What is the Danelectro Fab Distortion Based On? JHS Pedal Show Mystery Solved! And Pedal Rehousing.

In this video I discover just which Japanese made stompbox from the 1970's Danelectro copied when they designed the D-1 Fab Distortion pedal. Then I disassemble and rehouse my Dano pedal in an unusual enclosure.
Here's the JHS Pedals Show episode: • Danelectro's Greatest ...

[@DougieD_Funk]

Never heard of it, can’t find ANYTHING about it, just thought it was interesting just Incase lol www.inet-shibata.or.jp/~gori/info/infdata/122.jpg

[@RobMods]

Wow. Super cool. Thanks mate. Do you reckon that's an original? Never heard of Gorixon.

[@DougieD_Funk]

@@RobMods oh you’re very welcome man. And honestly, I’m STILL trying to figure that out lol I don’t have a damn clue I can’t find ANYTHING relating to ‘Gorixon’ but for some reason I do remember being told they were obscure even back then in the mid-late 70’s and were really short-lived but I’d love to know definitively so I’ll absolutely keep ya posted if I find anything else!

[@RobMods]

@@DougieD_Funk Well I've been looking through, and translating the page this image is from, and I think this might be a home built clone of the Maxon. I believe the writer is "Gorin", who posted one of the the schematics I found. The page is interesting though. It goes through some mods, and shows a corrected version of the schematic. Plus, for a home made pedal, it is a very nice neat build. He knows his stuff.

[@DougieD_Funk]

@@RobMods oh dude that’s amazing holy shit you’re a badass! Yea good I’m glad you did because I wouldn’t have a damn clue how to do that lol SUPER interesting though and I’m probably just thinking of something else and connecting it to this for some reason which makes much more sense now because I couldn’t even find a SINGLE other picture besides this one so thank you lol super cool tho! Any idea how old the picture/pedal is based on the somewhat minimal info you found? Just curious if we’re talkin somewhat recent or over a decade etc

[@RobMods]

@@DougieD_Funk From reading through Gorin's site, I'm guessing he built this in the mid 00's. It's a good site, there's lots of projects there. He talks about spice sims etc, so he has some EE education I'm guessing. The Maxon Vintage Series was 5-6 pedals, all in this large-ish housing, I believe from the late 90's. I'm starting to think none of them were clones or copies of old circuits, but new, tweaked, contemporary designs. FWIW, the OD820 has a few features that look to be lifted from the Klon....

[@bongusdongus2137]

My favorite thing about the Dano is the absolutely bonkers tone knob, it does VERY little through most of its range, and then right up top it clicks into this absolutely brutal chainsaw sound.

[@Doodlebug1996]

Was my first Distortion pedal. I still love it

[@RobMods]

Yes, even stick, this is a great sounding circuit. It is like both peanut butters in one... crunchy AND smooth!

[@willflint5014]

Someone get Josh on the phone! Pedal mystery solved!

[@lichen8855]

Just picked this up yesterday from a thrift shop for just under $15! What a great, natural sounding distortion! Especially with the gain set a bit lower. I prefer it set to just where the circuit seems to jump to life at around 8 - 9 oclock. Will consider adding an internal trimpot to adjust the bass frequencies. Its a nice addition to my collection as I don't have anything else really like it. It does what I like about the Rat distortion with its sort of messy breakup but smoother and with more dynamics. Surprising that this one isn't talked about more!

[@RobMods]

Yes for sure. It's my go-to when I want that really smooth distortion sound.

[@zigzag8949]

Ive got 2. 1 for Rhythm. 1 for a lead gain boost. I use them when i travel. They sound great through any amp.

[@electron7373]

Some brilliant circuit sleuthing there Sherlock! You'll be on the JHS hit list now ;)

[@RobMods]

Well, this pedal was a really old one and was actually pretty easy to trace. Kind of a first gen smt design. Many of the parts were still through-hole, and the board was single sided. If the chorus pedal I rehoused in a more recent video is anything to go by, then it would have been much harder to reverse engineer with the later models.

[@hmtp177]

The neatness and organization you have is amazing.

[@RobMods]

Thanks, but believe me, it wasn't always so.... ;)

[@hmtp177]

@@RobMods I aspire to be like you. I live in Japan and have access to dirt cheap junk pedals. I mess around with amps too. But my work space is quite messy. It would be nice if you could consider giving tips on organization and working efficiently. Anyhow love your videos and became a subscriber instantly.

[@stevendavidson391]

The modded Dano sounds awesome

[@matthewridgeway9250]

The lolly tin sounds really good!

[@patrickmcgee8556]

i bought one as a impulse purchase (like a soda or candy bar) for 12$....and i feel i got a good deal.....i actually use it alot

[@RobMods]

Yeah it's a good circuit. The chorus i rehoused is also really nice. And I noticed they had redesigned the stomp switch and buffering in that one...

[@stuartchapman5171]

​@Rob Mods. I have both the chorus and distortion. I always assumed it was a ds 1. Mine us a bit noisy. It's probably the plastic case and bad pups. I've always wanted to rehouse them, to get better access to the knobs.

[@joseislanio8910]

​@@RobModsthe chorus has a particularity. The bypass also acts as a mix for the pedal, meaning that if you swap the bypass board with the one from say, the distortion, you get a vibe pedal

[@BadChizzle]

I like your end product a lot.

[@luissaints7082]

hi here Brazil , very thanks !

[@navypti]

Thanks Rob. Enjoyed the vid. Have subscribed to your channel. All the best from the Mid North Coast NSW.

[@RobMods]

Thanks Jeff. I appreciate the kind words mate.

[@jakedibiase7404]

Enjoyed the video. Bought one after watching and it’s quite a good pedal. I believe they also made a version of the Distortion Master with all four controls as the red Cool Cat distortion. Been years since I owned one, but I recall that it was good.

[@RobMods]

Thanks mate. Yep, after making this video, I found this out too. You are right. The cool Cat gas the extra pot. IIRC, the treble and bass are a stacked pot control. Great sounding distortion. Soft and hard clipping at the same time!

[@dsam6990]

Thanks I was wondering about that pedal, It sounds so good! I paid 18 euros brand new in 2007, I love how you can use it as an overdrive by dialing down the pedal distortion level and guitar volume, for me set like this, it sounds so much better than a tube screamer. I'm presently running it through a UA Dream 65, pure joy

[@RobMods]

Yeah it's a great sounding circuit. The Fab Distortion is great value, but the actual Maxon DS-830 is a really well made pedal, and they aren't crazy expensive on the secondhand market. Having said that, they are in a fairly big housing and take up a fair chunk of board space.

[@seanedwards773]

These rehousing vids are great! Love this channel!

[@RobMods]

Thanks Sean. I'm glad ya like my stuff!

[@ck2music712]

Uhhh... This ISN'T a rehousing video, is it?

[@seanedwards9787]

Well, he rehoused the danelectro into a little tin housing... Sooo...

[@nousername.4831]

Love the channel and thanks for posting! 👍🏼.

[@RobMods]

Cheers mate!

[@victorortiz193]

Lm833 is also the heart of many boutique pedals and really good sounding pedals like the crunch box of MI audio... Thanks for the schematic!

[@RobMods]

Back in the 90's, you'd often see the 833 in hifi stuff as well.

[@waynegram8907]

ROB MODS, Have you sweep the frequency response of the Boss Soft switching buffer circuit compared to the Maxon Buffer circuit and Tube Screamer Buffer Circuit? I would like to see the curve plots. Why did they use Q3 2SC1623 external passing transistor to boost the current of the power supply? IT would be nice if you made video lessons going over the circuit analysis of the pedal designs

[@RichInternationalAir]

Excellent vid, liked and subscribed! 🎸

[@RobMods]

Thanks mate. This was a fun project. I'm just planning a few more builds for the other lolly tins...

[@seanmcguire6998]

Schematic is very similar to the Honeytone amp, TL072 op-amp instead. I compared the amp guts to my Marshall Blues Breaker pedal with the TL072 - similar again, but a lot more SMD parts. The two together -MBB>Honeytone a lot like Prince of Tone.

[@senacht]

The Maxon sounds noticeably smoother. Is a better quality board design and components contributing factors?

[@RobMods]

Possibly the different op amp, but most likely the different buffering/bypass circuit I'd think. Also, I wasn't using a true bypass A/B testing box, I was just running one into the other, so perhaps that was part of it. Maybe I'll build one if I do anymore true comparison type videos. I noticed JHS using one in his videos...

[@ck2music712]

Josh Scott specifically brought up the Maxon DS, but there was a reason that he said THAT wasn't it... And I actually heard earlier tonight that it's a DS-1 Clone... I've got research to do, lol... I'll be back, lol...

[@RobMods]

I know he mentions Maxon, but I don't recall for sure. In the comments of that JHS video, I originally wrote that I thought it may be an old Maxon pedal called a "Dirt Box". But when I worked it out, I went back and edited it. It's not actually a clone of the Maxon DS830 pedal. I call it a "copy". Its buffering and bypass are different, but the effect circuit itself is near identical. The Dano has a different dual opamp, and it also of course doesn't have a bass pot, but the filter is there in the circuit, it's just set with two fixed resistors, so not adjustable. After making this video, I found out the Cool Cat Distortion, (which came out after the Fab Distortion) has a stacked treble and bass pot. I could be wrong because I've never owned one, but it may just be the same circuit, but with a bass pot instead of those two fixed resistors (which I removed in this project). Cheers!

[@wolffproductions1810]

Hey Rob, I need the schematic for your tone cap rotary switch. Please and thank you. Cheers

[@SonOfNiall]

I thought it was a sarcastically coy lie by omission about it being a Boss DS-1?

[@keithhampton9700]

Nice little spray booth. I just open a window 😂 Where did you get it?

[@RobMods]

It is a "small spray shelter" (google search terms). I bought it as a promo item at Bunnings many years ago, but I think you can find them on amazon, ebay etc etc. They have a flap in the rear for a fan, and these days I use my "portable airbrush spray booth" (more search terms, lol...) Cheers!

[@keithhampton9700]

@@RobMods Thanks Rob!

[@theWARMJET]

the Dano seems to sound a bit less arsh imo

[@RobMods]

I really like the modded version. I think those germanium diodes are a nice mod.

[@keithhampton9700]

Just stumbled on your channel. Great Job! I'm wondering why nobody is reissuing multi track cassette recorders? I think Behringer could really make a mint bringing them back. Or anybody else. It's crazy how much the older ones are going for.

[@forzaguy1252]

Unfortunately, they would have to develop the tape mech themselves, as nobody makes a good one anymore, might have to make their own heads too. All of which im sure behringer could do, but i dont think they would considering how much it would coat to develop

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

The key question…..do you have the box?

[@RobMods]

No, but when I do, you'll be the first to know!

[@CarlosCruz-ox9wc]

Im looking to rehouse a Danelectro Fab Metal pedal with the same 3pdt switch. I'm also just getting rid of the buffer board. So where the buffer board attaches to the effects board (the 5 wires) where do I connect for the input and output on the effects board from the switch?

[@felixjordanguitar]

great video, tx

[@hmtp177]

Prices going through the roof in 3.. 2.. 1..

[@RobMods]

Ha ha... Not so sure how much of an influencer I am mate... I think the Maxon pedal deserves good prices though. It really is a nicely made product.

[@hadleymanmusic]

Does it sound different in a different case

[@patrickmcgee8556]

i thought it based on the boss ds-1......i think alot of the cheapness comes from the plastic case ...yeah you dont wanna be stomping on it (i said this b4 i watched the video) and i was only going by sound

[@RobMods]

Agreed, but there are plenty of players gigging with them and they are OK. Just tread lightly I guess! Also, when I rehoused the Danelectro chorus pedal more recently, I noticed they have improved the stomp switch mechanism a little.

[@augustusbetucius2931]

Josh might have been joking, but the reality is, he isn't the authority he thinks he is. A guy who made his start by stealing circuits from Runoff Groove, claiming they were his and never giving any attribution to the people at ROG, isn't someone I pay any attention to. Thanks for the cool video. I always liked all those inexpensive Dano pedals. Great that you were able to discover the truth that Josh claimed was unobtainable.

[@RobMods]

Well yeah I guess. Most pedal guys started by copying existing pedals. And the forums back in the late 90s/early 00s were where I really got into this stuff too. The circuits of Craig Anderson's books have been widely copied as well. Personally I find part for part clones pretty boring because I love the design process.

[@SRone45]

The Purple Fuzz is very strange but nice. Almost kinda Muff but not.

[@theWARMJET]

its kind of an original Indeed, even John talked about it