STANLEY S.
I run a small recording studio, as well as play in several bands, as I have done for over 37 years. Often I may get an idea for a song or a passage to one and would like to sketch it out quickly with the timbre I have in mind, wherever I am at the moment. I was watching my buddy's video, Owen from Circle of Tone, show off this little Donner Multi-Pad 100, and I was impressed from the git-go.
The 'drum' section is nothing special. It's got lots of settings for different beats and time signatures, but everything sounds like 1980's Casio keyboard. For all I know it might be the same chipset, but whatever. It's good for keeping you in time if need be, and the 'tap tempo' button will slow or speed your roll.
But the real fun is in the initial 6 (+ Bass) different amp type choices in combination with the 'gain' and 'tone' controls. I got some really sweet tones between settings and my Hamer Standard with its retrofitted GFS passive humbuckers. The addition of onboard effects from that point on were icing on the cake. I created Gilmouresque clean tones and with a few tweeks of the gain ended up in Comfortably Numb lead territory. Tweeking in some tight 'room' reverb, tight 'pure' delay, and midway 'CH(orus)' modulation, gave me a tight, head crushing Static X guitar tone. I tweeked that a bit more and ended up with a tone about as close to Ty Tabor from Kings X. The 'Cab Sim' switch on the back of the unit made an obvious difference in the overall tone, giving it more of a presence, attack, and openness as if miking a real cab.
I haven't tried some of the other features yet, although there are many more to cover. All I can say is this unit will be great to use any time I need to hear a guitar for writing or recording, whether scratch or (who knows) permanent tracks. I also think it's cool it looks like a retro game controller LoL! I can also see the use of the sturdy belt clip on back for wearing it live. Run it into a powered guitar speaker rig and you're all set on a gig.
Albert
You can use it with your electric guitar or standalone with your audio studio gear. This is my second product from Donner so far in Audio Studio gear. I am Musician, singer-songwriter, electronic guitarist, pianist and percussionist.
Got the 9 Volt to test it out, but using the included PSU in the box. Got this connected to my mixer audio studio interface using 1/4 (6.35mm). I got more for the 40 Drum Machine Kit it offers. I have another device from Amazon it only offered 18 Drum Machine Kit. Nice that this one gave me 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 00 (40). 1 thru 18 on Donner Multi-Pad 100 are not the same type of drums they have an unique sounding tone rhythm pattern from Donner so with Donner and the other brand gave me 58 different drum machine kits. I need as much choices for the Drum FX as I can get thanks Donner a got 40 more with your device plus I can create my own effects.
Pros:
40 Drum Machine Kit Rhythm Pattern (5 Stars)
Volume
Start/Play
Tap Tuner
Value/Drum
4 cushioned lifted feet (you can use this as a stand-along on your studio desk connected to your studio gear.
Nice touch (Donner thrown in some Donner labels stickers 2 in all)
Manual included
USB cable as well.
Cons:
None as I can see of yet!
Scott N
This is a great little extremely versatile multi-effects pedal, particularly at it's price point.
First, I will state the obvious: each effect on this pedal is not quite as good as an individual pedal for each effect would be. That should be common knowledge for any multi effects pedal as a general rule, particularly any well priced one. The fine tuning you can achieve with each pedal, not to mention the ability to turn it on and off on the fly in the middle of songs is something you only achieve with individual pedals (or a multi effects pedal with such a high price point and so many knobs that you may as well have gotten your individual favorites in the first place).
Therefore,
The best application for this pedal is for practice, and getting exposed to a lot of different quality effects for a very low price. This can greatly stimulate your mind and creative juices.
THAT BEING SAID...this pedal could still be used for small time gigs if you really wanted to, because it has presets in the Patch settings that you can fine tune and save for particular sounds you don't want to hunt for between songs. You could even conceivably practice switching patches in the middle of songs if you're desperate.
The drum machine is pretty standard. Pretty mechanical sounding, but most drum machines sound that way to me. I'm not a huge fan of drum machines in general, so take that with a grain of salt. No 3/4 beats on this one, which I mentioned to Donner to pass on to their development team (they really like that feedback, and are great to work with. They usually follow up on purchases, and have a clear vision for excellent customer service).
The design shocked me at first, and my wife and I both thought it looked like an old school controller. Turns out that's the retro look they were going for. Cute idea, even if it's not my personal taste. It feels very light, as it is a plastic exterior, but a metal one might feel far too bulky, particularly as it has a clip on the back you could clip into your belt or pocket (once again, conceivably for gigging and faster changes as much as possible).
This pedal has been a blast to play so far. Very much worth the money for the quality effects you can pipe through it!
Julio D.
I travel so much with at least one guitar or bass in tow so this cool SNES controller looking gadget paired with small speaker gets me awesome tones everywhere I go. It's like having 7 amp combos in one.
44
for the money excellent
Gillian Leather
A lot better than I thought it would be it can be fastened to a belt but I use bluetooth sender and reciever works well and prevents accidental dropage of unit
woul recomend for quiet practice
Elderly Rock God
This did just what I needed - a drum machine. It has two options of clean amps, ideal for me as a rhythm guitarist. It also has a few other amps, which I don't need, not playing lead riffs. Tuner built in - not used it yet, drum has 39 options and various volumes. Don't know yet whether I can change drumbeat tempo. I would imagine you can. There are various effects knobs, reverb, echo etc - again, only a bit of reverb used. It is, however a real bargain at the price, and would be OK for inexperienced players, especially if they are lead guitarists - it has loads of different settings to investigate. Well pleased with it. One downer - it could really do with a foot switch to shut down options - e.g. to knock off drums at end of a song. Major plus - supplied with power adaptor plug - not usually supplied with other effect items.
Crystal R.
This is a tremendous value for the money. It was purchased for my high school aged son who has picked up both bass guitar and electric guitar and who plays in our church band. He loves his electric guitar, and has a (very large) amp that has a few effects built into it, that he uses frequently to change the sound of his guitar. However, he picks up songs and guitar riffs and solos off of the internet and learns them at a pretty brisk pace. The problem with that is that he picks out the notes for the solos, but can't always recreate the authentic sound of these solos because he doesn't have an elaborate system of foot pedals or multiple electric guitars, as we don't have the budget for either, at the moment. He was beyond thrilled to receive this effects pedal as an early Christmas gift. Is it as authentic sounding as a super expensive foot pedal set-up? No. But it is way smaller and more portable, and is WAY cheaper! This is a great little effects pedal if you want to experiment with changing the tone of your guitar without breaking the bank. It is an excellent value for the money and is easily portable to take with you when you travel.
Richard S
This is one cool game controller looking multi-effects pedal. It's loaded with a ton of effects like delays, reverbs, and different amp, cab and mods. It even has a built in drum machine and a tuner on it. There's regular play mode and a mode to patch/save your favorite sounds. Comes with 7 different amp styles and a ton of amp models like Marshall, Fender, Vox and Orange to name a few. Also includes 9V power supply, hookup for 9V battery and a belt clip to use. This thing is awesome!
