Super cheap pedals you love

[Stub Mandrel]

TC MojoMojo

Anything by Joyo

[Stub Mandrel]

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

TC MojoMojo

Anything by Joyo

 

Basically any pedal with plenty of J and O in it.

[uk_lefty]

I can't remember if it was NUX that were the same thing, but the Hartke pedals were really, really good. They did an excellent bass chorus. I preferred it over the Eden and Boss bass choruses I tried before and since. I don't think they make them anymore though.

[rmorris]

My old Rocktek Chorus Pedals. 

[fretmeister]

Marshall ED-1 Compressor - lovely little thing. Some are a bit noisy so worth playing a few to find a quiet one.

 

Dano Cool Cat Fuzz - a fantastic filthy fuzz

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 16, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Twunkbass]

Oh 

On 23/11/2021 at 14:29, Jus Lukin said:

It's a strange call when so many cheap pedals are direct 'clones' of more expensive ones. Most of my favourites are Boss knock-offs, so may not really count. With that in mind...

 

 

The two Harley Bentons are essentially a Boss ODB-3 and CS-3. I think the ODB-3 is a great bass distortion rather than overdrive really. The CS-3 is a very heavy squisher, but the attack control keeps things lively. It's extreme but can get some great tight, fast sounds with loads of plectrum attack. A full featured comp could do that too, but there's something about having that response right there in a box. It makes me happy.

The Behringers are a Boss HM-2 and MT-2. Not the finest bass dirt to be had, but both can create some powerful, characterful filth. I also love that they look a bit cheap and bright. Mainstream 'Metal' (odd how it dropped the 'heavy' as it got heavier) these days has developed a much darker, cooler, and more polished image, which is no bad thing, but I love how these two recapture the essence of early heavy metal- low budget, gawdy, obnoxious, and bright f***ing pink. Take that, Mum and Dad.

 

Last, and potentially least in the excitement stakes, is an Xvive Mini DI Box, put out under various brands, but seemingly an original design. It has the usual handy DI features, but also a very good cab sim. It's a nice simple way to have a 'PA ready' signal at, say, a DI-only rock gig.

Oh my lord those harley ones look so cool! do they sound like the originals?

[Twunkbass]

On 18/11/2021 at 18:02, kodiakblair said:

Never tried the Harley Benton EQ but I would vouch for the Caline CP-24 , very handy range of frequency bands.

 

https://spartanmusic.co.uk/products/caline-cp-24-10-band-eq

 

I like this drive pedal of theirs too.

 

https://spartanmusic.co.uk/products/caline-cp-20-crazy-cacti

 

Another vote for the Caline Orange Burst recommended by @Japhet

 

Also no cheap pedal thread should be without the Behringer BDI12 , it's just a great bit of kit to have. Price is the icing on the cake 🙂

That eq pedal is so tempting my god. Please tell me there's a catch

[kodiakblair]

5 hours ago, Twunkbass said:

Please tell me there's a catch

9v power supply. 

 

You can run it off a battery , comes with a small battery clip adapter cable , but I prefer using a plug in unit.

 

Also by Caline  😀

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 16, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Baloney Balderdash]

Currently own, use and love following dirt cheap pedals :

 

- Joyo Orange Juice (own 2 of these amazing tiny pedals, used as sort of dirty preamps towards the start of my signal chain, miniature clone of the Tech 21 Oxford, analog Orange amp style preamp/drive emulation, but without the cab sim of the original pedal and with simplified EQ controls as well, to accommodate it's miniature size, can get really grindy (next pedal that I will buy will be the new full featured Tech 21 Oxford clone, the Joyo Oxford Sound pedal, though I do still appreciate the smaller size of the Orange Juice, and the other options it not featuring a build in cab sim and a simplified, but somewhat different EQ section, gives it compared to the new full sized and full featured version))

 

- Joyo American Sound (clone of the Tech 21 Blonde, analog Fender amp style preamp/dirt emulation, used as clean preamp towards the end of my signal chain)

 

- Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, with both a Vintage, classic silicon diode clipping, mode and a Turbo, LED diode clipping, mode, used in Turbo mode, as part of my high gain super massive and monstrous heavy and ballsy, really raunchy and almost fuzz-esque, distortion setup, mixed in parallel, via one of my Boss LS-2 pedals, with one of the before mentioned Orange Juice pedals stacked into a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, the Mosky Black Rat retains low end a bit better than both the original RAT pedals and most other clones on the market)

 

- Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser (Pretty accurate clone of the original big box EHX Small Stone, and does a better job at that than EHX's own Nano reissues, used with the Color switch engaged (deep sweep/high feedback setting), and mixed in parallel, via one of my Boss LS-2 pedals, with my Monarch MFL-22 Stereo Flanger, for a super lush, swirly, somewhat quacky, psychedelic effect with a somewhat mystical oriental quality)

 

- Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz (Pretty accurate clone of the discontinued Boss FZ-2, which again was a take on the legendary Univox SuperFuzz circuit, but with an added active Bass and Treble EQ control, pretty gnarly and thick sounding high gain octave fuzz with a raspy and somewhat sputtery quality) 

 

- Behringer UT100 Ultra Tremolo (identical to the UT300 which is a later rebrand, and which while supposedly being a Boss TR-2 clone doesn't sound very much like the original, I prefer the sound of the Behringer to the original Boss version though, which I by the way own as well. The Behringer, beside having a more throby character, just having something about it that makes it sound a bit more vibrant and alive to my ears)

 

- Zoom G1Xon and MS-70CDR (cheap budget, previous generation Zoom, multi effects, personally prefer the effect models featured in these pedals to those in the newer generation Zoom B1n/G3(X)n/B1(X) Four/G1(X) Four multi effects (I own both the G1 Four and B1 Four myself), both the G1Xon and MS-70CDR loaded with more or less the same effect models, using a hack that allows you to install any effect from any of the same generation Zoom multi effects to any one unit, but the G1Xon I use for various reverb patches, among that one where I utilize this pedals build in expression pedal for volume swells with a thick lush reverb pad effect, and beside that a trippy reverse delay patch as well as a lush aggressive really quacky sort of "wOÚh" effect, using an effect modeling the Moog MF-101 LPF pedal, and also for this utilizing the build in expression pedal, assigned to control the Frequency parameter of the envelope filter, while the Sense of the filter is set to 0, whereas the MS-70CDR is used for an always on patch consisting of a model of the legendary dbx163a compressor going into some fairly mild EQ'ing, handled by 2 x 2 band fully parametric equalizer models, then going into yet another 2 band fully parametric equalizer, this used for a faux, EQ based, cab sim, approximately mimicking a LPF set at about 3.5kHz (-3dB) with a -12dB/Oct downward slope, finally going into a lush but very wide, roomy and big sounding (basically meaning a relatively high pre delay setting) church reverb model which can be switched on/off as one sees fit, this reverb often being used in combination with various other reverb patches from the G1Xon to enhance them further)  

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Baloney Balderdash

[thodrik]

On 20/11/2021 at 15:02, Stub Mandrel said:

TC MojoMojo

Anything by Joyo

I'm the same. My brother loves Joyo pedals. Amazing value. 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Behringer UT100 Ultra Tremolo (identical to the UT300 which is a later rebrand, and which while supposedly being a Boss TR-2 clone doesn't sound very much like the original, I prefer the sound of the Behringer to the original Boss version though, which I by the way own too. The Behringer, beside having a more throby character, just having something about it that makes it sound a bit more vibrant and alive)

 

What I like about this is the way you can blend it into a fully gated sound (think Boulevard of Broken Dreams).

[stewblack]

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/457588-npd-kokko-phaser/

[mcnach]

On 18/11/2021 at 17:48, Japhet said:

For drive, the TC Electronic Mojomojo, Joyo American Sound and Caline Orange Burst all sound good. I like the American Sound most of those. TC Spark Boost is good too.

 

Joyo American Sound is such a great overdrive pedal. Its built-in speaker simulation may be basic but it works very well. I love it for guitar, but it's great on bass as well.

 

The Joyo Ultimate Drive is also veyr good, for those higher gain moments, although it does low gain nicely too.

[dudewheresmybass]

So this happened yesterday. 
I am really enjoying this. 
first brief impressions are very pleasing and very reminiscent of my old t21 Oxford that I owned back in the day. 
build is a little less sturdy than the t21 ( obviously!) but the eq is very powerful and musical. I hope to be able to fire it up in a rig at some point very soon and give it some beans. 🤘🤘

for £45 delivered I am very happy 👍🤘👍🤘

[lee650]

On 20/11/2021 at 13:15, Doddy said:

I bought a couple of the Little Bear pedals for well under £20. They sound really nice for the price. In fact, a guitarist I work with loved the Rat clone so much he swapped me his Subdecay Proteus for it. 

Wow!! Lucky bleeder 😂

[lee650]

I've always been a fan of the Mooer Sweeper (bassballs clone) sounds great and has the handy mods as standard. I also like the Mooer LOFI machine, but crush and sample rate on a budget! Limited on sounds but a quarter of the price of its competitors.

[NewUser]

On 02/12/2021 at 09:29, Baloney Balderdash said:

Currently own, use and love following dirt cheap pedals :

 

- Joyo Orange Juice (own 2 of these amazing tiny pedals, used as sort of dirty preamps towards the start of my signal chain, miniature clone of the Tech 21 Oxford, analog Orange amp style preamp/drive emulation, but without the cab sim of the original pedal and with simplified EQ controls as well, to accommodate it's miniature size, can get really grindy (next pedal that I will buy will be the new full featured Tech 21 Oxford clone, the Joyo Oxford Sound pedal, though I do still appreciate the smaller size of the Orange Juice, and the other options it not featuring a build in cab sim and a simplified, but somewhat different EQ section, gives it compared to the new full sized and full featured version))

 

- Joyo American Sound (clone of the Tech 21 Blonde, analog Fender amp style preamp/dirt emulation, used as clean preamp towards the end of my signal chain)

 

- Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, with both a Vintage, classic silicon diode clipping, mode and a Turbo, LED diode clipping, mode, used in Turbo mode, as part of my high gain super massive and monstrous heavy and ballsy, really raunchy and almost fuzz-esque, distortion setup, mixed in parallel, via one of my Boss LS-2 pedals, with one of the before mentioned Orange Juice pedals stacked into a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, the Mosky Black Rat retains low end a bit better than both the original RAT pedals and most other clones on the market)

 

- Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser (Pretty accurate clone of the original big box EHX Small Stone, and does a better job at that than EHX's own Nano reissues, used with the Color switch engaged (deep sweep/high feedback setting), and mixed in parallel, via one of my Boss LS-2 pedals, with my Monarch MFL-22 Stereo Flanger, for a super lush, swirly, somewhat quacky, psychedelic effect with a somewhat mystical oriental quality)

 

- Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz (Pretty accurate clone of the discontinued Boss FZ-2, which again was a take on the legendary Univox SuperFuzz circuit, but with an added active Bass and Treble EQ control, pretty gnarly and thick sounding high gain octave fuzz with a raspy and somewhat sputtery quality) 

 

- Behringer UT100 Ultra Tremolo (identical to the UT300 which is a later rebrand, and which while supposedly being a Boss TR-2 clone doesn't sound very much like the original, I prefer the sound of the Behringer to the original Boss version though, which I by the way own as well. The Behringer, beside having a more throby character, just having something about it that makes it sound a bit more vibrant and alive to my ears)

 

- Zoom G1Xon and MS-70CDR (cheap budget, previous generation Zoom, multi effects, personally prefer the effect models featured in these pedals to those in the newer generation Zoom B1n/G3(X)n/B1(X) Four/G1(X) Four multi effects (I own both the G1 Four and B1 Four myself), both the G1Xon and MS-70CDR loaded with more or less the same effect models, using a hack that allows you to install any effect from any of the same generation Zoom multi effects to any one unit, but the G1Xon I use for various reverb patches, among that one where I utilize this pedals build in expression pedal for volume swells with a thick lush reverb pad effect, and beside that a trippy reverse delay patch as well as a lush aggressive really quacky sort of "wOÚh" effect, using an effect modeling the Moog MF-101 LPF pedal, and also for this utilizing the build in expression pedal, assigned to control the Frequency parameter of the envelope filter, while the Sense of the filter is set to 0, whereas the MS-70CDR is used for an always on patch consisting of a model of the legendary dbx163a compressor going into some fairly mild EQ'ing, handled by 2 x 2 band fully parametric equalizer models, then going into yet another 2 band fully parametric equalizer, this used for a faux, EQ based, cab sim, approximately mimicking a LPF set at about 3.5kHz (-3dB) with a -12dB/Oct downward slope, finally going into a lush but very wide, roomy and big sounding (basically meaning a relatively high pre delay setting) church reverb model which can be switched on/off as one sees fit, this reverb often being used in combination with various other reverb patches from the G1Xon to enhance them further)  

 

 

 

 

I just got a mosky black rat today. 

What's the filter knob doing?

I think I'm hearing more bass counter clockwise and more treble clockwise. If this is right, would that make 12 O'clock mid boost?

[Baloney Balderdash]

14 hours ago, NewUser said:

 

 

I just got a mosky black rat today. 

What's the filter knob doing?

I think I'm hearing more bass counter clockwise and more treble clockwise. If this is right, would that make 12 O'clock mid boost?

 

No, noon would be flat, or that is whatever is "flat" for that pedal, otherwise it is working as a traditional regular tone control, that is a tilt type EQ (on pedals that is, the passive tone control on basses is a LPF), just labeled Filter (as is tradition of the original RAT pedals (though not reverse as the original RATs)).

 

This is how a tilt type EQ works, that is a traditional tone knob (mind I don't know what the specific crossover frequency, range and curve is specifically for the Mosky Black Rat, but in general terms) :

 

 

So yes, more bass, less treble, counter clockwise, more treble, less bass, clockwise.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Baloney Balderdash

[Supernaut]

Old Korg plastic tuners.

 

I find they track better than some modern equivalents. 

[paulbuzz]

Another vote for the Joyo American Sound - ridiculously good for the price.

Also the Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive (Version 1) - a clone of the Paul Cochrane Timmy.
They altered it slightly for the Version 2 variant after getting a lot of grief for cloning a one-man builder's original circuit.

 

[dudewheresmybass]

The transparent overdrive is a real sleeper of a pedal. Both v1 and v2 are great with bass, but v2 has so many options with the different led clipping options via the dip switches. 

[MacDaddy]

Both can be had for around £20 each.