Thomann/HarleyBenton Tech21 Character Series Clones

Post by **Mike** » Thu May 19, 2011 8:06 am

THEGREATJONZINI wrote:playng about more with the extreme metal and the battery doesn't fit in the battery compartment LOL!

they sound good through my Laney LC30ii really have to find the sweet spot though.

Definitely cheap as chips construction wise, but if you can find one that works for you they're pretty great.

I'll make a demo at some point.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:32 pm

So I've been doing some research into these.

It turns out theyre made by a chinese company called joyo: link

There are also loads of youtube demos for the joyo branded versions. Just watched the one below and am deffinately going to buy this one (california model).

[youtube][/youtube]

Post by **Mike** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:38 pm

mrperson wrote:There are also loads of youtube demos for the joyo branded versions.

haha right after I get off my arse and demo one of mine.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:41 pm

Aha yh it was a bit of a coincidence. Glad you made a demo though

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue May 31, 2011 4:56 pm

So this came today. Sounds great for a pedal that cost less than Â£25, running as a normal stomp box it sounds a little shrill, but so do most overdrive pedals through my vox, running as a preamp though, this thing sounds amazing. I havent tried it with my powerblock yet but it should sound great.

Post by **Mike** » Tue May 31, 2011 5:34 pm

The speaker emulation is what makes it sound shrill - it's not designed for use as an overdrive pedal really.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:26 pm

As well as the character series, theyre making other clones of pedals such as the MI Audio Crunch Box

Harley Benton Crunch Distortion

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:30 pm

They gonna take my JOOORRRRBBB

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:53 pm

looking at their range of pedals they are turning in to Behringer

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ ... fects.html

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:54 pm

They really are, they even have a re-branded GFS tuner:

THEGREATJONZINI · Post by **THEGREATJONZINI** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:21 pm

i noticed that thomann have stopped selling the 'Ultimate Drive' (copy of the fulltone OCD)

http://www.thomann.de/gb/media_bdbviewe ... =0&small=1

I assume they got hassled since they sell the full tone range too!

Incidently JOYO who make the whole range originally put out their own version of the fulltone Ultimate octave. i picked up one of these and the OCD clone off a chinese ebay'r and they both really are great!! I guess the 'Ultimate Octave' name was too obvious for Thomann. LOLOLOLOLOL !

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:35 pm

THEGREATJONZINI wrote:i noticed that thomann have stopped selling the 'Ultimate Drive' (copy of the fulltone OCD)

Nah their website stock tends to be pretty erratic, it'll be back up soon. I think they take stuff off if theyre unsure of the next shipment or something.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:48 pm

think i'm going to pick up one of the 'blonde' ones for future use. looking into ways of doing things extremely stripped down (outdoor gigs) and one of these would mean i could just plug right into the PA.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:37 pm

after seeing Mikes recording set up in the whore house its tempting to get one of the blonds as well. I tend to use the same type of amp all the time on my irig when practicing. Certainly great value for money considering the cost of amp sims these days.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:13 pm

I'm going to get one of the American pedals, i'm playing an 'unplugged' set with the singer from my band and i'm going to straight to the PA but i figured things would sound better through one of these bad boys. One question though (and don't laugh if it's a stupid one), would I be able to plug stright into a speaker cab with one of these or is it likely to fuck things up?

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:15 pm

johnnyseven wrote:would I be able to plug stright into a speaker cab with one of these or is it likely to fuck things up?

Nope its just a pre-amp, you need a power amp to power the speaker. Would be good to plug in front of something like the ehx caliber amp though.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:53 pm

That's good, I have one of those too.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:59 pm

Just been trying out my True Tone American pedal and it really is as great as Mike pointed out. I've managed to make it sound pretty much exactly as my 1975 Bassman 50! For anyone interested I set it:

Low: 1.30
Mid: 1.30
High: 10.30
Level: 12
Voice: 7
Drive: 12

It works really well with my EHX 22 Calibre which sounded pretty dark/dull on it's own. No need to me to buy the small practice amp I was thinking of getting when I move house soon! Thanks to Mike for making me aware of this!

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:23 am

So it turns out a company has been buying these pedals and rehousing them, then selling them as 'boutique'.

http://freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13383
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/sho ... re-we-go!)

Post by **Mike** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:59 am

Yup, the old Freekish Blues switcheroo. Cheeky sods.

I feel terrible for anyone that's paid the top whack for these - Andertons recently started selling the Alpha Drive (Joyo's OCD mashup, available for $30) for Â£165 in the UK and apparently sold their first batch in a day.

Bad. Times.