Fender Downtown Express Bass Multi-Effects Pedal - Xmas gift - Any tips?

[PaulFarmer]

Hi Everyone,

I received this Fender pedal as a gift (see pic below).

This is my first effect pedal.
I have 2 bass guitars (an older P-Bass copy with |Passive pups and a Yamaha RBX374 with Active pups), plus a Hartke B Series Combo Bass Amplifier (B300 - 30 watt, 10'" speaker) that has separate jack inputs for passive or active.

Does anyone own (or has previously owned) this effects pedal?
If so, what do you think of the pedal?
Any comments/tips about set up/using it to help me get the most benefit from the pedal?

Thanks in advance.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cheers,
Paul

Item #: 1500000264032 POS #:115224081

 

[bassbrad]

Pretty sweet gift, those are five essential tools every bass player needs in one sturdy package and since Fender does everything right it should serve well for a long time.
The geek in me suggests reading the instructions and youtube videos can be a source of info usually worth the time to watch a few.
Take your time exploring each effect on each bass, record your preferences on a sheet of paper for recall. Try all the different options.
Equalization might be used with your Pbass since Yamaha is active.
Mute can be used for tuning or switching basses.

 

[Ryan L.]

I own one, although it isn’t currently on my gigging board.

It’s a great pedal, with a very usable compressor, decent drive, and a simple but effective EQ.

As @bassbrad suggested, read through the manual, watch a few YouTube videos, plug in, and start playing around with it.

 

[bassbrad]

I failed to mention but I played a gig that used one as the house bass interface and my bass sounded very nice indeed, the comp and EQ worked as I expected and having the mute work on the DI send was a nice feature when it came time to put my bass on the stand.

 

[Rughy78]

I think it's a good product.. I played a gig and the Overdrive seems to work well even with my doublebass(oh yeah). The switches can work independently and, compared with other similar units, I think it gives you more advantages.

 

[Rughy78]

By the way, anyone knows the eq knobs frequencies?

 

[Wissen]

I would also spend some quality time with this thread. I'd be curious to hear what you think of it. I'd buy all of Fender's pedals because of how purdy they are, but I own zero because that's how many I actually have a use for.

 

[Rughy78]

Fender's reply about eq knobs frequency:

BASS; +/- 17 dB @ 35 Hz. This is a shelving EQ , not a peaking equalizer, so 35 Hz indicates where the boost is highest.

MIDDLE: +/- 19 dB @ 500 Hz. This is an RLC resonant equalizer, so there is a peak at that frequency. The inductor in the circuit creates some pleasing artifacts, particularly in the “cut” or CCW settings.

TREBLE: +/- 14 dB @ 4.5 kHz. This is also a shelving EQ.

 

[cavemanbass]

Fender's reply about eq knobs frequency:

BASS; +/- 17 dB @ 35 Hz. This is a shelving EQ , not a peaking equalizer, so 35 Hz indicates where the boost is highest.

MIDDLE: +/- 19 dB @ 500 Hz. This is an RLC resonant equalizer, so there is a peak at that frequency. The inductor in the circuit creates some pleasing artifacts, particularly in the “cut” or CCW settings.

TREBLE: +/- 14 dB @ 4.5 kHz. This is also a shelving EQ.

thanks for this info - I'm curious where you found it? maybe I didn't dig deep enough on Fender's website.
Since you seem to know the pedal quite well, hope you don't mind me asking - do you know what type of compressor (optical, VCA, FET), and is there any indicator for gain reduction (ie maybe the LED for the compressor section)?
Seems like a sweet pedal, lot of features for the $ and Aguilar designed so would expect it to sound great...

 

[PaulFarmer]

I would also spend some quality time with this thread. I'd be curious to hear what you think of it. I'd buy all of Fender's pedals because of how purdy they are, but I own zero because that's how many I actually have a use for.

Thanks for the link to the other discussion thread. It was very informative and interesting.

I haven't used it very much over the last week or two (as I was evaluating 2 used bass guitars).
I plan to spend some time experimenting with different settings over the weekend.

I know I was quite impressed with my initial tests.
This is my first effects pedal, so my opinion won't be from a very "informed/experienced" user at this stage.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Wissen]

This is my first effects pedal, so my opinion won't be from a very "informed/experienced" user at this stage.
Cheers, Paul

No worries there, Paul. I enjoy reading the compressor and preamp threads as much as everyone else and I will certainly take the advice of those more seasoned than I. But I find that comparisons like "it's a little more transparent than [X pedal I'll never get my hands on]" aren't actually useful for me personally. To someone else, sure. Just not me. I think fresh perspectives of someone who doesn't have a vast mental catalog of gear reviews can be equally illuminating. So long as that perspective is insightful in its own right.

 

[PaulFarmer]

Cool Wissen.

Well I can definitely post my impression of how everything works and sounds to me.
I'll put something up over the next 5-10 days.

 

[Rughy78]

thanks for this info - I'm curious where you found it? maybe I didn't dig deep enough on Fender's website.
Since you seem to know the pedal quite well, hope you don't mind me asking - do you know what type of compressor (optical, VCA, FET), and is there any indicator for gain reduction (ie maybe the LED for the compressor section)?
Seems like a sweet pedal, lot of features for the $ and Aguilar designed so would expect it to sound great...

I sent an email to fender's site..
No, I can't tell anything about the type of compressor.. I've no info, sorry.
For what concern indicator for gain reduction: yes, in the compressor there's a beeping light.
I've found this interesting review.. Take a look:
Fender Downtown Express Review

 

[PaulFarmer]

Thanks for the link.
I'll check it out.

Cheers, Paul

 

[cavemanbass]

I sent an email to fender's site..
No, I can't tell anything about the type of compressor.. I've no info, sorry.
For what concern indicator for gain reduction: yes, in the compressor there's a beeping light.
I've found this interesting review.. Take a look:
Fender Downtown Express Review

thanks for the link, and info about the comp indicator! Seems like a really solid effort by Fender.