Fender Downtown Express

[MattW]

Anyone had any experience of these?  YouTube reviews seem largely favourable, but wondered if anyone has used one in a gigging or recording situation?

Seems like a lot of pedal for not a whole lot of money.

Cheers!

[Osiris]

I've got one and like it a lot. I've not yet gigged it as I use a Stomp with either in ears or backline but I'd have no problem using on a gig and I can't see how it wouldn't cut it live. I don't do any home recording so I can't help you out there either! 

But having used it a lot at home I'm happy to share my thoughts on it. For the money you get a lot of useful and usable features especially when compared to some other bass pre-amp pedals. The EQ is simple but very effective and will dial in petty much any sound you're likely to need. The centre frequencies don't seem to be stated anywhere but they feel like they're in about the right place, the bass EQ control is a little low for my tastes but I play short scales exclusively these days so the inherent short scale tubbiness could be part of the issue here, although I only use it for cutting rather than boosting as that helps to add clarity with a shorty. The mid control has a wide sweep and goes from scooped slappiness to a nasal grunt. The treble control is pretty much where I want it for adding clarity without getting brittle and even rolled right back it still leaves the tone with a usable amount of definition. 

The compressor feels like it's an optical design although this isn't explicitly stated anywhere. I'm not really a fan of optical compressors but it works well although it's not always quick enough (there's no Attack control) to catch big spikes, this could be an issue if you slap but it works well enough with finger and plectrum styles. It also has a clean blend for dialling in some parallel compression.  The threshold control seems to have a limited usable range, essentially only really usable below around 9 o'clock with passive basses, I suspect a hot bass could be problematic. There's a single LED meter but you can feel the compression kicking in before the LED lights up so it's kind of redundant. It's not my favourite compressor but it does the job. 

The drive section is very good, IMO. It's more of a warm and rounded drive so if you're looking for a Tech 21/DarkGlass scooped clank look elsewhere. It seems to have an inherent mid boost (think Tube Screamer style drive) and a fixed clean blend, both of which work really well when playing along to backing tracks. At low gain it does a good 'hint of breaking up' sound and when pushed it gives a pleasing smooth distortion, neither fizzy or bloated. There's a toggle switch to change the position of the drive and compressor, I personally like to use to comp before the drive so that it can be kicked in for a gain boost. But using comp after drive gives a more controlled tone. 

The pedal itself is reassuringly heavy and feels well made and pretty much bomb proof with solid feeling footswitches. I'm not overly enamoured with the anaemic pi55y yellow finish, the white lettering will make it a nightmare to read on a dark stage but the blue LED's in each control will help you see where things are set in the dark, but due the pedals colour scheme you'll need to memorise which control does what if you want to change things on the fly on a gig. 

In summary, I think the colour scheme is a questionable design choice,  black lettering would have made more sense than white, IMO. But blue LED's are cool, they just are. The compressor is good but not great and the pedal itself feels solid and has excellent EQ and drive sections. 

[MattW]

2 hours ago, Osiris said:

I've got one and like it a lot. I've not yet gigged it as I use a Stomp with either in ears or backline but I'd have no problem using on a gig and I can't see how it wouldn't cut it live. I don't do any home recording so I can't help you out there either! 

But having used it a lot at home I'm happy to share my thoughts on it. For the money you get a lot of useful and usable features especially when compared to some other bass pre-amp pedals. The EQ is simple but very effective and will dial in petty much any sound you're likely to need. The centre frequencies don't seem to be stated anywhere but they feel like they're in about the right place, the bass EQ control is a little low for my tastes but I play short scales exclusively these days so the inherent short scale tubbiness could be part of the issue here, although I only use it for cutting rather than boosting as that helps to add clarity with a shorty. The mid control has a wide sweep and goes from scooped slappiness to a nasal grunt. The treble control is pretty much where I want it for adding clarity without getting brittle and even rolled right back it still leaves the tone with a usable amount of definition. 

The compressor feels like it's an optical design although this isn't explicitly stated anywhere. I'm not really a fan of optical compressors but it works well although it's not always quick enough (there's no Attack control) to catch big spikes, this could be an issue if you slap but it works well enough with finger and plectrum styles. It also has a clean blend for dialling in some parallel compression.  The threshold control seems to have a limited usable range, essentially only really usable below around 9 o'clock with passive basses, I suspect a hot bass could be problematic. There's a single LED meter but you can feel the compression kicking in before the LED lights up so it's kind of redundant. It's not my favourite compressor but it does the job. 

The drive section is very good, IMO. It's more of a warm and rounded drive so if you're looking for a Tech 21/DarkGlass scooped clank look elsewhere. It seems to have an inherent mid boost (think Tube Screamer style drive) and a fixed clean blend, both of which work really well when playing along to backing tracks. At low gain it does a good 'hint of breaking up' sound and when pushed it gives a pleasing smooth distortion, neither fizzy or bloated. There's a toggle switch to change the position of the drive and compressor, I personally like to use to comp before the drive so that it can be kicked in for a gain boost. But using comp after drive gives a more controlled tone. 

The pedal itself is reassuringly heavy and feels well made and pretty much bomb proof with solid feeling footswitches. I'm not overly enamoured with the anaemic pi55y yellow finish, the white lettering will make it a nightmare to read on a dark stage but the blue LED's in each control will help you see where things are set in the dark, but due the pedals colour scheme you'll need to memorise which control does what if you want to change things on the fly on a gig. 

In summary, I think the colour scheme is a questionable design choice,  black lettering would have made more sense than white, IMO. But blue LED's are cool, they just are. The compressor is good but not great and the pedal itself feels solid and has excellent EQ and drive sections. 

Brilliant, thanks for such a comprehensive review!    Sounds like it would be ideal for what I have in mind based on that 👍

[Thunderbird]

Good review mate I have one incoming I really like some of the sounds on my b3n but don't have time to study it all yet lol so thought the downtown would suit my needs as it seems really simple to use

[Osiris]

2 hours ago, MattW said:

Brilliant, thanks for such a comprehensive review!    Sounds like it would be ideal for what I have in mind based on that 👍

 

2 hours ago, Thunderbird said:

Good review mate I have one incoming I really like some of the sounds on my b3n but don't have time to study it all yet lol so thought the downtown would suit my needs as it seems really simple to use

Honestly guys you can't go wrong with it, it's simple to use and sounds great. And on a gig I'd happily use the compressor too, it does the job, it's really not bad a compressor and if it means not having to mess around with another pedal then so much the better. 

[Muppet]

Basically, what @Osiris said, he nailed it. I do wish it had a headphone/aux though.  There's a neat touch that reverses the OD/Compressor path that can change the OD flavour a bit and you can also turn off the LEDs if they're too bright. You can alos select what gets output by the DI.   I really like the EQ section though - it is very similar to the Rumble heads.  

[Thunderbird]

After playing with mine a bit I love it and it's simple to use even I can get a sound I really like in a few minutes it's a great set and forget pedal only negative is it draws quite a bit of power so needs a decent psu I was talking to Osiris about it yesterday and we think there must be a bit of digital magic going on in the unit somewhere but could be wrong 

[uk_lefty]

Sounds a lot like an EHX Battalion?  As in your descriptions make it seem similar in function, not that I've heard the Fender pedal with my ears. 

How does the Fender hold up with active and passive basses? I had a Battalion and it was great for a passive P, not suited for an active jazz. 

Edited July 31, 2020 by uk_lefty

[Osiris]

I briefly had the Battalion but soon moved it on. The clean channel with its 4 band EQ is great, more versatile than the Fender in that regard, but to be honest that was the only thing I liked about it. The drive section was fizzy and no matter what I did with it it never sounded like anything other than a cheap and nasty distortion pedal. There's some great sounding demos of the drive online but I couldn't get it to sound anything like those, it just sounded cheap, for want of a better description. The compressor was very dark and took away a lot of high end, so it worked best with the drive section, but it was too dark to be of use with the clean channel. Obviously it's down to personal taste but I much prefer the Fender, IMO it sounds much more grown up. 

[bloke_zero]

There is a thread here:

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Pulled the trigger on one of these, should have it tomorrow, fancied one since they came out, but waited till there was more reviews feedback. Only concern for me is lack of blend for the drive, but it does have separate level control so i hope that works well as a blend. I have had 3 previous pre amps, the Ehx battalion, excellent all round unit with an ok drive section, but sold it as just had little real use for it. Tech 21 Vt, not keen on that, farty muddy drive section. MXR M80 good unit but drive too harsh even at starting level sucked all the low end and had to use blend at 30/40% all the time. If the M80 had a low fain and high gain switch it would be the best Di out there.

I like all the positive reviews around the Downtown that its a nice warm Drive that keeps  the low end, but got juice in the tank if you want to crank it.

[taha_never]

how does the pedal colour the sound with the OD off? tubey? uncolored? fender DNA?
thx