Joyo American Sound, British Sound, AC Tone and California Sound: How Good Are They?

I've owned the Joyo American Sound for years now, so I decided to get my hands on the other 3 pedals in the series; the California Sound, the AC Tone and the British Sound to see how good they are. As these pedals are amp and cab simulators so they are plugged directly into my DAW via a Behringer Digial Reverb on spring. I am using my Seymour Duncan loaded Cort M600 with the neck split into a single coil.
I want to thank my good friend Dave Heath for lending me his California sound to make this video.
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[@SaintStoogie]

Thoroughly impressed with the American pedal. I brought it to try making a silent stage rig as my Mesa amp is not exactly quiet. Really impressed with it, my amp developed an issue a while ago and Im having to wait to afford getting it fixed. In the meantime I've been relying on this pedal along with a Amplitube X-Time (which features a cab sim function too). Together they have enabled me to create a really useable set up. I'm now even questioning returning to using a real amp on stage again.

[@phylliscarr3067]

Nice job on the comparisons! Thanks.

[@juanvelazquez2423]

Great demo and review. Nicely done kid.

[@markpickardlife]

I really like your demos.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Thank you!

[@gwugluud]

Plenty of various clean to dirt sounds with that "American", and the knobs make notable differences even with slight adjustments. I'm really glad I bought one.

[@DavidShepard-ke9su]

Thank you, good comparison. I am leaning toward the American as well, and I want to put it in as the preamp stage for my Powerstage 170.

[@RobertBartko]

Excellent work. Thank you

[@JonadanandtheFreaks]

Best video about these gems on youtube

[@stevenpage9269]

Starting a pedal board build with all 5 (AC / British / California / American and Oxford) with a Taichi (Dumeble-esque) to be able to switch between amp sounds in as home recording setting - feeding into a cab box. A Tauren overdrive on the front end. Almost a pure JOYO board, with a keeley compressor, and a few other things. I'll leave modulation and verbs / delays to the DAW. Wish me luck, should be done in a week.

[@j.powellnetwork]

These are the best pedals at this price point. I've had my American sound for years and have used it in several gigs. An amazing value.

[@harrisfrankou2368]

I bought the American and have ordered the British...for freinds jamming, stereo guitar jamming and for mire of an ACDC Van Halen type tones. Voice control is everything with these...tweaking between voice, gain and level is the key.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I agree

[@organjoe]

I just bought an 80s Fender Sidekick 30 solid-state amp. Nice amp but a bit sterile. Just ordered a new speaker but in the meantime I tried a Joyo American in front and it was A HUGE improvement. Pretty darn great for $30 bucks!

[@mizumon2515]

what speaker did you get? I have the sidekick 35R. The preamp on these amps is already very good especially the EQ.

[@cdclaxton]

Another great video! I own the Ac Tone and the American Joyo pedals as I've used them live countless times to good effect. I felt slightly bad that they'd ripped off the Tech 21, so I forked out the best part of £200 and bought the Blond. The Blond circuit developed an intermittent fault within a couple of years and after sales support was non-existent in the UK and it never got fixed sadly. Tech21 stopped selling the pedals a couple of years ago and so Joyo have won out rightly or wrongly. It was good to see your review and you made me want to track down a British as the overdrive sound was great.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

It's a handy bit of kit. It sounds decent in recordings too.

[@jasonperez7811]

I'd fix it for you for free if you were in the US. Tech 21 is awesome. I got a bunked pedal on reverb a gt21 and they fixed it for a mere $40.00. And even sent it UPS when I requested that over the standard U.S.P.S. they're pedals are true and worth the price alone. I still like the Joyo pedals though too. In there defense, those pedals are not made anymore and are getting hard too come by. I'd rather use the joyos instead and keep the originals safe.

[@lastdaysguitar]

Good review though I think you may have underrated the ACTONE, I have tried them all and the AMERICAN SOUND and the AC TONE are IMHO the 2 best.

[@lw1391]

Glad to hear that. I have the American and like it, and just bought the AC today. 😊

[@LOFIGSD]

Agree, the American is fantastic, great for Jam sessions, I've taken mine as a backup, but my Katana twin never failed yet, the others, not convinced, they have one now that is meant to emulate an Orange Amp, I add a simple Reverb on the output and the Caline Blue Sky works great as a drive for these, but as you say the American has some great drive anyway.

[@thislisa]

I always appreciate your insight. The American is so great but I must admit that I wish the enclosure was smaller or all inputs and outputs on the top.

[@sirnatanielson]

Horse makes a clone of a clone of the American. It has a smaller enclosure and a brushed finish. Haven't used a joyo but I've been mostly impressed with it so far. And it's a bit cheaper by $10-15

[@thislisa]

I use the American as a clean platform as well. I use the Blue Crab for my OD. You helped me with both of those choices.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

😉 you don't have to pay a fortune to have good tone 🎸

[@harrisfrankou2368]

Strymon Riverside into mid low crunch on humbuckers clean on single coils.

[@harrisfrankou2368]

@@JasonAyalaSpare hey cool channel Melbourne here.

[@jjcevallos12]

I just bought the British sound it amazing

[@zackwatson755]

Cool to hear all these in one video, thanks! Have you tried the Oxford one?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Oxford one? I haven't seen that one.

[@lukeyduke79]

I have all these and the oxford. the oxford is really good for crunch and fat distortion tones, run it into a cab sim pedal and it really rocks. it is way noisier if you go past certain settings though. worth the price of admission in my opinion.

[@ButternoteBackingTracks]

They're awesome pedals. I use an American Sound for all guitar parts on my channel backing tracks. DI into an audio interface, effects applied in the DAW. I've even A/B compared it with a friend's Strymon Iridium, which is obviously a more versatile, featured pedal. For the actual recorded sounds though, there is really not much in it. Amazing considering the price difference!

[@Diggerdog2nd]

I've got the Classic Flanger which sounds a lot like the mxr which I love & the price was amazing. I think something like $30/$35 & also got the AC tone & it's good but I haven't messed with it much.

[@leftundersun]

I have the british, and even having less output than the others, it's already fucking loud, i love it

[@kirkbolas4985]

I think they were going more for the Mesa MKIIc than the Dual Rectifier with the California Sound pedal.

[@airinbone]

Using on a bass guitar the American is a standout amongst, not just the others in this Joyo line, but also others under $50. Magic with Voice @10/Drive @9-11. Set like this for classic vintage tube bass tone.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

That's good to know, I'll have to try it.

[@jumpingman8160]

try the AC Tone with bass. More sparkle if you enjoy that Warwick/MusicMan type of sound (or good ol' Jazz Bass for slap)

[@WilDBeestMF]

The Oxford sound is pretty good if you're after a Darkglass-ish kind of deal, but I also have to give it to the American sound on bass. It kinda just rips it.

[@alanredversangel]

Currently gigging with a Boss GP-10 into a full range speaker. It's great but I miss having a global preamp with accessible 3 band eq. The American Sound would fill that spot perfectly.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

It's a decent pedal.

[@teknomanning]

Use the acetone for my Red Special as a treble boost

[@castnoshadow82lr48]

Nice video I actually use the ac tone pedal to boost my ac15 I agree with you as a mimic pedal it doesn’t do a great job. However I find boosting your existing vox platform it works quite well. I’m not debating there are far better things for that but I recently got an ac15 and already had the pedal so after trying all my other pedals with the new amp I thought why not plug the ac tone in? I was pleasantly surprised it can as you say boost your clean or you can set it up to come in over the top with some drive and break up more than the ac 15 would otherwise so I can work in a few roles if you’re trying ti save space on the board and you’re on a budget. I’ll buy the american at your advice as I don’t currently have a fender amp so why not.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

That's a really unexpected way to use it. If it works for you then who cares how much it costs 🎸

[@castnoshadow82lr48]

@@JasonAyalaSpare as I said it was the last one I tried because I thought it counter intuitive to pair the 2 it was pure chance 😂

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Vox's don't have a lot of bass? The way I heard it was that they don't have treble hence all the treble boosting and whatnot. What's California? Is that supposed to be like a Mesa Boogie or something? If these are meh, is there a better pedal?

[@markswarbrick999]

I've owned all four of these at some point. I found the California and British to be the least impressive. The American and AC Tone were excellent and easily the best of them.

[@kassandjohnbolles3522]

Agree 100%

[@fedeluque4020]

British as the overdrive sound was great.

[@CaptainZombeh]

I loved the California Sound for my ampless rig, and it was dead quiet. Even with gain pedals in front. Great cleans and distortion tones.

[@RodrigoAnaquiri]

Quais recomendam para worship?

[@WilDBeestMF]

​@@RodrigoAnaquiriI think that worshipping a $30 pedal is a bit misguided, but whichever one makes you happy dude!

[@KelticKabukiGirl]

You need to try the Oxford Sound Orange tone amp

[@henrybuena5323]

who is the win pedal after this? i prefer the joyo American sound?

[@MrGlynsPickups]

Thanks Jason, really informative.

[@mabanagjomel]

I like the British and American. I might buy one of them.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

One for clean, one for dirty.

[@loveaboveall2382]

@@JasonAyalaSpare which one is better for clean and which one is better for dirty?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

@@loveaboveall2382 the British

[@loveaboveall2382]

@@JasonAyalaSpare better for both?

[@1thess523]

There's a guy that goes under "Jo bass" here on KZbin and he did the American as a bass preamp and that thing I actually sounds really good

[@cedric1886]

Same here, using the British joyo for bass DI recording , a very happy accident, as this was initially purchased for my guitar. I play bass picked and palm muted and with a little dirt. Not sure how it would deliver on slapped or fingered.

[@jasonperez7811]

California does not have a recto tone but a mark ii or iii tone. And it does a really good job.

[@trevorD1156]

Yea, I have a mark 2b and you'll never get a good gain sound with the bass over 5. I just ordered one of these and it's hilarious watching people making vids without researching or knowing how to eq.

[@McCambira]

The AC TONE 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@aitonegears8495]

Do you know they have the Oxford sound now ?

[@AaronKaiMCDNLD]

man, I kinda wanna know your opinion mate, like im currently in the pickle between California and British ones since I love the sound of Fender Amps especially clean, buy I also love the Gain and Drive of the Marshalls as well, which one should I pick bro?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I used to use the American as my clean with a Marshall style overdrive in front.

[@cedric1886]

Fun fact, I am using the British joyo to record my bass (I play picked and palm muted), there is a nice and dynamic transient-rich compression and I can easily dial the dirtiness of the tone to fit nicely in the mix.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Cool 🎸

[@BartoszXIV]

16:00 I would not reccomend to use any of the knobs on this pedal turned to the extreme positions. I now own Joyo California sound and must say that it really does resemble of Mesa amp sound. I also own Mesa Boogie Lone Star 1x12 and clean settings on the pedal are pretty close. Drive sound is different but pedal was meant to imitate Mark II. Not sure where you found the info about the Mesa Rectifier sounds coming out of this pedal. It does not say anything on the box or included manuals about Mesa Rectifier sounds. 16:44 Anyway I am now intrigued to know what are the pedals that do the Rectifier sounds great so I'd be glad if you could share :)

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Mesa throttle box or a Mesa V Twin. I've done videos with these pedals, my Mike Einzinger video has the throttle box and my amp in a box video has the V Twin

[@RodrigoAnaquiri]

Worship qual é melhor? Para tocar com uma les paul

[@Sheldyck]

the california is not supposed to sound like a rectifier, it's a model of a IIC+

[@Twirlyhead]

My two pence on these. I have the original foursome. American and AC Tone both ace, British very good, California not good at all. As DI boxes all of them sound better through a decent cab sim and all of them would be better if their internal cab sims were switchable. Just ordered an Oxford ... oooh.

[@stratosexual1329]

I had a new Line6 pod go, and I sold it because I like the American sound better with my at home rig. The American sound is by far the best. You can get a nice plucky deluxe sound and a decent tweedy baseman sound. On my board the American sound is my last pedal before modulation. I run all my overdrives into it. It sounds great. The British is good too but I like it more for breakup tones. Not as big of a fan of its clean side. AC is ok if you need that sound but it’s not my jam. The California sound really good if you ask me. It’s just not my tone. I plug it in every now and then if I want to play some NFG or Blink.

[@joseluisgarcia8138]

Hola creo que estoy en la misma situación. I have a podgo but límited for me. Now i am trying this Hx effects + american sound as preamp+thunder 99 Harley benton+2x12 Sorry my inglish. Saludos from Barcelona 👍

[@fredmirandadiaz1111]

@@joseluisgarcia8138 yo reemplace mi JAS cuando compré la hx stomp. Le hecho de menos un poco, lo usaba para clean y un tech 21 Liverpool para gain, iban a un mooer radar. Pero no me gusta bailar tap tap, así que reemplace con el hx stomp. Ahora estoy esperando un preamp a tubos que me mandé a hacer, ocupan mucho espacio los amp del hx. Aunque como toco en la calle, suelo usar más ese set: wah JH-1, kokko over (ts), Muslady cube baby (carga IR) y eso va a un parlante portatil de 15".

[@joseluisgarcia8138]

Gracias por la info 😃

[@fredmirandadiaz1111]

@@joseluisgarcia8138 toda experiencia sirve man. Saludos.

[@xavixavi4959]

Good video, by the way I want to add it to my pedalboard, where should I put it? I have in this order: equalizer, compressor, overdrive, dist, noise Gate, chorus, tremolo, flanger, and delay. Where should I put it? Thanks

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I'd put it between your drive pedals and the chorus.

[@sunnytaufiq07]

Hi... Is that Cort M600? Looks great. Does it got split coil?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Yes it is, I upgraded the pickups to Seymour Duncan hotroded set. It has the coil split.

[@tomwarisover]

When you connect this pedal to an amp, do you connect it as a regular pedal? Or do you use the fx loop? And, if you are using a pedal chain, do you use it at the beginig? I mean, before the overdrive?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

These pedals are designed to replace your amp (particularly live). If you do use them with an amp you could either run it in your chain as a drive pedal or put it in your fx loop.

[@DevoT]

I have the American Sound, when using it with my amp I run it in straight to the input just as you would a distortion pedal. As far as the chain, I will put overdrive and other coloration pedals in front of it and reverb/delay on the output end, and when using an amp with fx loop I will have the American sound closest to the input and the reverb/delay on the fx loop.

[@joeyvitale3241]

@@JasonAyalaSpare so how do u control the volume?

[@onevoiceinc]

@@JasonAyalaSpare I am curious to see how it'll (possibly) alter some of the more shrill frequencies in my Marshall DSL40CR. At minimum, if it works as a decent drive pedal/stomp box, I'd be happy.

[@georgefromgreece4119]

impressed by the one emulating the american sound the most

[@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy]

Are you recording this through a tube amp or a digital recording set up? Whichever one it is, It sounds great. This is definitely the point where I gotta decide between tube or digital.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

This video was recorded without amps.

[@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy]

@@JasonAyalaSpare gotcha, I know some people mic up their amps so I wasn’t sure, thanks brother! Your videos have been very helpful and entertaining rn!

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy I usually do, but because these are amp and cab simulators I just ran them directly into my DAW

[@WhoDaF0ok1sThatGuy]

@@JasonAyalaSpare oh that makes a lot more sense. I need to figure out how to mic up my amp and have a recording set up at the same time for whenever I do song covers. I prefer using an actual amp. Any recommendations for a camera and microphone that don’t break the bank?

[@kosmicwizard]

Fender gets a pass, but my 2 favourites are the actone and the Oxford sound

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

I've got all four (call me a member of the Joyo Sound "cult", I guess). Joyo has now introduced the "Oxford" Sound Pedal, which is supposed to be a simulation of the Orange amp family.

[@TroyNaumu808]

In the long run its probably better to invest in the Tech21 pedals that these Joyo is based upon instead.

[@user-lx3by9do1x]

I used the Cal, Amer n the acetone live for 3 years through a rack reverb n 1500 watt power amp. The only problem was voice knob over like 3/4 up made a lot of noise. N noise gate didn’t help much.

[@MrJackrockerman]

The voice knob is a (gain) drive for the mid knob.. Set both first.. And find a sweet spot of bass & high knob.. Crank the level or set it 3/4 .. Drive to taste..

[@johnnygreenway3579]

What power supply are you using? Which kind would you recommend for a beginner player.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

9v DC

[@oldandeerie]

So good mine plays the radio 😂

[@5T3LTH]

Try it with a sonicake ir loader after it. It is the missing piece.

[@vitorxd12_81]

they actually do have a ir built in. you just can't change it

[@FullMetalDMZ]

You mentioned that there are better pedals for the rectifier sound out there, can you please specify which ones?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Mooer have one in their preamp series, the name escapes me.

[@Jack-fs2im]

@@JasonAyalaSpare the mooer preamps cover a very wide range of preamps,ten in all.peavey.vox and exotic amps like Diezel Hagan etc

[@jaribu2758]

On the cheap side of things, the American Sound with the Mosky Spring Reverb will do nicely.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I still use it live.

[@Simon-jn2oo]

This is how I run it to

[@jepsmusicjp]

Hello, have you tried plugging in direct to PA?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

That's how I use them.

[@alexforget]

The american sound very good with an Overdrive/Rat/TS in front. I wonder about the other ones. I think you would get a better distorted sound without the muddiness.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I use the Fender Pugilist Distortion in front of the American. It sounds good.

[@12hpa]

for higher gain stuff i too use the mini TS to tighten the tone

[@-_AjB_-]

Do you find that the pedal adds compression? Does it raise the noise floor?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Yes I do, they definitely add compression.

[@LeoDecriPHDJ]

which one has better and more powerful distortion?? and would it serve better as a pre amp for bass??

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Probably the British

[@laxbro7ify]

AC Tone is a bit different. Set it clean to clean-ish and then drive it with a boost or OD pedal.

[@Mr.Steve-O]

Interested in the AC Tone, were you able to get that dialed in closer to a Vox amp ? I heard that running these style pedals in the effects make a big difference instead of hitting the front. Thoughts on that ?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

A few people have told me that they like using them in the loop.

[@Mr.Steve-O]

@@JasonAyalaSpare it make sense

[@LOFIGSD]

The question is, what gives a good AC30 tone? I've not been impressed by what I have heard of of the AC one, incidentally, the Vox MV50 clean is superb through a 2x12, If you like HiWatt style cleans.

[@AdamWellsMusic]

Sold on the Fender in a box. Impressive. The others are ok but not as useful. Good demo thanks

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Thanks, the fender is my favourite too.

[@AdamWellsMusic]

@@JasonAyalaSpare I just stumbled on your channel and subscribed. I’ll be watching your videos 👍

[@marcohermans3207]

I use the AC tone in conjunction with two notes wall of sound software as a preamp. Then choose a push pull EL84 power amp and a Vox blue speaker and two different mics in the software. Adding a bit of reverb. Happy days. Played with a ES335 i hear minimal difference with a recorded track of my real AC30. The thing with these pedals is not to use them in front of your amp. It sucks. Use it with a decent cab loader and they begin to shine. It never will replace a real vox but if you know how to use this pedals how they meant to be then it gets you in the Vox ballpark with ease. When using this pedal with a real amp put them in the return of your effectsloop of your amp so you're not using the amps pre amp. Two pre-amps after each other is overkill. For €30 these pedals are a no-brainer.

[@earlfloyd4076]

What would be the closest to the Hi-Watt?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I'm not sure 🤔

[@tungtobak]

I have a Joyo American somewhere around here, but upgraded to a Shiftline Twin some years ago. Real tube preamp with two outputs, aux loop and switchable cabsimulation. Way pricier though.

[@paulwood4142]

Is it possible to plug headphones into this little box?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I'm not sure

[@Alfredo78666]

Gedei!

[@MaxPower-js1sk]

I thought the American Sound was great when I used a Blues Junior, but when I git a Princeton it didn’t sound that good. It sounds good through an interface.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Yeah, they are actually designed to go straight into an interface or PA.

[@MaxPower-js1sk]

@@JasonAyalaSpare Hi. I heard that (from Shane D, I think). It’s incredible for $53 (I’ve had mine for a long time). I’m in Adelaide, where there isn’t much gear. I used mine on my pedalboard ti make my Blues Jnr sound better. I had a US BJr, and I think it needed a lot of work. It sounded bad, so I used the American Sound as a preamp. It sounded great, but eventually I had to face reality of either putting money into the BJr, or buying a better amp. I bought a 6& Custom Princeton, but I probably should have bought the 57 Tweed Champ, but the fact that it just had a volume pit freaked me out. The Champ is a great amp and if I was a better player, I would have bought it. There’s no way of hiding poor playing with a Champ. I love your channel. Cheers, Max.

[@TuAwela001]

Cual suena mas a overdrive?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Yo diría American Sound.

[@andrewdenine1685]

I find these are better with a strat single coil . The American sound is best

[@kosmicwizard]

Jason, you missed the Oxford sound

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

It wasn't available at the time I made this.

[@mattgilbert7347]

I find that, for a direct tone, adding a decent IR after one of these pedals helps a lot. The inbuilt cab sim can be defeated with a mod, but I don't bother. It's just a fancy EQ so you can adjust for having analog cab sim>IR. They are usable on their own, as long as you have some reverb, delay and an EQ.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

I've heard of people using them for direct recording, I'm not impressed with the results. They work live, but I'm not a fan of using it in the studio.

[@mattgilbert7347]

@@JasonAyalaSpare Agreed, but with a good IR after one of these (American>British>AC...then the California a distant last, not tried the new Oxford) so you're essentially using the Joyo as a preamp - that's good for live to desk stuff. What do you favour for recording?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

@@mattgilbert7347 I'm fortunate enough to have some great amps to choose from, so I always record using an amp.

[@MrPeeBeeDeeBee]

and they are Seymour Duncan pickups - hmmm

[@akur131]

If you know, Joyo california better use for bass than guitar.. search youtuber that use joyo california for bass

[@tuentc4817]

Echo d menos probarlo con singles

[@benbrucato77]

I was digging the American until the gain was turned up and you stopped playing. Not only is it super noisy, but the noise it makes sounds odd. Then I heard the same grinding high whine and noise on the AC tone. Is this the Joyo signature crappy noisy circuit or is it your rig? Either way, sounds terrible.

[@albertobarrios4007]

American the Best!!!

[@ariepermadi]

Is built with cabsim?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

Yes

[@ariepermadi]

@@JasonAyalaSpare really?

[@alemvelagic9371]

Can I combine California sound (use it as a preamp ) and Mooer Radar as cab simulator ? I'm in process of putting together an ampless rig.

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

These pedals have a preset cab emulator, if you wanted to use.the radar you would have to have the pedal modded to remove the cab emulation.

[@alemvelagic9371]

@@JasonAyalaSpare So I can use Joyo both as preamp and cab simulator?

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

@@alemvelagic9371 you could try it, but they are designed to be an amp and cab simulator.

[@socialmeaslesinpartnership1252]

These aren't floating my boat. Thanks for a decent video but small bucks is small bang and large bucks is huge hole in the budget. The acid test is how prone these gain boxes are to flying into strings feeding back - not the p/ups, the strings - at even modest volumes. If it's "taking off" like a jazz box every time you let go of the strings, it's telling you that your overtones are full-fat present and correct. If not, it's hard work because it's sterile. Another way to check a gain box is to unplug and roll the tip of the jack around in your hand. Buzzing is no good, it should howl like a recorder (the wind instrument you were forced to play at school) with fingers doing random on the holes. This is good too for figuring out where to put it in your effects chain but - never after a wah wah. The rest of it is the "no-buzz-saws-please" balance of square wave and third harmonic. Any box that does that - dustbin. Effects loop or front-of-amp? Either - to preference. F. of A. goes into the tone stack and pre-amp, effects loop by passes those. Cleaner, less control "in your hand". Either. TBH, the best is an old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape recorder and the massive background noise just adds to the excitement. Gain without that is....wet lettuce. Live, just switching that on before you play a note wakes the audience up no end. You need to be blowing airports up, don't you? Strange, really. With all this said, a lot of it is in the fingers. RIP Jeff Beck who used a lot, lot, lot less gain than you'd think. Your fingers need to control the strings and it takes practice every bit as much as rapid playing. Nice video, thanks. Good value for money, that's for sure.

[@raycochrane3971]

The interaction between the voice, drive and mids requires far more tweaking than you offered - everything you did started with the drive at 12 o'clock...you missed a lot of what these boxes offer.

[@dogsbodyish8403]

No attempt to get a clean sound out of the AC Tone?

[@Ubi-o]

What the heck are all these supposed to be mimicking? I get the ac tone. Is vox but what's American and California.

[@punkgrl325]

American = Fender California = Mesa British = Marshall AC Tone = Vox

[@mr.d.572]

To my ears, the AC sounded horrible. Then again I'm not a Vox fan. The others sounded pretty good.

[@mattgilbert7347]

The AC is decent through something like a Blues Jnr or Hot Rod Deluxe. Not much good direct without a great IR!

[@mr.d.572]

@@mattgilbert7347 I eventually got the American Sound. It's very good, just noisy if you turn the knobs much past 12:00.

[@jaribu2758]

You bought the best one first. Naturally, the others will be a let down.

[@ushnicyuvnikof2748]

Honestly no. But people will say yes.

[@babyblue4824]

Your clean guitar sounds terribly wooly already, hence it affects all the pedals

[@JasonAyalaSpare]

It's a direct signal, no amp because these are supposed to emulate amps and cabs

[@babyblue4824]

just constructive criticism here bro. Mine sounds much better since i plugged it into a clean amp is alll

[@sasadanko8999]

They all sound awfull. Like a blanket over sound...