NPD: Joyo Sweet Baby Overdrive

[Brow]

Hey guys.

I picked up 1 of these pedals a few weeks ago when I received an email for 20% off, so thought I'd give 1 a try.

I originally tried it with a Strat and a LP and on my SLO Clone but I wasn't overly keen if I'm honest.

I wanted to give it another go though so this time I tried the Sweet Baby through my Matamp Little Rock (4w with 6V6s) and 1x12 cab with Celestion Classic Lead 80 today.

I tried it with Jap Squier Strat w/Apaches and LP Standard w/Mules on with Clean amp, crunchy amp, and dirty amp settings:

On clean amp it was alright. When I tried the Sweet Baby on the SLO I noticed that even with the gain on the pedal at full, I was having trouble having difficulty telling if it was even switched on or not. With the Little Rock I still couldn't really tell if it was doing much at full gain with the Strat, it was just kind of a slightly dirtier Mark Knopfler/SRV kind of thing. Not unpleasant by any means, but still very tame. On clean amp with LP it was alot dirtier, almost like if Paul Kossoff in Free had a slightly heavier tone. As gain got pushed up it got fuzzier and I wasn't much of a fan.

On the ever so slightly crunchier amp tone it was a really good 'more' pedal. With a Strat it got very close to a Richie Blackmore 'Live In Japan' type of gain level, and with my LP it was Gary Moore 'Blues Alive' type gain levels. I even managed to do the massive long sustained bent note in Parisienne Walkways with it  :lol:

On the amps dirty channel I found the pedal to be a bit too much with the LP, it pushed alot more than I expected (even with gain and/or volume backed down) and I found it to be a bit too fat sounding for that use. With the Strat it was a bit more acceptable but still more than I really need from a pedal in that situation.

So for just over £30 I'm a fan. It's not going to kick the Boyes Boost or Catalinbread Naga Viper clone off my board for live work, but if/when I do something a bit more 'restrained' than I am now; it'll definitely see more use.

[dave_mc]

nice :D While I haven't tried it with your exact gear, my own feelings are pretty similar- into a clean amp it's pretty good (though can be quite subtle, especially with lower output pickups), into a slightly crunchy amp it's very good, into a distorted amp as a boost for modern high gain tones i'd need more bass cut.

i just need to decide what to use it for... it's definitely one of those "that sounds great, now what can I use it for?" kind of things, for me anyway. :lol:

[Telerocker]

Congrats! Nice catch. Some pedals work better with a bit of ampdrive. I bought the Suhr Riot bec it is first of all designed for clean channels. Does a great job.

[Brow]

nice :D While I haven't tried it with your exact gear, my own feelings are pretty similar- into a clean amp it's pretty good (though can be quite subtle, especially with lower output pickups), into a slightly crunchy amp it's very good, into a distorted amp as a boost for modern high gain tones i'd need more bass cut.

i just need to decide what to use it for... it's definitely one of those "that sounds great, now what can I use it for?" kind of things, for me anyway. :lol:

Yep, pretty much my opinion of it too mate!

I don't really need any ODs or Boosts with my amps but I got it as I've always been curious about the Mad Professor Sweet Honey (which this Joyo is based on/ripped off from) and because it was so cheap  :lol:

I'm sure I'll use it on a recording or something at somepoint.

Congrats! Nice catch. Some pedals work better with a bit of ampdrive. I bought the Suhr Riot bec it is first of all designed for clean channels. Does a great job.

Cheers!

I've heard of the Suhr Riot but have never seen or heard 1 in person.

More or less the only ODs I've found I like on a perfectly clean amp are the HBE Power Screamer and the G2D Custom Overdrive.

[Telerocker]

The Riot sounds very amplike if you keep the distortionlevel under 2.00 o'clock. It has three different presetvoicings. I use it to produce a big leadsound on (very) low volumes. It's good for recording too.

[dave_mc]

nice :D While I haven't tried it with your exact gear, my own feelings are pretty similar- into a clean amp it's pretty good (though can be quite subtle, especially with lower output pickups), into a slightly crunchy amp it's very good, into a distorted amp as a boost for modern high gain tones i'd need more bass cut.

i just need to decide what to use it for... it's definitely one of those "that sounds great, now what can I use it for?" kind of things, for me anyway. :lol:

Yep, pretty much my opinion of it too mate!

I don't really need any ODs or Boosts with my amps but I got it as I've always been curious about the Mad Professor Sweet Honey (which this Joyo is based on/ripped off from) and because it was so cheap  :lol:

I'm sure I'll use it on a recording or something at somepoint.

Yeah the price is the thing :lol: If I need serious distortion I just use my high gain amps for that (maybe with a boost). There's no way I'm gonna buy a £200 dirt pedal when even the best ones won't be as good as my amps- I'm just not in their target audience (so claims, for me personally anyway, that the cheaper clones are doing them out of business are wide of the mark). But offer me a cheapo clone of a pedal that I'm mildly curious about and it's like, "Where can I sign up?" :lol:

FWIW joyo does a clone of the riot, too, the US dream. I haven't tried it, though.

[Telerocker]

Yep the Joyo does a Riot-clone, not quite on par, but decent.

[Elliot]

Gearmandude delivers the comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tEnAubS98c

[keith]

Gearmandude delivers the comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tEnAubS98c

Thats pretty damn close to me

[Brow]

Gearmandude delivers the comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tEnAubS98c

Thats pretty damn close to me

Yep, same here.

If I were in the market for a pedal like that I'd certainly consider it.

[Telerocker]

As I said the Yoyo is decent and with it's pricetag hard to beat , the Riot has more overtones and sounds more complex to me. Besides that, the best sounds I get of my Riot is with the toggle in the right position. That way it sounds like a CAE OD 100 in a box. Thick, ballsy leadtones, even on a strat. He didn't use that position in the vid.
This pedal is designed for the clean channel of your (tube)amp.

[_tom_]

The Joyo sounds way better in the clip to me. The Surh has an odd slightly ratty and harsh sound to it.

[Telerocker]

Maybe in the vid, but you can get very fluid tones of it easily. It's not an overdrive, it's a distortionpedal and it rocks with an agressive touch. You can get a big sound on very low volumes. Suhr has the Shiba is for (milder) overdriven tones. These pedals are picky when it comes to amps. Sounds better on my The Valve 2/50 then on my Rockerverb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feyne-dQxjg