Visual Sound JH1 Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive

very easy to use, just knobs and switches, just the way i like it

it's a very quiet pedal, even with both od and distortion on at the same time. i can adjust settings midsong and not miss a note, it's a great pedal. I use it with a Line 6 delay modeler, and run it thru my Fender Hot Rod Deville 212. it gets me the basic rock tones, great blues tones, and even some nice beefy hard rock tones as well. the leads have a nice fat bite to them.

never had one problem with it. I used a route 66 pedal, and actually prefer it over the J/H, but I went thru two of them before i settled on the J/H 1. It keeps up with me, and never craps out.

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I play alot of different styles, reggae,rock,blues,funk, whatever..this pedal is vary versatile! I have been playing for almost 25 years, and I am a bit of an OD pedal junkie...this one is good enough to gig with...
if it were stolen or lost, i would buy another, no problem!
i wish it had compression...

I think this is a fairly easy pedal to use. I can only give it a 7 because of all the options, especially on the "Hyde" side. The "Jeckyll" side is pretty easy - very much like a Tubescreamer, just with a bit more "bite." The Hyde side has a tone AND EQ knob, and those two interact to produce everything from almost metal to classic, thick dist. Add to that a Sharp/Blunt switch and you have a TON of options/tweaks to go through. It's more than I prefer to fiddle with, but the results have been well worth the effort.

Visual Sound does provide an owners manual of sorts with some sample settings (also available in .pdf format from their website) that help you get started; I highly recommend taking their suggestions as starting places for your tones.

I think this thing sounds AWESOME. I've gone through a few different OD/Dist options, trying to find my "voice": Fulltone FD 2 and Dist Pro, TS 9, etc., etc. My big dilemma was finding a unit that would work with both my Fenders AND my Gibsons. The Fulltone really worked as an OD for my Fenders, but just wouldn't "get there" for my humbucking guitars. And I just couldn't find anything that would crunch without getting too flappy on the low end or too much into metal. I gave this thing a whirl, and it's soooooo well worth the $$!!! It navigates ALL my guitars equally well.

Yup - been gigging with it for about a year now, and it's never given me ONE problem.

Their customer support is EXCELLENT, I think. They're on AOL Instant Messenger, and I IMd them once with some questions, and they were totally available.

As I also mentioned above, their manuals give sample settings that help you begin to dial in the pedal. VERY helpful!

This pedal is so versatile, that it's become a staple of my rig. It's quiet, and it works solidly every time.

I play a variety of different styles; do some studio work and a lot of "hired gun" stuff. The best thing I can say about this pedal is that it reproduces the tones I hear in my head. The OD sounds solid, with an appropriate mid-range boost that helps it sit well in the mix. The Dist ("Hyde") side sings and sustains well for me.

My rig: Fender 93 Am Std Strat (Warmoth Neck, Duncan Quarter pounder in bridge); 98 Fender 52 RI Tele; 92 Les Paul Standard (Duncan Alnico II in bridge); 91 335 Studio --> Ernie Ball Volume --> Budda Wah --> CS 3 Compressor --> Jeckyll & Hyde --> Line 6 Rotory Speaker Emulator --> Fulltone 69 Fuzz --> Line6 MM4 --> Line6 DL 4 (with expression pedal). For pics see www.myspace.com/ericcase

The only thing that I have to watch for is the position of the "bass boost" switch on the OD (Jeckyll) side. I step on it accidentally from time-to-time (I prefer it off), and sometimes, if it gets lodged in between the two positions, you lose almost all volume. Otherwise it's a grea piece.

My unit is not the "RED" version with the bass boost on the Jeckyl side...it's the older one. This unit seems pretty easy to get good sounds...just twist the knobs and hit the buttoms. No patch editing. The "manual" is just a sheet with some suggestions for settings...I didn't find them very useful, but that's just me.

I am running an '83 Squier Strat with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 and an Epiphone Valve Special. The Fender suffers from a bass-boominess and the Epiphone is very dark. This pedal seems to be made for these amps because it does cut the bass a bit on the Jeckyl (Overdrive, think TS808) side, something that is a complaint for some but is a bonus for me. It seems to tame these amps quite well. The Hyde (distortion) gets some great sounds with low levels of distortion, but isn't really great for Strats when the gain is turned up because the leads get a little odd sounding...I've had this problem with Tech21 stuff, and with other "Marshally" sounding distortion units...leads get odd artifacts and screechiness mixed with the sound that just turn me off. I've fiddled with the treble and EQ to no avail...I think it's a shortcoming of this particular circuit, that apparently is shared with similar products. This "effect" goes away when you go with humbucker equipped guitars. Not a big deal to me...I prefer Jeckyl's TST808 type sounds.

As far as noise, Jeckyl is pretty quiet and Hyde gets a little noise when the gain is turned up. I tend to go for the typical strat blues sounds, and this works well for them. If you have an amp that lacks bass, Hyde at low gain setting would be a great choice.

Only had it for a week. It seems built well.

I've heard nothing but good things, but I bought the unit used so I expect nothing.

I tend to like Strat-style blues sounds like SRV, but I don't necessarily play blues exclusively. This pedal seems to be what I was looking for. If lost or stolen I'd buy another or just go with a TS808 reissue, TS9 reissue or a Sparkle drive because I don't think I'd pay full price for a new one considering I don't use the Hyde side.

Got this pedal as a gift, so not sure of price. Very easy to use for most players; perhaps not for a novice is why not a "10" and because you have to be carefull which switch you activate since they are so close together. Overdrive side has "drive", "tone", and "volume"; Distortion side has the same plus an EQ for scooping the mids and getting a great metal edge(for those who like metal). 7 knobs total. One switch for the Overdrive side which gives a bass boost (awesome) and one switch on Distortion side for sharp/blunt. As far as using the pedal, just don't step on the wrong switch/button because you will activate the other side (on/off switches are close together).

I'm using the pedal with a Fender Strat through a '66 Fender Deluxe Reverb. Pedal sounds great! Has same chip as original "tubescreamer". I have found the settings I like and usually leave them there (Eric Johnson, SRV, Randy Rhoads, and many, many more!) Pedal is very versatile... from smooth overdrive to screaming metal crunch, and everything in between. Two sides can be used separate or in cunjunction. NOT TRUE BYPASS!!! Though I have not been able to notice signal loss. Pedal uses 'high impedence buffering" or some crap. I give an "8" because its not true bypass, so it probably doesn't sound as good as some botique pedals, but a great sounding pedal (it should be noted that I have little experience w/effects pedals). I think it sounds better than a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, if that helps any.

Very sturdy metal casing. No backup. Be carefull what you step on! One wrong move and you'll squish those little switches or drive the push button through the circuit board (push buttons go through circuit board, analog man does not recommend, so an "8").

never dealt with them; I was impressed with the company from their website, though.

Great pedal overall. I recommend trying it out. Very sturdy but be carefull stepping on it, probably will eventually break a switch. I gig with it every week and it does excellent...so far. All of my gear is premium and I am a bit of an audiophile. Most will love this pedal; some audiophiles (like those who have to have true bypass) may not like it. I would probably not be able to find something that sounds as good and is so versatile for the same price, so I would probably buy it again. I love the ability to use both pedals simultaneously. I use the overdrive side for my overdrive rhythms and kick in the distortion side with it during leads for more edge and a volume boost (great for volume boost with out having to control your guitar volume and lose tone at lower levels/use a volume pedal/etc...). Tried Boss SD-1, I liked JH better. Never tried Wylde overdrive, but here that JH has more versatility. Gets a "9" because "10" is for THE best...this pedal is not perfect, you know!

This pedal is quite easy to use. With the simple twist of a few knobs you can go from a classic garage sound to down and dirty compressed metal. I'm quite impressed with the dynamics this pedal holds.
I found mine on ebay, used with on manual. Luckily the V.S. website has it in adobe I believe.

THis has been upgraded with the red version with an extra switch.

Set-up:
guitars-Fender Jazzmaster early 70's Epiphone Coronet
amps-Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 and Fender Hot ROd Deville 2x12

Pedal is great and doesn't get noisy unless both sides are engaged and turned very high.

I use this with both fender amps

I get everything I want from this pedal. I buy, sell and trade gear all the time, but I've kept this Jekyll and Hyde for 4 years now. It's fantastic and I'll never get rid of it.

I love the grit and gain of bands like the Kinks and Rolling Stones. I can go from classic garage overdrive to real grit like the Strokes and Ramones. I love Television, and this pedal can also be used as a clean booster which is great for me. Occasionally I'll scoop the mids and play some old Metallica riffs for nostalgia at practice.

The effect is fantastic, the pedal really seems to turn my amps into a real tube beast.

I've depended on this thing for 4 years gigging, not to mention I bought it used form someone who gigged it before me. I've never ahd any problems with it, even with Whiskey spilled on it. It's enver let me down and that's why I've held on to it for so long.

I've been gigging regularly for 2 years now with this pedal. I never carry a back-up.

I've never called the company, but the website was helpful.

I perform throw-back pop and rock with my band "Tracer Matula." this pedal fits my every need. I've been playing for 5 years now. I own a few guitars (mentioned above) plus a taylor big baby. I own a few amps (above) and several pedals:
mxr micro amp, ibanez delay/echo, danelectro dan-echo, whirlwind a/b box, boss tu-2 tuner, sovtek big muff (green), ibanez lo-fi

If I lost this, I would sadly look for another one. I love this pedal. It's helped define my sound. I love the dynamics and range of the pedal. My favorite feature is the fact I can combine both sides to great effect and boost. This pedal is inspiring to me because it's so universal.

I considered other overdrives but settled on this one after seeing one of my favorite high school pop bands (BLEACH) using it. I was glad to see that the Strokes use this pedal on both guitars, and in the studio for vocal tracks.

You really can't go wrong for price, versatility, craftsmanship and integrity with Visual SOund's pedals. I plan on picking up an H2O liquid chours soon...used of course!

It takes some time to dial in the sound you're looking for, but that's just a testament to its wide range of capabilities. Everything is thankfully pretty straightforward, and making it sound the way you want costs nothing more than a few minutes of your time. The settings diagrams that come with it are a great starting point.

The two footswitches are mounted close to one another to accomodate simultaneous switching, but I'm also worried about doing so unintentionally in a live setting. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Setup- Fender Standard Tele with Seymour Duncan Hot Rails > Jekyll & Hyde > Carvin X-100b with Sovtek 6L6 tubes > Carvin and Fender 4x12 Cabs.

Using full gain on the distortion channel or moderate gain on both channels combined is rewarded with pretty intense feedback. If you don't already have one, buy a noise supressor if you plan on using this for extremely high-gain stuff.

Maxing out the EQ knob results in a comical mid-scooped distortion sound that isn't good for much other than making fun of bands with bad tone. Otherwise, it's hard to find any truly unpleasant settings. The distortion has a big bottom end, kind of of reminiscent of a Mesa Boogie without the muddiness. It sounds really natural, like amp distortion. It's a million times cooler than my amp's distortion channel, though.

The overdrive isn't something I'm used to, because I've never really had a use for anything other than sparkly clean and ulcer-inducing crunch, but it's fun to play with and as far as I can tell it sounds pretty high-quality. It's supposed to be a TS-808 type sound, and although I can't guarantee its accuracy I can assure you that it's versatile and pleasant-sounding.

I've had it for two days, so I can't really attest to reliability. It does look really solid, though.

Never dealt with them.

I play mathy hardcore and some instrumental Hella/Don Caballero/Tortoise/Oxes kind of stuff. I like big, fat distortion tones with a fair amount of volume boost, and this pedal serves that purpose quite well. I bought it to replace an old script-logo MXR Distortion+, which is a great pedal in its own right but isn't as well suited to my style as the Jekyll & Hyde has turned out to be.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd shop around but I have a feeling I wouldn't find anything better for the money. I think I'd end up replacing it with another J&H.

Using the settings suggested in the instructions will get you started, but it might take a couple of days of tweaking to get the sound you are after.

I am a hobbyist who plays mostly at home using an Ibanez S series guitar through a Zoom 505 effects pedal and a Boss Noise suppressor to solid state amps.

All I can tell you is that it radically improved the sound of my set up. By using the J & H for distortion and setting up patches on the Zoom 505 for occasionally used delay, reverb, chorus, wah, flanging or phase shifting, I have been able to get just about any sound I'm looking for.

On the noise issue, ALL of my stuff is noisy when plugged straight into an amp. However, when I plug the guitar into J & H and effects and then go to the "effects return" or "power amp in" jacks on my amps the noise disappears. If you want total silence when not playing, you might consider using a noise gate like the Boss NS-1.

I really like the wide range and tweakabilty of sounds. Whether I am jamming along with U2, GNR, Clapton, SRV, Third Day, or Hendrix CDs at home or playing in the church praise band, appropriate sounds are just a dial away.

While a new piece of gear may not make me a better player, the dramatic improvement in tone has inspired more practice!

The key to this pedal is learning how the knobs switches, and both sides react to eachother. it can be a little tricky at times. I have the newer Red edition J&H.

The bass boost on the jekyll side also gives a little more gain, but other than that, its fairly straight forward.

The hyde side is a little trickier. The EQ knob controls how much mids are present. turning it all the way down means it has full mids. The Tone control is the same as the one for the jekyll side: it controls treble/bass of the sound.

Experimenting is deffinitly needed to aquire the sound you want if you plan on using both sides at the same time. Overall though, any OD/Dist sound is possible with this pedal.

Setup: Ibanez RG350/Tokai Super Edition V/BC Rich p7 mockingbird >>>> J&H>>>> Marshall MG250DFX (GE-7 equalizer in effects loop).

This pedal sounds excellent. If you dont think so, either you do not know how to set it properly or (more importantly) you are not using an EQ. EQ pedals are amazing tools and should be used by everyone. I can get everything from light OD to heavy metal distortion. I use them both at the same for when i play solos. Only small problem is i have never really liked those small footswitches. i perfer the boss-style ones, but its no big deal.

Thing is built like a tank. Actually rivals the durability of Boss pedals. I would gig without a backup, but i have another pedal just in case anyway (Boss XT-2 Xtortion).

Never dealt with them. They have made some very generous offers though on their warranty and all.

Great pedal. You should at least try it out if you are looking for a new OD/Dist pedal. With both inside the box, its very veritile and costs less than buying the 2 effects separate. I highly recommend it.

If you have any common sense its very easy to use. Jekyll side has 3 knobs: Drive, Tone, and Volume. It also has a bass boost switch. On the Hyde side there are 4 knobs: Drive, Tone, EQ(whcih you use to scoop out the mids), and Volume along with a sharp/blunt switch which changes between very bright and dull.

My setup is: Schecter Hotrod 39 ---> Dunlop Crybaby orignal ---> Jekyll & Hyde ---> Peavey Studio pro 112. This is the best distortion pedal I have ever used. It can go anywhere from a slightly soiled clean to a screaching metal distortion. This pedal is so versitile its unbelieveable that the price is so cheap

Ive had visual sound effectss before and they are built like tanks. Its has an all metal pentagon housing that is gonna protect this pedal through anything you can dish out.

This pedal can fit any style of music that you play. Blues, Punk, Metal, classic rock, southern rock, you name it this will do it. There isnt a thing about this pedal that i dont like, great sound, easy to use, no wasted functions, this pedal is the best.

Jekyl channel is extremely easy to get a good sound out of. The Hyde channel takes a little more tweaking. Its a little too touch sensetive for my taste, but once you nail that sound, you'll be happy.

Sounds awesome. I recently re-discovered this pedal. I had used it for a few gigs, then switched over to a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, and then a tubescreamer and tobebone classic combo. I took the Jekyl&Hyde out last night and was amazed at how much better it worked for my needs then either of those pedals. The Jekyl channel has that great ts-808 sound to it. I a/b'd it with the fulldrive and they honestly sounded VERY similar. Maybe the Fulldrive had a touch more warmth to it, but it was barely noticeable. However, the Jekyl channel is what sets this thing apart from the others. The diversity is simply amazing. Crank the gain and you can get all the distortion you could possibly want. Set it at 1:00, and you get a nice cranked Marshall feel. Hit both channels simultaneously, and you get a nice volume boost for solos. By the way, I use both Gibsons and Fenders, playing out of the clean channel of my Fender Deluxe.

3 of my knobs have fallen off, Ive had to superglue them back on. At one gig, the Jekyl channel went bezerk on me. Sounded horrible. I think it may have been an input problem though. Its never done that since.

great value. Costs much less than a Tonebone and is way more versatile. I would definitely buy another one if I lost this. In fact, Im thinking of selling my Tonebone as I just dont have a use for it now that the J&H is back in the rotation. My one complaint is that it does scratch easily and the knobs fall off easily. Other than that I think it is built pretty solidly.