The Danelectro Breakdown is a boost/overdrive pedal, the second of two pedals Danelectro announced in March 2019 as the launch of a new line of vintage pedals, alongside its sibling the Eisenhower Fuzz123. Danelectro describes it as a resurrection of an "awesome, incredibly organic sounding pedal," and markets it with the tagline "6 Ways of Awesome!"1. Rather than the usual gain and tone controls, the Breakdown works by attenuating the signal going into your amp, so the character of the drive depends heavily on how hard the pedal hits the amp's input stage4.
What the Breakdown does
The Breakdown sits in the boost/overdrive vein3. Pedal of the Day summed up its territory as "Tone-shaping, signal boosting, classic rock and crunchy guitars are the name of the game"5. The six-position selector is the heart of the design: according to Premier Guitar's announcement, it attenuates the input to the pedal, with positions 1 through 3 offering "leave on all the time" tones and positions 4 through 6 hitting the amp input increasingly hard for breakup in the amp's input stage4. Pedal of the Day described the higher end of the switch the same way: "Modes 4-6 offer higher gain exploration, letting you really drive your amps"5.
The only knob is a single Volume, which sets the output level53. That makes the Breakdown a simpler control layout than most overdrives, and it puts the amp at the center of the tone: the pedal shapes what reaches the amp rather than clipping entirely on its own.
Where it came from
Pedal of the Day identifies the Breakdown as based on the rare Univox UD50 Uni-Drive, and notes that it uses three 2N3904 silicon transistors5. The reviewer's verdict on the recreation was positive:
Pedal of the Day reviewed the Breakdown on 8 June 2020 and credited Danelectro with re-creating the vintage circuit and its hard-to-find tones5.
Controls at a glance
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Sets the output level5 |
| Six-position selector | Attenuates the input to the pedal; positions 1 to 3 give leave-on-all-the-time tones, positions 4 to 6 drive the amp input increasingly hard4 |
Build and bypass
Both pedals in the launch pair feature true bypass switching with silent switching, in a die cast case4. MusicRadar and gearnews.com both described the switching as silent true bypass36.
The Breakdown was announced in March 2019 as one of the first two pedals in Danelectro's vintage pedals line6. It shares its launch story with the Danelectro Eisenhower Fuzz, its sibling in that range5.
How it compares
Within Danelectro's own overdrive range, the Breakdown is the vintage-recreation entry, built on the Univox UD50 Uni-Drive circuit5. Other Danelectro overdrives take different routes: the Danelectro Cash Cow came from the Billionaire series, the Danelectro Daddy O DO-1 Overdrive dates from the late-1990s lineup, and the Danelectro Wasabi Overdrive belongs to the Wasabi series. If you are weighing boost-style pedals against fuller-featured drives, the type page for Overdrive Pedals sets out the difference.
Videos
Premier Guitar
Danelectro Official
Brett Kingman
Sources (6)
- The Breakdown™ & Eisenhower Fuzz™, Danelectro
- Danelectro The Eisenhower Fuzz™, Pedal of the Day (www.pedal-of-the-day.com), 2020-05-12
- Danelectro Eisenhower Fuzz, Breakdown Overdrive: Aged look, vintage sounds, gearnews.com, 2019-03-22
- Danelectro Unveils Eisenhower Fuzz & Breakdown Pedals, Premier Guitar, 2019-03-20
- Danelectro The Breakdown™ Boost Overdrive, Pedal of the Day, 2020-06-09
- Danelectro unveils new 'vintage pedals', The Eisenhower Fuzz and The Breakdown overdrive, MusicRadar, 2019-03-21
