Joyo Ultimate Drive. Worth It?

[adamlovesgin]

Thought this may be of some use to people looking for an OD. Although it's great value and does sound like a Fulltone OCD, it just didn't really cut the mustard....

http://hubpages.com/entertainment/Joyo-Ultimate-Drive-Review

 

[funkysoul]

exellent for the money

 

[adamlovesgin]

But if it doesn't do what you want, ultimately, it's a waste of money.

 

[richey88]

Get the eno trouble

 

[johnhe]

Personally, and I'm sorry that I sound like a cork sniffer, but I thought the UD was a dreadful pedal. While I accept that with careful twiddling, you can get it to sound very similar to the OCD, the big difference for me was that almost every setting on the OCD sounds great, but only very careful tweaking of th knobs can wring a good sound out of the UD.

I've owned three Joyo pedals, the flanger, phaser and the UD, and although they sounded OK in the store, when I tried them at home next to the originals, I thought they were entirely mediocre. On the other hand, if someone is looking for a cheaper pedal, I have only had great experiences with the Mooer line. I haven't tried the OCD clone, but the Reecho and the Rumble drive sound fantastic, as does the Blues Crab.

 

[RoyBGood]

I sold mine while the paint still smelled new.

 

[robzilla]

I love mine for a high gain OD sound, never had an OCD so I can't comment on how close it is, but I picked up the UD used for a tenner so great value. On the subject of Fulltone clones, Caline do a Fulldrive 2 clone called the Crazy Cacti which is fantastic! And about a tenth of the price of the Fulltone, it's a no-brainer. Great for lower gain vintage OD sounds and incredibly versatile.

 

[beyer160]

It's a fun pedal, but not a world-beater. It does decent classic-rock style gain, I'll take it all day long over a DS-1 or any other cheap Boss/Ibanez/Digitech pedal, it's better than any $30 pedal has a right to be. I do prefer the R. Attack Rat clone though, but it's got a different sound altogether.

 

[Freethenoise]

Honestly, I think you could do a lot better.

The thing that killed the Ultimate Drive for me was that it's too dark for lower gain settings. It's a big, dark, chunky sounding overdrive that just didn't work for me.

Some folk are super into that, though, if you are, go for it. Personally, I have no real love for it, I'd rather have a Mooer Hustle Drive or a Biyang Overdrive.

 

[Doctorx33]

I have two of them, an original and one I modded with the Thanks Ken mod. I've never heard an OCD and don't really care to.

The UO is a good pedal, significantly different than a TS type. It does have sort of an "all or nothing" sensitivity in the gain knob. I think it depends on the type of amp you are using and how the amp is set up for tone and gain.

 

[Tele1966]

I have one OCD and one Ultimate Drive (light crunch and heavier crunch) on my pedalboard and I have one other Ultimate Drive on a shelf as a spare (I haven't had much luck in the longevity of Joyo pedals.) I disagree with the comments regarding the Ultimate Drive not being equal to the OCD. It's true that the knob settings, probably due to different values of pots, are very different from the OCD to UD, but I've proved it myself by A/B testing on a timeline that when you get the UD set correctly, it is a virtual match to the OCD.

 

[nicobe]

The ultimate drive is definitely worth it man!
Check this out, I made sort of a review about it...and I also use it stacked with a Tube Screamer!
right now it is my fav pedal

 

[Alamo]

It's good and a staple on my my board . I use it mainly for solos that need to sound thick & full.
does the job well.
the only thing I never liked about it was that dreadful design. meh.

I changed that and now its not so dark. lol.

 

[Flash1909]

Worth $30 sure!

 

[Sollipsist]

Worth it at twice the price. It's given me excellent sounds with every guitar/amp combination I've tried (except the modeler, which kinda hates all pedals anyway).

I'm actually considering getting a second one so I can leave one at the low gain transparent OD setting and have another for the chunky med/high gain sound.

 

[frankjc]

I am in and out of love with mine.

 

[DeVilleDude]

Only Joyo that didn't work for me/my rig (strat, DeVille 410) Unity on mine was 9 o'clock, very dark sounding, and nothing I could do to dial in a usable (to me) sound. Thought maybe I got a 'bad' one. Lots of folks love them, and for 30 bucks, not a big loss if it's not your thing. But if I had kept mine, the graphic would have met a Krylon can.

 

[SamIV]

I think it is a great pedal. I like mine with lower gain pickups and brighter sounding guitars. Through all of my amps it sounds great but has to to tweaked. Mine is one of the first produced when you had to buy from China. My $24.00 was well spent.

 

[adamlovesgin]

Makes sense, brighter guitar would definitely work better with it's inherent darkness.

 

[Mike Simpson]

I bought one and it is useless to me. It was a waste of money. it is too "woofy" and does not sound like "overdrive".