Let’s get a few things straight from the start – I love effects pedals. I love the idea of a handcrafted boutique pedal (and have owned a few), and I’ll also play the mass-produced BOSS and Ibanez stuff. And if you put foreign/no-name brand in front of me, but the pedal is made well and sounds GOOD, I’ll play that too. All you need to know is that this pedal is well-constructed and sounds darn good for 40 dollars.

Joyo is a Chinese company that essentially has makes their own form factor (a heavy-duty metal box with an MXR-like button switcher), and then clones/mimics/copies circuitry of popular boutique pedals that cost anywhere from 0 to 0. And they’ve figured out how to ship them to the U.S. and sell them for to each. I’ve recently discovered these pedals, and if money/pedalboard space were no issue, there’s probably 8 to 12 of them I’d like to own.

The “star” of the Joyo lineup, however, is arguably the JF-02 Ultimate Drive. This pedal got some notoriety a few years back when an American company bought them in bulk, repainted them, and tried to sell them for almost 0. The fact that they thought they could get that much for it tells you something about the quality.

The pedal this is supposedly clone off of is the Fulltone OCD Overdrive, a boutique pedal that came out several years ago, and usually sells from around 0. I own that pedal, and I’ve done a side by side comparison on my pedal board. And while tone is EXTREMELY subjective, I’m not sure that I wouldn’t go with the Joyo Ultimate Drive in a blind test. While the 3-knob, Lo/Hi switch are clearly inspired by the Fulltone OCD, the pedals actually sound quite different. With the exact same settings, the Fulltone will actually sound much brighter. That’s really saying something because the Fulltone is known as having a very well-rounded tone with a defined base. Well, the Ultimate Drive offers even more bass and mids, yet the Tone knob can brighten it up quite a bit without losing that bottom end.

It’s actually extremely versatile. I’m not sure that it would do low-gain “crunch” sounds very well, but if that’s what you want, consider the Joyo Vintage Overdrive, the Joyo Crunch Distortion, or a Tubescreamer. Right now, I have three pedals that are fairly similar and offer a great “overdriven Marshall” tone: The Fulltone, the Ultimate Drive, and the Marshall GV-2 Guv’nor. While they are all great pedals, the Joyo really hits the sweet spot on my Vox Combo amp (using a Gibson Les Paul).

As for soloing/lead play, I’m noticing all types of pick attack/harmonic response with the Joyo that I don’t get with other stompboxes. It really does act and feel like an onboard overdrive channel. If you point all the knobs at 12 o’ clock, some people may think it is muddy, but that Tone knob really does change the character quite a bit. Sorry for the long rant, but I want people to know that just because you can’t afford 0+ on a single pedal doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a great overdrive stomp box. Check the JF-02 out – it just might be your “gateway drug” to other Joyo pedals!

I put this in place of an Ibanez tube screamer on my pedalboard and took it out for a night in a club. Once I had it dialed in, fairly quickly, this became the “go to” overdrive for the night. My fulldrive, my Carl Martin Heavy Drive and my zendrive all got ignored for the evening. Gobs of gain, sustain, the low end stays intact, you can boost your highs if you like. If other Joyo pedals are like this one they are worth every cent.

(Shhhh.. don’t tell people about this overdrive. Don’t tell them it’s practically the exact same sound you can get out of another Obsessive drive pedal at a fraction of the cost. If you leave positive reviews, people will catch on, and the secret will be out, and us guitarists need our secrets!)
*ahem*
Yeah, it’s inexpensive. Sounds alright I guess.
(Shhh….)