JOYO Pedals - Bang for the Buck

[tonepoet]

So, in another pedal board thread I mentioned experimenting with inexpensive JOYO pedals (many under $40) and how I was introduced to them through YouTube videos about 10 years by a YouTuber named Henning Pauly. His reviews are fun to watch and listen to. This is one he did about the JOYO Deluxe Crunch, which I have in my line up. I don't use it as aggressively as he does, but here's a link, if you'd like to see his review style. He is a bit opinionated about PRS guitars that he likes and how he does not like Gibson guitars, so Gibson lovers may be offended. But he is amusing to watch:



I think I've tried 3 or 4 JOYO distortion pedal models and I like the Deluxe Crunch the best. I only use it for a bit of dirt overdrive tone for rhythm guitar. If you look at the settings on mine, I barely have the distortion "Dist" dialed in with the "Pre" on full and it gives an overdriven chord tone like a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp on 5 or 6.

Anyway, he can run you through all that it does in his video. An inexpensive way to experiment with a variety of pedal models. All have true bypass and most have the input, output and 9v power jacks in the same place, so it makes it easy to set up a compact pedal board.

 

[GGJaguar]

I have a Joyo phaser pedal that does just enough for the few times that I use it. I think I paid $25 for it. So yes, high bang for the buck factor.

 

[fronobulax]

The endorsement made me curious so I went to https://www.joyoaudio.com/

Too much information and not enough guidance for the uninformed user. If, for example, I wanted to browse pedals that might work with a bass how am I supposed to know whether they would be R series, Ironman series, Vintage series or other? If there were a multi-effects pedal would it be GEM BOX or ToneChain? Let's ignore the ignorant bassist who wants to browse. How about a looper or a vocal harmonizer?

Note that I am not seriously in the market so my questions could be rhetorical. Now that I have seen the company's web page I would figure out a specific product using some other source and only go to the company with a specific device in mind. I can cite several web sites that have a simple product selection wizard and a comparison function and that would help me here. There is a search box but it is only as good as the terms I guess and it is not obvious how to ignore news, artist biographies and product categories of no interest.

Maybe it's a generational thing and the target audience comes to the website already having a specific product in mind and "browsing" is for the generation that is dying out?

Candidate for a Daily Rant except if it is a generational thing I think I'd rather just watch the kids I allow to play on my lawn.

 

[tonepoet]

how am I supposed to know whether they would be R series, Ironman series, Vintage series or other?

I haven't been to their website in years, so I am ignorant of these "series" they now offer. 10 or so years ago, when I was experimenting with them, the choices were pretty basic: a few distortion pedals, a few delay pedals and a tremolo pedal between $25 and $40. At the time, I had bought maybe 8 models over the course of a year and kept the ones I liked. At those prices, it was easier to experiment than dropping $200 on a pedal to experiment with.

I depended on the YouTube reviews to get ideas for what I may like to try.

I can't help when it comes to what would work for bass.

 

[GAD]

Pedals are an interesting thing for me. A lot of the really old ones are SO simple that they should be $10.

For a while I was building my own from BYOC [LINK] and had some really great results but when the kits are $60-100 you're not doing it to save money and you usually only get a plain aluminum case, but the ones I've built sound *amazing*, usually because they use really good components.

In a world where a lot of these circuits have been around forever, components are super available and inexpensive, and PCBs can be ordered in bulk for stupidly cheap, I have to imagine that there's low risk in something like Joyo. From what I've seen some of their stuff is through-hole and some of it is SMD, but for a lot of pedals that really shouldn't matter. For some like delays the old bucket brigades just sound better (or at least distinct) in a way that is difficult to replicate without resorting to things like DSPs, and nothing sounds (or has the limitations) like old germanium, but for a lot of pedals thatt just doesn't matter.

I guess my rambling post is trying to say that a lot of people think that only boutique pedals have the ToANz but they forget how super simple a lot of the best sounding vintage pedals were.

All of which is funny coming from me since I use an Axe-FX. LOL

 

[jp]

I've never tried any of the Joyo pedals, but they sound great in the vids. There seem to be a lot of pedal companies that followed the Behringer and Danelectro tradition to offer lower priced pedals: Donner, Caline, Mooer, etc. I've tried a few of these, and many of them sound just as good to me. Then of course, I can't always tell because I don't play enough nowadays to have such a sophisticated ear.


@GAD Did you build anything out of this classic book?



Supposedly, a lot of the Way Huge pedals were based off of Craig Anderton's original designs. Sadly, this book has sat on my shelf for decades, and I haven't built anything. I always convince myself that I'd rather be playing instead.

 

[GAD]

I've never tried any of the Joyo pedals, but they sound great in the vids. There seem to be a lot of pedal companies that followed the Behringer and Danelectro tradition to offer lower priced pedals: Donner, Caline, Mooer, etc. I've tried a few of these, and many of them sound just as good to me. Then of course, I can't always tell because I don't play enough nowadays to have such a sophisticated ear.


@GAD Did you build anything out of this classic book?



Supposedly, a lot of the Way Huge pedals were based off of Craig Anderton's original designs. Sadly, this book has sat on my shelf for decades, and I haven't built anything. I always convince myself that I'd rather be playing instead.

I have not.

My interests ebb and flow over time and when that book came out I was busy trying to meet girls while sitting on my porch with my S300AD, Tom Sholtz Rockman, Sony Walkman, and two sets of headphones. Turns out that's not a look that garners the kind of attention I was looking for.

 

[tonepoet]

Did you build anything out of this classic book?

I recall building one device from that book I liked that I think was just called "Tube Sound Fuzz". There was another called "Ultra Fuzz" that could put out your ear drums. I can't recall if they Anderton designs.

A site called PAIA.com used to have kits you could build from that book. I recall building a tube preamp of theirs called the Tubehead. I'd have to dig into my notes, it was probably 30 or more years ago that I built it. I recall that it was something you'd need to use a noise gate with. I was doing more DIY stuff back then.

 

[Horrid the Terrible]

I'm kind of interested in their American Sound pedal. Come to find out that many Joyo pedals have been rebranded by Harley Benton, the in house Thomann brand. I've always held my nose up to Harley Benton gear because of how low they are priced but they get tons of great reviews. Plus my friends son has a Harley Benton acoustic guitar that surprised the hell out me. Not what I was expecting and now I'm open to give some of their gear a try.
It's 30€ for the "American True Tone" pedal, which is the Joyo "American Sound" pedal, if I don't like it I'll just toss it to one of the neighborhood kids.

 

[Rocky]

I'm kind of interested in their American Sound pedal. Come to find out that many Joyo pedals have been rebranded by Harley Benton, the in house Thomann brand. I've always held my nose up to Harley Benton gear because of how low they are priced but they get tons of great reviews. Plus my friends son has a Harley Benton acoustic guitar that surprised the hell out me. Not what I was expecting and now I'm open to give some of their gear a try.
It's 30€ for the "American True Tone" pedal, which is the Joyo "American Sound" pedal, if I don't like it I'll just toss it to one of the neighborhood kids.

I got one based on all the internet hype. I thought it sounded squishy. YMMV.

 

[JohnW63]

JHS now sells a "series 3 " line that are all 99 bucks I think. Simple pedals that do a good job.

 

[fronobulax]

I got one based on all the internet hype. I thought it sounded squishy. YMMV.

I play at bass. What is an "American True Tone" or "American Sound" pedal supposed to do (make a MIM Strat sound like a MIA Strat?) and what does "squishy" mean in this context? If I had to guess (and guessing or asking is more fun than searching the 'net) I'd guess some kind of tone/frequency equalization but if that's right then I don't get squishy. Lacking in low frequencies?

Thanks.

 

[Rocky]

I play at bass. What is an "American True Tone" or "American Sound" pedal supposed to do (make a MIM Strat sound like a MIA Strat?) and what does "squishy" mean in this context? If I had to guess (and guessing or asking is more fun than searching the 'net) I'd guess some kind of tone/frequency equalization but if that's right then I don't get squishy. Lacking in low frequencies?

Thanks.

It's a clone, more-or-less, of the Tech 21 Blonde pedal. Intended to be used to run an electric guitar direct into a PA, but can also be used for EQ/distortion characteristics in front of an amp. What I meant by 'squishy' is overly compressed - like having a dyna comp on all the time.

 

[jp]

Just like there are "Marshalls in a box" or Vox amp emulation pedals, I'm guessing it's meant to get a classic Fender sound of some kind -- either Blackface or Tweed.

 

[Rocky]

Just like there are "Marshalls in a box" or Vox amp emulation pedals, I'm guessing its meant to get a classic Fender sound of some kind -- either Blackface or Tweed.

It's meant to do blonde and non-reverb black panel

 

[Horrid the Terrible]

Yup. It's Fender in a box. Works great in front of a Fender amp to make even more Fendery. Lol. I don't really know, never tried one. I've seen some good reviews from country and rockabilly players.

 

[Shakeylee]

the joyo american sound is worth its weight in gold.