Donner
$269.99 Price may change
16 videosEmilio Banquez
Execelente pedal arena tiene todo para improvisar aprender y tocar a otro nivel tiene más que los pedales costoso y ofrece mucho más por tan poco gracias Donner por llevar a todo el mucho elemento de buena calidad para todos los bolsillos
GASTON
The Donner Arena 2000 powers on but the screen remains completely white from the first boot. The Donner logo never appears.
It has been tested with a correct 9V 2A center-negative power supply. The original adapter included (0.5A) is insufficient to operate the pedal.
The product is located in Bolivia. Returning it to the USA is not feasible.
This unit is DOA (Dead On Arrival). We request a replacement unit to be sent directly or a full refund without requiring the return of the defective product.
Tyler
Best bang for the buck multi effect and modeling all-in-one pedal board out, in my opinion.
Sure, there are going to be the people saying there are higher quality options out, but the name of the game is sound control while keeping the cost reasonable.
This checks all the boxes.
I can either find any sound I'm looking for with this pedal, or build the preset myself.
Jesus
For some reason half my presets didn’t come with my unit
adancito
it was good for a bit and it randomly does this now, where ive connected everything and it just stops working and ive had it for 5 months and its just now not working and this has been happening for a couple days
A. Segreaves
I’m on my second unit and will likely return it. The tech is very cool but the units I have had are missing presets. I’ve both emailed and called the manufacturer but have been given the run around about them forwarding it to “the correct department.” It’s been weeks and no reply to my email and only “we’ll get back to you soon” to my phone calls.
I also noticed that there’s a weird volume issue when switching between presets on my second unit that did not exist on the first. One preset will be very low and the next will be very loud.
Adding insult to injury, I previously purchased a guitar from Donner that had some of the worst fret sprout I’ve ever seen on a guitar - completely unplayable and should have never shipped. It took almost a month but after many exchanges with Donner, where they ensured me the issue was being addressed, they finally sent me a replacement- that had the EXACT same issue!
I can’t help but get the sense that this company is growing too fast for its own good and is sacrificing quality along the way. Buyer beware!
Edit - 01/28/24:
After posting my review on here, it seems my complaint was escalated at Donner. A rep quickly got in touch, sent me a file with the missing presets, was very apologetic, and worked quickly to make things right. They worked with me to troubleshoot the volume issue and ultimately got me a replacement when they couldn’t fix it. My concerns about their QC still stand, but I’m happy with the service I received once the right people got ahold of my ticket.
Scott MacDonald
I really like this pedal. Apart from the fact is an excellent amp modeler it also has a TON of effects a small 'expression' pedal for WAH, Volume, pitch shift, etc. Very solidly built. Nothing feels cheap. I am still learning but having a blast doing it. Thanks Donner!!
Yurii Yevdokymov
JustTryingToBeHelpful
Winner!
I threw together a quick demo of some raw tracks played through the Arena2000
I wasn't trying to duplicate any original sound, I just pick some of the presets I found while roaming all the presets. I used the Arena 2000 as the USB interface. I sent the raw recorded tracks to the Arena from the DAW, and then recorded the output back through USB. My DAW skills aren't great but I also didn't do any more signal processing to or from the Arena 2000
All of the presets show some features - but it would take tens of thousands preset patces and a whole lot of time to do all the combinations.
I see numerous reviewers listen to a couple of presets, then start tweaking them to their own taste. I think that's a good way to go. You'd need a decoder ring to figure out what the creater of each preset was trying to do, but tweaking them yourself you're more likely to put the patches to your own sound. Really, try as many of the built in presets. They really explore the power of the arena2000. They are great examples. You'll get the real value when you create your own for your own sound.
The original patches are stored in ROM if you want to reset to factory defaults in the future.
One thing for sure is you'll want to go through the patches and normalize the levels. Some are screaming loud while other too quiet. It's not a lot of work to do this, but just do the ones you like.
50 slots is massive for an ir loader. Plenty of room to expand. 23.2 MS per slot gives you all time and resolution you'll ever need to reproduce the essential sound of a cabinet. This is not going to be enough for room reflections, but you can add reverb to simulate rooms and halls. When you are playing live, you'll want the essential cabinet IR and be glad you can control room/hall reverb response separately.
I would like a longer looper and one that lets you do multi layers.
The drum rhythms are handy for practice and the aux in can accept any mp3 or phone apps
I haven't found any hardware or software glitches - everything works as expected. I still expect Donner and everyone else to find some reason to do some updates to the firmware.
The build quality is excellent. The expression pedal is stiff and lets you control it gracefully with your foot. There are six feet on the bottom to handle the foot press pressure.
I've got all kinds of fingerprints on the LCD screen from trying tap something. I can't help myself. Donner came out with the iPhone app and I tend to now just use it. The PC software works great for me on Windows 10. On both the iPhone and PC the response from the Arena 2000 is instant. Arranging the order of the pedals is just drag and drop on the PC. The App, plus the foot pedals on the Arena will get you through all the settings without having to drop to the floor.
I haven't got into the MIDI yet. I haven't found a published MIDI map, but there is a table in the Arena where you can view the CC's. I will probably eventually use MIDI CC to control the Arena from a DAW. Furthermore, I can use a really cheap low power PC with a DAW to control MIDI as the Arena 2000 saves the PC from having to do Audio DSP loads. Donner makes the PC or iPhone load negligible.
Value of the Arena 2000 is high. You'll save a lot of time trying to collect and build a pedal board to do what the Arena can do, and sound as good as the Arena. Additionally, just fit in a small, lightweight bag to carry around. The Arena does take 9v from a pedal board power just fine.
⪨MIND ⪨⪨🎵⪩⪩ PRIME⪩
_________..⪨Ꙭ⪩.._________________
⪨ MIND ⪨⪨⭐⪩⪩ PRIME ⪩
_____:📝 | REVIEW:______________________________________________
✨➽ Donner | Multi Effects Pedal, Arena 2000 Guitar Pedals
w/ 278 Effects, 100 IRs, Looper, Drum Machine, Amp Modeling,
Support XLR, Bluetooth, MIDI IN
⦁➽ I can't say that I have ever seen a Multi FX. pedal fail
like this one has, especially, on first use.. This was going
to be used in the studio only.
⦁ I had and have several other music products by Donner
and my experience with them is that it always started out
great but have always ended far from great.
Whether it's a part or a component, something seems to
fail prematurely.
➽ Issues: * Keep in Mind:
⦁ I am only going to mention just a few of it's many issues
with it that I've encountered while using it, the issues that
are the most bothersome to me..
⦁ *** The Biggest and main Issue I have with this pedal the
one that made it unusable... is the FX / Expression Pedal
was Broken or Broke the very first time it was used. I didn't
press hard or anything, it was just loose & wobbles freely.
It was on my mix desk prior and I was using my hands to
make adjustments. So it was done after that, It's a bummer
that's for sure.
⦁ The UI is not very intuitive at all & not easy for beginners
and even some experienced users.
⦁ Switching FX Banks: Two buttons are used to switch the FX
Banks up and down using your foot, it can be difficult
⦁ The selector touch buttons under the knobs: It's very easy
to accidentally touch and change them/ Turn them On or Off.
It's the same when using the Loop, Drums, Etc touch buttons.
⦁ The LED screen is controlled by the large turn dial, it's a little
awkward to use.
⦁ I never had the chance to use the APP or hook it up to my
computer, the pedal gave out before I had the chance.
⦁ There is more but I'm just going to leave at that for now.....
+➽ Price at Time of Review: > $269.99 <
⦁ * I wasn't here to pick on anyone, only to pass along some info
& share my experience after using this product a short time.
✪➽ OVER-ALL:
⦁ I'm not rough with my gear in fact I still have my most of my
gear since I began playing music (early 1980's) This Pedal Failed
the first time it was used.
⦁ I only liked one or two of the sounds right out of the box. This
Pedal had potential but its not up to par and has a lot of design
and functionality flaws / issues -
⦁ I don't think that this FX pedal would be good beginners and
even those with experience...
⦁ I Can Not recommend this product at this time
⦁ ~ Be Safe, Have Fun, Enjoy!
____________⪨Ꙭ⪩_____________________________________________
➽ ⪨ MIND ⪨⪨ ✨ ⪩⪩ PRIME ⪩
➽SCORE: 2 Stars > ⭐ ⭐
✪ I Hope That My Review Was Informative & Helpful !
✪ Thanks for Reading
_______________________________________________________________
➽ PRODUCT INFORMATION:
⦁ Rich and Delicate Sound: With FVACM technology &
high-precision 24bit/44.1kHz audio processing, Arena
2000 guitar effects greatly reduces the "plastic taste" of
the digital effect, making the tone more layered, allowing
you to play real emotions without reservation.
⦁ 278 Effect Types to Choose From: 100 classic effect
simulations, 80 amp simulations, & 50 cabinet simulations.
Arena2000 provides a wide range of legendary guitar tones
from music history. Whether it's fresh urban pop or high-
speed thrash metal, you'll find all the tones you want and
need!
⦁ Long IR Resolution: 50 built-in IRs and 50 extra banks
for third-party IRs. The IR resolution of Arena2000 is up
to 23.2ms, which can precisely restore the tone of the
IR collection object & reproduce the acoustic environment
of the collection space, resulting in a tone with a greater
dynamic range & a stronger sense of spatial authenticity.
⦁ One Man Band: With 40 drum rhythms and 60 seconds
looper, Arena2000 guitar effects can quickly record demos
or perform live as a one-man band. It’s also equipped with
headphone output for late night creation/practice.
Additionally, you can rapidly capture your inspiration using
OTG and your phone. Arena2000 will give you unlimited
support whether it's for a live show or a home studio.
⦁ Full Function Transformed from Bedroom to Stage:
Customizable CTRL mode and EXP1/EXP2 expression
pedal for flexible real-time parameter adjustments.
⦁ You can also edit & control the tone via Arena 2000
CONTROL in computer or mobile phone. Arena 2000 also
has Aux In, MIDI In, XLR L/R, and a cabinet simulation
(Cab Sim) output option that allows users to switch
between the 1/4 output port and the XLR output port,
which makes it handy for artists to perform live.
____________________________________________________________
✨➽ Donner | Multi Effects Pedal, Arena 2000 Guitar Pedals w/
278 Effects, 100 IRs, Looper, Drum Machine, Amp Modeling,
Support XLR, Bluetooth, MIDI IN
____________________________________________________________
⪨ MIND ⪨⪨ ✨ ⪩⪩ PRIME ⪩
________________________________
Candace M.
My only gripe is, i bought it do to you can install you own IR, but no matter what i did i could not make it work on my PC with the donner software check out my picture, it showed i had it plug in on my windows. But the software said it was not plug in. I noticed a lot of play in the USB-C plug and it's a brand new pedal it would connect and disconnect randomly. The built in sounds are not that good but once you start tweaking and making it your own sounds it actually sounds amazing specially the Hughes and Kettner amp and PRS Archon 50 simulation it sound's so good. I spent good 1 hour creating my 3 tone patch but it was worth it. Unfortunate i have to return it do to the USB-C being faulty i really don't want to, but for my IR i want to use in the future i have no choice. Still i think it should be a 190 to 200 dollar pedal, 270 is a little bit to much for this mini pedal.
Derek
I was certainly hopeful that this was going to be really cool but.... not so much. There is quite a list of things I could say that were disappointing like how you can't adjust anything without touching something that completely changed the setting you were just working on or how the volume pedal is too small to be of any real use and has a very sensitive button when depressed to 100% which changes the sound again. There is no way to really get any kind of clean distortion without a ton of noise and above all that it simply doesn't sound good. Nope, not good at all. I will find no use for this product in my rig, not even the tuner is worth using for me. Its good for a very early beginner that doesn't have the means to buy anything else. Sorry cant endorse this one at all.
just wanted to update you all, the company has sent me a few emails with details on how to better the performance, in my book that gets them an extra star just for customer service. I will try the recommendations and they may help, will keep you all posted on it
Scrimshaw
FYI: This is a very full, very long review. TL;DR – It’s sonically awesome, but being version 1.0 has a lot of jankyness that still needs to be worked out. But don’t let that deter you. I still highly recommend! Pictures are both of the actual unit, and screenshots from the Android app. You really need to use the app for a user friendly experience.
I really love this amp modeler, but there is a very steep learning curve, and the instructions are, not necessarily horrible, but are woefully incomplete. You’re basically on your own figuring out how this works, because the manual is missing most of the relevant information. The instructions do talk about a few things, like how to use the looper and the tuner, but don’t list any of the FX or presets.
My box showed up a little damaged, but the unit was packed well enough that it didn't sustain any damage. It comes with a reconfigurable plug for US, European, and a few other style outlets, as well as a USB-C cable for PC connectivity (that isn't supported yet, more on that later).
This is first, and foremost, an amp modeler more than it is a multi-effects processor, because amp modeling is where this unit really, really, REALLY shines. It’s a little light on the multi-effects, but there are plenty enough FX models to let you get by, and still get most of the sounds you’re going to want. I have several other multi-effects units from other manufacturers (Line 6, Zoom, DigiTech, Mooer, etc.), and they generally have more “effects” than the Arena2000, but not as many amp and cab models.
Like with any amp+cab modeler, I didn’t want my own amp or cab to color the sound for this review, so I used a pair of high-end Sennheiser head phones. You can certainly plug it into your own amp, but then you get the modeled amp+cab being played through your actual amp+cab. Because of this, you can turn off the amp and cab models independently, as you please. The sounds this thing can create are truly quite astonishing, and the amp and cab models just sound fabulous. 80 amps and 50 cabs. Quite the range of combinations! I tested everything with a Carvin DC127 superstrat. Of course, I haven’t played through all 80 of these “real” amps for comparison, I only know if the model sounds good or not, but they all do. At some point you just have to trust that they modeled it right.
Here are a few things you need to know!
Every little light on the display is also a touch sensitive button. They don’t click or anything, they are just touch sensitive (like a touch screen. . . but the actual screen is NOT a touch screen). This is how you select, activate, and change effects settings. They each cycle through different functions, not just on off. For example, if you tap FXA once, it opens the settings, if you tap it again, it toggles it on/off. You have to double tap a lot. It’s the touch-light buttons that took me a while to figure out. This isn’t mentioned anywhere except that the A in “Arena” is a touch sensitive button, which got me thinking. I just kept turning the knobs not knowing why nothing is happening.
This is not well suited to live performance. The foot switches basically select between the adjacent 3 presets, and bank up and bank down if you hit two in unison (the manual does cover this). However, there is a goofy scheme of pressing the left foot switch to go into a “control mode” for that preset, then pressing one of the other foot switches to alters one of the assigned FX in the signal chain, then you have to exit the “control mode”. The whole process is just kind of clunky. You’re better off not using it for live gigs. Or making sure all your presets are right next to each other so you can bank up and down easily to get to them.
Perhaps most importantly, the manual does NOT have a list of the available effects, amps, cabs, presets, or anything else. The only way to discover what these are is to literally scroll through the menu and look at them all. Does this have a phasor? I don’t know, the manual doesn’t say anything. I guess I’ll poke around in the device until I find one or not. This is a huge waste of time when you want to just look up an effect or preset in the manual. Let’s say you want to look over the presets to see which ones have Marshal cabs. . . .nope! You have to poke around every preset in the device and look at what cab it has. What a pain.
While it’s way too much work for me to try to list all of those here, I will give you a high level overview, which hopefully helps.
It has 8 pre-defined effects, and two user-selectable effects, for a total signal chain of 10 effects.
The predefined effects are:
Compressor, 10 types (incl. Dyna Comp).
Drive, 20 types (incl. Klon, Rat, OCD, Big Muff Pi, Zen).
Amp, 80 types – all the famous ones, and then some.
Cab, 50 types – all the famous ones, and then some.
EQ, 5 types (3 band to 10 band, and custom defined)
Noise Gate, 3 types.
Delay, 10 types (incl. reverse, stereo, pingpong, etc.)
Reverb, 10 types (all the standards, plus some odd ones like “Distortion Reverb”)
Each of these predefined effects has several types to choose from, but not an overwhelming number. But each of them is very good. However, there are 80 amps, and 50 cabs. Because that’s what this thing really is, and amp+cab modeler. One thing that drives me crazy about all these tube amp models is that they all model the noise too! Why? So, then you have to also model a noise gate in front of everything. This unit is no exception here.
The two user-defined effects are called FXA and FXB, and you can select from about 20 and 18 effects, respectively, within each one. Some of the effects are the same for FXA and FXB, but some are unique to one slot or the other. For example, FXA has 4 types of wah, but FXB doesn’t have any. FXA has two choruses, FXB has those, plus a stereo chorus. It’s kind of strange, and I can’t understand the reasoning here. Why not let any slot be anything, like Zoom does on all their units? There must be some processor limitation or something, I don’t know.
Here are the available types of effects for FXA and/or/maybe/also FXB:
Wah, 4 types (only on FXA).
Gate, just one on FXA.
Boost, 2 types.
Chorus (2 or 3 types).
Filter, just 1.
Flanger, 2 types.
Vibrato, just 1.
Phasor, 2 types.
Tremelo, 2 types.
Ring Mod, 1 type.
Both FXA and FXB have 1 each “LoFi” “auto swell” and “step phase”.
Only FXA has 1 each, “pitch shift” and “Octave”.
So, there are not a huge number of user-selected effects, but still plenty enough. The effects that are here also sound amazingly good. I was very surprised at the sound quality, actually, it’s really, really good. Sounds just as good as my Line6, and honestly, better than some of my actual pedals.
But, there are definitely some limitations in your ability to control the effects order. For example, you can’t have a vibrato feed a wah, which drives a fuzz, then add a chorus or phasor afterwards. This is because FXA MUST be the wah, then you can use FXB to be either the vibrato in front of the wah, or the chorus or phasor after the fuzz, but not both. We’re only talking about 4 effects in the chain here , but you just can’t. We’d need an FXA -->FXB -->Drive -->FXC, and there isn’t a 3rd FXC slot. You also can’t select FXA or FXB to be one of the other pre-defined effects, like a drive, or delay, etc. So, you can’t feed one drive into another drive. . . like an OCD into a Rat. . . it just won’t let you do that, because it has exactly 1 drive slot. Similarly, you can’t have two delays bounce the sound all over the place, because it has exactly 1 delay slot. More versatile multi-effects units have no problem with this.
Ultimately, these limitations are not a huge deal, but just be aware. I still don’t have any problem getting awesome sounds from this, even with these limitations. I do wish I had a few more flanger options, for example. You DO have the power to put ANY effects ANYWHERE in the signal chain, so that’s nice. I mean, you could even do weird things like put the cab first; if you wanted to, it will let you.
There is also a 60 sec looper and a Drum Machine with 40 drum styles, and adjustable tempo and volume on all of them. And they all sound pretty good. Way more fun than a metronome (which I can’t actually fine anywhere on the device, although it’s listed in the app). I actually like these drum styles on the Arena2000 better than the drum machines on any of my other multi-effects units. The Looper is nice too, since it uses more than one foot switch to record, dub, play, stop, delete, etc. There is on-screen description of the controls, and it’s fairly intuitive, and similar to most other looper controls.
A cool trick is that the expression pedal has two modes called “on” and “off”, but really should just be called mode 1 and 2. You can assign different functions to each mode. For example, it can be a volume pedal, then just toe-down to switch modes, and it can be a wah pedal. Toe-down to switch modes back to the volume pedal when you like. You can also plug in ANOTHER external pedal, if you like, for a 3rd control. It’s also got most of the standard XLR/balanced, MIDI, aux input, and USB-C for connection to a computer. Actually, many multi-effects units don’t have an Aux input these days, so kudos for Donner for keeping it (because I actually use this from time to time).
Last, but not least, you can add your own Impulse Responses (IR), though the manual doesn’t tell you how. I presume you can do this through their software, which I haven’t downloaded yet. Why haven’t I downloaded it yet? Well, the software has not actually been posted on their website yet. Under the “Arena2000” download section, there is currently nothing. I contacted tech support, and they said they’d “email me the software” (but haven’t yet, after several days, besides I expect it would be too big for email, so they must have meant email me a link, but I still haven’t received anything). I also asked tech support to email me a list of all the effects, cabs, presets, and other info that should be in the instruction manual but isn’t, and they said they’d “try” to see if there is any other documentation they can email me. If/when they do, I’ll update this review. Hopefully using the PC software is easier to figure out, though, honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever really do this. I’m perfectly happy with selecting from the 50 cabs already included.
The manual also points you toward a QR code to download the Arena2000 app for your phone (using Bluetooth connectivity). The app is actually in the app store, so you don’t have to side-load it. It’s actually legit! Once you download it, you have to figure it out yourself, but it’s actually more intuitive than the on-unit controls. After opening the app, click the Bluetooth icon to connect. With the app, it’s way easier to select presets and effects from the on-screen touch menus, and move the effects orders around by just dragging them where you want them (see screenshots). On the app, each effect has an on/off button, which I find less intuitive than just tapping the effect to turn it on or off, but it works.
However, the app doesn’t let you do everything you want to, so you still need to use the on-unit controls for the looper, volume, drum machine, and (obviously) the expression pedal. Other than the expression pedal, these should all work from the app. The app even lets you control the midi interface. . but not the master volume? By master volume, I mean the actual volume knobs for line out, XLR, and headphones (not the modeled volume of the amps and effects. . . those do work from the app). The app also has a few dead functions. Like the metronome. You can set a tempo for a metronome on the app, but it doesn’t actually control anything. Doesn’t turn on a metronome, doesn’t affect the tempo of the drum machine.
Everything is labeled v1.0.0, so I’m sure there will be some updates to fix some of the jankyness of the app, the on-board controls, eventually get the PC software rolled out, and hopefully later units ship with better instructions. I’m going to give them a LOT of leeway here, since this is v1.0.0, and I did not dock any stars for this, even though it’s frustrating. Because this thing really does just sound awesome enough to justify a full 5 star rating. I struggled with giving it 4 or 5 starts, but it’s all I’ve been playing through for the past week, and I just love it.
Final Rating: 5 stars, for pure awesome audio quality and first-class amp modeling. I’ll forgive Donner for their absurdly poor instruction manual, janky app, and non-existent PC software, because this thing is just so good (once you figure it out). And, I'm going to ASSUME the jankyness will be fixed soon with some updates.
Eddie Rattlehead
Donner makes some great music instruments and gear that are budget friendly and this one is no exception. This is an extremely versatile tone machine. At the time of this review, I could not find any good audio samples or overviews so I am posting a video review for your viewing pleasure. I hope you will find it to be helpful.
The pedal interface is relatively easy to use but it does help to use the software editor for the initial setup, preset leveling, and firmware updates. Once I got the models I liked, I stopped using the software editor.
The unit comes with 80 different amp models, 20 effects, 10 delays, 10 reverbs, several compressors, overdrives, etc. To be honest they all do a great job. The sound quality is fantastic overall! Just with this pedal I could show up at a gig, plug this into the front-of-the-house PA and perform.
The pedal comes well-packaged and protected. The Chasis of the unit is very well made it feels very sturdy. Footswitches are heavy-duty and solid. It comes with a power adapter and the USB Type-C cable required for the computer connection. There is no battery option available but this is not a must-have.
I sincerely hope that you would find my review helpful.
$269.99
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