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Fender Downtown Express

#81
3wavylines said:
For my taste, it’s easy to go overboard with the compression and the overdrive. I’m looking for a subtle compression with a hint of overdrive.

I have the drive and gain turned all the way down, and I still wish they could go a little lower. If I roll back a little on the volume on my p-bass, that gets it to where I want it.

You can hear the compression kicking in before the gain reduction light goes on.

I like the tone I am getting, but I wish I didn’t have to have the knobs minned-out.
Click to expand...
I'm with you on the drive, I also have the overdrive before the compression which helps tame it a little bit more too. I have the blend at about 9 o'clock, gain at 8 o'clock and threshold at about 10 o'clock and it's nice and subtle for me.

At practice last night, I used my WD800 head with the DE. Big disclaimer though is we use a jamhub for silent practice so the output from the headphone jack of the WD. With that said, my settings translate very similarly to live gigs and I typically only adjust eq to deal with room acoustics. While I would like the drive to be a little less even with the knob practically off I was super happy with how well it cut through the mix. Everyone looked up and smiled the first time I kicked it on during a solo by the lead guitar. It sat very well in the mix and didn't sound like it was too overdriven. On its own I thought it was too much distortion but not with the full band. In the past I was on a quest for subtle distortion and I always found myself feeling like it wasn't enough in a mix. This one kept the bottom end and added the edge that cut through very well.
 
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#85
Happy to report that the DE did very well for my needs on Saturday's gig. I did test the DI and it sounded great, perfectly silent however I did ultimately DI from my WD800 since I have some effects pedals after the DE on my board right now. I had to tinker a bit with the compressor as it was really squishing my signal and making that click sound that someone mentioned earlier in the thread. Playing the threshold and blend took it away and I was very happy with the results overall. I use a compressor to maintain an even signal to avoid peaks and valleys in my volume outside playing with an aggressive attack and the DE did a great overall job for me. The EQ was perfect as a boost and the OD cut through perfectly and wasn't overstated. This is a keeper for me.
 
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#88
emil_fh said:
Have you had a chance to test and compare them yet?
Click to expand...

I got them yesterday. I didn't have much time to try them yet due to work. And only on headphones. I hope play with them a bit more this weekend. From the one hour I tested them yesterday evening I have to say the Battalion quickly became my favorit. Especially the EQ and overdrive circuit. I quickly got a nice vintage kind of sound out of it with a bit of dark overdrive just so that it seems like a tube amp warming up the sound. The Downtown Express has a more sharp, bit digital sounding overdrive wich is more and effect for soloing in stead of warming up the sound. And the Fender DE has a less versatile EQ. Compressor on the DE is much better though en more versatile, the one on the Battalion is actually a bit rubbish. But I've a Markbass Compressore on my board so compression is taken care of. The EDEN WTDI is very nice and clean. Emphasizing a clean HIFI sound with a big mid scoop.

I play mainly mainstream hearthland rock/folkrock (John Hiatt, Melissa Etheridge, Tom Petty). The EHX seems to fit that sound nicely.

My first findings after one hour of playing with headphones are:

Both the EHX Battalion and WTDI color the sound more than the Fender DE. But I like the colors. The Fender De is the most neutral.

Notes per pedal:

EHX Battalion:
- Very nice versatile (dark) overdrive to my taste.
- Very nice EQ with good frequency settings for low and high mid knobs.
- Very nice (but colored) overall sound.
- (Almost) useless compressor
- Useless gate

EDEN WTDI:
- Very nice bright and deep, scooped, HIFI kind of sound
- Colors the sound most out of these three pedals
- No overdrive (and I'm looking for one), but I can buy a seperate overdrive for the price difference of the other two.

Fender Downtown Express:
- Very neutral sounding, not very warm. I suspect it's a digital pedal, but can't proof that.
- EQ can't get very extreme
- Nice compressor, but carefull with the setting because it can start 'clicking'. It has a bit too slow attack so transients are coming trough. I wish it had a attack time knob.
- Overdrive isn't subtle. It's harsh, better suited for solo's than for warming up and fake tubes.
- ON-Off Knobs are very close to each other. I need to tap carefully with my big EU Size 47 shoes :).

As said I only played with them on headphones for one hour. This weekend I hope to test them more together with my amp (EDEN WTX264 with two EX110's stack) and pedalboard.


Schermafbeelding 2019-05-03 om 15.44.33.png
 
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#89
Thanks for writing up your impressions.

The description for the DE says:

"Your one-stop shop for bass tone-shaping, the Fender Downtown Express bass multi-effect puts ... Analog Compression, Overdrive, and EQ circuitry"

But I do not know this means that only the Compression is analog, or all three circuits.

If only compression was analog I would not use a comma before the "and", the way it is written makes it sound like all three functions are analog, though 400mA stated current draw is a lot for an (three+DI) analog pedal is it not?
 
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#90
This weekend I took the time to test them with my amp. And I chose the the EHX Battalion to get a place on my board. All are great quality pedals. But the EHX has some sound flavor to it that I happen to like and made me play longer and forget I was testing while with the Fender and Eden I just didn't get the sound I was after. Eden came close second.

My initial impression still stands:
- Fender > Great build quality. Great layout and I like the blue LED's in the knobs. Soundwise the least colored of the three. And the most features. But a bit clinical sounding. And too harsh overdrive to my taste. Great unit, but not my thing soundwise.
- WTDI > Very colored bass heavy sound. Very good one-knob compressor. Crystal clear highs. I think best for funk and slap kind of styles. They clearly did not intend to make a neutral DI but a typical 'Eden sound' preamp. I like that. But I already have a Eden WTX264 amp to cover that.
- EHX > Best compromise. Rather neutral, but more warmth, nice mids. Compressor is only usable at low settings, but I'm not using that anyway. I'm totally happy with the warm fat overdrive. Carefully chosen EQ points in the EQ. Great preamp and overdrive in one channel. I will mis the HIFI top-end of the WTDI. But I've an Eden WTX264 also which has the same enhancer in it, so when I really need that I will go through the amp.
 
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#91
@Wilmar Boer thanks for your input on all 3. I haven't even looked at the 2 besides DE because I've been very happy with my board. I was just looking for something different in terms of OD and possibly the compressor. The transparency is what I like most about the DE, my tone comes from 3 things, bass, Broughton Super Stack, and whichever amp head I'm using, mostly the WD800. I need to be able to switch on and off each effect.

I'll get my true answer this Sat for an indoor gig where I will hear myself better than my last loud outdoor gig. Can't believe this very well may replace my Ovnifx Smoothie and Grizzly Bass, the OD impressed me sitting in the mix.
 
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#92
emil_fh said:
Thanks for writing up your impressions.

The description for the DE says:

"Your one-stop shop for bass tone-shaping, the Fender Downtown Express bass multi-effect puts ... Analog Compression, Overdrive, and EQ circuitry"

But I do not know this means that only the Compression is analog, or all three circuits.

If only compression was analog I would not use a comma before the "and", the way it is written makes it sound like all three functions are analog, though 400mA stated current draw is a lot for an (three+DI) analog pedal is it not?
Click to expand...
I emailed Fender support and asked this question. I think I read somewhere that all three are analog but I am just not sure. Hopefully Fender will get back soon with an answer.
 
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#93
ppiluk said:
I emailed Fender support and asked this question. I think I read somewhere that all three are analog but I am just not sure. Hopefully Fender will get back soon with an answer.
Click to expand...

Let's hope so, I mailed and asked Fender the same question a good while ago, but nobody got back to me. Ended up buying the unit after testing anyway.
 
#98
Fender got back to me...here is the reply.

Doug James (Fender)

May 9, 09:54 MST

Hi Peter,

The Downtown Express Bass Multi Effect uses a switching power supply but has an all analog signal path. No digital signal processing used. Keep in mind that this pedal requires 400ma minimum power supply, I had a few people call in wondering why it didn't work with their 200ma pedal power supplies. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Doug James

Consumer Relations Representative
Direct Sales

Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

17600 N. Perimeter Dr., Ste-100

Scottsdale, AZ 85255

(480) 845-5136


 
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#99
I think that is some good news.

After playing a bit more I am finding that I really like the compressor with my Fender P bass. EQ often a bit midscooped and bass boosted for a nice Beatles like tone. Starting with blend at 100%, threshold to where I can just start to hear the compression on the attack, and the light only barely blinks at strong attacks. Gain at 0, then turning back blend to around 12 o clock.

Getting a very smooth tone with lots of sustain this way, works really well for a vintage sound.

Not tested the distorsion enough yet. But finding that even at very low drive and level, I am losing some smooth bottom end with the distorsion circuit engaged.
 
Last edited:
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#100
emil_fh said:
I think that is some good news.

After playing a bit more I am finding that I really like the compressor with my Fender P bass. EQ often a bit midscooped and bass boosted for a nice Beatles like tone. Starting with blend at 100%, threshold to where I can just start to hear the compression on the attack, and the light only barely blinks at strong attacks. Gain at then turning back blend to around 12 o clock.

Getting a very smooth tone with lots of sustain this way, works really well for a vintage sound.

Not tested the distorsion enough yet. But finding that even at very low drive and level, I am losing some smooth bottom end with the distorsion circuit engaged.
Click to expand...
I'm really liking the compressor more and more as I've played around with it. I have the distortion at an extremely low setting, barely on, with the tone at about 9 o'clock with the volume around 1 o'clock. When practicing it seems louder with keeping the bottom end but in the mix with the band it blends seamlessly with no change in volume but a noticeable overdrive that I've liked so far.
 

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