Donner DT Deluxe Chromatic Guitar Tuner Pedal

I bought this at the recommendation of another guitar player who was using one of these as a backup to his MXR Smartgate he has been using for years. He told me he bought the Donner as a backup but was so surprised by the quality, he said I should try it as the price/performance was amazing.

So, this was delivered the other day and I’ve had the chance to use it several times. I put it after my Joyo Vintage Overdrive (noisy) and Skreddy Lunar Module (fairly quiet unless turned up to high levels) but before my modulation/time effects. Honestly, I really don’t turn on the Donner much for the Skreddy unless I crank up the fuzz to crazy levels or combine it with the Overdrive. However, when I use the Overdrive, whether alone or combined with the Skreddy, it gets really noisy. This is where I have been pleasantly surprised. The Donner is very easy to set with one dial and I was able to fine tune the Threshold (on the Soft filter setting) to where it cuts out most of the noise but still allows me to have significant sustain (I’m using a Fender Stagemaster FAT SSS). This also works well as I can kick in my compressor (which amplifies noise; MXR Dyna Comp) which furthers the sustain and can boost the levels even more without a lot of noise (i.e. it’s a lot quieter). I haven’t used the Hard setting, so I can’t speak to that, but the Soft has been plenty.

FYI, I did have a Boss NS2 that died on me. The NS2 did a good job of filtering but I found it to have a harder cut than the Donner. Also, the NS2, with numerous settings available, takes some more tweaking but does allow more options. The Donner is very quick and intuitive to set with a pretty soft cut (at least on the Soft setting). The Effect Loop on the NS2 was a nice option and allowed me to run my noisy pedals through the loop and bypass the modulation/time based effects.

If your looking for more settings, options and fine tuning, the NS2 may work well for you. If you want something that is easy to set, does a good job, takes up very little space on your board, the Donner is a great option. I wish I could compare this to additional noise pedals, but I can’t. For me, this pedal is worth every cent and a small investment.

This sturdy little pedal came in a nice magnetically closable box with a quick but useful owner’s guide and a couple cute Donner stickers (I believe all Rock ‘n Roll goodies should come with a cool sticker! ;-).

I play mostly hard rock and metal (a lot of that drop tuned D, Db, C and B). I was tired of getting almost instant feedback (in my setting – a small 12×14 room with a 40watt all tube Marshall DSL40). I don’t like using the amp in Triode mode (reducing and cutting the output power in half). Needless to say, there was a lot of unwanted noise (and feedback) coming out constantly and almost instantly.

Most of my ‘effects’ pedal plug straight into the front of the amp (first – last: Tremonti Dying Machine Way, Joyo Compressor, Tube Screamer Mini, and a Fulltone OCD distortion). I’ve patched this Donner Noise Killer along with my EarthQuacker Dispatch Master Delay/Reverb and volume attenuator pedals through the back FX Loop of the amp to get the most noise reduction without affecting the tone or the effects of the other pedals (besides which, this is a True Bypass pedal).

As mentioned above, I use a JHS Little Black Amp Box ‘Passive amp Attenuator’ to cut back the overall volume output of the Marshall amp so I can turn up the Volumes to get into the sweet-spot of the amp itself without blowing my head or the roof off! Combined with the Donner Noise Killer pedal, these work perfectly to manage volumes and unwanted noises!

The pedal has both a potentiometer Dial (ranges between -60 and +10db) and a Loud / Soft switch. I find it’s happy place is switched into Soft mode (which Donner recommends for most playing styles in the leaflet/manual) and the Dial set just a tad below -40db. I had to play with this a bit to find the sweet spot where I still get sweet sustain and I’m able to kill the unwanted noises. As Donner designed, it’s easy to adjust and I was jamming within a couple of minutes.

There’s just a little “pop” when stomping the the ON/OFF button that is audible through the amp. It’s not terrible however. Besides, it on all the time now anyway. Not a concern…

The difference in my setup/setting is like night and day concerning the ambient noise that’s “killed” as well as the amount of feedback I cut out with this little guy! With it turned off, there’s a definite buzzing noise coming out of the the amp. With it on, it’s completely gone! With this on and set as described above, the amount of unwanted feedback is pretty much cut out while playing as well. Now there’s plenty of time to palm-mute and turn down the guitar volume between songs.

There maybe a better Noise Killer on the market. You might have a buy a few to find it. You’ll probably be paying 3x the price as well and it’ll be, more than likely, more cumbersome to dial it in.

What’s left to say? I’m satisfied with this well built Donner Noise Killer.

Buy it! I bet it works for you they way it working for me.

Megusto es pequeño y tiene buenos efectos.

Funciona como debe ser y tiene materiales resistentes , recomendado para mitigar el ruido de tu guitarra, solo como dato revisa tus cableados por qué luego no es ruido de los efectos es ruido de los cables o amplificador, recomendado para pedales de distorsión

A fast performing noise gate (also switchable to a slower reacting noise gate). Effect pedals can introduce a great deal of noise, which only gets amplified by the guitar amplifier. This noise gate effectively gets rid of the noise (particularly distortion pedal noise). I was concerned that the noise switch would affect the signal in an adverse way–but it doesn’t. A great noise gate at a reasonable price.