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(More customer reviews)OK.....I am an adult. But I have serious "Gadget Fetish." Few things make me smile like little electronic trinkets and senseless battery powered "stuff." Being a lifelong musician, this only adds to the addiction. I own several battery powered mini amps and couldn't resist the temptation to buy the new Danelectro Hodad!
The box came today and I quickly unleashed it from the package. The box is attractive and whimsical, using a lot of "retro" fonts to highlight the features, such as *Powerful Mini Amp for Practice or Back Stage Tune Up*....*Twin Speakers*...*Cool Echo Effect*...Vintage Tremolo with Adjustable Speed*...*Cool 60's Styling.
The Hodad is really small....really small! Probably 4 inches tall by maybe 4 1/2 inches wide. It is a bit smaller than the popular Danelectro Honeytone battery amp, which I also have.
The little unit shipped with a battery and small, comical instruction booklet. I inserted the battery and grabbed my Strat and held my breath as I turned the power on......Then, I kinda laughed!
The ridiculously small twin speakers, which appear to be 2 inch little drivers, produce the volume of a pair of headphones. In fact, I think the drivers in my Sony headphones are about the same size....but then again....they are Headphones!
Trying the effects, I was pleased that they do work. The tremolo is accurate and it's speed can be adjusted by turning a pot screw on the back. The depth of the tremolo is a bit too much, but cool.
The echo is a very primitive bridge bucket brigade circuit that produces a pronounced "boing" kind of echo. It's really just a short delay, but effective for this device. Works well for retro country, twang, and rockabilly. Genuine digital reverb circuits are costly and difficult to engineer, so I have to give Danelectro credit for even trying.
The Hodad features a headphone out jack which I tested and was pleased with the sound well beyond the tiny twin speakers.
So, the bottom line is this is a TOY amp and not much more.....or is it?
I'll let you in on the secret.....This amp ROCKS....IF....you do the following mod:
1. Take the battery out and leave the battery cover off.
2. Remove the four Phillips head screws in the back.
3. Carefully pull the back off and feed the battery snap through the hole it sticks out of so you can completely remove the whole back.
4. Locate the Red and Black wires that come off the circuit board and go to the first speaker.
5. Cut these two wires about half the length and strip off some insulation on each wire from the circuit board side.
6. Fire up you soldering iron and solder the red wire to the "tip" lug on a 1/8" (tip/sleeve) jack. (You could try a 1/4" jack, but it's tight)
7. Solder the black wire to the "sleeve" lug on the jack.
8. Drill a small hole on the side of the cabinet to accommodate the jack.
9. Feed the jack in the hole and secure with it's ring washer.
10. Whew! That was hard! Take a break. Now the moment of truth!
11. Use a 1/8" to (?) whatever your "real" speaker cabinet jack will accept.
12. Plug your guitar into the Hodad with it's volume at 3 o'clock, gain at 12 o'clock and tone at 3 o'clock.
13. Strike your favorite chord.
14. PICK YOUR CHIN OFF THE FLOOR!
This is the hidden potential of the Hodad (and the Honeytone as well)!!!
These amps produce somewhere in the 1.5 to 2 watt rms range. That is more than enough to rattle your bedroom window with the right speaker! I run mine through my Epiphone Valve Junior cabinet, which has an 8" Weber speaker and it sounds fantastic. Far louder than you would think!
And, surprisingly, the amp has TONE! The big advantage is the ability to jam in locations where power is not available. I play along with some acoustic musicians with this rig on a friends porch. The first time I brought this rig they couldn't believe it.
Get out your debit card...buy the Hodad....break out your soldering iron..and plug this kit into some real guitar speakers. It is swell!
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A Powerful Mini Amp for practice or backstage tune up. A cool 60's styling with twin speakers and built in effects!
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