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Joyo American Sound!


taha_never
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hey everyone
i have a VT bass DI. it sounds great for ampeg tones. but i'm not really a big fan of its mid control which is centered at 1kHz.

the joyo american's mid which is around 400-500Hz seems more interesting.

anyone using this joyo pedal? how does it sound? is it any good at resembling fender tones?

not looking to replace the VT. just thinking of adding to my options. I really like the fender sound I hear in recordings/live videos etc...

thanks

Edited by taha_never
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14 hours ago, Yawn_Blah said:

hey everyone
i have a VT bass DI. it sounds great for ampeg tones. but i'm not really a big fan of its mid control which is centered at 1kHz.

the joyo american's mid which is around 400-500Hz seems more interesting.

anyone using this joyo pedal? how does it sound? is it any good at resembling fender tones?

not looking to replace the VT. just thinking of adding to my options. I really like the fender sound I hear in recordings/live videos etc...

thanks

I love mine. Less fizzy that the California. I think the Orange Juice is very similar, but much smaller. 

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On 24/02/2021 at 15:02, Yawn_Blah said:

interesting! how? what was the difference between the two? other than the mid control

There's a thread on one of the DIY pedal forums with a list of components to change. I'll be honest - other than checking the thing worked before making the mod I didn't spend any time with it in its original form. I wanted a VT bass pedal on the cheap!

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On 24/02/2021 at 08:09, Yawn_Blah said:

hey everyone
i have a VT bass DI. it sounds great for ampeg tones. but i'm not really a big fan of its mid control which is centered at 1kHz.

the joyo american's mid which is around 400-500Hz seems more interesting.

anyone using this joyo pedal? how does it sound? is it any good at resembling fender tones?

not looking to replace the VT. just thinking of adding to my options. I really like the fender sound I hear in recordings/live videos etc...

thanks

Another VT Bass DI user (and fanboi!) here - love the way it "peels off a blanket" from the bass tone even with rigs where you might not expect any blanket to be present! 

You sure about the mid centre point freq? My understanding is that the centre points on the VT Bass DI are: LOW (±12dB @ 125Hz), MID (±12dB @ 500Hz), HIGH (±12dB @ 3.2kHz)

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5 minutes ago, Yawn_Blah said:

my vt bass DI manual reads 1k. there are some graphs on other forums which shows it at 1k too. different versions maybe? 🤷‍♂️
joyo american's is at 500 as opposed to blonde

That's weird, the manual online and the review by Ed Friedland both also say 500 Hz for mid EQ centre. And the predecessor VT Bass has the same EQ points as the VTDI, which you might also expect. 

So I'm struggling to think that Tech 21 would put out a different version of their best selling VTDI pedal without labelling it as the Mk2 etc. 

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strange, i agree
honestly i was a little disappointed when i found out mine is at 1k.
current manual: http://www.tech21nyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/VT_DI_OM_v6.pdf
one interesting fact is they've put a 500/1k mid shift switch on the amp version of VT!! 🤯
hope one day they come up with a real MK2 of the pedal which features this switch for those interested

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The Joyo American Sound's Mid frequency control is tuned to a center frequency of 400Hz, unlike the Tech Blonde, also the pre gain stage Voice EQ control on the American Sound cut 400Hz bellow the 12 o'clock position, but boost 800Hz above the 12 o'clock, also unlike the equivalent Character control of the Blonde.

Other than that the consensus seems to be the the American Sound is slightly brighter and slightly more open sounding than the Blonde, a fair share of guitarists at least owning both actually preferring the tone of the American Sound over the Blonde, even if arguably the Blonde is of better build quality.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/joyo-american-vs-tech21-blonde-comparison-many-graphs.786013/

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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This thread got me curious of trying to implement my Joyo American Sound in my current setup, placing in the other effects loop of the always on Boss LS-2 that got an always on Orange Juice (seriously sized down clone of the Tech 21 Oxford, Orange amp style preamp/overdrive, but with simplified EQ controls and without cab sim) in the other loop set to a low gain overdrive with it's [Tone] control, basically acting as a standard LPF passive tone control, slightly cut to around the 11 o'clock position and it's [Voice] control slightly boosting a broad curve around the center frequency of 800Hz pre gain stage till around the 2 o'clock position, now instead of just blending the Orange Juice overdrive with clean in parallel, blending it in parallel with the American Sound instead, which I have set to a clean tone, the [Drive] control being set just slightly above it's minimum position, with the [Low], [Mid] and [Voice] control boosted to around the 2 o'clock position, and the [High] control cut till around the 11 o'clock position.

And the result is actually really good, a considerably more focused and balanced, slightly rounder, tone, than just the Orange Juice blended with clean signal, with overall slightly less low bass frequency content and slightly less high treble frequency content, but overall a bit more mid frequency content, all across the mid frequency spectrum, from low mids to high mids.

I actually thought I had managed to perfect the tone for the current application of my bass setup, but adding the Joyo American Sound did actually manage to improve on that quite a bit.

Can't speak for how it would work on it's own, but my best bet is that it actually could very well actually work great, at least if you have an additional cab sim added towards the end of your chain, or if going through a regular bass cab.

I personally got a simple sort of faux, EQ based, cab sim at the end of my chain, which I actually prefer to a more detailed, and therefor intrusive, IR based cab sim, using the bass specific fully parametric equalizer model in my Zoom MS-70CDR, set to [Freq=4.5 Q=0.5 Cut=-2dB] ; [Freq=10kHz Q=1 Cut=-20dB] ; [Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], in an always on patch, that additionally is used for an always on subtle plate reverb, as well as some minor additional EQ'ing for fine adjustments of my tone, for the latter also utilizing the bass specific parametric equalizer model of the MS-70CDR, set to various specific center frequencies, with various specific Q values, that all, except for one of them, which has been boosted +2dB, has been boosted with just +1dB. 

Beside that, placed right before the LS-2, used to blend the Orange Juice low gain overdrive with the clean American Sound, as the very first thing after my bass in the signal chain, is an always on TC Electronic SpectraComp, loaded with a thoroughly customized toneprint, followed by an always on TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini, also loaded with a thoroughly customized toneprint, giving me as an natural sounding 1 octave up effect as possible, blended with clean signal, to give me an effect similar to that of an 8 string bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings.

And that is practically all that makes up my main basic, core "clean" tone in my "ampless" setup, beside the Art Tube MP Project Series tube preamp placed as the very last unit in my "ampless" setup, right after the Zoom MS-70CDR (simple faux, EQ based, cab sim, additional EQ'ing, and subtle plate reverb), with the build in HPF, fixed at 40Hz, activated, and the gain set to just on the verge of the tube breaking up when digging in the hardest.

Sorry for the wall of text, with what seems to be off topic information, but really just meant to give an idea of what else I use to obtain my main basic, core "clean" tone, beside the Joyo American Sound.

But as said my best bet is that the American Sound potentially could very well work well as a main preamp on it's own in a bass setup, at least if followed by some sort of additional cab simulation, or of course if going through a regular bass cab.

One thing to be aware of though is that boosting the [Drive] control on the American Sound starts to introduce overdrive a lot sooner than the [Drive] control on the VT Bass, so if you want a clean tone you need to keep it fairly close to it's minimum position, though I found you get the best clean tone result if you still have it opened just a little, just a slight smidge above the minimum position, exactly low enough for it to stay clean even when you dig in the hardest, which in my case seems to be about the 8 o'clock position, though this will depend on how hot the output of your bass is, as well as how you otherwise set the EQ of the pedal, especially the pre gain stage [Voice] control, as in the more you cut it the more [Drive] you can dial in while still keeping it clean, and the more you boost it the less [Drive] you can dial in before it starts to get into overdrive territory, as I mentioned earlier me having the [Voice] control boosted a bit till about the 2 o'clock position, and the output of my bass being fairly hot for an otherwise completely passive bass, using a DiMarzio Model P, which is considerably hotter than the most common, closer to vintage speced, P pickups. 

 

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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thanks for the input Baloney.

yes i have an additional cab sim at the end of my setup before my audio interface or amp return. the fender microDI. everything sounds fantastic through it. my current setup is : tuner > tcmojomojo(occasional use, great tool for rounding out the tone when run clean) > markbass comp > VTDI > fenderDI/cabsim

i'd put the american sound before the VT and sometimes blend in some of the VT tone with the joyo using VT's blend. i can also sometimes benefit from VT's cabsim by setting the pedal completely flat and clean with just its cabsim turned on.
imagining all the options, can't wait for it to arrive so i can set up and see what would come out of these.

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2 hours ago, Yawn_Blah said:

thanks for the input Baloney.

yes i have an additional cab sim at the end of my setup before my audio interface or amp return. the fender microDI. everything sounds fantastic through it. my current setup is : tuner > tcmojomojo(occasional use, great tool for rounding out the tone when run clean) > markbass comp > VTDI > fenderDI/cabsim

i'd put the american sound before the VT and sometimes blend in some of the VT tone with the joyo using VT's blend. i can also sometimes benefit from VT's cabsim by setting the pedal completely flat and clean with just its cabsim turned on.
imagining all the options, can't wait for it to arrive so i can set up and see what would come out of these.

I edited the last paragraph of my last reply, about how to set the drive control of the American Sound, to be a bit more thoroughly explained, like this:

One thing to be aware of though is that boosting the [Drive] control on the American Sound starts to introduce overdrive a lot sooner than the [Drive] control on the VT Bass, so if you want a clean tone you need to keep it fairly close to it's minimum position, though I found you get the best clean tone result if you still have it opened just a little, just a slight smidge above the minimum position, exactly low enough for it to stay clean even when you dig in the hardest, which in my case seems to be about the 8 o'clock position, though this will depend on how hot the output of your bass is, as well as how you otherwise set the EQ of the pedal, especially the pre gain stage [Voice] control, as in the more you cut it the more [Drive] you can dial in while still keeping it clean, and the more you boost it the less [Drive] you can dial in before it starts to get into overdrive territory, as I mentioned earlier me having the [Voice] control boosted a bit till about the 2 o'clock position, and the output of my bass being fairly hot for an otherwise completely passive bass, using a DiMarzio Model P, which is considerably hotter than the most common, closer to vintage speced, P pickups. 

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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  • 2 months later...

spent about two months with the joyo american sound. loving it! 🤩
voice settings 7 to 8:30 o'clock sound fantastic. very fenderish bass tones and plenty of low end. I keep the EQ completely flat! drive between 9 to 11 covers from ampish clean to some nice breakup for me. very responsive! that's my favorite and most used settings. one can push it a bit (voice: 9 to 10, drive: 12 to 13 o'clock) and get some creamy tones out of it. it's capable of that. just remember to cut the treble a bit with  settings like this.
when recording, you can actually bring up the deepest lows by backing off the low eq to settings below 9! and the mid and treble relatively. this flattens and levels the 100(ish)Hz boost of the built-in speaker sim, and it'll sound as when you blend in some of your amp's DI signal. I mean really deep lows! they're all there.
I really wonder, why haven't they make these with a better quality footswitch and added DI out? I would pay the extra what 20 dollars for that, in a heartbeat!!
EDIT: tested on P-Bass with flats!

Edited by taha_never
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