priced around 100$, but since he have a waiting list for these, they have been sold for about 150$ at EBAY. Danelectro has annonced version 2 now, but it haven't hit the streets yet. Danelectro also making a "Drive" -version that is very similar to the Fulltone OCD, which is also great for the money.
An another alternative is to build one Yourself! The components are really cheap, and if You can handle a soldering iron... :-)
Here's the schmatic for the Danelectro Transparent Overdrive. Just change the 2 power filter caps to 100uf and that's it !!
