Donner Arena 2000 Guitar Multi-Effects Pedal with 278 Effects, 100 IRs, Looper, Drum Machine, Amp Modeling, XLR and MIDI Support

I was looking for a multi-effects pedal when I came across this one. I have a lot of Donner products and have been quite pleased with their products. This pedal really outdoes some of the others available. The screen is easy to read, and after taking time to learn how to control things, it is quite intuitive. The sounds are really good as well. I do wish they made a list available of all the built-in effects. This pedal is almost perfect for those looking for a budget-friendly unit. Compared to some of the other pedals I researched, there were some really good advantages to this one: * The display makes it easy to see all of the settings. * Clicking on the selected button enters stomp mode where you can turn on/off two effects. Those effects are listed on the display so you know what you are controlling. * The expression pedal can switch between two actions (switch off for volume, switch on for wah, vibrato, or whatever effect you have assigned - you can set both on and off effects). * Balanced XRL and unbalanced TRS outputs. * Separate volume controls for XRL, TRS, and headphones! * Hold the active button down to switch to the tuner, which is very easy to read. * Settings to adjust the input levels. * Cab modes can be enabled/disabled per output option. * Easy to change the chain order. * Five dials to adjust effect controls. * Mobile and desktop apps to control the device (mobile apps via Bluetooth as well!)! * Ability to add 50 IRs. The only quirk I had to get used to was the touch buttons. The screen isn't a touchscreen, but the mod category buttons are. You have to be aware of where they are when using the dials. If you finger rubs the screen, you can end up either changing to a different effect, or turning one on/off. The input port is closer to the right side of the unit, which is definitely not like most pedals, but not really an issue. The only thing I wish they did was make a bass model, or had an option for bass effects via firmware. I keep looking for a similar bass version, and there are very few in this budget category. The controls are so easy to use for guitar. I have a separate pedal for bass effects - it's just not as intuitive as the Arena 2000. If they ever came out with a bass model, I'll be adding that as well!

I own tons of boutique gear. This pedal is cheap, but tons of features. It is so simple that rather than striving to emulate real life, it instead gives you a sandbox. This enables true creativity and unbounded by traditional rational setups and is the #1 reason I bought this pedal after substantial research and YouTube videos. Pros: unlimited flexibility with pedal fx order, smart phone control is simple and painless and significantly adds to the value of the device, can run dual expression pedals and assign to ANY parameter allowing for unique forms of expression and sounds, some pedal fx are absolutely stellar and nearly identical to my boutique counterparts including distortions, lightweight and reasonable durable with exception to attached expression pedal. Cons: Must have external power, remember to lock Bluetooth if playing live to prevent someone else taking control of your unit, only serial signal chains not parallel ability or amp “effects loop”. Overall incredible value that fulfills its niche application almost perfectly and is a welcome addition to my permanent soundboard worth several thousand $$$$

** Update #2: The folks at Donner reached out to me after my initial review and really made it a point to work with me by respectfully asking for a chance to make things right. They sent me another device – and this one sounds and performs much better. I retract my earlier statement about the FVACM technology – although it doesn’t provide a complete tube like feel, it does a great job making the digital platform more organic and warm sounding than one would expect. Also completely remedied is the XLR output issue I experienced. In fact, I got a great acoustic tone with an acoustic amp selection and going XLR direct to a PA. Still very impressed with the smartphone app to modify settings. This really is a great value and I will be gigging with this again very soon. ** Update: I did use this on a gig tonight after being encouraged using the Arena 2000 with a different amp of mine. And I feel I had great results. It really cut through the mix and delivered enough grit and bite to cut through the mix and make me satisfied overall. This was previously at a 2/5 rating, but it’s now up to 3/5 after tonight’s success. ...but I'm a primarily roots rock/blues rock player. I'll give Donner this – they really seem to know how to target prospective buyers. This showed up in my social media feeds and web searches for days – I'm not complaining; that's the world we live in now. And one high profile guitar magazine gave this a 4.0/5.0 rating – and that was enough to get me to start giving this serious consideration. Although the device is digital, it's advertised FVACM technology to reduce the "plastic taste" intrigued me. After all, my amps are analog solid state and technology is advancing in capturing warmer, responsive tones without the need for tubes and such. — Before I go further, allow to share that I purchased this *with my own money*. I went through an affiliate link on a YouTube review of this and used a coupon that was available but I have not been in contact with anyone from Donner. First of all, the footprint of this is ideal. My primary multi effect pedal is probably 2.5x the size as the Arena 2000 – maybe more. And the construction is solid. The interface is impressive and intuitive; while the display may appear a little dated, I didn't have much of a learning curve at all in navigating, changing the order of effects, saving and making presets. The companion smartphone app is also a huge plus; it connects to the unit via Bluetooth and simultaneously adjusts levels, settings, names and more. With my primary rig, I usually have to get on the floor to trust knobs and save patches. It's too bad there's not something like this for my rig; my back and knees would really appreciate it. Well, you've probably already figured out... this has not replaced my primary rig. Although there are some usable tones, it lacks warmth and depth. The advertised FVACM technology doesn't seem to have much impact. The day that I received this, I scored a "pick up" gig that night with my blues rock band and thought it would be a great opportunity to try this in a live setting. The intuitiveness of this device made it a breeze to dial in a tone that I felt was definitely useable. But it wasn't totally convincing. I left the possibility open that maybe I was being too critical. Another big plus of this: Instrument cable in, instrument cable out, power it on and you're ready to go. Although I pointed it out earlier, it bears mentioning that this can feasibly go in a gig bag. Back to the gig: Everything about it is going well, and the tone is fine but lacking warmth and depth. Midway through, I turn to our front man and point out the new Arena 2000 and ask his thoughts on the tone. His response: "It sounds cold." Unfortunately, I had to agree. I've since worked with it more, but just can't get it to go with my style of playing. Those into heavy rock, metal, and even emo, R&B, Funk, and Hip-Hop might find this to be very useable. But to me, the effects their models are based on sound like distant cousins twice removed. Another point, and this is in it's favor: there's practically every kind of connection type available: 1/4", 1/8", XLR, USB, MIDI. However, I encountered a disappointing drawback to this which hopefully may be isolated to this particular unit I received. I ran two XLR cables to my PA and worked with an acoustic-electric. I was getting to the point where I was getting a tone that was encouraging enough to take this on an acoustic duo gig. Unfortunately, a loud 'pop' occurred and a very significant drop in volume came as a result. I thought this might have been a fluke so I went back to this process a couple of days later and... very same result. That really bummed me out because my partner in my acoustic duo will occasion kick in a low overdrive and even a wah and I was hoping to have a similar result. This is also powered by a simple 9V – meaning your pedal power supply is sufficient and doesn't need anything proprietary. (Thank you Donner for this!) More plusses: it's tuner is easy to read and accurate. Adding additional effects to presets on the fly again is very simple – I really did enjoy having my base tone and assigning two of the foot button controls to tremolo, boost, chorus, etc. My multi effects unit isn't this user friendly. Furthermore, the multi-function treadle for wah, volume, parameters is really responsive, practical, and can be engaged without hard pressing – small size notwithstanding. I have used the drum beats that are included – and they are fine, although nothing that made me want to go further or return back to them on a regular basis. The looper I found to be user friendly. At the end of the day, I just can't get around the rather one-dimensional tones for my style of playing. Everything else about this though is smartly designed and efficient – Donner really took a great approach here but the tones and the XLR issue described above have had this largely residing in my gear storage.

For the amount of amp and speaker cabinet modeling and various sound effects I'd give it a big 10, 2 thumbs up, it's great! Amazing! I love it! For ease of controls use only a 1. For customer service, a negative 10. I bought this to replace a ZOOM G1X FOUR, a decent effects unit, as an upgrade. It's far better for the amount of sounds I can get out of it using my electric guitar as the input and a small Marshall amp as the output. Extremely happy with that. For ease of use on the various unit controls, not so much. It's a fair amount of learning curve involved. Helps a bit using the Android app for it on my smartphone, and that syncs up easily to the unit using bluetooth. The user manual is near worthless for all that, it only provides bare-bones info on what the various controls do and I'm left to figure out all the other complex stuff on my own. My big negative is customer service. I had a simple question about how to turn up drum tracks volume in relation to my guitar volume coming out of my amp. It's so much lower than the guitar I can barely hear it. I would think volume adjustment for drums would be one of the first things I'd see when opening the interface for it, as with my ZOOM unit, but I can't find it. Calling customer service was pure misery. No answer for several attempts, and during hours listed as being open for business, no leave a message option. When I did get someone it was a young-sounding woman, naturally with a sing-song foreign accent, who was obviously "programmed" to get rid of me. When asking about my simple question and her putting me on hold a few times she mentioned tech support but that she would need my email address for that. I asked to be connected to a support rep and she said she could not do that, and repeated that when I asked again. So I gave my email address and am waiting for a contact that will probably never happen. Utterly ridiculous. Can't even talk with someone about a very simple question, that someone familiar with the unit could probably answer in seconds. I also separately emailed their customer service link, zero reply yet. I'll update all this if someone contacts me. FOLLOW-UP EDIT: I got a call back from the sing-song voice girl, saying she had talked to tech support about my question and they needed me to make and send a video of my problem. Beyond ridiculous, I told her to forget about it. The absurdity of making a video for "how do I turn up drum tracks volume" is astounding. EDIT TO THE EDIT: A tech support person finally contacted me with a very simple answer to my volume question. All good now, but it's a shame I could not quickly get to a person that actually knows the product to begin with.

The best accessory next to the guitar itself. If nothing else you will be educated on the many styles and sounds out there. This has a ton of presets that are super fun and useful . The loop is perfection. Its super easy and intuitive, although there is SO MUCH ! It still takes some time to process it all. You have so much freedom to experiment and record. For just over 200.00 this is an essential "pedal" It eliminates the need for a few other pedals , i still use my crybaby and my voodoo vibe. I can't wait to use it and i can't stop once i start. My fingers hurt! Love the Arena 2000!the blocks are COMPRESSOR - FX1- DRIVE - AMP - CAB - NG - FX2 -DELAY- REVERB. Each block has a ton of references to Classic amplifiers and cabinets and effects, The combinations of sounds are endless. Sound i never would've tried to get, are easy to get. I uploaded the manual to ChatGPT and it makes settings recommendations for any musician / song i ask it to do. Amazing technology.

I've been using guitar processors for decades, lately I've been using tge hx stuff from line 6. This thing is certainly not a helix, but it's sound quality is certainly close if you take the time to dial it in and the control features are nearly on par with the pod go. Likes: 1.) Bluetooth connectivity for control via phone/tablet. 2.) Amp and Cab sounds are amazing when dialed in properly. 3.) Comes with a dotted eigth delay with tap tempo! (handy for the worship guitarist) 4.) Very compact size (half the size of the pod go) Dislikes: 1.) Volume pedal does not have a toe switch to turn on wah (the press of a second button is required, or you just program seperate patches for wah) 2.) Buttons and knobs are a bit sensitive (using the phone/tablet bluetooth feature remedies this) 3.) Not really a dislike as it makes the unit feel more true to the feel of an analog setup: patches need to be dialed for different guitars ie: single coils vs humbuckers. This thing is very dynamic in the tone department! Tips for those looking to use this thing: 1.) In the cab block roll the hipass and lowpass to 60hz and 12500hz. This will eliminate the "angry bee" artifacts in the high end and any muddiness in the low end. 2.) Utilize the eq block, 10 band eq is great for sculpting tone! 3.) When it comes to drive and this universally true, especially with digital modelers, less is more! 4.) Start by shaping your core tone before adding a ton of effects and copy and paste that tone across several patches when you get it dialed in. 5.) Play around with mic type and placement in the cab block as it makes a HUGE difference in tone. 6.) The pure boost effect in the either of the fx blocks are great for evening out volume levels of patches when placed directly after the cab block. (Assuming the cab block is after all gainstages. Conclusion: for the $$ this thing is an absolute steal! It just takes a little time dialing it in, but the tones are in there. I would feel confident gigging with this unit, but then again I tend to take care of my gear. I was leary at first given donners name being associated with cheap gear that leaves alot to be desired sonically, but this unit has single handedly changed my mind completely. Don't be afraid to get this unit, it is great.

A great pedal, was very happy with this right out of the box. Played with a bunch of the presets and made my own, was pretty easy to do. Originally I tried the Boss GT1 but that pedal came with dead lines in the LCD screen and doesn't even come with a power adapter that they want to charge you an additional $40 for. This not only comes with a power adapter, it has multiple fittings to fit other plugs in different countries, very well thought out product. It also comes with a USB cable for computer connection, another thing the Boss pedal lacked. Update- About a week and a half after I got the pedal, it stopped working correctly with the sound constantly cutting in and out while playing. I tried using different cords, resetting some stuff, different amp and still the same issue. Got it back working after a bit, the output knob was a little wonky (im assuming a bad connection) and after messing with that a bit it started to work normally again, but i cant really trust this equipment. I confirmed the issue when I tapped around the output knob and the sound starting cutting out. I don't totally blame Donner on this as it didn't help that the Amazon driver tossed the package for the device and it made a loud noise when it hit my door, I thought it was fine but I'm thinking that caused some loose wiring or didn't help the already loose wire.

I ordered the Arena 2000 with the intention of using it my live rig. As a working musician, I wanted something affordable that still sounded awesome. The Arena met those criteria (and still does) but unfortunately it had a fatal flaw for live players. When turning FX like the overdrive on and off, there is a split second where the sound cuts out. I recorded the Arena in my DAW to double check and could see it in the sound file. This unit sounds incredible. If you're playing at home and practicing, it's worth every penny. Unfortunately, the split second where the sound cuts was a deal breaker for me. Hopefully the Arena can be updated via firmware (but it hasn't had an update since it released) to solve this issue. I returned the Arena and settled on the Valeton GP200 which doesn't have the sound cut issue.

Got one today and i am really happy with it. Lots of tone with simple to use. Lot more to learn this little beast. Just affordable on this price. You should go for it.

I'm not usually a fan of multi-fx units, and admittedly I didn't buy this for the FX, but more the amp and cab modelling for some extra recording options. The FX all sound fine, they do what you'd expect, and there's nothing particularly out of the ordinary included. But the amp and cam modelling is seriously impressive, along with the drive pedals, which work really well when put infront of the amp in the FX chain. There's pretty much a sim for every kind of amp you can think of, and the cab modelling allows you to adjust the type of microphone and the placement. The Post-amp EQ is also very effective, from 3 band to 10 band EQ options. There's a bunch of drive, distortions and fuzz boxes which sound great. If you're a high-gain player in particular, this is an impressive piece of gear. The drives will push the amp sims to give you very realistic tube-amp saturation, and incredibly tight bass response. The noise gates are all very good too, and much better than my standalone unit. If you're looking for a multi FX unit, this will do the job fine, but by far the best feature of this unit is the amp and cab modelling, especially when used in tandem with the drives and post-amp EQ.

Es un producto de muy alta calidad, tiene un sonido excelente y unos efectos que se pueden modificar y ajustar a cualquier gusto, me pareció excelente en relación precio calidad, es lo mejor que se puede adquirir en este precio con una calidad muy superior a cualquier producto de ese costo.

Ottima. Pratica, piccola (entra nella custodia della chitarra). Ottimi suoni di base e totalmente modellabili. Se sai quello che vuoi e che vuoi ottenere, ti fornisce tutto quello che serve. Interfaccia intuitivo e facile da comprendere, misto tra manopole e touch screen. Tutto a portata di mano e velocemente modificabile. Assolutamente consigliata

Sehr gutes und sauber arbeitenes Multifunktions Effektgerät mit vielen Sonderfunktionen wie Looper + Drumcomputer und Bearbeitungs Programm für PC und Smartphone! Einzige kleine Nachtteil ist an den Gerät das man nur 3 Schalter hat und kompliziert hin und her schalten muß, aber man ja alles programmieren ! Sehr empfehlenswert und sauberer Klang für nicht zu viel Geld