Joyo American Sound

[Ancient Mariner]

I thought it was worth separating this from the Mooer pedals thread.

I my last order to WTF accessories I ordered 3 of the Tech 21 clones: American sound, British sound & California sound - the counterpaerts (more or less) of the Blonde, British and [s]US metal [/s]California pedals. I want these for recording guitar, and having given them a quick try, I think they'll be good for that, but the American sound pedal also has a sweet fatness that made me wonder if it would work for bass, run in front of the amp.

Well, the answer is that - to my ears at least - it works brilliantly. With the voice knob at 9 o'clock, max level and gain adjusted for unity, bass & mids 12 o'clock, treble at 11 it changes my rather thin and clangy Jazz into something huge and fat, with a beautiful smoothness. The tone controls are very powerful, and with small tweaks I could vary the sound a lot. There's also a lot of drive available, although it gets a bit thin and buzzy to my ears, although it does get a little synthy.

Thomann have these at about £25 too. Worth a try I reckon.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Ancient Mariner

[mart]

Interesting. I might try putting my bass through my blonde pedal and see how that sounds. For guitar I found the drive gets quite rough in the last third of its range; sounds like the clone has copied this feature!

[Gareth Hughes]

+1 for the American Sound pedal. I've found this to be my most satisfying overdrive pedal. I've previously owned an EBS MultiDrive, Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver and Leeds pedals, a Wren&Cuff Phat Phuk B, an Ashdown LoMenzo HyperDrive and a few others that I can't remember right now. The £25 American Sound shouldn't be as good as it is, but it is.

[Ancient Mariner]

Now that's interesting. The overdrive seemed a bit buzzy to me, but I've not got my head around overdrive with bass yet - seems fundamentally wrong, like taking a fat old lady and dressing her up in leather and chains.

[mart]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1355064542' post='1893532'].... like taking a fat old lady ....
[/quote]
Er, I think you need to buy yourself a new bass, mate!

[Ancient Mariner]

[Ancient Mariner]

I tried the California tonight with guitar. That's probably the most gain I've ever had from a pedal - pretty crazy, though it sounded great with the gain backed off a bit and could work really well for solos.

[Wooks79]

Can't see them on thomann, do you have a link please?

[mart]

It'll presumably be these: http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm

[Wooks79]

[quote name='mart' timestamp='1355088372' post='1893940']
It'll presumably be these: http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm
[/quote]

Cheers

[ahpook]

great pedal ! i use mine all the time for DI-ing guitar, had a quick bash at bass through it....but i may revist that seing what people are saying !

[chrismuzz]

I need to stop reading these inexpensive overdrive pedal threads...

[Ancient Mariner]

[quote name='mart' timestamp='1355088372' post='1893940']
It'll presumably be these: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...an_truetone.htm[/url]
[/quote]

That is indeed Neo (the one).

I half wish I'd bought the ACtone too, and have the set, but I've read very mixed reports of both the Joyo/HB and Tech 21 versions and despite owning a Vox AC30 I'm not a fan of the sound these days (gets used on EVERYTHING now).