Joyo California (Amp Modeling Pedals)

[goroth]

The Joyo pedals are super legit. All of them. The build quality is suprisingly good on both of mine, although the soldering on the bypass can be a bit dodgy - I've gotta resolder my Extreme Metal. All of the parts and stuff are either SMD or stuff that other builders take big bucks for. I've seen WIMA caps in Joyo stuff before. Most of the circuits are direct clones of other pedals - the Extreme Metal is a Metal Muff, part for part. The Ultimate Drive is an OCD (which in itself is a lightly modded Vodoo Labs OD). Joyo and BIyang offer unreal value for money, and whoever is choosing the circuits is good at it - they choose really nice circuits to clone. The character series is interesting - none of them are straight clones of the Tech21 stuff, but they are near clones. They kinda simplified the character series to make it a bit easier for them to create the different pedals with a few different part changes.

Yes, ILF is just as clicky as TGP with pedals, but there is a general attitude that if it sounds good then it is good, as wfs1234 stated. I guess people don't gas about those pedals cos part of what many people value is the sorta handmade-customy-close-relationship thing you get with the small builders here. But just cos people don't start 50 threads about cheapo pedals doesn't mean that peeps don't dig them.

Joyo: Buy with confidence and be prepared to solder a loose lead every now and again.

[StormJH1]

The Joyo pedals are super legit. All of them. The build quality is suprisingly good on both of mine, although the soldering on the bypass can be a bit dodgy - I've gotta resolder my Extreme Metal. All of the parts and stuff are either SMD or stuff that other builders take big bucks for. I've seen WIMA caps in Joyo stuff before. Most of the circuits are direct clones of other pedals - the Extreme Metal is a Metal Muff, part for part. The Ultimate Drive is an OCD (which in itself is a lightly modded Vodoo Labs OD). Joyo and BIyang offer unreal value for money, and whoever is choosing the circuits is good at it - they choose really nice circuits to clone. The character series is interesting - none of them are straight clones of the Tech21 stuff, but they are near clones. They kinda simplified the character series to make it a bit easier for them to create the different pedals with a few different part changes.

Yes, ILF is just as clicky as TGP with pedals, but there is a general attitude that if it sounds good then it is good, as wfs1234 stated. I guess people don't gas about those pedals cos part of what many people value is the sorta handmade-customy-close-relationship thing you get with the small builders here. But just cos people don't start 50 threads about cheapo pedals doesn't mean that peeps don't dig them.

Joyo: Buy with confidence and be prepared to solder a loose lead every now and again.

Well said! I gotta tell you, I just got this thing in today and "legit" is absolutely the right word for their stuff! (No joke, I ordered from a California eBay distributor with a lot of Joyo stuff...placed the order at about 2:30pm on FRIDAY, and they had it shipped for free to my door in the Midwest on Monday morning. Wow. $41 door to door.)

I'd be lying if I told you I knew exactly what a Mesa Boogie stack sounds like, or even how good of a job the Tech 21 "Character" series did of cloning that sound on other amps. To me, that isn't even the point. This Joyo California just sounds GOOD. The "Voice" knob basically is a blender between the tone of your original amp and the Mesa Boogie model. Obviously, the tonal limitations of your amp and speaker (not to mention your guitar and other equipment) are going to have as much to do with the final tone as does a $40 pedal. But to give me three-band EQ control, plus level and drive on an pedal housed in a heavy-duty metal case...and even have it respond to your playing (and clean up by lower guitar volume) like on-board amp controls...for $40?!? Are you kidding me?!

The problem I have now is that I want to try almost ALL of them, but as pedal-obsessed as I am right now, I can't financially permit that to happen. I did ordered the "Ultimate Drive" because that was the pedal that kind of got all of the Joyo buzz started in the first place. But I'm definitely glad I tried out one of their amp modeling pedals, as well. You can use it to completely modify your tone (and add other effects on top of it), or you could just set it up and turn it on or off like a distortion pedal. And like you said, for the price, if I did end up with a dud (or had to try a half-assed repair), it wouldn't be the end of the world. It's not like expensive name-brand pedals aren't also at risk of failure (like that switch on my TS-9, or the pot on basically EVERY wah pedal I've ever owned, haha).

I'll shut up about it now unless anyone has any questions, but just had to share my impressions because I, too, was pleasantly surprised.

[WeHuntKings]

I have the Joyo extreme metal.

It fucking sucks in such a good way.

I want to simultaneously slaughter babies. and goats. or baby goats. while conjuring satan with its searing-molten-fuck-tone.

and the same tone makes me want to run over it with my car. I dunno....

i'm sold.

[excane]

[goroth]

The Joyo pedals are super legit. All of them. The build quality is suprisingly good on both of mine, although the soldering on the bypass can be a bit dodgy - I've gotta resolder my Extreme Metal. All of the parts and stuff are either SMD or stuff that other builders take big bucks for. I've seen WIMA caps in Joyo stuff before. Most of the circuits are direct clones of other pedals - the Extreme Metal is a Metal Muff, part for part. The Ultimate Drive is an OCD (which in itself is a lightly modded Vodoo Labs OD). Joyo and BIyang offer unreal value for money, and whoever is choosing the circuits is good at it - they choose really nice circuits to clone. The character series is interesting - none of them are straight clones of the Tech21 stuff, but they are near clones. They kinda simplified the character series to make it a bit easier for them to create the different pedals with a few different part changes.

Yes, ILF is just as clicky as TGP with pedals, but there is a general attitude that if it sounds good then it is good, as wfs1234 stated. I guess people don't gas about those pedals cos part of what many people value is the sorta handmade-customy-close-relationship thing you get with the small builders here. But just cos people don't start 50 threads about cheapo pedals doesn't mean that peeps don't dig them.

Joyo: Buy with confidence and be prepared to solder a loose lead every now and again.

Well said! I gotta tell you, I just got this thing in today and "legit" is absolutely the right word for their stuff! (No joke, I ordered from a California eBay distributor with a lot of Joyo stuff...placed the order at about 2:30pm on FRIDAY, and they had it shipped for free to my door in the Midwest on Monday morning. Wow. $41 door to door.)

I'd be lying if I told you I knew exactly what a Mesa Boogie stack sounds like, or even how good of a job the Tech 21 "Character" series did of cloning that sound on other amps. To me, that isn't even the point. This Joyo California just sounds GOOD. The "Voice" knob basically is a blender between the tone of your original amp and the Mesa Boogie model. Obviously, the tonal limitations of your amp and speaker (not to mention your guitar and other equipment) are going to have as much to do with the final tone as does a $40 pedal. But to give me three-band EQ control, plus level and drive on an pedal housed in a heavy-duty metal case...and even have it respond to your playing (and clean up by lower guitar volume) like on-board amp controls...for $40?!? Are you kidding me?!

The problem I have now is that I want to try almost ALL of them, but as pedal-obsessed as I am right now, I can't financially permit that to happen. I did ordered the "Ultimate Drive" because that was the pedal that kind of got all of the Joyo buzz started in the first place. But I'm definitely glad I tried out one of their amp modeling pedals, as well. You can use it to completely modify your tone (and add other effects on top of it), or you could just set it up and turn it on or off like a distortion pedal. And like you said, for the price, if I did end up with a dud (or had to try a half-assed repair), it wouldn't be the end of the world. It's not like expensive name-brand pedals aren't also at risk of failure (like that switch on my TS-9, or the pot on basically EVERY wah pedal I've ever owned, haha).

I'll shut up about it now unless anyone has any questions, but just had to share my impressions because I, too, was pleasantly surprised.

[sonidero]

We love our cheap peds around here: DOD, Muza, danelectro, behringer, digital labs, fender starcaster, and many more. Don't let sonidero scare you off. I think he was just saying that joyo isn't really all that popular around here. From what I've heard joyo stuff is pretty decent, I've never owned one, though, so I can't really weigh in on the issue.

Am I typing in Chinese... I said nothing about cheap pedals and was giving a heads up to Storm about ILF, nothing more nothing less...

Glad you like it Storm... My Mesa DC-3 RULEZZZ... I hope you find some builders here that interest you because they ALL make excellent products and I never have to look elsewhere...

[StormJH1]

We love our cheap peds around here: DOD, Muza, danelectro, behringer, digital labs, fender starcaster, and many more. Don't let sonidero scare you off. I think he was just saying that joyo isn't really all that popular around here. From what I've heard joyo stuff is pretty decent, I've never owned one, though, so I can't really weigh in on the issue.

Am I typing in Chinese... I said nothing about cheap pedals and was giving a heads up to Storm about ILF, nothing more nothing less...

Glad you like it Storm... My Mesa DC-3 RULEZZZ... I hope you find some builders here that interest you because they ALL make excellent products and I never have to look elsewhere...

No worries. I would love to buy the boutique stuff (the Fulltone OCD is very nice), but given my very pedestrian skill level and desire mostly to tinker, 3 or 4 decent pedals are always going to win out over a single boutique pedal of the same price, which may or may not even work with my rig. If it isn't good enough, the desire to own the original will eventually win out.

Anyway, I'm wrapping up a fairly epic pedal binge and putting myself on probation pretty soon - but I just opted for a Joyo Crunch Distortion over a the Joyo AC Tone, which mimics a VOX AC30 sound. One interesting thing I didn't fully realize/appreciate, however, is that these Tech21/Joyo "Sound" pedals can be used as stompboxes, but also are apparently pretty good for direct recording (or into a PA speaker). I might have to try into an iPad or something, because it would be nice to have 6 control parameters right there on one box.

[terryat]

JOYO,Biyang and mooer are all good products with cheaper price than boss.There are various in many kinds,overdrive,ultimate,echo and so on

We love our cheap peds around here: DOD, Muza, danelectro, behringer, digital labs, fender starcaster, and many more. Don't let sonidero scare you off. I think he was just saying that joyo isn't really all that popular around here. From what I've heard joyo stuff is pretty decent, I've never owned one, though, so I can't really weigh in on the issue.

Am I typing in Chinese... I said nothing about cheap pedals and was giving a heads up to Storm about ILF, nothing more nothing less...

Glad you like it Storm... My Mesa DC-3 RULEZZZ... I hope you find some builders here that interest you because they ALL make excellent products and I never have to look elsewhere...

[dubkitty]

"Actually, was getting much better responses here than on other forums, part of why I joined. But I'll stop asking about "crap" pedals. Even though it's hard to know if they're crap if I don't ask anyone and don't have an opportunity to test them."

IMO this is all part of the forum's major non-social role, i.e. to share information on effects whether they're cheap or high-end. sometimes a Boss or a Biyang is perfectly adequate for one's needs...i'd still have my Boss tremolo if i hadn't needed a light that blinks with the pulse width so i can adjust it visually.

[goroth]

Boss Tremolo is one of the best sounding trems out there, for its type. I dig it.