Joyo/Harley Benton American pedal Demo

[monkmiles]

Out of curiosity, which reverb pedal and mixer do you use?

It's a cheap headphone setup really. A Behringer RV600 (which is like the Verbzilla) into a Alesis MultiMix 4 usb mixer. Decent CAD headphones that I like too. Going out the stereo outs of the reverb into two channels of the mixer, each panned hard opposite each other, sounds great for headphone practice and I'd imagine direct recording.

I think I have to say that after having bought a Joyo American pedal last year, I'm back to using an Analog Pedal, a pedal similar to the Zendrive's circuit, but with only slight overdrive in the Opamp's feedback loop and a control for mixing variable true bypass, I thought that the Joyo American alters the actual guitar sound too much for my tastes.

Are you suggesting the American Sound isn't analog? I think it is.

[rkwestcoast]

Has anyone tried the pedal with a Mambo amp? Would it go through the main guitar in, or by pass the pre amp and in through the effect loop in "return" would that work?

I use the Joyo American, Joyo Digital Delay & TC Corona Chorus (sparingly) into my Mambo - using the send and return = the American & DD are used to get a bluesy overdriven sound with slapback delay & tend to use the chorus like a bass player - with very low speed setting - adds a touch of honey!! & Depth

Pedals work well through the mambo.

[AlainJazz]

I just tried it through my Mambo 10 (sorry I have no easy way to record a mic'ed demo). I can confirm that it sounds great. I deliberately tried it with my old strat to see how close it can get to a fender-type sound. I would say the combination is definitely comparable to my '67 Deluxe. It just adds "sparkle" to the sound. I went into the standrad input (i.e. through the send/return).

Very nice.


@Hallpass: are you happy with the Behringer RV pedal? Its really cheap. I've been looking at the TC Hall of Fame for a while now. I used to have an Alesis Microverb that I really liked a lot but unfortunately, I misplaced it (or lent it to someone) and can't find it anywhere. I'm looking for a replacement to use for my practice setup but the reverb should be good enough to use for the occasional gig too.

[GuyBoden]

Are you suggesting the American Sound isn't analog? I think it is.

I've built and use many pedal circuits, the Joyo American has a complex circuit, I know I've opened it up, I'm just saying that personally I think that the Joyo American circuit alters the Guitar's sound more than some other less intrusive pedal circuits, but maybe that's the sound you want. Do a comparison for yourself, let your ears decide.

[andyb]

Thanks for the input RE the Mambo, I was thinking I would like a little bit more dirt in the sound some times and have been looking at pedals, to be honest I have no idea what to get.
I am very happy with the Mambo sound using my Tele on the "Harmonic" setting, I would like to get more of the same, if that makes any sense at all?

[AlainJazz]

AndyB, I think you would like the pedal. I find the tone shaping possibilities impressive. You can also adjust the amount of dirt you want quite well.

[andyb]

AndyB, I think you would like the pedal. I find the tone shaping possibilities impressive. You can also adjust the amount of dirt you want quite well.

Thanks Alainjazz, I am going to order one and give it a go, it might be fun.

[GuyBoden]

The Joyo American is a truly great pedal for the extremely inexpensive price, but if you can, try to compare it to other pedals.

For AndyB only, Pm me if you want my Joyo American for a truly give away price.

[andyb]

how can I resist, PM sent.

[mr. beaumont]

I ordered one too!

I'm going to try it out with my Lunchbox...that and a reverb pedal and it might be a really good "travel extremely light" option for me, which is great for where I teach--can't leave anything in our practice room, it could get legs.

[Wes Fan]

I ordered one too!

I'm going to try it out with my Lunchbox...that and a reverb pedal and it might be a really good "travel extremely light" option for me, which is great for where I teach--can't leave anything in our practice room, it could get legs.

I was hoping someone would do that.

Please report back (and, if possible, post a video or recording). That is all.

[drbhrb]

I ordered one too!

I'm going to try it out with my Lunchbox...that and a reverb pedal and it might be a really good "travel extremely light" option for me, which is great for where I teach--can't leave anything in our practice room, it could get legs.

I've gigged a Lunchbox with a boss FRV-1. That pedal is like half reverb half amp sim. Worked really well.f

[monkmiles]

@Hallpass: are you happy with the Behringer RV pedal? Its really cheap. I've been looking at the TC Hall of Fame for a while now. I used to have an Alesis Microverb that I really liked a lot but unfortunately, I misplaced it (or lent it to someone) and can't find it anywhere. I'm looking for a replacement to use for my practice setup but the reverb should be good enough to use for the occasional gig too.

It's actually surprisingly good. I think it's a clone of the Line 6 Verbzilla. That said, my opinion is a used Hall of Fame would be better especially if you might gig with it because the enclosure is low quality. I actually just pulled the trigger on a 2nd Hall of Fame Mini pedal. I like how small and simple it is and I can keep one with each of my two amp heads. Used you can get the Mini for $70~. The Mini version doesn't have stereo outs though.

I've built and use many pedal circuits, the Joyo American has a complex circuit, I know I've opened it up, I'm just saying that personally I think that the Joyo American circuit alters the Guitar's sound more than some other less intrusive pedal circuits, but maybe that's the sound you want. Do a comparison for yourself, let your ears decide.

Ok, hope you're not taking offense man. It's really not the sound I want for anything more than what I use it for as mentioned earlier in this thread (headphone practice or maybe a small jam through a poweramp). I don't use any pedals for my jazz groups generally anyways, besides reverb. And when it comes to amps, I am a tube amp person...guitar into tube amp generally for jazz...though I do have a Quilter Tone Block head on the way to try. I did used to have a Zen Drive that I used for my rock groups for a short time.

[mr. beaumont]

I've gigged a Lunchbox with a boss FRV-1. That pedal is like half reverb half amp sim. Worked really well.f

That's what i use with my lunchbox now! Works pretty darn good with single coils but i feel like it's always a little dirty with humbuckers. And the reverb gets really strong really fast...

For $30 we'll see...i'm excited about having a midrange control

[mr. beaumont]

Just recieved mine yesterday. Very impressed with the sound, impressed enough that i'll be picking up a tech 21 blonde soon, so i can have the sound and actual quality, the joyo thing probably costs under $5 to make.

When i do i'll pass this one on to anybody that wants to try it.

[Spook410]

It's not a Strymon but I didn't see any immediate problems with the build quality. Anybody had any failures yet?
--------------------------------
edit: Let me be more specific. The Joyo has a sturdy aluminum case. If you take the back off you'll find it's neatly put together and there is nothing to make me believe it will come apart. Those who know about such things will note that it's a (very) simple wave soldered board (OK.. could be reflow but I doubt it since it's simple and generally low tech looking. Still, it's been awhile since I was concerned with PCB's). After taking a closer look, not sure if you could fix or modify this yourself. Certainly wouldn't be worth it for me. Also the I/O and 9V jacks are plastic and mounted to the board. Not fully disassembling it, but I'm guessing the pots and switches are as well.

This means two things: 1) if it breaks, you probably can't fix it yourself because it wasn't designed for this. 2) While not nearly as complex as something like a HoF, plastic I/O and surface mount switch design is exactly like TC Electronic pedals and probably a lot of others.



Based on what I'm seeing, I'm not expecting the failure rate on this thing to be any worse than other mainstream pedals being made today. And that's before you get into the MTTR/MTBF with the inclusion of a $30 spare.

[Klatu]

Just recieved mine yesterday. Very impressed with the sound, impressed enough that i'll be picking up a tech 21 blonde soon, so i can have the sound and actual quality, the joyo thing probably costs under $5 to make.

When i do i'll pass this one on to anybody that wants to try it.

Joyo American Sound / Tech 21 Blonde vs Sansamp Paradriver: Which would you say behaves better in front of a solid state amp or into a PA?

[mr. beaumont]

Can't say yet. I'm ordering a blonde in the next week or two.

[Frank67]

in response to this thread I've tested the Blonde again through a PA - sounds good! Actually very good and I think there is nothing wrong with taking it to a gig instead of an amp if there is a house PA (not that I'll be publicly performing jazz anytime soon ... if ever - just theoretically) ... but does it sound as good as real tube amp, like a real twin or tweed amp? ... not to me. I don't have experience with the Joyo and cannot tell whether it sounds the same or not. Jeff will tell us soon!

@Klatu: In front of an amp I did not like any Tech21 pedal (I also have the paradriver). Direct to the PA both sound good. I would probably prefer the Blonde over the Paradriver if it is an amp sound I'm after. But the paradriver is a nice pedal.

[mr. beaumont]

I'll be sure to. By the way, for my usage, I'm not trying to go for a "tube" sound necessarily--certainly only interested in cleans....i'm looking for a "fendery" voiced preamp with a decent eq to stick in front of my superlight school rig--a zt lunchbox.

I can tell already the eq is great, opens up the flat boxiness of the lunchbox right off. This will be a fine contender as "best shove in a locker schlep to rehearsal and back in one trip" rig.

[jetrier]

I think the Joyo Am. Std. is good enough to allow for only having a SS acoustic amp. Use the Am Std for electric tones and then you have the acoustic amp for other stuff including PA channel like with a loudbox. I got rid a mine a while back to go with a multi-effects pedal, but I miss the Joyo and seeing the knob positions rather than just a digital screen telling me what bundle of tones I'm using. It's a trade-off between being able to quickly click between entire bundles of tones vs quickly tweaking the current tone, IMHO

[guavajelly]

I"best shove in a locker schlep to rehearsal and back in one trip" rig.

Nice expression.

I have a Harley Benton American True Tone and gigged it a couple of times into a DI-Box. Works great for that – not so much into a guitar amp IMHO. Decent monitoring is crucial for that setup. I like a little reverb like anybody so I just asked the sound guy to add some to my channel.
Last year I upgraded to a Tech 21 Fly Rig which gives me all the tones (reverb, distortion) and tools (tuner / XLR-out) I need for our funk band in a single compact unit (+wah pedal). Since we use in-ears there's no point in schlepping an amp. In fact I did an A/B test of the fly rig > DI against my fender vibrolux and I used the fly rig for the gig. Sound guys love it. I have the Ritchie Kotzen version which can also be used as a headphone amp.
Just yesterday I took the Harley Benton out of the drawer to compare it and it fared very well. For 30 € it's a steal. If all you need is the preamp IMHO you can't go wrong with that.

[pingu]

just did a session with my Harley B
American sound
into an AER Comp60 clean
it was off most of the night but tried it
on couple of funky tunes later on

I had been running with the voice knob
on about 1 o clock and didn’t love it to bits

tonight I put it at about 11 o clock
(tones about flat gain vol to suit)

Ureeka ka ka !
I worked great , punchy with some power
I’m well pleased ....

moral ... mess with that voice knob man
its where the action is at

[Gabor]

There are more than a dozen Harley Benton overdrive pedals, and 3 or more with this very same six pot config, how did you choose?

[pingu]

yes , it’s very difficult choosing
as you say , there are a lot of options out there
I got the American Sound clone
mainly because of the many
good reviews from the folks on this
forum (and it was super cheap)