JOYOJF-32 Hot Plexi Distortion Guitar Effect Pedal - True Bypass, DC 9V and Battery Supported

This thing sounds awesome. Van Halen, Ozzy, 80s sound in a box. Connect to decent sounding, warm clean channel with a 4x12 cab (the cab is an essential part of this kind of Marshall sound - you don't get it from a 1x12 open back really), and you are set. This is more of a boosted plexi sound, 80s version of a plexi. Ignore the description mentioning Duane...this is a metal beast.I own two Marshalls, not solid state ones. And this 30 dollar petal arguably sounds more Marshall than what Marshall made after the 90s. Me, I like vintage and modern metal tones, and my 3 channel amp gets modern all day long, is always tight in the low end, but never crunchy, raw, and fizzy like an old Marshall.This pedal has well known bugs. For one, the gain control doesn't really work. It's like the knob starts at 7 and ends at 10, and some say it's because Joyo messed up copying the circuits and put the wrong values. And then theres the issue of the pedal's lack of volume.For me, with the tone at just under half or more, volume is a bit more than unity, which for my purposes is fine.It might be more versatile with better gain and volume controls. I think though, it might sound worse with less gain, due to the way the tone changes.Speaking of tone, the control is actually pretty useful. Straight up is pretty brown, and around 3/4 is getting pretty hair metal, Randy Roads, kinda stuff.FWIW there is a simple mod out there to fix the volume issue, it involves "connecting 100k R between lug 3 of V and lug 2 of T." Basically, add one resistor, and get double the volume.Over all I think it's pretty versatile because I could see doing any sort of classic rock up to 80s metal with it. It actually added a lot of chunk to the sound when I used it on an overdriven amp, which is pleasantly surprising considering I thought "bright marshall" pedal would sound like a can of bees into a OD channel. Not at all, very chunky.So yeah, it works for me, sounds great. If my opinion changes, I'll update. I'm pretty picky about my tone, and this I just like. Sounded a lot better than the demos I heard, I guess because I have a pretty warm amp and it really gels with my 4x12.

I have to disclose that I'm a bit of a Joyo rube, as evidenced by the nearly dozen or so of them I now own. So given that I bought the pedal, and am generally very happy with it, it pains me to give anything other than a 5-star review. Still, they can't all be 5* pedals, so I think a 4* rating is more appropriate for this pedal that does one specific thing pretty well, but nothing else.My biggest gripe with the Plexi Drive isn't with how it sounds, but more with the fact that it's a sound that's readily available on dozens of other pedals, even those under $100. In terms of gain structure, it reminds me a little of the MXR '78 Badass Distortion, except that it isn't as hot/bright, and it offers a little more gain. Users of this pedal will find that it depends heavily on the quality of your amp's clean tone, which becomes increasingly true as you use dirtboxes with less gain/saturation (which tends to smother or "hide" the underlying tone). For this reason, subjective opinions on how it sounds may vary from rig-to-rig.But all that being said, the pedal does rock. Turn it on over as clean a tone as possible, and you can hit crunchy power chords with good mid-range punch and clarity. It also has a nice low-end presence that some other distortion pedals lack. The tone doesn't behave differently by changing the amount of gain, however. You get that vintage Marshall crunch with low gain settings, and then the same tone with more saturation as you turn it up. It does pair well with a good overdrive, such as the excellent Joyo Sweet Baby OD. Not necessarily good or bad, it just "is".The build quality is good enough for most people, but certainly not to the level of a BOSS, MXR, or even some Biyang and older Joyo pedals. Everything works great now, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of these Joyo switches fail in 5-10 years. At this price point, though, that's not an unreasonable risk to take.It was easier to purchase the Plexi with the prices falling to the $35 to $45 (U.S.) range, as opposed to nearly $60. But unlike the other Joyo products, which offer boutique-caliber clones, the Hot Plexi didn't "blow me away" as a unique value. But it sounds great, dials in simply and reliably, and is cheap, all of which make a great option for budget players or dirtpedal-obsessed hobbyists (raising hand).UPDATE (09/21/2013) - Re-visited my review; going to revise it to 3 stars, as much as that pains me. Perhaps I'm being too hard on this pedal but for me, the number one rule for any distortion box (and especially on specifically dedicated to hard rock, aggressive, distorted Marshall tones) is this: It can't get QUIETER when you step on the pedal. The whole point of distortion pedals is that you need it to be on unity gain or INCREASE your volume easily. I have this turned all the way up, and it's barely at unity gain on any setting. That's unacceptable. Did the side-by-size with the MXR '78 Badass again, and while the Hot Plexi has a great sound (arguably) even better, it's not useful to me once you perceive it to be "weak".This is not true example of the Joyo lineup, many of which are great products and have TONS of power on tap. The Crunch Distortion and Ultimate Drive have absurd amounts of output. This Hot Plexi is simply a near miss, and a slight disappointment.

I was looking for a Marshall/JCM800 pedal to make it easier to record into Logic Pro X without having to have a whole rig setup.The Hot Plexi out of the box is simple to use, hookup and get running. I am using power adapter straight from another Boss pedal in the chain. I placed it at the front of the pedal, to give that FX Loop vibe for all my effects. I play a lot of Tom Morello esque songs, and this fit the bill.The build seems good, very lightweight. The color is nice, like the original JCM800 grill color. Not sure what build this is modeled after, but seems "hotter" than a 2203 which is what i wanted, almost like a 2204/2005 (like T Morello) uses.For the price, seems like a no brainer to try for your usage.

The build and tone quality of this pedal is pretty darn good considering the crazy-low price tag.That's the good.Now the not-necessarily-good-or-bad depending on your needs;Yes, this does capture a certain type of Marshall tone but there is not a lot of play in the range of that tone... It does not clean up at all, you cannot turn the gain down for a crunchy over-driven tone or anything of that nature...it is basically balls to the walls from the lowest gain setting and when you crank the gain there's only about a 30% difference. So if you want to add an inexpensive tool for a sweet cranked Plexi tone to your rig that ranges from a semi-high to high-gain then this pedal is well worth your time.

If you're looking for a "plexi" sound, blues, classic rock, etc. this is the pedal for you. Good crunch, not a lot of boost. If you want a hard rock/metal sound, go with the Ultimate Drive from Joyo. This is for the Zeppelin, Stones, blues, type sound that came from old Marshall amps. This is not the Mesa Boogie, metal, growl.

とにかく歪みの幅が狭くて、最初から最後まで歪んだままです。クリーンとかクランチにはなりません。もちろんエフェクターオフにすればなります。マーシャルの音かと問うならば…ごめんなさい、わかりません。こういう歪みペダルと思えば使えますが、基本的にJOYOは音色がみんな近いので、これがないと困るっていうほどではないです。多分、限られたエフェクターボードのスペースの中で、もっと歪みや音色の幅が広いエフェクターはありますから、2軍も厳しいかな…と。ギターはハムハム、アンプは15wのマーシャルです。

裏蓋に4本ある内の２本のネジが固着して蓋が開きません。同シリーズのレビューに同じ様な事例が何件かありましたが、自分の所にも来るとは・・・電池で使えるので購入を決めましたが、電池を入れる事が出来ないため全く使えません。現在、蓋を開けてもらえるか問い合わせ中です。どうにもならなければ評価は1のままですかね。販売店に連絡がつき、新品交換となりました。ネジを外してくれるだけで良かったのですが、連絡のスキもないまま交換となりました。商品の感想としましてはこれは普通のディストーションとは根本から違いますね。30年近く前にJCM800を愛用していたんですが、同じ感覚で使えます。（音色は違いますよ）ボリュームを絞ったり静かに弾けばクリーンクランチに、フルで思い切りよく弾けばたちまちフルドライブに。しかもピッキングニュアンスがきえません。今は趣味なんで、これで必要十二分です。アンプを持ち運ぶ手間もいりませんし。ジャージャーなるだけのディストーションが欲しい人にはオススメ出来ませんが、玉アンプの音がほしい人には良いと思います。しかも、飲みを一回我慢すれば買えちゃいますからね。お薦めです。

コッホのプリアンプの前に繋いで使っています。少しハイがキツめでカラッとした歪みです。マーシャルに似てるかどうかは何とも言えませんがサウンドとしてはとても気に入ってます。

JCM800は高額で買えないけど、マルチに入ってるシュミレーターの音ヤセも嫌だ。というボクのような貧乏人には最高です！

I read some reviews on Amazon and they weren't positive but then again not than many guitar players use volume and tone controls let alone know how to dial in their tone.Looking in YouTube demos were more favourable.So I bought on and pleased that I did.I mostly play through Roland Blues Cube to get that Fender tweed tone and normally for driven tones use the boost on that or my tube screamer clone. But for that heavier 80s Marshall gain sound this pedal hits the spot. It's quite scooped as expected with a thick and tight bass with a boost in the treble.I find with the tone at 10 o'clock, distortion at 10 o'clock it captures that magic 80s Plexi tone just right.But dial the distiortion back to about 9 o'clock and set the volume at 12 o'clock I can use this with my tube screamer clone to get a nice soaring tone with the mid range boost of the tube screamer and fatter bottom end of the Plexi for lead work as well as a boost in volume.I used it at gig last night for leadwork and got complimented on my Plexi tone from the other guitarist in my band.