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Danelectro D3 Fab Metal

Posted on 9/09/2013 by mirosol

D3-FabMetal

What is it?
Danelectro D-3 Fab Metal. Fab series, made of plastic and probably the cheapest thing you’ll ever see.

For some reason i seem to gather metal distortions even i’m not a big fan of metal music or the guitar sounds commonly affiliated with it. I do think it’s fun to play with metal distortions at home though. So while i’m gathering more of the missing Danelectro boxes that i want, these tend to arrive in the meantime. Where mini-series boxes vary in build quality, these are very consistent. Consistently bad. As new units currently sell for 15-20€, it is no wonder the build costs have been cut in every single step of the way. Not to say that these wouldn’t work. They will, probably until the end of time. But the board is shielded with a piece of paper that has a layer of tin foil on the other side. Magnet for radio frequencies and manifestation of bad business orientated thinking.

D3-FabMetal-guts1

There’s flux residue all ovet the board and soldering looks astonishingly bad. I always have hard time looking at component selection that’s mixing SMD and thru-hole components. Plus the board design looks like a winner of “who can whip up a quickest PCB design” contest. Auto-router is another possibility here. Not eye pleasing at all.

D3-FabMetal-guts2

I can say with certainty that Fab series isn’t designed for active guitarists, but those who are starting to learn guitar – a perfect way to kill the starting enthusiasm for tone hunting is with these pedals. It could be argued if Danelectro should have released these at all. In my opinion, they shoudn’t. These hurt the brand and spread misconception that all Danelectro boxes are made with same (lack of) integrity.

D3-FabMetal-guts3

The design itself is your standard distortion with gyrators and multiple gain stages. Mr. Jones has drawn a schematin in 2006. This doesn’t have component values listed, but i suspect this may not be prime suspect for cloning or modding…

Like stated, the build quality alone make these very much undesirable boxes with no value at all. May the designs inside be how bad or good ever, you’ll be a lot better off with modern chinese cheap brands than these. These may be slightly cheaper, but still. Wouldn’t recommend this series to anyone. This may be the point where i draw the line. I have nothing against Mini series or plastic Soundtanks. These have been created to make money. If the retail prices are as low as 17-22€, you can imagine how much time, effort and quality gets in to the final product.

Danelectro. Please stop killing yourself.

How does it sound?
Awful. Didn’t have very high hopes for the unit, but as a metal distortion, it sucks. However. Once the gain is maxed, this turns into digital sounding fuzz rather than metal distortion. Which isn’t good, but it may have some use in certain situations. As a guitar effect? Avoid this like a plague. As a power electronics noise tool? Maybe.

And no. I won’t be finishing my Fab collection. Ever.

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here used to be a short description of me. however, it wasn't exactly accurate anymore. so i'm replacing it with this placeholder for now. and yes. it's been a long time since my last post. but let me assure you. i'm very much still alive.

Found an error? One of my assumptions is dead wrong? Something else is just not right? Let me know! Leave a comment to a post, or drop a line to mirosol at kapsi dot fi.

I do mods, repairs and custom builds too. For inquiries, use the email address above.

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