3699 fUZZ

102
GUITARIST SEPTEMBER 2020
Danelectro pedals
The vintage-loving brand resurrects more rarities but keeps it in the family
MANUFACTURER
DANELECTRO
MODEL
3699 FUZZ & BACK TALK
CONTACT
JHS 01132 865381 WWW.DANELECTRO.COM
PRICE
£189 EACH
PEDALBOARD
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
T
he aim of Danelectro’s ‘vintage’ pedal range, complete
with its distressed housings, is to revive the sounds of
certain ‘lost’ pedals. So far, with The Breakdown and
The Eisenhower Fuzz, the new additions haven’t named specific
pedals, instead dropping broad hints as to which long-lost classics
are being emulated, which leaves the sleuthing to us. That policy
seems to have changed with the latest in the series as both are
revealed to be members of the extended Dano family.
Danelectro owner Steve Ridinger created the FOXX pedal line
in the 70s, and the first of these newbies resurrects what is that
company’s best-known pedal, the Tone Machine octave fuzz. It’s
now named the 3699 fUZZ, 3699 being the numbers that represent
the letters FOXX on a vintage telephone dial. The second is a
straight ahead reissue of a Danelectro original from around 20 years
ago: the Back Talk reverse delay. Solidly built, both are powered by
battery (accessed via four baseplate screws) or a nine-volt adaptor.
ROUND-UP
3699 fUZZ £189Back Talk Reverse Delay £189
W
e last looked at an official reissue of a FOXX Tone
Machine in 2005 when the brand was revived in its
original battery-only flock-covered form. This one,
though, puts practicality to the fore in a pedalboard-friendly
enclosure with crucial modern accoutrements and an added
footswitch for the octave effect (previously on a toggle switch).
There’s also a toggle-switched mid-boost so you have the option of
filling out the original’s more hollowed-out tone with punchy heft.
Gain-selected NOS transistors have apparently been used to
best reproduce the original’s robustly versatile fuzz sound, which
can be finely focused here with a wide-ranging tone knob that
moves clockwise from thick and sludgy, adding more top-end
texture through to an aggressive rasp fest that really cuts through.
The octave here has been rejigged to be more prominent than the
original, which might not suit purists seeking the ghostly presence
of an upper harmonic, but it does open up a whole extra practical
(and footswitchable) range of tones.
U
sed versions of the strangely owl-shaped Back Talk from
the early Noughties can now sell for prices way in excess
of £200. Ripe for reissue, then, although this time it’s
less aerodynamically shaped. Designed for 1960s tape reverse
effects, it takes any note you play and repeats a backwards version
of it after a set delay time. A Repeats knob governs the number of
repeats from one to infinite, while the Speed knob sets the length
of that delay, with results from otherworldly reverb’d tremolo-
type effects through to longer backward echoes that can sound
mesmerising, especially when you can get your playing right in
sync with them.
Key to the effect is the Mix knob, which can go from dialling
in just enough haunting ambience to pique your audience’s
interest, through to removing the dry sound completely for a fully
psychedelic experience. Many multi-delay pedals will give you
reverse delay, but there’s something about this one’s chewy warm
sound and smooth playability that sets it apart.
VERDICT An updated revival of a classic pedal from the guy
who designed it in the first place
VERDICT Niche? Absolutely. But if you really like reverse delay
then having a dedicated pedal for it makes perfect sense
GIT463.peds_dan_roundup.indd 102 04/08/2020 10:31