Joyo Voodoo Octave Review

Overview

A fuzz pedal is a type of distortion effect with a more compressed sound. Just like a distortion or overdrive pedal, it adds dirt and aggressiveness to one's guitar tone and is widely used for indie or rock genres. What sets it apart is the output signal also clipped at a certain level, making the sound's waveform a square wave which gives it that "grungy" tone. It also somehow emulates a broken amplifier with the effect it produces, without causing too much of the guitar's tone to disappear.

The Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave Fuzz Pedal is the brand's affordable fuzz stompbox with the added features of an octave pedal. It allows users to utilize a classic fuzz tone and add a harmonic layer at the same time. The octave effect reproduces the input signal at a different octave and layers it with the original signal. This creates an output that sounds like two guitars are playing the same riff or lick with one of them being played an octave lower for a harmonic effect. This is used to add more "meat" to the sound of a riff - and paired with a distortion effect, the output sound can produce inspiring and creative tones for rock songs.

Joyo has built a reputation for itself when it comes to affordable and great-sounding effects pedals and the Voodoo Octave is no exception. It is preferred over the Joyo Fuzz Pedal, Purple Storm, because of its octave feature which can come in handy. It also does not interfere with the normal distortion effect when disengaged, which makes having the feature useful for emergencies even when you don't use harmonic effects frequently in your playing. If you're interested in this stompbox, this Joyo Voodoo Octave review will provide you with everything you need to know about this guitar pedal.

Should You Get It?

For indie or rock guitarists or anyone looking for a reliable fuzz pedal with great tone, the Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave Fuzz Pedal is the best affordable choice. It provides a great tone with a toggle switch for mid-cut and the ability to effortlessly add a harmonic layer to your riffs. Furthermore, its price tag allows you to shell out on other effect pedals or parts of your rig and lets you experiment with a fuzz and octave pedal without busting the bank. The Joyo JF-12 Voodoo Octave is a bang-for-your-buck product that performs way better than you'd expect from a pedal at its price point.

Features

This Joyo Octave Fuzz can compete with higher-end pedals like Big Muff in terms of reliability, effectiveness, and features. It has a great sound quality and is built like a tank, allowing for countless gigs and years of usage out of a budget-friendly product. It also has great electronics and internal components, so you can rest assured it won't suddenly stop working for any reason like other cheaper pedals do. Joyo is known for producing these reliable and durable pedals at great prices and they did not skip on this one. The case is bright green and features a toggle switch and three white knobs to control the pedal's parameters.

Its double-effect feature allows you to one effect at a time, or both at the same time for some creative tones to incorporate in your next performance. Its 2-in-1 feature is also great for those who want a fuzz and octave pedal but would like to save space on their pedalboard - now you can have both effects in one stompbox. This would have been useful for me back when I was into indie rock and trying to cram all my pedals on my board. The pedal even has two footswitches, one dedicated to each effect. This makes it easy to engage or disengage any of the effects during a live performance.

The pedal also has true bypass circuitry, allowing your tone to remain unaltered and pure when the effects are disengaged. Some users have raised issues about the true performance of true bypass. 

It also has an analog tone that captures the classic feel of vintage fuzz pedals that everyone has grown to love. It even has battery compatibility for quick plug-and-play setups, as well as a DC power supply port to chain it along with your other stompboxes on your pedalboard.

Controls

The Voodoo Octave has three knobs for the effect parameters: Fuzz, Tone, and Volume. It also has a toggle switch that lets you select between Normal and Mid-Cut modes. For those unfamiliar with what these do, keep reading for a brief explanation of the controls.

The Fuzz knob allows users to control the amount of distortion they want to add to their tone. By adding more gain as you turn it clockwise, you can go from mild and subtle distorted tones to an intense fuzz to help you play an electrifying riff. Next to this is the Tone knob, which allows for the adjustment of the output's brightness or warmth - depending on the player's preference or the song. Finally, there is the Volume knob which adjusts the output level of the signal to get a better mix with the other instruments in your band.

Between the Tone and Volume knobs is the pedal's mode toggle switch. You can select Normal mode, which lets you play with the usual octave or fuzz tones; or you can choose the Mid-Cut mode which changes up your tone by filtering out or attenuating the mid frequencies of your tone. There are also the two footswitches for turning on the effects. The left footswitch is for engaging the octave and the right one is for engaging the fuzz. Both have a dedicated LED indicator which can be useful during gigs or live performances.

Sound

The Joyo JF-12 as I mentioned produces great fuzz and octave tones - although its harmonic function is not as great as higher-end products, it gets the job done. The distortion has great texture and playing around with the controls will introduce you to a wide spectrum of tones. Engaging both effects at the same time also produces intense and great sounding tones for a variety of rock songs. Its controls and combination of effects allow for a wide range of tones to experiment with, as well as standard go-to settings that you will eventually find after spending some time with this guitar pedal.

The toggle switch for cutting out the mid-range of your tone is also useful for getting a sound that works best with your rig or the song you're playing. It alters the sound just enough so that more possible tones are provided. While its effects are technically not the best in the market, they perform way better than other pedals at the price range and will definitely deliver great tones that your audience will enjoy.

For a demonstration of the product, you may refer to this video:

Going through the customer reviews of other users of the product under consideration is an important part of any gear buying experience. You may encounter some odd extreme views on the positive and negative side, it is always recommended to rely on the opinion that has been echoed by the majority of the users. We now present some select customer reviews that are representative of the general view about this pedal.

The user is impressed with the amount of fuzz and grit offered by the pedal and its unique bass fuzz sounds. He is happy with the performance of Joyo Voodoo, given its price point. As also reflected by reviews of many users, it does not clean up the tone, particularly low end. Some users, including this reviewer have also raised issues about the true bypass in this guitar effect.

This reviewer has purchased Joyo JF 12 Voodoo for experimentation with fuzz. He finds it sounds wonderful for the price. Like many others, he has also pointed out that while Fuzz is versatile, the Octave effect is very slight.

This reviewer has the same views, as the previous one. While Fuzz has a nice tone and adds a great deal of sustain, octave effect leaves a few things to be desired. Overall, great for the price range.