Danelectro Nichols 1966 Fuzz Pedal | Evaluation

MSRP: (UK) £199 / (US) $199

Unleash classic tones with the Danelectro Nichols 1966 Fuzz Pedal, a nod to the traditional fuzz of the ’60s. Its germanium diode design delivers wealthy, heat fuzz excellent for capturing that iconic rock sound. True bypass switching retains your sign clear, and its sturdy, retro-styled construct ensures it seems to be pretty much as good because it sounds. Whether or not you are after the gritty tones of yesteryear or including nostalgic aptitude to trendy setups, this pedal is your key to timeless sonic adventures. Nick Jennison critiques.

Drive or fuzz? It is a query that is up there with “Strat or Les Paul?”, “vanilla or chocolate?”, and “Prince or Michael Jackson?”. For folk within the know, it is a query that may create deep tribal divides. After all, the fitting reply is “why ‘Or’ when you may ‘And’?”. It isn’t politics or soccer, and you do not want to decide on a facet.

The Danelectro Nichols 1966 is a pedal that is each a drive and a fuzz, but additionally neither, in that it has a tone and really feel all of its personal. Named after the Nichols Canyon that Foxx Pedals founder and present Danelectro proprietor Steve Ridinger known as residence within the ’60s, it is a tackle his first pedal, which he named the “Liverpool Fuzz Tone” – a unique circuit that is half fuzz, half drive, and never based mostly on any of the traditional designs that so many filth packing containers are derived from.

Regardless of its easy management structure, it is a pedal that is able to an enormous vary of tones – and feels. The “fuzz” and “drive” controls are extremely interactive, with the drive including a easy, fats overdrive with a compressed and really playable really feel, whereas the fuzz is furry, spitty, and deeply characterful. Set the drive low and the fuzz excessive and also you get a fatter and extra pleasant fuzz face. Extra drive and fewer fuzz and you’ve got tremendous fats lead maintain with only a trace of muff-y splat on the entrance of the observe. Flip them each up, and it is doomy, blown-out filth that is a lot enjoyable that it feels unlawful.

The “inventory/mid lower” swap and single Tone management supply a great vary of tone shaping, however they actually affect the best way the pedal feels. Turning the tone management up is much less like turning up your amp’s treble knob and extra like turning on a Rangemaster. The texture turns into wiry and articulate, however the tone stays tremendous thick and heat. Equally, dumping the tone down low makes every thing really feel sludgy and bloated in the very best manner. I anticipated the “mid lower” swap to perform like a “Massive Muff swap”, however as a substitute of sucking out all the 500 Hz and sinking the tone to the again of the combination, it simply makes the pedal really feel tighter and snappier, in a manner that I am truly very possible to make use of.

Surprisingly for a pedal with out the flexibility to drastically alter the excessive and low frequencies, the Nichols 1966 appears to be virtually impervious to totally different amps. We tried it with a heat and fats California clear, a vivid AC30 (on the highest increase channel, no much less), and a broken-up, mid-pushed Marshall – three VERY totally different amps, one among which is sure to upset just about any overdrive or fuzz pedal, however the Nichols 1966 sounded nice by way of all of them! When you’ve spent any time testing pedals by way of totally different amps, you will know what a feat that is – particularly for a high-gain pedal.

The Danelectro Nichols 1966 is a pedal with a definite vibe all of its personal. It treads the boundary between fuzz and overdrive however permits you to fall off the fence on both facet everytime you like. It really works with each amp we threw at it, cleans up fantastically, and I am a giant fan of the best way it seems to be too.

For extra data, please go to:

jhs.co.uk/collections/danelectro