Joyo AC Tone (Tech21 Liverpool inspired pedal)

[5F6-A]

Finally I got the Joyo AC Tone pedal that I've been wanting for some time and I had a good go at it.

This all analog pedal is a copy-ish of the Tech21 Liverpool pedal and it's supposed to sound like an AC30 whether plugged directly onto a PA system, a computer, a clean amp or almost anything else.

First impressions: I ordered this from a store here in the UK and it got to me fairly fast for the mere sum of £29.95 including delivery. I opned the parcel to find a black cardboard box with big neo letters that read "PEDAL".LOL .By the way, instructions are very poor and written in pidgin English at best. Useless, really. Fortunately you can find help about what the knobs do all over the internet.

I first plugged it into a Roland keyboard combo. Not bad but there was an annoying ´glitch´happening in  the high end when i pushed the guitar hard. Like a distorting overtone.
Uhmmm...

Then I plugged it into a cheapish Marshall Basstate (solidstate) bass amp with a single 12" speaker. 



This amp sounded much better and the glitch was gone. I set the amp´s EQ flat and the sound started to resemble a true VOX amp.

First I tried to go for a Brian May overdriven kind of tone. Well, I wasn´t too impressed. There is a lot of gain available but also loads of hiss and noise. Also the pedal sounded constipated and lacking the dynamics of the real thing.

I backed down the gain and character and soething magical happened. I found the tone for this pedal! All of a sudden I found tones that were not only useable but very, very good too.

Creedence swagger? no problem
REM jangly arpeggios? yep
early the Who? Absolutely
Tom Petty crunch? Voilà!
U2´s the Edge´s shimmering tones? Yeah!
Gallagher blues? Granted!
Even some AC-DC tones!!

Some lessons I learnt:

This pedal´s EQ knobs are very effective. A tiny movement either way will transform your sound. Not at all like the typical amp tonestack. More like the parametric EQ at the mixing desk.

Lower gain settings sound more natural and convincing than high gain (this pedal has loads of gain!)

For the money it is a bargain. Everybody who likes the AC tone should have one! A brilliant piece of analog equipment for sure!

[dave_mc]

I haven't tried the tech21 clones, but the other joyos I've tried have been very, very good. Whether I'd trust their reliability, I don't know, but on tone at least, they're great.

[5F6-A]

Played through PA this morning. Vert credible, good tones. Very impressed with this little pedal.

[5F6-A]

I have my amp back...




Tried the Joyo AC Tone pedal with it.

Through the fx loop, it added gain to the overall tone but also noise and the tone was for sure muddier than before. I thought I was going to like it but in the end didn't enjoy the outcome that much....

Bypassing the preamp and using the amp's power amp and plugging straight into the the pedal makes the amp sound a bit plasticy, for a lack of a better word.

Plugged direct is good but not offering anything dramatically different.


Clearly a grown-up amp like mine does not benefit or need pedals like this. :(

However, plugged into the PA or a flat hi-fi amp is where it really shines giving a really good impression of a real amp. Much better than most digital emulators I have heard up to now.

I must say that I also tried plugging the Joyo pedal  into my son's Harley Benton GA5 valve bedroom combo. This amp is rather simple, clean and -frankly- boring with almost no chime or spark. The good news is that if you set it fairly loud and use the AC Tone pedal plugged directly, the tones are pretty interesting... kind of mini VOX / tweed champ kind of vibe. Liked it a lot, actually.

Conclusion? The pedal is great for no-frill gigs plugged into PA, also for emergencies or to make cheap, boring sounding amps pretty interesting. However, good amps don't need it.
Still, for £30, I have a very useful resource  to make myself heard when playing electric and can't bring my big amp. Most likely the AC Tone is the most useful guitar gadget I have ever had.

Very pleased with it.

[dave_mc]

That's some good info there, thanks :)

I sort of suspected that might be where it excels (as you said, "making a cheap amp decent"). As you said, for £30 and to have as an emergency fix, it's hard to go wrong.

[5F6-A]

I've thought of yet another way of using the joyo:

Plugging the guitar into the amp, running a cable from the send of the fx loop to the joyo and plugging it into the PA. BTWn my amp has a -20 db switch so the Joyo will 'see' an instrument like signal. Then I put the usual 57 in front of one of the 2 Tsyden speakers. This way I have two channels for my guitar. Mixing well at the desk will be the challenge. Will this sound good? Well, it could but I won't know until I try it... Always been a great fan of using several amps at once a la SRV. I'll keep you posted.

[p4vl]

I got a used ($15 Cheepnis!) Joyo Vintage Overdrive that is as transparent as you'd like, even when boosting my XXX.  I also have the Joyo Ultimate Drive (OCD Clone), but I don't care for that as much, it gets a bit wooly and fuzzy when I crank it. 

I'm keeping the PEDAL box no matter what.  More companies should do that.