Today I would like to talk about a pedal that really surprised me for its value for money: the Danelectro Corned Beef reverb!
Back in December 2008 I was looking for a reverb to use at the input of my amplifier, a Fender Roc-Pro 700 (https://www.accordo.it/article/viewPub/37). Not that the amp’s original reverb was bad, in fact, the classic Fender spring reverb never fails, but I wanted something different.
Searching on the internet and having a very limited budget (as usual ????), I found the Danelectro Corned Beef, paid new and shipped at the time 29 euros!
Ok, maybe today there are oriental footpegs with a more solid appearance, true-by-pass and excellent value for money, but in 2009 it wasn’t like that …
Impressions and characteristics
The pedal does not seem extremely solid, the casing is plastic, the activation button the same and the two adjustment knobs seem thin. In fact, the package contains a kind of “mask” for the knobs so that they do not break if you put your foot on them by mistake.
But guys… it’s gorgeous !!! The shape is truly avant-garde and the input and output jacks, together with the power supply, are at the top, allowing it to be inserted even in a “small size” pedal board.
The dimensions are really small, confirming what has just been written for the insertion even in small modern pedalboards.
The power supply is battery powered (inside there is a dedicated slot) or 9V with central negative, standard. Great!
Activation is via the middle button, which is not true-by-pass. Sin. However it is a limit, for me, negligible, given that being a reverb I always leave it on. I eventually bought it to add depth to the sound so it doesn’t make sense to turn it off.
Sound
Beautiful! This is the real surprise… Guys, 29 euros!
I swear to you, at first I really thought it was a package, given how much I spent, but it left me speechless once it arrived. And I’m not the only one who thinks like this:https://www.accordo.it/article/viewPub/19072. Indeed, if you want to know, in 2009 I bought it right after reading this article on accordo.it…
I obviously inserted it at the end of the signal chain, after all the other effects.
The two controls adjust the mix with the dry signal (“MIX” knob) and the amount of reverb (“HI-CUT” knob). If you put both to zero the pedal doesn’t add reverb (as it should be), but somehow improves the signal. Really, I don’t know why and maybe it’s just my impression (mine and the author of the article on chords.it), but it really seems to add something to the sound.
Probably the reverb is not exactly at zero even if the controls are at a minimum, and maybe the volume of the signal goes up by a non-zero, which, however, combined with a minimum of residual spatiality give the feeling of a better signal. On the other hand, it is known that listening to two identical signals but of different volume are conditioned to prefer the one with the higher volume.
The MIX mixes the clean signal with the reverberated one, as written on the pedal, while the other, HI-CUT, adds reverb. In reality this is not the case, because, more than a reverb, the effect produced is a kind of delay! Perfect I would dare to say, since in a room or room condition the reverb generally mixes the sound, while the delay leaves it more intelligible.
Personally I don’t like having too much delay or too much reverb, but the right minimum to give airiness and space to the sound without exaggerating. In this sense the fact that the Danelectro Corned Beef adds a kind of delay instead of reverb… well, that’s a plus !!! Leaving it always on, the fact that it is not true-by-pass is completely indifferent to me.
Don’t expect pure Strymon-style reverb though …
You can find it here: music market or reverb.com.
Conclusions
Nice, really, the price is worth the purchase. Too bad that now that the true value of the Danelectro Corned Beef has been understood, it is no longer new and shipped for 29 euros (the agreement reader had bought it for 28 euros!).
I like it, I find it excellent for the cost and for the use that I make of it, so I can not help but recommend it to everyone!
Published on musicanza.it on: 19/03/2020.
