The Donner Yellow Fall delay pedal is a cost-efficient and space saving pedal from one of the more well known pedal makers to come out of China in the past few years. Along with Mooer and Joyo, Donner is at the forefront of the mini/micro pedal movement that has recently taken hold, and currently offers quite a selection of pedals, many of which are inexpensive homages to well-known, and significantly higher priced, pedals. The Donner Yellow Fall is the company’s take on a classic delay circuit.
Features
The Donner Yellow Fall delay features true bypass wiring, and a three knob design with controls for time, echo, and feedback. The pedal’s signal path is based around a PT2399 echo/delay processor chip, and provides from 20 ms of delay up to about 620 ms of delay. Although on its own, this chip does provide longer delay times than the quite popular Bucket Brigade Device MN3007 analog chip, the PT2399 is still limited to a maximum of 340 ms. However, at the expense of the signal quality, the total delay time of the PT3007 can be stretched to about a full second. As such, the Yellow Fall delay provides repeats that are clean but not-too-clean, making it a very vintage-y feeling and sounding pedal.
Time: controls the total delay time. Appropriately, this knob is the largest of the three, making it easy to crouch down and quickly adjust it during a set. Or, if you are someone who is gifted with the ability to turn knobs with their feet, this knob facilitates that as well. With a delay range of 20 ms to 620 ms, this pedal covers most of the common delay applications, from slapback to shoegaze, and everything in between.
Echo: controls the ratio of wet/dry signal. Turn the knob down and the delay effect will sit well below your primary guitar signal. Turn the knob up and hear as the repeats become practically indistinguishable from your original signal.
F. Back: stands for “feedback” and controls the amount of repeats. On some other pedals, this function is labeled “regen.” Set this knob low for slapbacks and light echoes, and high for endless signal regeneration. Due to the nature of this pedal’s circuit, higher feedback settings will result in some signal degradation on subsequent repeats. This particular phenomenon is typically referred to as a modulation effect, and can be quite pleasant and desirable. This type of modulated delay is something that the classic analog Memory Man from EHX is known for, and that the MXR Carbon Copy is also known to provide.
In addition to the standard delay effect, the Yellow Fall is capable of some more wacky and experimental sounds, thanks to its ability to generate self-oscillating effects. By quickly turning the feedback knob up past the 3 o’clock point while feeding signal through the pedal, you can make the signal sound as though it is twisting over itself in a very cool way. To get some of those warped, downsampled sounds, try quickly turning the knob down and back up again while feeding signal through it. Despite being a digital delay pedal, the Yellow Fall’s intuitive and responsive controls make it behave in some ways more like an analog pedal. Which is great because the Yellow Fall is a fraction of the cost of a true analog pedal.
Spectrographic Analysis
Telecaster Style Guitar [Maple Fingerboard, Dimarzio D-Activator Humbucker (bridge position)] – Cable – Scarlett 2i2 Interface – MacBook Pro 15” 2012 – Logic Pro X.
Powered by a grounded Voodoo Labs Pedal Power unit via 9V input.
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Not much signal loss or frequency gouging here. Basically what you would expect from a standard true bypass pedal.
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Conclusion
Considering that the Donner Yellow Fall can be had new for about a Benjamin less than many other three knob delay pedals (like the MXR Carbon Copy Mini) we think that it is an excellent deal. If you are looking to add a versatile delay to your board, but do not need all of the extra features of a new, programmable digital unit, or do not want to deal with the hassle that can accompany temperamental analog units, then this pedal is worth your consideration. It is inexpensive, durable, and bright yellow! What more could you ask for?
Specs
True Bypass: Yes
Battery Cavity: No
DC in: Yes (power supply sold separately)
Input(s): 1 x 1/4”
Output(s): 1 x 1/4”
