ilovefuzz.com

The downer is fantastic at driving other distortions into absolute chaos, but I have a hard time dealing with it on its own. It's also super sensitive to what I put into it, so I guess other people's set ups might get different results. Maybe even something like a tube amp.

oyrgawd wrote:I just got the Downer and I’ve used the Prunes & Custard for years. The Downer is rad and does indeed do what the Prunes & Custard does, but:

I've never heard either in the flesh, but I love the P&C demos on bass out there. I was prepared to go in and then found the Downer...

Is the Downer a 1:1 replacement for the P&C if I twiddle the knobs right, or can it never really nail that same.. whatever the fuck the P&C does? That's the sound I want, and logic dictates that I buy the P&C but extra things and cheaper to get makes the Downer hard to say no to.

P&C is rad.

I got a Downer speculatively and wasn't really expecting to hold on to it, but man, you'd have to pry it from cold, dead hands. Expression pedal's a must for the full experience though for sure

I love the p&c sound, but I jsut want to know the downer does the same thing, plus more if I choose to use it.. Oyrgawd says the Downer has a bit of latency between dry and wet, but I’m not even sure if that matters or not.

I hate being indecisive.

I need to find out if these Reverb Australia shops mean free shipping to the US.

Other than that, they’re like the same price.

I went so far as twatter Juan Alderante, who’s demos exposed me to both, which he’d buy if he could only have one and his response was “whichever is easier to get.” Not helpful.

Hi all, I have 2 questions about the Downer:
Is the pitch effect polyphonic?
The preamp/saturation can be set to sound (almost) clean?

If you use a volume pedal in front of it, it will make the folding less (you can use that because it is an amplitude based effect...instead of clipping the peaks, it folds).

It's not polyphonic in the sense that it makes the same fold happen on every note played at the same time...it folds the harmonics to create more harmonics...so chords will get muddy/over staturated with harmonics. It's best used sparingly or with some kind of amplitude adjustment before it (like a slow gear, volume pedal, tremolo) to give you a sweep or control over the harmonic complexity beyond what the pedal offers.

It does have a clean blend which is nice...it just folds instead of clips. Think of it as harmonic control instead of pitch control.

The octave down is like any octave down kinda fuzz (so monophonic).
Running a folder after a vca so the folding becomes more complex as the volume gets louder (like inverse filtering) is a modular trick...so it kind of pairs well with their sneak attack.


Edit fix typoz

bloatedsack wrote:

oyrgawd wrote:I just got the Downer and I’ve used the Prunes & Custard for years. The Downer is rad and does indeed do what the Prunes & Custard does, but:

I've never heard either in the flesh, but I love the P&C demos on bass out there. I was prepared to go in and then found the Downer...

Is the Downer a 1:1 replacement for the P&C if I twiddle the knobs right, or can it never really nail that same.. whatever the fuck the P&C does? That's the sound I want, and logic dictates that I buy the P&C but extra things and cheaper to get makes the Downer hard to say no to.

You can get some similar sounds...but PC is more envelopy feeling. They are similar enough in a mix though...downer is more tweakable with a sub octave.

lordgalvar wrote:If you use a volume pedal in front of it, it will make the folding less (you can use that because it is an amplitude based effect...instead of clipping the oeaks, it folds).

It's not polyphonic in the sense that it makes the same fold happy on every note played at the same time...it folds the harmonics to create more harmonics...so chords will get muddy/over staturated with harmonics. It's best used sparingly or with some kind of amplitude adjustment before it (like a slow gear, volume pedal, tremolo) to give you a sweep or control over the harmonic complexity beyond what the pedal offers.

It does have a clean blend which is nice...it just folds instead of clips. Think of it as harmonic control instead of pitch control.

The octave down is like any octave down kinda fuzz (so monophonic).
Running a folder after a vca so the folding becomes more complex as the volume gets louder (like inverse filtering) is a modular trick...so it kind of pairs well with their sneak attack.

thank you so much for your reply, and explanation! I found one on the second hand market and that caught my attention, but after reading your words, I wont get it.
I have enough fuzz, octavers and filters at home

Yeah, honestly it's a bit specific to kinda shoehorn into an existing rig...it's more something I would plan around for a specific setup. It's something to try, but nothing I would ever have to have.

Sorry about all the dang typos...big fingers and little phone.

I was high on the concept of a wave folding pedal for a while but after watching the P&C demo and thinking about the excellent description from lordgalvar I have to agree. I have enough gear to get a similar sound. My GAS for a wave folding pedal is over unless someone does some serious envelope pushing.

The first batch of these Source Audio Ultra Waves (beta version) just sold out yesterday, and there are some embedded videos on FB that sound promising soooo

I'd forgotten this thread, and since I last read any of it I acquired a Downer, but I haven't done much with it.

I shall make a note to swap it for either my Wurhm or Geiger Counter at some point.

http://www.redpandalab.com/products/bitmap not centered around wave-folding but the Bitmap 2 does it