JOYO Pedals: A Lot of Tone for A Few Bucks

At the beginning of the year, almost everyone is broke. The money we worked so hard/showed up to work for is now paying off Visa and Master Card. It is a good time to pick up on some deals. Nothing like Boxing week will give, but maybe you are still looking for what you didn’t get for Christmas.

I have come across some affordable pedals that sound awesome for just a little bit of cash. Joyo Audio is based in China (‘cus everything is made in China) has products spanning from metronomes to amplifiers. They even have a patented electric Erhu for those who may be interested. The JF-12 Voodoo Octave Fuzz pedal was the beast I bought. The line between fuzz and distortion can be blurred sometimes. With guitar this is the case in my oppinion, but I purchased this for it’s bass applications. It does indeed keep the low end, and produce a nice growl.

The “Octave Up” switch doesn’t really give you that “there must be a bassist” kind of sound. Instead it kind of skews the frequencies in a weird way that sounds almost like classic Nintendo. Again this is better complimented by the low end. All at the price of $45. I still plan to buy the JF-06 Vintage Phase. In terms of controls and almost color, it is a doppelganger of the Phase 90. The I loved how the Phase 90 sounded on bass but the problem I had with the MXR pedal was it was easy to clip the amp which was not evident in the Joyo pedal while I tried it. I could buy the Phase 100 which is designed with bass in mind, but I don’t have too much cash and won’t for a bit. Santa was a giving person this year, but he

leaves the bill next to my beer where he knows I will find it. Again, I can have this pedal at $45. Price may vary depending on where you are, but I know a guy who can get them for me so I don’t have to bust over to Quebec and learn Canadian French (FYI: Very diffrent form Eruopean French). Other honorable mentions: The JF-37 Analog Chorus and the JF-36 Sweet Baby. I am very picky with my chorus effect and this one hits the chime I look for. Currently I play the Boss CH-1 as my favorite and I also look to the Visual Sounds Liquid Chorus as a potential investment. The Sweet Baby pedal is something unique. This is a low-gain overdrive that is very responcive to how aggressive you swipe your strings. At an average strum, your signal will still be pretty clean with just a touch of spice. At most you can expect a Boss Blues Driver gain when you really reef on it.

Another awesome product is the PXL-PRO with 8 loop channels and the option to control the channels on your Marshall stack (or other 1/4 inputs). That alone is two birds with one stone. Each channel/trigger can be programed so that you can push one button and turn on your amps distortion, an Zakk Wylde Overdrive and a EVH 90. Which is a 3 stomp minimum effect, DONE! in the space of a 16th note. I never tried this pedal, so I am not entirely sure how it works, but I am interested.

Spanning around $50 but even small enough to fit in your pocket, is the thin Eno effect pedals. Ever wanted the Pro Co Rat? Eno has the Rat Distortion flying around without the legal fear. I never played the Pro Co Rat. I had the opratunity to play the Turbo Rat, but I passed it up because the person who owned it was not present. The Eno Rat is a very basic distortion. It sounds awesome. The one little hitch about this pedal is that it renders the tone of your guitar compleatly irrelevant. If you play a Tele, Strat, Les Paul or Warlock your tone is already set in stone. This would be great for the young player, or the punk rocker who just doesn’t care, but at a list price of $40, it can also be a great replacement to your newly damaged pedal until you can get it repaired/replaced. Can I say anything bad about the BMF Fuzz? No, it is exactly what a fuzz should be. Simple, rough and loud. Much more high end then the Big Muff, so with that in mind, my personal estamate is that this is a silicon diode. This is closer to the classic Sovtek Fuzz pedals then what Electro Harmonix has achived, but they try and we still love those guys for it. Still though, it’s not quite on the dot.

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