FROM THE
BUILDER’S MIND
DANELECTRO
BILLIONARE PRIDE OF TEXAS
Rewind to 1998: Danelectro launched its
first pedals the previous year. We had a
design for what we thought was a pretty
good analog delay, but we needed some
players to check it out. We called up
Matt Bruck who was a writer for Guitar
World. Matt gave us an address in the hills
above LA and asked us to bring our only
prototype for a listen. The prototype was
just a PCB with in and out jacks mounted
on the ends—it had no enclosure yet.
After winding along mountain roads for 20
minutes we pulled up to a huge mansion.
Matt buzzed us in at the gate and told to
pull up to the guesthouse in back. There,
Matt listened to—and loved—the analog
delay. All of the sudden, Eddie Van Halen
burst into the room, wearing his pajamas
and a “joker” hat. This was Eddie’s house!
And we were in 5150—his studio! Eddie
LOVED the analog delay. His first words
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FR O M TH E B U I LD ER ’ S M I N D
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dan electro b i llio nare pri d e o f texas