User review-JOYO JF-36 Sweet Baby Overdrive

As a working musician on a limited budget, I am always seeking bargains. When it comes to achieving the sounds I am looking for, I like to keep things simple and effective. There is nothing wrong with using a multi-effects unit or a modeling amp with tons of built in effects if the end result gets you the sounds you need and you can operate it with a minimum of hassle. I'm not that guy.

Dialing in multi-effects units and amp simulation algorithms on digital amps to save each setting for recall and balancing the volume between each is a slow and tedious process. I also find that all the time invested seldom gets me exactly the sound I am looking for. On the flip side, having an amp-whether one or more channel dialed in with a usable base tone and putting a few pedals in front of it works great for me. There's just a few knobs to tweak and I can quickly dial my tone in effortlessly.

I'm a "vintage" sound kind of guy. I'm not a purist, or a gear snob because my budget doesn't allow me the luxury. For my Strats and Teles I like the clean sound of an American (Class A/B) tube amp-specifically the mid sixties era "Blackface" amps and their various clones. For blues and blues-rock there is nothing better. The recipe is simple-dial in the clean amp with reverb to taste and use a handful of pedals to get the various sounds you are looking for. For dirty sounds I prefer the British (Class A) amps.

I've been hearing for some time about the Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive. This is a boutique pedal with a $300 price tag that can also be picked up used on sites such as www.reverb.com.This is a low to medium gain overdrive that was billed as offering killer sounds for blues, jazz and country. It seemed as though it would be very useful on my pedalboard. Alas, paying $300 for a hand wired boutique pedal was not in my future. There is also a PCB version-but $150 wasn't happening any time soon either.

I went looking for a clone at www.cheaperpedals.com which is my go to site for bargain effects pedals. Sure enough, JOYO offers a SHO clone called the Sweet Baby Overdrive for a mere $39.00! Before I could order it, fate intervened in the form of a "for sale" listing on the Chattanooga, Cleveland and North Georgia Gear Trader Facebook page. A local musician was offering a slightly used Sweet Baby OD for sale for $10! Needless to say, I jumped on the opportunity!

Upon arriving home, I removed the four screws from the bottom, popped in a fresh 9 volt battery, buttoned it all back up and began to put the pedal through its paces with my vintage style Strat. The controls are very simple. "Volume" and "Drive" are self explanatory. The third knob labeled "Focus" is what sets this pedal apart-and where the real magic happens.

When the "Focus" knob is turned completely counterclockwise, the overdrive is extremely sensitive to your touch. Picking harder results in more overdriven tone. The overall tone is also "softer" with that tube "sag." This couldn't be more perfect for blues and jazz. You can literally "set and forget" this pedal and use your guitar volume knob and pick attack for various levels of overdriven tone the way it used to be done!

As you turn the "Focus" knob clockwise the sound becomes "tighter" and the overdrive effect occurs more readily with less pick attack needed. The tone is noticably "sharper" and and I could see this being very usable for mildly overdriven twangy country sounds. The "Focus" knob also impacts the EQ slightly with a noticeable increase in treble response as the knob is rotated clockwise.

The real beauty of this pedal for me is its transparency. It literally sounds good in front of every kind of amp. There is a bit of a midrange "bump" when the pedal is engaged, but not enough to require readjusting the amp settings. I tweaked the knobs every conceivable way-but I literally could not adjust this pedal to sound bad no matter how hard I tried! I ended up finding lots of usable tones for all sorts of styles.

The bottom line with this one is that you absolutely can't go wrong at $39 for such a versatile pedal! Buy it and love it. If you're worried about the build quality and durability....buy two!

Product Review-SX VTG Series Ursa 1 P-Bass Copy

As a working musician with a perpetually limited budget, I am always on the hunt for bargains. I had been hearing for some time about Rondo Music (www.rondomusic.com) SX and Douglas brand basses on the Talk Bass internet forum (www.talkbass.com)-especially the P-Bass, Tele-Bass, and J-Bass copies. I am once again working as a bassist, so I was looking for an inexpensive axe that would be good enough out of the box to start working, but also a good platform for modifications.

As those of you following the blog know, I get a great deal of satisfaction from modifying budget gear to be usable for a working musician. If you do not believe that budget gear can ever be modified to work just as well as gear that is professional grade right off the shelf, then this blog is not for you. My experiences are unlikely to change your mind.

I surfed on over to http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html to look at four string basses, and settled on the Ursa 1-which is a P-Bass copy with a Maple neck and fingerboard. http://www.rondomusic.com/ursabkmn.html. The price of $115.00 for a P-Bass clone with an alder body including a gig bag and instructional DVD made me think there was absolutely no way I could lose. Ground shipping to Chattanooga added another $17.28 which brought the total to $132.28. Rondo takes PayPal, which makes ordering a snap.

SX VTG Series Ursa 1 Bass

Upon arrival of the bass, I was struck by the clean, classic P-Bass look. The paint on the body was surprisingly good, with no runs or obvious flaws. The neck was straight with a vintage tone finish and the action not bad for a "new out of box" imported bass. The frets were par for the course -they'll need a little touching up with a file. With any new instrument, you should plan on having a professional set up done with your preferred strings. 

Upon initial inspection, I have to say that the headstock look on these basses is industrial strength ugly IMHO. Perhaps it can be cut to a more pleasing shape. That's definitely a modification I'm going to consider. 

The hideous SX headstoc

The tuners are your typical open gear imported bass tuners. They do the job adequately. I will probably replace these with some vintage style tuners. The nut was the standard plastic variety. It will definitely need to be replaced for maximum tuning stability. The bridge appears to be adequate. As expected, I had to do some subtle intonation adjustments. 

Upon plugging this bass in, I was absolutely stunned. This thing sounds exactly like a P-Bass is supposed to sound. It has a sweet tone and the balance between the strings is surprisingly good. The noise level is exactly what you would expect from an unshielded single coil bass guitar.  I will very likely put a set of flat wound strings on to complete the vintage tone and flavor of this instrument. 

At a price that is nearly 40% below the price of the cheapest Squier P-Bass, I am impressed. The body wood is the best thing about this bass. It is genuine alder. The electronics are decent for this type of bass, but I will probably upgrade them. I think modifications to the tuners, nut, electronics and bridge would result in a supremely excellent sounding instrument for a shockingly small amount of cash. Having the frets properly dressed and a professional setup is also a good idea for the best action and playability. Upon completion of these mods, you will have an instrument that plays and sounds on par with instruments costing twice what you will have invested. 

If you are considering an inexpensive bass for a beginner or an axe that is a good starting point to modify-you might want to give an SX bass a shot. I can't believe the amount of tonal bang for the buck this bass offers.