Danelectro Cool Cat CO-2

The CTO-2 Transparent Overdrive lets more of your guitar's voice shine through, even at high gain settings. Very useful for everything from modern Country, to American and British Rock. If you can have only one pedal, the Transparent Overdrive is tough to beat.

CONTROLS:

GAIN: Sets the amount of overdrive applied to the signal. At minimum gain (fully counter-clockwise), the CTO-2 is essentially a clean boost. Depending on the setting of internal DIP switch #4 (internal gain boost), you will get either 6 or 12 dB of boost with the Gain set at minimum and the Output set at maximum. Turn Gain clockwise to increase overdrive. DIP switch #4 (Internal Gain Boost) will also affect the amount of overdrive.

TREBLE / BASS: Adjusts the frequency extremes of the overdrive sound. The two controls are stacked; the inner control is for Treble, the outer for Bass. These controls cut and boost , they are flat (no effect) at @ 12 o'clock. Tuning the Treble control counter- clockwise from 12:00 cuts the treble, advancing the Treble control beyond 12:00 boosts the Treble. The Bass control operates in the same fashion. Turning the Bass knob can be tricky, here's how to do it: turn both knobs at the same time until the Bass is where you want it, then adjust the Treble control. Don't be surprised if you leave these controls set nearly flat.

VOLUME: This control adjusts overall volume when the Transparent Overdrive is turned on. Usually, the Volume control is set to be a little louder than the bypassed signal, or loud enough to serve as a solo setting. There is lots of volume boost available, so you can get even low gain settings loud enough to cut through. Once again, DIP switch #4 will affect the overall volume of the pedal.

BYPASS: The true bypass footswitch engages and disengages the pedal. HINT: Don't forget to try setting your guitar's volume and tone controls lower than their maximum: the CTO-2 Transparent Overdrive won't 'collapse' on you like other pedals.

'UNDER THE HOOD' CONTROLS: (accessible in the battery compartment)

These 4 DIP switches allow further tone shaping. DIP switch #1 activates a set of Blue clamping LED's, DIP switch #2 activates a set of Red clamping LED's, DIP switch #3 activates a J-Fet, and DIP switch #4 is an Input Gain Switch that adds 6dB of gain at the front of the pedal.

To understand the clamping LED's and the J-Fet, all you need to know is that they restrict the headroom of the pedal by grabbing transients, giving a more compressed sound. The Blue LED?s are the most subtle, grabbing only the most extreme transients. The Red LED?s take effect much sooner and restrict headroom further. The J- Fet?s are the most restrictive of all. As headroom is restricted, overall output will drop; simply turn up the Volume control to compensate.

You can view the action of the Blue and Red LED's by looking inside the battery compartment as you play. Also, since the Red LED's are more restrictive than the Blue LED's, it won't matter if the Blue LED's are on or off once the Red LED's are on before the Blue LED's can do anything, the Red LED's have already clamped the signal. The same thing applies to the J-Fet. Once the J-Fet is on, the Red and Blue LED?s will have no effect.

Turning the Input Gain Switch 'on' adds 6 dB of gain at the front of the pedal. This will allow you to get as much as 12 dB of clean boost with the Gain control at minimum. It will also give higher amounts of overdrive to a given Gain setting.