The Cash Cow is a simple overdrive pedal from Danelectro's Billionaire lineup, built into a small, pedalboard-friendly enclosure1. Pedal of the Day describes it as "Aiming to reproduce the sound of a 100-watt amp stack, the Cash Cow is riddled with a wide array of tones and levels"2.
What it does
The Cash Cow keeps things to three knobs, and Pedal of the Day's review gives a clear picture of what each does2:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gain | "Rising from a slight bit of dirt to chunky, pulsing overdrive to almost distortion-like territory when cranked"2 |
| Volume | "Produces a TON of output, typical of what you'd expect from a 100-watt'er"2 |
| Treble and Bass | "Let you fine tune your EQ, getting dark and dirty if you want, bright and cutting if need be"2 |
In practice, that makes it a pedal that covers a wide gain range from a light touch of grit up to gain levels that press into distortion territory, with a two-band EQ to shape whether it sits dark or bright and cutting. If you want to place it among Danelectro's other drives, the Billionaire series also includes the Billionaire Pride Of Texas, and the company's wider overdrive history runs from the Daddy'O through the FAB overdrive to later pedals like the Breakdown Overdrive. For how overdrives like this sit against distortion and fuzz designs, see Overdrive Pedals, Distortion Pedals and Fuzz Pedals23.
What reviewers said
Pedal of the Day came away impressed on value, writing that "the Big Spender and now Cash Cow sound just awesome, rivaling effects that cost 3-4 times as much"2.
Videos
Rabea Massaad
R.J. Ronquillo
Mike Hermans
Sources (3)
- Danelectro Unveils New Cash Cow Overdrive Pedal, guitarworld.com, 2018-06-08
- Billionaire by Danelectro Cash Cow Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2018-08-31
- Review: Billionaire by Danelectro Big Spender Spinning Speaker Pedal | Guitar World, Guitar World, 2018-09-12
