When it comes to firsts for a company as influential as Fender, the primary landmarks that come to mind are the introduction of the Precision Bass in 1951, followed by the release of the Jazz Bass in 1960. Of course, there’s all of that brilliant innovation on the guitar side of things, too — but that’s not really our point of interest in these parts. Regardless, with all of those decades of monumental releases in the realm of instruments, it’s surprising that Fender would wait to unveil its very first bass effect pedal until 2019. Wanting to strengthen its foothold in the realm of effects, Fender has dished out quite a few stompboxes in the past few years, but finally the company has given us one of our own with the introduction of the Downtown Express Bass Multi-Effect. Offering three effects in one box, the Downtown Express features a compressor, 3-band EQ, and an analog overdrive. Each effect can be used on its own or combined with the others, which is when this pedal truly