JOYO JF-02 Ultimate Overdrive Pedal, Featuring True Bypass Wiring, Tone Switch and Quality Components

What a piece o' Made In China crap. I read all the reviews of how this is a faithful OCD clone, and since Fuller is a notorious weasel in the pedal world who doesn't give a damn about his customers (read some of the reviews at various sites about his replies on faulty pedals he's made, quite amazingly rude), he ain't ever getting none of my cash. I figured why not try this ripoff, as it has a good solid housing and the youtube comparisons made it sound pretty close to the OCD, at 1/5 the price or so. I also watched the youtube vid of the German guy who went to the Joyo factory, and it looked like they treat their employees well and they seem to want to make things properly. Right.The first one I got didn't work straight out of the box. Immediate scratchy noises and ugly spikes, like you get from a very old bad pot, greeted my ears two seconds after plugging it in. I couldn't believe they'd send a dud so I checked everything: cables, pup switch, amp, etc. Nope, just a completely useless pedal. So now the hassle of sending it back for a return, which takes time I'd rather not waste, UPS hassles, etc.Is this worth 35 bucks yet?So a few weeks later I get the replacement, and it works, but guess what? It sounds like a 35 dollar pedal, not an OCD clone at all. There is almost zero top end and no transparency, just a crappy, muddy fuzz box. I've played a hundred or more distortions in the past 25 years and this one was in the bottom half by far. There were none of the even-order harmonics that push the preamp tubes to round sweetness, and it didn't growl or sing decently no matter how I set the amp. Changed amps, tried an AC-30, tried a Marshall, tried a few Fenders. All of them tube and all of them sounding far worse than before I plugged the pedal in. Tried a Paul and a Strat, single and humbuckers, all muddy with no bite or edge or enjoyable character.35 bucks or not, I won't keep a pedal I won't use, so back in the box went the second unit and the return hassle commenced. What a great deal for 35 bucks! I got to spend a couple hours of my time for zero reason, other than to find that Joyo has started making stuff with lower quality components than a few years ago.How do I know that? I compared this with a friend's UD from a few years back when they started making them. Better footswitch right off the bat. More top end. More transparency. A good pedal, hardly an overdrive grail but miles beyond the ones I got.Plus, the other Joyo pedal the rave reviews prompted me to try was the AC Tone. I wasn't going to buy a new one after this debacle, but found a used one on craigslist for 15 bucks. Yep, a darn fair deal if it worked. And does it ever! It was also one of the early ones, and is so much better than this UD that it's a joke. Better made and the sound is faaar finer. Way more drive and tone options, and much juicier tone. It makes the amp sparkle, whereas this one made my amps fart. No idea if the new AC Tones are still as good. Most likely not. Now that they've got good reviews and word of mouth, Joyo seems to be cutting corners and coasting on reputation. And seeing as they're a company that only rips off other people's designs, that's zero surprise.So, here's my advice. Don't buy the new Joyo pedals; they're making them with cheaper stuff now. Go find an old used version of what you want on cl or reverb, etc. Better still, find a used (or new if you can afford it) version of the boutique pedals that Joyo rips off; it will likely work forever, not a day or a year, and it will sound and work properly. You get what you pay for, and who wants a pedal that only lasts for a while? Good pedals hold their value as well, so it's more like you're renting for free, is how I look at it.The only reason I give this two stars instead of one is that the true bypass really was totally clean, and the case is good tough metal. The switch ain't as good as the old ones though. And when I don't want to play through a pedal because it sounds like mud, durability is really no issue. I'm also on my third Donner Black Magic Delay (sounds good but keeps breaking), and I think Donner and Joyo use the same factory and are basically the same company, so caveat emptor. Quality control has slipped hard with both firms.In summation: you get what you pay for. Made In China, as usual, denotes cheap inner circuitry that might crap out on you at any time. That's a big risk if you're taking these to gigs. If you can find a used one you can try and that you like, why not. Or heck, order one new, but be prepared to find that it's not all that the glowing reviews here from a few years say it is. If Amazon and Joyo don't mind paying for returns, that's their problem. But don't just keep a crap pedal because it was cheap. That only encourages companies to keep makin' em badly. Demand quality and we will get it.

It's a good OD pedal.I set it up with OD at zero and level at 9. The boost certainly did an excellent job of pushing my amp into some thick overdrive. It doesn't take much from the OD knob to get the breakup you want. Using it past 6 or 7 would suit some, but it gets a little fuzzy for anything I'll need.Pushing the level knob up to 9 did create some noise when the pedal was engaged, but it was less than I expected. Bringing it back down to 6 negated much of that anyway.Pulling back on the level to 6 and increasing the OD to 3 seems like the right spot...for me. It gives me just enough boost and added overdrive to get the hard rock that I like. Of course, we all want something different, and your settings will be different.But the pedal has a wide enough range in each knob that you should be able to get what you want. It's not a distortion pedal, but it does get pretty aggressive. Not sure how it will sound as a standalone gain tool for a solid state amp, but it certainly does an excellent job of driving tubes.The paint job...that's my one dislike. Not that it matters to me all that much, but I think it can affect expectations of people considering it. It LOOKS like a heavy distortion pedal. But it's not.As for hints...I've seen a review from three years ago where the switch wasn't activating, and the red light was staying on. I bought mine "used" through Amazon. When I got it, it was doing the same thing. Maybe it's the same pedal, but I doubt it. All that needed to be done was to tighten the nut on the switch. It was a little loose and was allowing the switch to sag into the pedal. Tightened it up and all was well.As for other complaints about definition and clarity in chords...I can't speak for them, and they may have different ears than mine. For me, everything sounded very clear and defined. It's always possible that tweaking settings between the guitar, amp and pedal can make some difference there. It's also possible that this pedal is being compared to a considerably higher end option. I don't know other than to say that all situations are different.Bottom line is that there seems to be widespread love for this pedal, and the price point is amazing. I'd take this easily over the Boss Super Overdrive, Bad Monkey, Screamin' Blues and many others in its price range. To be honest, for me personally and what I like to hear...ill take it over a TubeScreamer too.

I use it on both my guitar and bass rigs. I’d say it shines a bit better on my bass, but it’s got a really solid tone on my guitar too. Works in both my bands, ranging from heavy stuff (Metallica, Sabbath, Megadeth covers) to much lighter poppy stuff (Kylie Minogue, CCR, Soft Cell, Cranberries covers). I’d definitely get/use a noise gate with it too. The background hum is very noticeable even on low gain.

This is a great compromise between an overdrive and a distortion pedal, cheap as chips and very usable.

Bought as a gift. I'm told it is a superb pedal, especially for the money. Arrived very quickly from Joyo.

I actually haven't tested the original OCD by myself but we all know that it is one of the most famous overdrive/distortion pedals around. I saw some youtube shootouts between the original OCD and this pedal and found no difference. I decided to buy this clone because I already owned some other original overdrive pedals, so I wanted to give the OCD a try paying only 1/4 of its price.The most important fact of all is that even if it didn't sound as the OCD (apparently it does accordingly to other reviewers and youtube videos, but hearing from headphones is not the same as try them by yourself), it is still a great sounding pedal.

I had heard this pedal was a clone of the OCD, but maybe my circuit was different from others. It's super dark no matter what settings I've tried. I gave up trying to make sound like an OCD and turns out it's not a half bad distortion-ish pedal. It wasn't a big hit to the wallet, so not much to fret about.