Joyo Ultimate Drive - Overdrive Pedal Review and Test + TS9

Let's test and review the Joyo Ultimate Drive, a Fulltone OCD clone.
Check out the Joyo Ultimate Drive on Amazon!
►amzn.to/2IkE1T1
Here is some of my gear:
My favourite Guitar Slide ► amzn.to/2VT7AhG
Guitar Strings by Elixir ► amzn.to/2DiHmhk
Tuner ► amzn.to/2IsuvgO
Fender Stratocaster Jeff Beck Signature ► amzn.to/2IkC9tv
Sound card for recording guitar dirct into the pc: Focusrite 2i4 ►amzn.to/2UGsrbB
Condenser mic for vocals by Audio-Technica► amzn.to/2PezEtm
Dynamic mic for the amp by Shure SM58 ► amzn.to/2IJSR4K
Amp: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe ► amzn.to/2XiTpD1

[@RBolognese]

I have this pedal . For the price it can’t be beat. Actually sold my OCD pedal and use this in its place.

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

I can't believe I didn't notice those dangling bouncy strings from the headstock while shooting!! LOL...maybe they have hypnotic powers...worst thing is that I recorded footage for more than one video :)

[@harrisfrankou2368]

They pick up notes from space.

[@richardknack968]

Bob Hartman, lead guitarist and founder of Petra, just recommended one of these to me. Ordered last night, can't wait to try it out!

[@Quipstiley]

There’s a diode that has been installed backwards on most of the Joyo UD pedals. The silkscreen matches up to how it’s installed but electrically, according to the schematic, it’s backwards. I opened mine up, flipped the diode and put it on a switch so it sounds how it comes out of the box or, how it’s supposed to sound. Then, replaced the nasty feeling switch, made it true bypass (only some are true bypass) and changed a cap to make it a bit less bassy (I found I was leaving the switch up all the time). With the diode flipped, it sounds VERY close to an OCD. As in, electrically speaking, it’s the same circuit. Total cost was $35 for the Joyo UD, $4.50 for the switches and about an hour of my time, start to finish. There are a surprising number of cheap pedals that are based on schematics from more well known manufacturers, copyrights be damned. I’ll keep building my own pedals but I don’t mind modding a cheap one from time to time. Apparently, there was even a boutique pedal builder that was putting this same Joyo UD into a new enclosure, covering up any identifiers, doing the mods I mentioned and called it his own. It happens more than most would care to acknowledge. Anyways, thanks for the review!

[@markdoyle531]

Right it’s the D2 germanium diode , easy fix

[@mattgilbert7347]

I picked up one of those pre-modded ones in the new enclosure for $20 LOL. ALso got a MXR Script Logo Phase90 as part of the deal with a little patchbay thrown in $50 the lot. LOL The modded UD Sounds better than my old OCD 1.4

[@Joe-mz6dc]

Very cool. Thanks for the info bro.

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

i have not looked inside mine, but for a boost over a dirty amp it does what i like, it has some give to it like a tube amp.

[@DravenxEyeless]

If I opened mine, what should I be looking for if I want to apply your fix? I'm interested

[@jakesmith4506]

Yeah, I have this pedal too and it is really great. But, one day I had a gig in Detroit on a hot day. We were on an aluminum stage and the temperature was over 100 degrees F on that hot metal stage. My JOYO overdrive pedal stopped working completely due to the heat factor. My BOSS pedals, on the other hand, took the heat and never stopped. So, just a word of caution for those of you that gig in situations where the temperatures get to be over 100 degree F. Take a BOSS pedal along too. Since that day the JOYO pedal has worked flawlessly. No problem. And I do still love it. but it's not for a high temperature environment. rock on everyone.....stay COOL.

[@angelcarrilfernandez1537]

ok

[@MGO-ek4id]

Lol

[@BrokenCompassRecords]

aweeeesome video, just what i was looking for... strat + ts9 + joyo ultimate drive

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+cesar augusto montoya cardona I'm glad it was helpful!

[@robzvlogs1987]

the thing i enjoyed more than the pedal was your playing, i love how you just got into the versatility of the pedal

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

thank you!

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

I'll have to try my ultimate drive this way - keeping the drive around 9:00 - otherwise it just becomes too muddy and thick. And boosting it with a tube screamer (in my case using a joyo vintage drive) is a great idea!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Great! I 'm very soon I'll review the vintage overdrive as well!

[@angelcarrilfernandez1537]

ok

[@metalhead2288]

You are genius men, me llego ayer el pedal lo estoy probando con el ts9 gracias por el seteo, abrazos desde Argentina hermano

[@stevevaughan787]

great vid. Comedy pedal reviews. Love it! Plus you're a great player. I've got to see all your vids.

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thank you!

[@joeylyonmusic2871]

super helpful video and frankly you're hilarious. keep up to good work and the charm!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Joey Lyon Music thanks Joey!

[@mattgilbert7347]

I recently tried placing an Xotic AC Booster *after* my modded UD (MIM Strat & Tweed Blues Jnr Mk3) and it sounded rad AF. The eq controls and Db boost on the Xotic really brought the thing to life. Treble booster up front and yeeeeaaah RAWK man,

[@SwordAgainstChaos]

I just ordered this! Can't wait to get it. I'll be using it along with a TS-9 to send a relatively clean tube amp into doom metal territory.

[@williambejar5874]

Awesome review!!! thanks, from Brazil!!!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thanks for watching!

[@Joe-mz6dc]

I tested this with an ehx East River Drive before the Ultimate Drive and it sounds excellent into my Vox. I also added a bit of MXR carbon copy delay at the end of the chain. Using my Strat it's a solid tone.

[@mikeyo3230]

This pedal is amazing --- I have 3 JOYO pedals They make quality pedals for a fraction of the price. With all the money you save on boutique overpriced crapola, you can buy yourself a killer head for you live gigs You won't be disappointed Excellent review ---- Keep up the great work ---

[@peterbrusch1493]

You always sound good, your playing is excellent and I love your tests. Already subscribed :-)

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Peter Brusch Thank you so much Peter 😊

[@willyorkmusic467]

Great video! And finally, someone who plays "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" in the right tuning!

[@davethepius]

Been running this for a couple years now, and a Friedman BE-OD just knocked it off my board. Great OCD clone, I've got an EHX OD Glove coming to compare it to. The Joyo Vintage Overdrive is a great Maxon OD808 clone as well. Great video!!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Dave Wiese Thanks Dave!

[@AttitudeCastle]

Great video as always! Some awesome, awesome tones.

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+AttitudeCastle thanks man!

[@Inspector-71]

Awesome versatile pedal. I dig that Megadeth towards the end too

[@SheepDog1513]

@ 1:23... "Yeah, it sounds kind of 'Marshally'..." A new verb for ya! Thanks for the video!

[@bryanleigh6497]

Michael Carter -- adjective you donut

[@SheepDog1513]

yep.... tho never been called a doughnut before... could've been worse. Then again you're right...

[@bryanleigh6497]

Michael Carter Ha -- I'm wrong anyway, sounds is used by you as a verb. So Marshally is an adverb not adjective. I'm a cream donut cos I love Cream.

[@TheDwie16]

One of my favorite demo guy. Good job!

[@SpecialistGuava]

Hilarious demo. My UD is on the way. Thanks for the video and great playing.

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thank you! Glad it helped!

[@RBolognese]

Nice demo , nice playing. 👍🏻

[@peterbrusch1493]

Very informative plus excellent playing!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thank you so much!

[@thehound2161]

Nice. The Ultimate Overdrive is a great mid to high gain overdrive. The gain is versatile while the level needs to be set at or before 9:00 and the tone past 2:00 for me or it is too hot (noise) and not bright enough. A Joyo Vintage overdrive in front of it is a strong combo for both single coils and Humbucker's.

[@jetcityrules]

Awesome review, I was wondering what a tube screamer into the Ultimate Drive would sound like, I have a TS9. I'm getting the UD pedal as a Father's day present, come on mailman!

[@Joe-mz6dc]

This is a great pedal. I own a bunch of distortion and fuzz, some very classic and higher end ones. This one holds up. Good ballsy sounds.

[@hbert06]

Your hot rod is a very good buddy to any drive pedals. Great amp!

[@tonechain_com9077]

Stellar tone and playing, Nico! For all tone geeks, we have documented your gear and settings as well as linked to your video from our site. Hope that is fine! 😀

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Interesting!

[@tonechain_com9077]

@@NicoBellisarioMusic Hope you like it! Why not give it try? 😉

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

I did!

[@kernelspy]

Nice clean guitar tone! What Fender model is that and what pickups?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thanks! It's a Jeff beck signature strat with noiseless pickups

[@waizmusic6552]

@@NicoBellisarioMusic dude we have the same pickup 😂

[@gamhazell]

Wooohoooo paired with that tube screamer she's juicy! I just nearly had a panic attack when you did that! Man!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Yeah sounds good!

[@askerdog1]

great playing and demo of this joy pedal awesome man

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Tony Del Thanks Tony!

[@jrdrumhead]

brother entre el joyo ultimate drive y el joyo vintage drive con cual te quedas????

[@Maroma5361]

Junior Mera son diferentes man! Depende tu gusto. El vintage overdrive o el ts9 original es un Must si tienes un amp de tubos. Con el ts9 puedes darle un boost de mids al OCD ( o ultímate drive si te vas por el clon) las posibilidades son infinitas. Particularmente yo tengo el el ts9 original y el ultimate drive y en cadena suenan genial.

[@trmbtwo]

Great sound with the Melody Maker in particular!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thank you!

[@caleshtcincredibles]

Great playing , this pedal is a beast ( like your playing ) been.on my board for a long time ! Clip your strings dude , worse than a bad hair day haha

[@Cheguebuddha]

Love the way you demo me man! Im subscribing now! Nice playing too! Can you start demoing Harley Benton guitars? They have some killer stuff!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

thanks! I would review harley benton guitars if I had them!

[@hanritengfe1474]

Great video, awesome playing. I just bought a new one. But I found it too much mid scoop sound. Totally useless. Did I wrong something? I use it with Orange Micro Dark with pretty clean settings.

[@yogiiswara9133]

You and the pedals is hell awesome !

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Yogi Iswara hahaha thanks Yogi!

[@StupidEarthlings]

Man, you makin this thing sound awesome..I do have one, just not sure why I havent used it yet.. still got my ocd on the board.. maybe its the graphics?..

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

thank you man! if you have the OCD you have to OG!

[@garthodowd6846]

Mate, can you turn your personality back a notch or two?

[@Stoffendous]

Or just kill it completely

[@Flux799]

I bought one of these and stack it with a TC electronic mojo mojo, sounds quite amazing.

[@justinecarlodavid9912]

Great review!

[@toutou6308]

Subscribed!Cool vid

[@Andrew-vz7nw]

I used this pedal on a clean amp and it sounds terrible. Why? It does sound good when I turn distortion on my amp. Should I buy a distortion pedal instead? I don't wanna turn my amp on distortion.

[@krisherringe3017]

Hi Nico. If I desire hardrock and Pearl Jam-ish sound, should i get the this pedal or the Tubescreamer copy or both?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Take both so you have more possibilities!

[@MrBuitendienst]

Subscribed ;-) You are fun to watch (and I just bought one, and agree with you: "I like")

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+MrBuitendienst Thanks man!

[@Pedrohsc2]

The tone control feels more like a presence control right? Really cool pedal, tks for the review

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thanks Pedro! The tone is kinda like a presence control in the sense that it's an active eq control: it actually increases the Mid-high range. Unlike a presence control thhough it can also reduce the mid high frequency (like the passive mid and high controls of an amp, ore the tone controls on your guitar)

[@Pedrohsc2]

nice man, tks!

[@lucaragusa7756]

Ciao! ho già il tubescreamer e volevo vedere come suonava assieme all'ultimate drive. Tra l'altro le cose che suono sono indirizzate su hard rock e megadeth quindi mi hai chiarito le idee alla grande, grazie! Solo una domanda, usando l'ultimate drive con gain ore 12 e il ts9 con drive circa ore 9, nelle pause fischiano oppure rimangono silenziosi?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Luca Ragusa ciao Luca! A me non fischia, neanche a volumi da concerto. Poi dipende sempre anche dalla qualità dei pickup e da quanto sei vicino all'amplificatore...Non so se ti ho aiutato!

[@geoffreydias4960]

Very very nice tone !

[@maxload2785]

I using this pedal for ny punk band....great pedal 😂

[@freddy30703]

Ultimate drive sounds great at 18 volts!

[@JobinFerreira]

Nice review

[@stevenolsen3162]

Great playing. I'm buying the pedal.

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Vibro Steve Thanks man!

[@basslinger]

Holy shit, awesome, thanks for the review

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

thank you! you are welcome

[@stratstruck324]

Your guitar needs a haircut.. Nice review Subscribed !

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

uahauah indeed! thanks for subbing, I appreciate it a lot! :)

[@miguelangelperezderada8692]

jaja muy buen video Nico, saludos desde España

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Miguel Ángel Pérez De Rada gracias gracias! :)

[@kennyjenkins4964]

i just orderd a ultimate drive from sweetwater....hopefully here tomorow

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+kenny jenkins great! Let me know if you like it :)

[@kennyjenkins4964]

nico...i got the ultimate drive pedal..l im really digging it...i also bought a discontiued digitech distortion factory

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+kenny jenkins great! I m glad I was of help

[@sekovittol3124]

Kenny - Have you tried the Digitech Death Metal pedal?

[@Rowen170]

You have your amp mic,, what is the mic running into?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Focusrite 2i4

[@dannyatlas1533]

Senti quindi per fare maiden e hard rock a quanto come consigli di settarli

[@drewbabineau8599]

Do you think it's good for boosting an already crunchy amp?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Drew Babineau mmm I think it would not give you an ortodox sound...but it could be interesting form some garage rock

[@drewbabineau8599]

Okay. Thanks!

[@eugenepangan8954]

which clone distortion pedal can i use for metal? i already have joyo ultimate drive, i'll use it as boost pedal. thanks!

[@emmanuelmartinez100]

There's another joyo pedal designed for metal

[@emmanuelmartinez100]

Or boost the ultimate drive with the joyo vintage overdrive, I got it today and it sounds great

[@user-wv3qd4pe2l]

Let's sweet baby pedal + ultimate drive (joyo)

[@icu469]

When u say the tubescreamer goes before the ultimate drive does that mean the tubescreamer is closest to the amp or the guitar ???

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Hey! here's the chain: Guitar>TS9>Ultimate Drive>Amp

[@NathanHassall]

overdrives should go before distortion

[@ariyan2990]

how about with tele Mexico bro?

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

blackstar lt drive,, jcm 800 in a box. like the high speed dirt

[@chrishenderson9130]

the van halen settings, what are they for both pedals?

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Ultimate Drive: Drive= 9 o' clock Tone= 12 o' clock Vol= where you like it TS9: Drive= 11 o' clock Tone=12 0'clock Vol= full blast!( very important)

[@chrishenderson9130]

Thank you very much. Awesome demo btw.

[@Alfredo78666]

Yeah, nice guitar set up to kill mosquitoes

[@RBolognese]

Your strat has antenna’s

[@Christopher-oi9jo]

Robert Bolognese it’s to get through the STRATosphere

[@j.asalazar9534]

Nice vídeo dudé

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Thanks!

[@masterofthetelecaster]

Harry Potter is playing the Strat! 😮

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

i got you under my spell

[@magsuns7648]

your facial expression and ur tasty licks are the reason why i subscribed u!! oh and ur beautiful tone 'on a budget' stuff..keepin great nico!!!! greetings from gotham city.

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+eek estaa hahaha thanks man! Gotham is a lovely city, visited a couple of times :)

[@gustavobilbao8963]

Que buen pedal y que nerd el presentador

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

🤣

[@IvanG_1]

Is this joyo? Why does it say Harley Benton?

[@datenschutzification]

Rebranding

[@bucketfeet6570]

Can someone tell me what the song is at 6:52?

[@nsturge11]

Van Halen - Aint Talkin' Bout Love :)

[@bucketfeet6570]

nsturge11 Thank you man!

[@dustyjeans9748]

TS9 is smoother..

[@edsonrocha11]

E essas antenas na guitarra? Kkkk

[@wellingtoncap]

0:26 LOL

[@AntonStratocaster]

que buen toque tienes !!! que bien haces sonar ese pedal chino😂!!!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Muchas gracias Anton! :)

[@rodrigomiranda9698]

Es que suena bien caballero, creo que se quedó en el pasado

[@harrisfrankou2368]

Have a prayer on me.

[@yinyangthang]

Very funny man!!!

[@markconnell291]

Funny guy . great player

[@charlesweeks5027]

Now he talks

[@sekovittol3124]

You suck at Megadeth? You can do the intro to Holy wars better than I can! PS, I have this pedal and it is awesome!

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

+Mighty Mediocre Man thanks man! But there's still plenty of room for improvement 😉

[@angelcarrilfernandez1537]

ok

[@shredisodes2541]

its a good pedal ive had it a while we at shredisodes did our own video on it too feel free to check out stuff out :)

[@j.asalazar9534]

130 prayers

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

LOL

[@andrevilarc]

You’re such a “funny” dude

[@thestratinez3430]

OMG ! CUT THE STRINGS It was NEVER EVER cool

[@rareform6747]

treble is trouble . stop playing so fast !

[@WeZte]

I see you in every pedal-related video :D

[@mattgilbert7347]

Sounds Dumble-y

[@NicoBellisarioMusic]

Mmm could be 😀

[@williambejar5874]

Awesome review!!! thanks, from Brazil!!!