The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black
- Zaulkin
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 5435
- meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
- Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:01 pm
- Has liked: 739 times
- Been liked: 511 times
The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
What are the best 'cheap' pedals you've ever had? Post your experiences in this thread. I'm thinking Eno, Nux, Donner, Mooer, etc
I'm always amazed at what is available these days, especially with the influx of cheap Chinese pedals. Some of the ones I've tried are actually really good or at least adequate - and obviously some are shite. I thought it might be cool to see which ones the forum has tried and liked, and maybe which ones to avoid.
I'm really keen on trying the Donner 'Black Devil', which is basically a Peavey 6505 preamp with optional cab sims and reverb. Would be a fantastic backup solution to keep in the gig bag if it's any good.
What cheap pedal have you tried that surprised you?
I'm always amazed at what is available these days, especially with the influx of cheap Chinese pedals. Some of the ones I've tried are actually really good or at least adequate - and obviously some are shite. I thought it might be cool to see which ones the forum has tried and liked, and maybe which ones to avoid.
I'm really keen on trying the Donner 'Black Devil', which is basically a Peavey 6505 preamp with optional cab sims and reverb. Would be a fantastic backup solution to keep in the gig bag if it's any good.
What cheap pedal have you tried that surprised you?
- jeremyb
- Chorus of Organs
- Posts: 41113
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
- Has liked: 7724 times
- Been liked: 4169 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
Joyo Sweet Baby OD, apart from the click when you switch it on I found this was great for pushing a Marshall plexi into higher gain regions!!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- Zaulkin
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 5435
- Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:01 pm
- Has liked: 739 times
- Been liked: 511 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
I'm also interested in the Mooer 005 - It sounds good in clips, but doesn't seem as good value as the Black Devil. Might try a $43 looper on Ebay if it's not shite.
Pedals I have tried:
Joyo Gem Box 1 Multi Effects:
It's very average in terms of sound. Reasonable value for students or someone with very limited funds though. Might be tricky to program for an inexperienced user. The tuner sucks.
Joyo American Sound:
Can't really complain, a very cheap clean base. Ideal for a backup clean to go through the PA or something.
Can't remember the brands, but I used to have a tuner and an EP booster clone thing that were dead cheap new from Ebay. The tuner was great - I only used standard tuning with it, but I had no issues.
Pedals I have tried:
Joyo Gem Box 1 Multi Effects:
It's very average in terms of sound. Reasonable value for students or someone with very limited funds though. Might be tricky to program for an inexperienced user. The tuner sucks.
Joyo American Sound:
Can't really complain, a very cheap clean base. Ideal for a backup clean to go through the PA or something.
Can't remember the brands, but I used to have a tuner and an EP booster clone thing that were dead cheap new from Ebay. The tuner was great - I only used standard tuning with it, but I had no issues.
- codedog
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 6740
- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:44 pm
- Location: Christchurch
- Has liked: 3486 times
- Been liked: 1088 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
Mooer Rumble Drive, amazing dynamics. For some reason it didn't work that well with my Princeton-ish hippie amp though.
Hotone Blues, also amazing dynamics even at full gain. Not a fan of the physical design.
Mooer Tri-buff. Worked well with everything... did the smooth violin thing really well.
Hotone Blues, also amazing dynamics even at full gain. Not a fan of the physical design.
Mooer Tri-buff. Worked well with everything... did the smooth violin thing really well.
- jeremyb
- Chorus of Organs
- Posts: 41113
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
- Has liked: 7724 times
- Been liked: 4169 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
I've got a joyo American coming for bass, demos sound really good!!
There's a new pedal selling guy on TradeMe selling a lot of joyo stuff, really nice to deal with too
There's a new pedal selling guy on TradeMe selling a lot of joyo stuff, really nice to deal with too
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- NippleWrestler
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2915
- Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:05 pm
- Has liked: 79 times
- Been liked: 1071 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
I've got a Caline orange burst OD which is a clone of the BB Xotic preamp.
I sold my Xotic BB once I got this. They sound exactly the same but the Caline was $30.
I sold my Xotic BB once I got this. They sound exactly the same but the Caline was $30.
- kdawg2a
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 3369
- Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:28 pm
- Location: U S and A
- Has liked: 240 times
- Been liked: 1047 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
That one in my profile avatar. $38 delivered.
1935 Martin D-45, 1942 Gibson Southern Jumbo,1950 Fender Broadcaster, 1954 Fender Strat, 1958 Gibson Moderne prototype, 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.
1958 Fender twin, 1965 Vox AC30, 1966 Marshall JTM 45, 1977 Dumble OD Special.
Big black garbage bag full of original Klon Centaurs and TS808s.
1958 Fender twin, 1965 Vox AC30, 1966 Marshall JTM 45, 1977 Dumble OD Special.
Big black garbage bag full of original Klon Centaurs and TS808s.
- jeremyb
- Chorus of Organs
- Posts: 41113
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
- Has liked: 7724 times
- Been liked: 4169 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
Keen to try the mooer radar, not cheap boy cheap though...
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- danmunners
- Ashton
- Posts: 168
- Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:10 pm
- Location: Napier
- Has liked: 6 times
- Been liked: 21 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
Joyo American Sound - I love the overdrive on this and the eq is really usable.
Mooer Tender Octave - Version 1. Upper octave wasn't amazing but the lower was great. Regret selling it.
Mooer Tender Octave - Version 1. Upper octave wasn't amazing but the lower was great. Regret selling it.
- KNNZ
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2979
- Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:03 pm
- Location: Orewa
- Has liked: 1778 times
- Been liked: 667 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
i'll echo codedog, I bought his mooer Tri-buff! insanely good fuzz pedal, can forget about EHX (cough*cough)
- Single coil
- BANNED
- Posts: 10050
- Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:35 pm
- Location: Public toilet
- Has liked: 1110 times
- Been liked: 485 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
Behringer preamp booster. Awesome little drive pedal.
werdna wrote:Well at least I can still make toast in the bath without anyone telling me it's unsafe.
- Kloppsta
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2489
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 1:09 pm
- Location: Auckland
- Has liked: 84 times
- Been liked: 93 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
cool thread!
i have had good luck with "cheap" pedals over the years, but there are certainly some lemons out there!
the standouts for me are:
Behringer SF300 - this is a Boss FZ-2 clone. Its an awesome chewy, biting, velcro ripping fuzz, based on the shin-e Japanese fuzzes iirc. its cool because its an identical copy of the FZ-2 which is highly regarded and sought after making it way too expensive.
Joyo American Sound - this is a Tech 21 Blonde clone. It is apparently an almost identical circuit with a couple of small tweaks for more low end in the Joyo. Its a preamp pedal and has a huge array of tones in it. Everything from Blackface to Tweed. Gain structure is really nice and its just a great sounding pedal at 3 times the price!
Joyo Voodoo Octave - this is a Fulltone Ultimate Octave clone. Again an exact copy and it is stellar. The fuzz alone is super chunky and ripping. When you switch in the upper octave it is wicked for solos, especially in the upper registers. A favorite of Hendrix, Satch etc.
Xvive PT-03 Tuner - just a nice and affordable mini tuner. Nice big and bright screen and as accurate as any Korg, Boss or TC tuner i have owned.
Danelectro Cool Cat Trem - not a clone of anything but just a GREAT sounding trem for cheap! Love the sqaure wave mode. Very cool and unique sound.
Donner Yellow Fall - MXR Carbon Copy clone, without the modulation. Cheap and sounds really good. I do wish it had the modulation switch like the MXR does, but for the price you cannot go wrong! Does really nice oscillation too.
Mooer Orange 90 - MXR Phase 90 clone. Nails the tone. Chewy and sweet. Great phaser at any price.
Mooer tender octaver mkii - literally an exact copy of a EHX Micro Pog. Much cheaper and smaller. Cant go wrong.
Rowin Looper - i am guessing its a TC Ditto clone? - cheap, works perfectly. Not noisy or anything weird. Just does what its supposed to do.
TC 3RD Dimension - this is a Boss Dimension-C clone. Its cheap, sturdy and does an excellent job at like 1/10th the price! Awesome pedal for those lush 80's LA tones.
There are a few more that i have had but cant remember the names of.....one was a Boss BF-2 flanger clone that NAILED that metallic and unique BF-2 tone. I have also had a Boss OC-2 clone that killed for the lower octave riffs
i have had good luck with "cheap" pedals over the years, but there are certainly some lemons out there!
the standouts for me are:
Behringer SF300 - this is a Boss FZ-2 clone. Its an awesome chewy, biting, velcro ripping fuzz, based on the shin-e Japanese fuzzes iirc. its cool because its an identical copy of the FZ-2 which is highly regarded and sought after making it way too expensive.
Joyo American Sound - this is a Tech 21 Blonde clone. It is apparently an almost identical circuit with a couple of small tweaks for more low end in the Joyo. Its a preamp pedal and has a huge array of tones in it. Everything from Blackface to Tweed. Gain structure is really nice and its just a great sounding pedal at 3 times the price!
Joyo Voodoo Octave - this is a Fulltone Ultimate Octave clone. Again an exact copy and it is stellar. The fuzz alone is super chunky and ripping. When you switch in the upper octave it is wicked for solos, especially in the upper registers. A favorite of Hendrix, Satch etc.
Xvive PT-03 Tuner - just a nice and affordable mini tuner. Nice big and bright screen and as accurate as any Korg, Boss or TC tuner i have owned.
Danelectro Cool Cat Trem - not a clone of anything but just a GREAT sounding trem for cheap! Love the sqaure wave mode. Very cool and unique sound.
Donner Yellow Fall - MXR Carbon Copy clone, without the modulation. Cheap and sounds really good. I do wish it had the modulation switch like the MXR does, but for the price you cannot go wrong! Does really nice oscillation too.
Mooer Orange 90 - MXR Phase 90 clone. Nails the tone. Chewy and sweet. Great phaser at any price.
Mooer tender octaver mkii - literally an exact copy of a EHX Micro Pog. Much cheaper and smaller. Cant go wrong.
Rowin Looper - i am guessing its a TC Ditto clone? - cheap, works perfectly. Not noisy or anything weird. Just does what its supposed to do.
TC 3RD Dimension - this is a Boss Dimension-C clone. Its cheap, sturdy and does an excellent job at like 1/10th the price! Awesome pedal for those lush 80's LA tones.
There are a few more that i have had but cant remember the names of.....one was a Boss BF-2 flanger clone that NAILED that metallic and unique BF-2 tone. I have also had a Boss OC-2 clone that killed for the lower octave riffs
Little by little, by hook or by crook
- jeremyb
- Chorus of Organs
- Posts: 41113
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
- Has liked: 7724 times
- Been liked: 4169 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
I tried the joyo voodoo octave my old band mate had and it sounded horrible, maybe it was his rig
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- Kloppsta
- Vintage Post Junkie
- Posts: 2489
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 1:09 pm
- Location: Auckland
- Has liked: 84 times
- Been liked: 93 times
Re: The Best 'Cheap' Pedals
yep, they have the potential to sound horrid like any "old skool" fuzz really. gotta make sure there isnt anything crazy happening impedance wise, so first pedal in the chain is a good idea. also, in my experience, sounds best with "low output" single coils and into a cleanish, slightly breaking up amp.jeremyb wrote:I tried the joyo voodoo octave my old band mate had and it sounded horrible, maybe it was his rig
get the recipe right and its tonal bliss
Little by little, by hook or by crook