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Thorpy FX The Dane Review – Could The Dane be over hyped?
Introduction
Last year, we reviewed the Thorpy FX “Heavy Water” (Review here). That pedal was the boost side of Thorpy FX The Dane. Since then, Thorpy FX has released the MK II version of The Dane. Well, we got one, we have been playing one, and now I think it is time for the Gigs & Guitars review of Thorpy FX The Dane! After 5+ years with the pedal, we decided that it was time for us to check it out!
It’s worth noting that I did pay for this pedal; however, Thorpy did give me a discount but have no influence on my thoughts and the review. All thoughts are my own! Before we get onto the sounds and our thoughts, we better go over the pedal! Explain what The Dane is and how it came about! Let us dive into history and learn about this Danish masterpiece!
Thorpy “The Dane” Pedal
The Dane is an overdrive pedal that was a partnership between Thorpy FX and Peter Hornre. They released the pedal around 5 years ago but have recently released a MK II with a few new features and an updated case design. The Dane is a two-sided Overdrive pedal with one side being a light to medium overdrive while the right-hand side has a high headroom switchable boost. The pedal allows for either side to be on or off at individual times. The pedal is designed so the boost runs into the Drive section aiming for more saturation rather than a volume increase.
For the MKII, Thorpy FX have redesigned the case ever so slightly! They have fitted it inside one of their smaller enclosures! This means it will have a smaller footprint on your board. The pedal has also been given an anodized aluminum enclosure! Something new to the Thorpy Line-up. Shall we go over the controls?
Thorpy FX The Dane has 5 main controls, a switch, and 2 footswitches. To make it easier to picture the two halves of the pedal, We will break it down to Drive side and Boost Side.
More Controls on the Thorpy “The Dane”
Drive Controls
On the drive side, you have 3 knobs. The top one is the “Level” of the pedal, determining how loud the pedal outputs your signal. Below this, you have the “Gain” knob, which controls how much saturation and clipping happens. Finally, to the right of the gain knob is the tone control which adjusts the EQ of the pedal. At the bottom of the pedal on the left-hand side is a footswitch to enable the “Drive” side of The Dane.
Boost Controls
If we look at the boost, we have the same controls as we have on the “Heavy Water”. At the top, we have the “Boost” control, which determines how much boost there is or how loud the signal is. Below this, we have the “Lows” control. This allows you to boost the low frequencies and give the sound some low end. In the middle of the pedal is the hc/dp switch. This allows you to switch the boost side from the dp (Standard High Headroom “Danish Pete”) setting to hc (a heavy clipping option which adds a little saturation). At the bottom right of the pedal is the footswitch to switch the pedal on and off.
The pedal has two lovely Purple LEDs to let you know what is on and what is off. As with all the Thorpy pedals, the pedal is entirely top-loaded and runs off your standard 9v adapter. The pedal retails at £265 from either your favorite retailer or from Thorpy direct.
The Sounds
When recording the demo song, all guitars used Thorpy FX The Dane in some way, so any clean sounds you hear are with the pedal either on and gain low or the volume on the guitar rolled back. All tracks were recorded with LT Custom Guitar (Single Coil) guitar running into The Dane and running into the front of my Revv D20.
After the demo song, we run through some sounds you can get with The Dane using both Single Coils and Humbuckers! Again, Running into the pedal and then going into the front end of the amp.
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What are my thoughts?
I think we need to start on the Redesign! Thorpy has absolutely smashed the redesign! The old one didn’t look horrible! Still looked amazing, sleek, and nice, but the new one just looks compact, elegant, and sleeker! The new anodized finish is just perfect, and the smaller size makes the pedal more “board-friendly” while keeping an ease of use on the dual switches. The packaging is lovely, a nice box with a few stickers and bits and bobs! My only critique is it comes in a plastic wrapper again! Would love to see something that can be recycled!
For sounds, let us talk about the overdrive section first! I can see what all the hype is about! It is a wonderful gain section, perfect for single coils; my strat just sings through it! Using the volume and gain, you can find a sweet spot for any guitar. Then, trial in the tone of the sounds using the tone control (more on the tone control shortly). The overdrive section works amazingly with your guitar’s volume; rolling off just brings the saturation down for a silky crunch or even a nice clean! This kind of gives you two drive settings in one! Then you can combine this with the (as we already know) amazing Boost side!
More Thoughts!
Now, let’s move onto the Boost side! As with our review of the heavy water (read here), the boost is crazy! Crazy loud! So much headroom and volume! Using the boost with the overdrive side engaged you forget how much it is boosting, turn off the overdrive and brace yourself! It can hit your amp hard and boost volumes significantly. What I love is how they have the boost first, meaning you can use the boost to hit the overdrive and saturate your signal more, getting two gain stages from one pedal! If you checked out our heavy water review, you will know we are huge fans of the “low” control, using this control to boost your low end is fantastic on single coils and “thin” sounding guitars! It is just as good in this pedal, thickening up your sound, adding a nice low end but not making it muddy or boomy.
Thorpy “The Dane” Continued
The switch option is great to get something extra gritty. If you’re after something with a little more bite, then switching to the grittier option is a great option. It doesn’t have too much grit. However, if you’re after just a nice clean boost for your pedal board then leaving it on the DP side is absolutely perfect for this.
Overall, a very usable gain pedal giving you two gain stages (possibly 3 with the use of the boost on its own).
If buying from Thorpy direct, you may have a bit of a wait because if they don’t have the pedal in stock you will have to wait for one to be built. This can take a few days/weeks. I must say, the same as we said with the Heavy Water, I do think the pedal is expensive! I understand it more than the heavy water but full price I do think it’s a bit pricey.
Conclusion
Firstly, I want to thank Thorpy FX for sorting me out with a Pedal. They didn’t give me it free, I did pay for it, but they did give me a discount! However, all views and opinions are mine! I really enjoyed playing this pedal, and The Dane will definitely be a pedal that will be on my board a lot! I love the dual gain stages in the smaller form factor!
If you like this review you can also check out our other Thorpy FX review, we reviewed their “Heavy Water” pedal. Which is just the boost side of this pedal. If you want to check out that pedal you can read it here. It is a fantastic pedal and perfect if you are just after the boost effect!
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