Harley Benton American - Cheap Amp Substitute

[VikingBlues]

I sold some old pedals - and got a few cheapies to try.

Includes a Harley Bemton American (also badged as Joyo and as Rocktronics depending where you buy). Sort of cheap clone of the Tech21 Blonde I think - not quite the same, but the right ballpark and less than 1/4 the price at £29.

Harley Benton American - in bad light

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Here's a basic demo, with changes being made to the "Voice" knob. The drive knob is between 1 and 2 o'clock and the three tone controls neutral. Level knob adjusted to balance the increased volume of the voice knob as it's turned up.

Backing track has 7 times 12 bar run throughs. The first 6 times sees the Voice knob at 7, 9,11,1,3, and 5 o'clock. You will hear by 5 o'clock that the sound is pretty compresssed and overdriven even with the Drive knob between 1 and 2 o'clock - the DAW at this point shows a pretty solid block of sound - too much for me. The last part is dialled back to 12 o'clock voice and 12 o'clock Drive which I quite liked. Quite a fun pedal for the price. I played the PRS (lightest weight guitar - still got strained muscles) just through the pedal into the DAW - bit of reverb/delay added to sound balanced with the BT (Guitar Backing Tracks.com).

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Personal preference wise I find the drive knob OK at 2 o'clock with the Voice at its leftmost setting, but I'm then wanting to turn it left as the Voice knob turns right.

[Blackhorse]

Hi VB,

I've noticed these "Joyo" pedals cropping up on the net a lot lately, with some great reviews for cheap clones. I've got an order lined up with Thomann for the Ultimate Drive (OCD clone), and Digital Delay (could be a copy of the Mad Professor's Deep Blue Delay?), and looking for the Sweet Baby (copy of Mad Professor's Sweet Honey).

Your American pedal sounds good, I agree the 1 and 3 o'clock settings on your demo sound best. How is the build quality, does it look like it will last? Although at £29 it's not a big deal to replace it if it falls apart after a year or two

[VikingBlues]

How is the build quality, does it look like it will last? Although at £29 it's not a big deal to replace it if it falls apart after a year or two

Hi there Blackhorse - hope you're doing well! Glad you like the demo sounds.

Build quality ... a good question to be asking. It feels solid enough and the casing gives it a reasonable weight ... but whether the switch / knobs will stand up to a lot of punishment and whether the componenets are of good quality or well put together I'm afraid I really don't know. It seemed to me when I was trawling around forums that the positive and negative comments about Joyos were probably a pretty similar mix to what you get for most brands. As you say - at £29 it's much less of a concern.

I forgot to mention in my post that the pedal is pretty noise free - certainly less noise than a lot of budget pedals where any drive settings are in play.

I had a decent go with it through the Fender VibroChamp XD this morning (on a clean voice). Very nice sounds. I thought it was best to do the demo with no amp though because the amp will have a big influence on the tones.

[vancouverois]

Nice demo VB and I can say this pedal sounds good, despite its low price.
Surprisingly good!

[HalfBlindLefty]

Nice VB, it's fun to find the nicer pedals in the lower price ranges. Stay away from the Behringers though. I tested a few and the are quite noisy.

[VikingBlues]

Stay away from the Behringers though. I tested a few and the are quite noisy.

I'll agree on the basis of the one Behringer pedal I have - a TM-300 Tube amp modeller - a noisy little beast at some of the settings!