Donner is a global music technology company offering a wide range of consumer-oriented musical instrument products. Established in 2012 and headquartered in Guangdong, China, Donner has over the past 10 years expanded from being a manufacturer of guitar effect pedals to developing a full line of family-oriented musical instruments focused on offering a high level of value for beginner or intermediate level musicians. With different divisions covering everything from band, general musical instruments (guitar, bass, drums and keyboard), musical entertainment and musical products for kids, Donner makes and sells a wide range of high-quality musical instruments and accessories worldwide.
While not as well-known of a brand as some of the mainstream guitar effect pedals sold here in the U.S., Donner makes a wide range great sounding, affordable guitar effect pedals. Two good examples are Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho multi-effect pedals, which are compact, fly rig or gig bag sized multi effect pedals. Each of Alpha Cruncher and Revecho’s controls are located directly above each effect and have a rubber grip making all the parameters easy to adjust on the fly. If you are on the go or on the road, Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho guitar effect pedals are a terrific way to create, record and perform professional quality guitar parts.
Donner’s Alpha Cruncher features British-style distortion, chorus and delay effects housed in a rugged, compact all-steel enclosure. Alpha Cruncher’s multi-effects are designed to sound great by themselves or can be combined to create rich, harmonically complex textures. The Alpha Cruncher, because of its great sound and flexible signal path, is perfect for live gig and home recording applications.
Alpha Cruncher’s distortion effect has a volume control to adjust the output level, a gain knob to adjust the amount of distortion and a tone control. The chorus effect has level, rate, and depth controls. The delay effect has a level control to adjust the delay volume, a feedback control to adjust the number of repeats and a delay knob to adjust the delay time. The Alpha Cruncher comes with a nine-volt DC regulated 500 mA power supply. There is no battery compartment on the Alpha Cruncher, so you either need to use the included power supply or a pedal board power supply. The back of the Alpha Cruncher has unbalanced 1/4” input and output jacks.
Donner’s Revecho guitar effect pedal combines a tap tempo enabled delay and reverb effects in one pedal, allowing you to easily create complex ambient and spatial reverb and delay textures. As with Alpha Cruncher, Revecho is built into an all-steel enclosure with easy-to-adjust onboard controls.
Revecho’s reverb effect emulates a classic hall reverb algorithm and is a great general purpose reverb effect for stage or studio. With Revecho’s onboard controls you can fine-tune Revecho’s overall effect level, delay time, delay feedback, and reverb time. Holding down the reverb switch engages or disengages the tails (spillover) effect. Holding down the delay switch engages the tap tempo function. When the tap tempo effect is engaged, the delay indicator light will blink according to the tempo tapped into the footswitch. As with the Alpha Cruncher, the back of Revecho has unbalanced quarter-inch input and output jacks and a jack to attach a nine-volt DC regulated 500 mA power supply and no provision to operate the effect via battery power.
I like the way Alpha Cruncher and Revecho’s small footprint and surprisingly great sound does not take up a lot if space on a desktop or pedalboard. For me personally, I was pleasantly surprised how many usable sounds I could get out Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho. When combined together, Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho gives you a complete signal path covering most of what a wide cross section of guitar players would consider essential for a live gig, as well as provides enough flexibility for recording sessions. While Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho do not have the deep editing capability of more expensive multi-effect pedals, Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho nevertheless offers great sounding, surprisingly versatile utility multi-effects delivered at highly attractive prices. Whether you are purchasing them as your primary or backup guitar effects, the Donner’s Alpha Cruncher and Revecho offer a cost-effective alternative with features and versatility to get the job done.
The Donner Alpha Cruncher is available now for $69.99, the Donner Revecho is available now for $59.99 both are on Donner’s Amazon Storefront.
Find out more at donnermusic.com.
