Joyo Ultimate Drive

The Joyo Ultimate Drive, also sold as the Joyo JF-02 Ultimate Drive, is an overdrive pedal from Chinese maker Joyo built to copy the tone of a much pricier overdrive at a budget price. Guitar World's Billy Voight opened his review with exactly that framing: "It's supposed to cop the tone of a much pricier overdrive, for only $35."¹² The pricier pedal in question is the Fulltone OCD, and the copy is close enough that MusicRadar has called the Ultimate Drive "our famously OCD-esque bargain-priced" overdrive³.

The pedal is straightforward to use: three knobs, one mini toggle, true bypass switching, and a rock-solid aluminum enclosure. It runs on a 9-volt battery or a Boss-style power supply¹. Performer Magazine's Chris Devine summed up the control layout as "there's no strangeness control-wise: Gain, Tone & Level, and a Hi/Low mini toggle."²

An OCD-style overdrive at a budget price

The Ultimate Drive's place in the market comes from what it copies. MusicRadar's technical analysis of the OCD family is blunt about the lineage: "the Joyo Ultimate Drive is a clear descendant; in fact, an OCD version 1.4 clone with slight component tweaks."⁵ Performer Magazine reported the same conclusion from player forums, noting "it's a clone/copy of Fulltone's OCD pedal, at a fraction of the price (just $35)."² MusicRadar's 2020 roundup of affordable alternatives to boutique classics lists the Joyo simply as "Alternative to: Fulltone OCD."⁶

One wrinkle sets early units apart. According to MusicRadar's analysis, "for the first few years of manufacture, the germanium diode was incorrectly oriented, meaning the pedal had a sound all of its own; this was later corrected."⁵ In practice that means early Ultimate Drives do not sound identical to later corrected units, or to the OCD they trace back to.

The pedal earned its reputation on price as much as circuit. GuitarPedalX's 2020 roundup of overdrive categories placed it "by some margin the cheapest pedal in this listing," at around $30⁴.

The controls: Gain, Tone, Level and the High/Low switch

The control set matches the OCD's: three knobs and a two-way voicing switch⁶¹.

The toggle is where the two voices live. Guitar World found that "High offers a flat EQ response; Low triggers a mid-scoop."¹ Pedal of the Day describes the same switch as a "Toggle High / Low switch for Mid spectrum EQ cut."⁸ Performer Magazine heard it slightly differently, reporting that "In the Low Mode, the original tone isn't messed with, and when in the Hi Mode, there's a bit more low-mids and bass," and that the "Hi/Low Tone switch allows even brighter top end."²

What reviewers said

Published reviews of the Ultimate Drive have been positive about its value, with a few notes on where it differs from the pedal it copies¹³².

• Performer Magazine found the drive control stays quiet at high settings: "even at maximum settings it doesn't get hissy or noisy."²
• The same review described the pedal's character as recreating "the sound of a late-'70s overdriven tube-amp."²
• MusicRadar, comparing it in a review of the rebadged Harley Benton version, found a low-end difference from the OCD it stands in for: "The Joyo has a more wooly low end to tame."³

The pedal's standing among players is strong enough that Gearnews reported an unusual episode: "One particular pedal, the Ultimate Drive, was so good that an unscrupulous 'boutique pedal builder' was rebadging them and sold on at a serious premium, causing serious online backlash when outed."⁹

Buying one in the US

Guitar World's reviewer found the pedals "available only online," with US-based dealers selling through eBay and Amazon US¹. In Europe, the same circuit is sold as the Harley Benton Ultimate Drive, whose maker's page lists the gain, tone and level controls and the low/high peak switch⁷, and RockBoard's PedalPedia entry describes using "the Gain, Level and Tone controls as well as the Low and High Peak switch to dial in your favorite OD tones."¹⁰

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions