I've become a cheap pedal maniac!

[soulgeezer]

What's happened to me? Used to be, I would research pedals for weeks, then end up buying some expensive boutique affair that cost over $200 and was the envy of my friends (at least, that's what they said; they were probably laughing at me behind my back, because I had spent so much on a pedal I only used for one or two songs a night!).

Now, I've become some kind of cheap pedal maniac! Since Christmas, I've bought four Joyo pedals (two each of the tremolo and digital delay) and now, today - about three minutes ago - I've ordered a ModTone wah-wah pedal. (Hey, for $50 bucks - with free shipping, no tax, and an additional promo discount on Buy.com - why the heck not?)

The reviews of the ModTone wah here on tdpri are uniformly good. I've been looking to replace my Snarling Dogs Blue Bawls wah (it's just too big and heavy) and the ModTone seems like a good pedal at a great price. Sure, it's not "vintage" or "boutique," but hey -- If it works and it does the job, who cares, right?

I'm absolutely flabbergasted at the variety and quality of the cheap pedals that we can get nowadays. Back when I was young, you didn't have very many choices and you paid what the makers wanted. Pure supply and demand, which I guess is the same reason these pedals are so cheap today, eh?

Somebody, please! Stop me before I buy again! (Or, before my wife finds out -- Which would be much, much worse!)

[p8t8r]

I know what you mean from my personal experience. Those shiny cheap bastards like Danelectro, Joyo and Biyang are staring at me from web and literally yelling "Buy me! At least, hey, you can't go wrong with another effect for 30 bucks!". Gosh, GAS is really awful.

[Hiker]

Congrats! Your post reminds of the 'Main Squeeze' that I found for a low, low price. And, it works fine for compression!

[studio1087]

Just thought I would throw GAS on the fire.......



JOYO - Pick 4 for $104 - Linky!

[schenkadere]

cheap pedals are fun and often as good or better than some costing 5X as much.

[asbrooks]

you could always start to build your own boutique pedals. I've just ordered the parts for a fuzz factory clone. Retails in the uk for around £180.00 I believe. All the parts including case £28.00.
Also making something with my own hands makes me all worm inside
I was thinking of getting a joyo tremolo until I googled 'diy tremolo' and came up with the 'ea tremolo'. Alright the joyo will just edge the ea in price.
Those joyos do look good though.

[Fearnot]

Those Joyo graphics are hilarious. But I'm just gonna step on 'em anyway, so what do I care?

[bigp7099]

Come to the bright blue led lit darkside and try out some behringers

[soulgeezer]

Originally Posted by bigp7099

Come to the bright blue led lit darkside and try out some behringers

There are some lines even *I* won't cross!

Funny, though. Even though I have no problem putting Joyos and ModTones on my board, I'm still a pedal snob when it comes to Behringer and DeltaLab.

Although I can't expain why I have such a prejudice against Behringer, I know why I won't buy DeltaLab: The DeltaLab name is one I remember from the 80s and I still have a DeltaLab Effectron ADM1024 in my rack. They were a great, innovative company and the current line of effects bearing their name is an insult to their memory. And, *that* just cheeses me off!

[smoss469]

I've got a Behringer pedal on the way. I don't particular give their stuff much credit but the Vibrato was cheap and is a much better option than dropping $200-$300 on a Boss VB-2.

[Arbiter]

Behringer Tube Modeler. What a pedal. You guys are missing out. Not real fond of the rest of their line but that pedal is just great. Albeit a bit noisy when everything's at full throttle.

[tele salivas]

I've got 4 Dano mini's, sitting right next to some fancy schmanzy fuzz and polyoctave stuff. they fit right in...I haven't tried Joyo, yet..what are some "good" ones! Delay, OD?

[Enaitz]

Well, two days ago I bought a new Marshall Bluesbreaker II for 54 € in a big store in Madrid, and I'm starting to love this thing, a soft and warm classic overdrive with a boost option (I had a Guv'nor 2 for some weeks but didn't liked it, too many knobs and too much gain). I used to think that the overdrive from my Valvestate was good, but in comparation it's sounding plastic and harsh.

What amazes me is that something with the word Marshall on it could be that cheap.

[StraightNeck]

Well,i compared my Joyo VOD with my Blackstar HT-Drive and the Joyo lose the race.
Dont get me wrong,the Joyo is nice for the money but the HT-Drive is so much more
musical and dynamic.It kicks my Champ 600 in to Marshall Bluesbreaker territory.
I bet there will be a lot of used Joyos for sale,cheap.

[JoshuaCLS]

Originally Posted by Enaitz

Well, two days ago I bought a new Marshall Bluesbreaker II for 54 € in a big store in Madrid, and I'm starting to love this thing, a soft and warm classic overdrive with a boost option (I had a Guv'nor 2 for some weeks but didn't liked it, too many knobs and too much gain). I used to think that the overdrive from my Valvestate was good, but in comparation it's sounding plastic and harsh.

What amazes me is that something with the word Marshall on it could be that cheap.

Good find!

The blues breaker is definitely a highly sought after pedal, and been copied many times, so it's not super surprising to me...

[JoshuaCLS]

Re: joyo... It's astounding how great these little boxes are for the price. It gets good quality effects into the hands of the masses for super cheap. $30 ain't nothin. I just traded for a Fulltone OCD, and I'm hopefully going to to a demo video comparing the OCD and JOYO ultimate drive, and then trade the OCD on for something else. :D

And yes these cheap pedals are dangerous. Very very dangerous haha. Glad my amazon prime membership ran out --- not having free two day shipping makes it easier to not spend money.

And as far as behringer goes... I've tried hard to not have a prejudice against them. Picked up their compressor and a few other things. It would be a lot easier to like them... IF THEY DIDN'T SUCK SO BAD!!!

:)

[soulgeezer]

Originally Posted by StraightNeck

Well,i compared my Joyo VOD with my Blackstar HT-Drive and the Joyo lose the race.
Dont get me wrong,the Joyo is nice for the money but the HT-Drive is so much more
musical and dynamic.It kicks my Champ 600 in to Marshall Bluesbreaker territory.
I bet there will be a lot of used Joyos for sale,cheap.

The Joyo costs around $40 on most Web sites. The Blackstar costs $180. Is the Blackstar *five times* better than the Joyo?

And, to say that "there will be a lot of used Joyos for sale, cheap" is kind of - dare I say - silly. How much cheaper could they possibly be than they are already?????

[JoshuaCLS]

Originally Posted by soulgeezer

The Joyo costs around $40 on most Web sites. The Blackstar costs $180. Is the Blackstar *five times* better than the Joyo?

And, to say that "there will be a lot of used Joyos for sale, cheap" is kind of - dare I say - silly. How much cheaper could they possibly be than they are already?????

Ha

[bigp7099]

Originally Posted by JoshuaCLS

And as far as behringer goes... I've tried hard to not have a prejudice against them. Picked up their compressor and a few other things. It would be a lot easier to like them... IF THEY DIDN'T SUCK SO BAD!!!

:)

my $50 reverb machine that does just about everything and sounds great beg to differ, but ymmv

[Enaitz]

The blues breaker is definitely a highly sought after pedal, and been copied many times

Yeah, but you're probably talking about the first one on the big black box.

Those vintage ones are still available at eBay for about 100 €, but what I got was the new edition, the Bluesbreaker II, which actually is easily available at almost any guitar shop for just 50 or 60 €.

I haven't ever tried the old one (wish somebody could upload to Youtube a duel between the old and new Bluesbreakers), but the new one is a keeper, a soft and warm classic overdrive, just like velvet. And with a booster as a bonus!