Danelectro Chili Dog DJ-12

Danelectro Chili Dog DJ-12

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The Danelectro Chili Dog Octave DJ-12 lets you choose one or two octaves down, then mix with the original signal to your liking. There are two separate level controls for each octave and a knob to control the direct (dry) signal. Opeartes with a standard 9-volt battery or a standard 9-volt negative tip 'barrel' type power adapter.

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User Reviews of the Danelectro Chili Dog DJ-12

  • Submitted by red rumble from Livonia, MI (118 points) on Jul 6, 2009
  • This is a great rumble pedal. I'm running my noise through a guitar amp, so the second octave down on this thing registers more as a subconscious effect, maybe a bass amp or PA would help the lowest octave "bloom" more, but with the right distortions, you can tell when it's there. It does seem to suck some volume unless you've got a network of boosting pedals hooked up in the right spots, and I've had a small number of occasions where the octaves didn't track at all for a few seconds, then kicked in out of no where at full force. But that's a small number of times and was probably just me pushing a shit load of harmonically overloaded distorted frequencies at it all at once. WAAAY cheaper than the Boss.
  • Good Points: Cheap Awesome for rumbles, do you like rumbles?
  • Bad Points: Volume loss, very slight tracking issues.
  • Price Paid: US$0.00
  • Purchased At:
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  • Submitted by michael from Upland, CA (98 points) on Jul 23, 2008
  • i used to own a Boss octave, not the OC-2 but the one after that. i barely ever used it, and gave up on octave effects, until i traded for this on a whim. wow. it can do all the normal stuff octave pedals do at a fraction of the price. if you turn the middle knob all the way down and leave the pedal on all the time, your sound source is pretty unrecognizable. great pedal if you want low low LOW end, and if you want to add a little murky Marianas Trench vibe to yr sound
  • Good Points: + it's cheap + low-end on this is killer + adds a whole new dimension to distortions
  • Bad Points: - knobs are not sturdy - made of plastic - input/output/power supply jacks are on the back
  • Price Paid: US$0.00
  • Purchased At: trade
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  • Submitted by Frenzied Destruction from Cold Spring, MN (136 points) on Apr 30, 2008
  • Hooooly crap.You can get the walls of your house to shake with this pedal.Multiple octaves makes for great fun in and out of feedback loops..Always nice to have to add a little bit of variety to your sound.
  • Good Points: Its cheaper than most octavers ive seen. It's probobly the most likely pedal to induce the end of the world.
  • Bad Points: the wonderous dano disease: knobs,battery placement, and volume drop.sometimes gets a liiitle too muddy.
  • Price Paid: US$24.00
  • Purchased At:
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  • Submitted by Jon from Huntsville, AL (500 points) on Mar 15, 2008
  • THE POINTLESS INTRODUCTION: This just arrived today from Ken F. Morton who apparently still has about 3-4 minis for sale from back in '05 (In the blog I linked to). THE REVIEW: This is the 4th mini I've owned, and 5th of the Danelectro brand. Everyone is still going strong! there are 3 controls: OCT2, DIRECT, and OCT1. This pedal tracks really well at the end of a chain, and it's really great at adding a whole lot of "rumble" after a series of harsh distortions without making everything too muffled. The actual "octave" sound is similar to the much-loathed (by me) Behringer UO100 but a thousand times better, more pronounced and more repsonsive/non-subtle, etc. (You will like the UO100 much more once it's circuit bent, of course! ;D)
  • Good Points: Super affordable. probably the cheapest/best "bang for buck" Octaver around! Doesn't completely bury your signal (Unless you want it to!) Adds thick, rumbling lows to a loop/chain after a lot of high-gain distortions. (I tried it right after a Grunge with several other dists. before that.)
  • Bad Points: A lot of people hate it for the fragile mini case. It sounds kind of "blah" with a guitar... I don't care for octavers w/ guitar at all... It can seem to reduce your volume when you have the OCT's maxed and the direct all the way down. I still don't like the knobs on Minis, regardless of how much I try to defend these pedals!!! It's a good, useful effect, but nothing to crap your pants over.
  • Price Paid: US$22.00
  • Purchased At: mushycat.com/updates_2005.html
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  • Submitted by Ferox from Los Altos, CA (432 points) on May 2, 2007
  • Turn all the knobs all the way and see what this pedal can do. The sound doubles between the normal tone and a deep dark voice. If you turn off the direct all the way you get a somewhat sub-harmonic growl that could be powerful with a big boost after it.
  • Good Points: Read the review. Good in loops.
  • Bad Points: Danelectro mini pedal.
  • Price Paid: US$30.00
  • Purchased At: guitarcenter.com
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  • Submitted by provera from Waterloo, IA (172 points) on Jan 1, 2007
  • As has been said, it tracks really well (better than the Octoplus), both octave 1 and 2 work great (unlike the Arion) and they're dirt cheap. The tracking isn't necessarily great if you're looking for Blue Box style freakouts, though it's not hard to get it to jump octaves. The only bad news is the mini case, which is almost good news as you can find these with broken cases on ebay dirt cheap, recase 'em, and you're in business.
  • Good Points: Good quality octave down Very clean sounding Cheap
  • Bad Points: It's a mini (you know the deal)
  • Price Paid: US$8.00
  • Purchased At: ebay
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  • Submitted by Frank from Chicago, IL (52 points) on May 20, 2006
  • This is a cool octive pedal. For one, it's about the only octaver I can think of that doesn't add distortion (at least until you get into rack-mount stuff) but when you use it w/ a distortion or fuzz you can take it somewhat into Blue Box/Buzz Box territory. It tracks really well, actually--much better than the afore mentioned noise powerhouses. Give it a nice clean signal and it hardly glitches at all. If you play a sample or something a bit hairy through it, it makes a big muddy mess of it. My biggest complaint aside from the cheapo Dano construction is that it really kill your volume and cutting power as you turn down the unafected signal. It also doesn't make some of the exploding Atari sounds that the other octavers do even w/ distortion.
  • Good Points: cheap, tracks well
  • Bad Points: flimsy contruction. I have not met a Danelectro pedal I didn't break.
  • Price Paid: US$35.00
  • Purchased At:
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  • Submitted by Adrian from Raleigh, NC (274 points) on Jul 15, 2004
  • Good deal for the price. Octave and two octaves down, tracking seems pretty good on simple tones, and interestingly horrible on complex signals. I tend to use it before a fuzz/distortion of some sort. Used in combo with the dano french toast is quite fun. When used to process complex tones or in a feedback loop, the effect is somewhat similar to a dod meatbox (though not quite as speaker blowing and bowel churning as the meatbox). Killing the dry signal will definately muddy things up in a hurry. I've got one, and plan to get another.
  • Good Points: actually tracks pretty well. generates lots of lowend. cheap. Complex signals freak it out in an interesting fashion.
  • Bad Points: tiny knobs, plastic case
  • Price Paid: US$22.00
  • Purchased At: ebay
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  • Submitted by nkondi from Portland, OR (610 points) on May 27, 2003
  • probably one of the best octavers around. unfortunately it had to come as a mini. want to cut out the original signal, and make something nice and muddy, this will do that. it has great control and doesnt suck any volume. i had a dod octoplus, and hands down this has to beat in sound.
  • Good Points: its relatively cheap. small so it doesnt take a whole lot of space on the table...
  • Bad Points: but being soo small is also a bad thing. the knobs arent meant for fat fingered guys to tweak, and its got a very cheap construction (though none of these have broke on me yet...knock on wood...it still makes me nervous)
  • Price Paid: US$20.00
  • Purchased At: old town music
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  • Submitted by Jagannatha from United Kingdom (10 points) on Aug 6, 2001
  • This beast sounds immense. It contains two knobs to twist - one for 1 octave down, one for two octaves down. A third knob controls your overall mix. It sounds like how I imagine a chili dog would taste like: thick, greasy, meaty. I enjoy using it as it provides some great sounds and responds wonderfully.
  • Good Points: Its tracking - absolutely awesome! Whereas other octavers run with a slight but VERY PERCEPTIBLE delay, this one doesn't! I think its tracking makes it worth at least trying out! It sounds very musical - it doesn't work as an intelligent harmoniser or anything, but damned easy to produce some deep sounds that complement your music perfectly.
  • Bad Points: Urrr...do you WANT musical sounds? If you want horrendous harsh noise in your octaver then this won't provide it for you. Or will it..? Depending on where you put it in your chain, this little pedal can creat some horrible humming which drowns out whatever input you want to inject into it. Grrr...
  • Price Paid: US$0.00
  • Purchased At: Some shop in my home town
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