Cheap but excellent overdrive pedal

[Basvarken]

If you're looking for a nice overdrive pedal that works perfect for bass, you don't need to spend a whole lot of money.
I've bought the Harley Benton (Thomann housebrand) American Sound. Which is actually a clone of the Tech 21 Blonde pedal.
Harley Benton is the same as Joyo. They build great clones of Full Tone and Tech 21 stuff.

John K made some excellent sound samples of this pedal

https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-jf14





I paid a little under 30 euro for this pedal... 

[Highlander]

I perceive issues with stomped knobs...?

[Dave W]

Wow. It's about 1/4 the price of the Blonde here. Thanks for the tip, not that I'm in the market.

I perceive issues with stomped knobs...?

I don't. Well, maybe if you're Frankenstein's monster, but otherwise, no. Nothing unusual here.

[Highlander]

FranKENsteins monster...?

[Basvarken]

I perceive issues with stomped knobs...?

No issues so far.
The footswitch looks and feels perfectly fine.

The pot knobs feel solid too. They don't turn too lightly when you touch them. I like that in a stompbox!


But time will tell how sturdy this pedal is,

[Alanko]

I had one of these for a while. I found a mod online to remove the speaker simulator, otherwise I found it a little bit dark through conventional amps. As a recording tool I got a great tone out of it. In fact, I don't remember why I no longer have it. 

[Basvarken]

I don't know of any speaker simulator with this pedal. Are we talking about the same pedal?

[Alanko]

Yup. These things are clones, to some degree, of the first tranche of the Tech 21 Character series. As such there is a speaker simulator permanently engaged in the pedal. You can make it switchable, if you are happy to mess around with jumpers and SMT components.

[Basvarken]

Hmm that's strange. It doesn't mention any of that in neither the manual, nor do they mention it on the product info at their website.
I'd say an on board speaker simulator is a bit of a feature you would want to boast with.

[Pilgrim]

Reading the reviews on the various Joyo pedals, it sounds like most of them are designed to emulate the sound of specific tube amps.  I s'pose that if you choose the one you want, it might be pleasing.

[Alanko]

Hmm that's strange. It doesn't mention any of that in neither the manual, nor do they mention it on the product info at their website.
I'd say an on board speaker simulator is a bit of a feature you would want to boast with.

Its a 'dumb' copy of a Tech 21 design. Joyo simply had to copy the circuit path and maybe futz with one or two component values, then design and plan the thing down to a lower price point. Maybe Joyo don't even realise there is a speaker sim in the design!

[Dave W]

I'm sure they realized it. The people at Thomann are no dummies.

[Alanko]

They simply rebrand an existing product as 'Harley Benton'. Honestly, is there a degree of scepticism about the existence of a speaker sim in the circuit or something?

[Dave W]

I don't doubt it at all, since it's a clone. But it's not obvious either, since it's a built-in circuit without a control.