Danelectro is a US designer and importer of musical instruments and accessories, specializing in guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers, and effects units. The current owners bought the name in the late 90s from a previous Danelectro company, an American manufacturer of electric guitars and amplifiers that went out of business in 1969.
History
The original Danelectro company was founded by Nathan "Nat" Daniel in 1947. Throughout the late 1940s, the company produced amplifiers for Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward. In 1954, Danelectro started producing the Danelectro lines of solidbody electric guitars and amplifiers. The company also made guitars and amplifiers under contract that were branded with the names of various store brands, such as Silvertone (Sears) and Airline (Montgomery Ward). Later Danelectro manufactured hollow-bodied guitars, which they constructed out of Masonite and plywood to save costs and increase production speed. These were distinguished by Silvertone's maroon vinyl covering, and Danelectro's light tweed covering. They used concentric stacked tone/volume knobs on the two-pickup models of both seriesâ€"and "lipstick-tube" pickups, which contained the pick-up inside war surplus lipstick tubes. Danelectro's goal was to produce no-frills guitars of reasonably good tone at low cost. In 1956, Danelectro introduced the six-string baritone guitar. The baritone guitar never became especially popular, but found an enduring niche in Nashville for "Tic-tac" bass lines. In 1966, Danelectro was sold to MCA. A year later, in 1969, they introduced the Coral line, known for its hollow-bodies and electric sitars. In 1969, Danelectro closed down, due to MCA's attempt to market Danelectros to small guitar shops rather than large department stores.
In the late 1990s, an importer called the Evets Corporation purchased the name and began selling imported copies of old Silvertone and Danelectro guitars, and newly designed effects pedals and small amplifiers. After initially selling well, guitar sales slowed and Danelectro stopped selling guitars after 2001 to concentrate on effects pedals. In 2006, new owners of Evets decided on a new marketing model for guitars, selling a limited number each year.
Amplifiers
- Amp-in-Case, 1962â€"1969
- Cadet 123
- Centurian 275
- Centurion 272
- Century 30
- Challenger
- Model 88 Commando, 1954â€"1960
- Corporal 132
- Dirty Thirty
- DJ16 Bacon N' Eggs Mini-Amp (current)
- DM 10
- DM 25
- DS 50
- DS 100 (Danelectro badged version of the Silvertone 1485)
- Envoy
- Explorer
- Hodad H-1 (current)
- Honeytone (current)
- Honeytone e-Studio (current)
- Leader
- Master-Slave
- Nifty Fifty
- Model 30 Pioneer
- Special, 1953â€"1958
- Model 98 Twin Twelve
- Twin 15
- Viscount 142
Vintage effects units
- Model 9100 Reverb Box
Guitars
1954â€"1969
- Danelectro C
- Danelectro U1
- Danelectro U2
- Danelectro Shorthorn, which includes the following model range:
- Standard models (Single Pickup: 3011, 3012; Dual Pickups: 3021, 3022, 5025)
- Deluxe models (Dual Pickups: 6026, 6027, 6028; Treble Pickups: 6036, 6037, 6038)
- Vibrato models (Single Pickup: 4011; Dual Pickups: 4021;)
- Danelectro Amp-in-case
- Dano Pro
- Danelectro Baritone
- Guitarlin
- Stan & Dan
- Innuendo Baritone
- Longhorn Baritone
- Vinnie Bell Bellzouki (12-string electric guitar with body based on the bouzouki)
1998â€"2001
- 56-U1
- 56-U2
- 56-U2 Lefty
- 56-U3
- 59-DC
- 59-DC Pro
- 59-DC Pro 12-string
- Danelectro 6 string bass
- Baritone
- Convertible (acoustic/electric)
- Convertible Pro
- Danoblaster (with built in effects)
- Hearsay (distortion)
- Innuendo (distortion, tremolo, chorus, echo)
- Rumor Bass (chorus)
- DC-3
- DC-12 (twelve string)
- DC Bass
- Doubleneck
- 6-string/12-string
- 6-string/baritone
- Guitarlin
- Hodad
- Hodad
- Hodad 12-string
- Hodad Baritone
- Hodad Bass
- Longhorn
- 58-Longhorn
- Longhorn Baritone
- Longhorn Bass
- Longhorn Pro
- Mod
- Mod 6 (6-string)
- Mod 7 (7-string)
2006â€"present
- '56 Pro 2006
- Longhorn Guitar and Bass 2006
- Dano Pro 2007, 2012
- '59 Dano 2007
- Dano '63 Guitar, Baritone and Bass 2008
- "Dead On '67" Guitar and Baritone 2009
- "Dead On '58" Longhorn Bass 2009
- DC-12 2009
- '59-DC 2009
- '56 Single Cutaway Guitar and Bass 2010
- Wild Thing Guitar, Baritone and Bass 2011
- '59 Modified, '59 Left-handed, and '59 12-string 2012
- Hodad Guitar and Bass 2012
- Danelectro '64 2016
Effects pedals
Today, Danelectro primarily designs and imports effect pedals. They market eight pedals lnes: original effects, FAB effects, mini effects, vintage effects, Wasabi effects, Paisley effects, Cool Cat effects and other miscellaneous effects. All run on 9 volt batteries or power adapters. The original effects featured metal enclosures and [field effect transistor|FET] switching. Cool Cat models are the most recent pedals, designed with metal enclosures and true-bypass switching. Danelectro has begun rolling out Cool Cat V2 pedals, featuring extra 'under the hood' features. Mini effects pedals are smaller, compact pedals with effects resembling those of the original effects and the FAB effects. Vintage effects include the large, rectangular Spring King and Reel Echo effect pedals. The discontinued Paisley series featured paisley-patterned drive effects in original style enclosures. The Wasabi series features large, futuristic-looking metal enclosures. FAB effects are the cheapest of the bunch, and feature plastic enclosures somewhat larger than the Mini effects series.
In 2006, Danelectro began selling a carrying case that holds up to five mini effects. When the player is ready to play, the top may be removed and the bottom acts as a pedals board. It has since been discontinued. Not long after, another carrying case was developed to fit five FAB or Cool Cat pedals, as well as serve in the pedal board function as well.
Despite the advantages of the mini effects, FAB effects are more common. The Mini effects are less expensive, but the plastic construction makes them fragile.
Original effects
- Daddy O. Overdrive (notably used by Mike Campbell)
- Cool Cat Chorus
- FAB Tone Distortion
- Dan-Echo Simulated Tape Echo
- Dan-O-Matic Tuner
FAB effects
The FAB series of guitar effect pedals is a budget range of pedals made by the Danelectro company that are manufactured in China. The series was launched in 2005 with the release of the FAB Distortion, FAB Overdrive and the FAB Metal pedals.
Currently, eight pedals share the same distinctive injection moulded plastic casing and blue LED light. Each has a mains power DC9 socket, or can be powered by a 9 volt battery.
- FAB Chorus
- FAB Delay
- FAB Distortion
- FAB Echo
- FAB Flanger
- FAB Fuzz
- FAB Metal
- FAB Overdrive
Mini effects
- Pastrami Overdrive
- T-Bone Distortion
- BLT Slap Echo
- Corned Beef Reverb (discontinued)
- Tuna Melt Tremolo
- Hash Browns Flanger
- Pepperoni Phaser
- Milkshake Chorus
- Surf and Turf Compressor
- Grilled Cheese Distortion
- Chili Dog Octave
- Fish and Chips 7-Band EQ
- Chicken Salad Vibrato
- French Toast Octave Distortion
- PB&J Delay
- Bacon & Eggs MiniAmp Distortion
- Rocky Road Rotary Speaker
- Black Coffee Metal Distortion
- French Fries Auto-Wah
- Black Licorice Beyond Metal
Vintage effects
- Reel Echo
- Spring King
Paisley effects (discontinued)
- Blue Paisley PureDrive
- Black Paisley Liquid Metal
Wasabi effects
- Wasabi Overdrive
- Wasabi Distortion
- Wasabi Rock-A-Bye
- Wasabi Forward-Reverse Delay
- Wasabi Chorus-Trem
Miscellaneous effects
- Shift Daddy
- Trip-L Wah
- Dan-O-Wah
- Free Speech Talk Box
- Psycho Flanger
- Sitar Swami
- Back Talk Reverse Delay
Cool Cat effects
- Tremolo
- Vibe
- Metal
- Fuzz
- Fuzz V2
- Drive
- Drive V2
- Transparent Overdrive
- Transparent Overdrive V2
- Distortion
- Metal II
- Chorus
See also
- List of Danelectro players
References
External links
- Danelectro Guitars â€" official website
- Tribute to Danelectro founder Nathan I. Daniel
