Danelectro Nichols 1966 Fuzz Pedal | Review

Danelectro Nichols 1966 Fuzz Pedal | Review

MSRP: (UK) £199 / (US) $199

Unleash vintage tones with the Danelectro Nichols 1966 Fuzz Pedal, a nod to the classic fuzz of the '60s. Its germanium diode design delivers rich, warm fuzz perfect for capturing that iconic rock sound. True bypass switching keeps your signal clean, and its durable, retro-styled build ensures it looks as good as it sounds. Whether you're after the gritty tones of yesteryear or adding nostalgic flair to modern setups, this pedal is your key to timeless sonic adventures. Nick Jennison reviews.

Drive or fuzz? It's a question that's up there with "Strat or Les Paul?", "vanilla or chocolate?", and "Prince or Michael Jackson?". For folks in the know, it's a question that can create deep tribal divides. Of course, the right answer is "why 'Or' when you can 'And'?". It's not politics or football, and you don't need to choose a side.

The Danelectro Nichols 1966 is a pedal that's both a drive and a fuzz, but also neither, in that it has a tone and feel all of its own. Named after the Nichols Canyon that Foxx Pedals founder and current Danelectro owner Steve Ridinger called home in the '60s, it's a take on his first pedal, which he named the "Liverpool Fuzz Tone" - a completely unique circuit that's part fuzz, part drive, and not based on any of the classic designs that so many dirt boxes are derived from.

Despite its simple control layout, it's a pedal that's capable of a huge range of tones - and feels. The "fuzz" and "drive" controls are highly interactive, with the drive adding a smooth, fat overdrive with a compressed and very playable feel, while the fuzz is hairy, spitty, and deeply characterful. Set the drive low and the fuzz high and you get a fatter and more friendly fuzz face. More drive and less fuzz and you have super fat lead sustain with just a hint of muff-y splat on the front of the note. Turn them both up, and it's doomy, blown-out filth that's so much fun that it feels illegal.

The "stock/mid cut" switch and single Tone control offer a good range of tone shaping, but they really influence the way the pedal feels. Turning the tone control up is less like turning up your amp's treble knob and more like turning on a Rangemaster. The feel becomes wiry and articulate, but the tone stays super thick and warm. Similarly, dumping the tone down low makes everything feel sludgy and bloated in the best possible way. I expected the "mid cut" switch to function like a "Big Muff switch", but instead of sucking out all of the 500 Hz and sinking the tone to the back of the mix, it just makes the pedal feel tighter and snappier, in a way that I'm actually very likely to use.

Surprisingly for a pedal without the ability to drastically alter the high and low frequencies, the Nichols 1966 seems to be practically impervious to different amps. We tried it with a warm and fat California clean, a bright AC30 (on the top boost channel, no less), and a broken-up, mid-pushed Marshall - three VERY different amps, one of which is bound to upset pretty much any overdrive or fuzz pedal, but the Nichols 1966 sounded great through all of them! If you've spent any time testing pedals through different amps, you'll know what a feat this is - especially for a high-gain pedal.

The Danelectro Nichols 1966 is a pedal with a distinct vibe all of its own. It treads the boundary between fuzz and overdrive but lets you fall off the fence on either side whenever you like. It works with every amp we threw at it, cleans up beautifully, and I'm a big fan of the way it looks too.

For more information, please visit:

jhs.co.uk/collections/danelectro