Review | Joyo Vintage Phase

Tight, classic tone.

When I was growing up, I wasn't all that into guitar effects. Distortion, maybe some kind of reverb or delay, and that was about it. My friends and I discovered Rocktek pedals, which were the cheapest of all possible budget pedals, and that changed our ability to experiment.

My buddy got a Flanger, and I got a Phaser. And we had literally no idea what to do with them. In fact, his dad referred to my phaser experiments as resembling "frogs farting underwater." That ended my phase shifting career.

Flash forward some 30 years, and while watching some guitar FX demos on YouTube, I saw a great one for the Joyo Vintage Phase. In the hands of the player using it, I realized what I'd been missing. It isn't just a modulation sweep effect. It can create a leslie or tremolo effect as well.

So when I saw a used one for sale on the Facebook Marketplace, I grabbed it. I mean, even brand new these things sell for less that $50 Canadian on Amazon, so it had to be worth checking out.

If you don't know Joyo, get to know them. It's a Chinese brand (marketed in Europe as Harley Benton, for reasons known only to Harley Benton, I suppose) that seems to be keeping pace with the latest in quality control for this industry. The circuits are clean, the controls are reliable, and the housing is made from aluminum.

It is, in every way, a solid working pedal.

Unlike Donner, the Joyo vintage line isn't made up of mini pedals. Instead, they've gone for a very classic look, using vintage colours, chicken head knobs, and standard sizes.

The JF-06 (the model number for this one) is as simple as it gets. A true bypass circuit that does one thing really well. A single control knob controls the speed of the modulation, and gets you anything from a slow, wide sweep to a super quick tremolo effect, similar to a classic blues organ sound. The switch snaps in quiet on the line, it really is a true bypass. It also very nicely maintains your line level, so there's no boost or cut to volume when you click in and out of the effect.

I have never needed to use a phaser pedal in my chain, until I started using this one. Now it's as if every song I write I have to see if there's a way to work it in. And when there isn't an opportunity, I feel a tiny bit of sadness.

OK, that's a little dramatic. The pedal sounds good, and has a great price point. The aesthetics are classic, if you care more about how your board looks than how it sounds, but rest assured the sound is exactly what you're looking for.


Affiliate link: Get the Joyo JF-06 Vintage Phase on Amazon.