Tech 21 SansAmp US Steel

[bassbora]

I am a gigging bass player but on the odd occasion I might fart about on a guitar at home. I have mostly been playing rock and metal (VH/Metallica/Megadeth/Living Colour) type of stuff (rhythm not the solos). I run my guitar (MusicMan Axis) through an old Fender RAD bass amp with couple of pedals in front. I have always wanted to have a decent distortion sound (not sure if I should call it overdrive) but since this is only ever going to be playing at home I have never wanted to spend anything on it.

I have a Boss DS1, which to be honest does not sound good and Joyo JF-02 which I accidentally bought and sounds great.

I was looking at the amp guitar amp section here and someone mentioned the Tech 21 SansAmp US Steel pedal so I was curious and had a look online and for what I want out of guitar playing it sounded perfect.

So my question is, is the US Steel going to be worth that much more money than th JF-02? Does anyone have experience of either or both pedals.

I know its all subjective and persona taste and all that but good to get other opinions on a subject you don't know much about

[CamdenRob]

I picked up a US Steel as an emergency back up for my mesa mini rec (in case of failure at a gig) as it's basically a rectifier emulator with a speaker sim. It's not as clean as an actual rectifier but its a great pedal... Although the influences you list are a lot lighter than the stuff I use it for so It may be a bit too heavy?

Its a bit of a one trick pony but then again so is the amp it's imitating... I only need it for it's one trick anyway

Edited August 7, 2015 by CamdenRob

[bassbora]

That's it. I saw you mention the pedal in a threat here. The sound is very much what I am looking for. Metallica used the Dual Rectifier amps for years so that is the sound heavy or not heavy.

After I posted this thread I went and had a look at the reviews for the Ultimate Drive pedal from Joyo. It gets fantastic reviews from almost anyone buying it. Whats not to like. Costs almost nothing and sounds great.

I plugged my guitar in and had a session and I was blown away by the sound of the pedal. I had forgotten how great it is. So I will stick with it. Why pay many times more for a pedal when you get close enough sound for fraction of the price.

The reviews said it worked well with bass as well. I never use effects when playing bass. I bought Boss OC-2 back in '94 after reading an article in Bass Player but never found any use for it. Still have it mind you. Back to the point I plugged my Streamer Stage 2 in as well and the sound was huge. No loss of bottom end and I could actually for the first time ever see myself use a pedal when playing bass.

So if anyone reading this (not very likely since this is the guitar section) is looking for a drive pedal for guitar or bass they should check out the Joyo pedal. It wont disappoint.