Visual Sound Jekyl & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive Red

I???ve used the red J&H pedal for over three years but held off reviewing it because I couldn???t decide how I truly felt about it. Originally purchased for open stage nights and a yearly tribute gig where we???re forced to play through house amps, I needed something that would both give me distortion and the ability to boost my volume for leads. Couldn???t list all the pedals I tried but the J&H was the only one I found that approached what I wanted.

Theoretically easy enough : one pedal, two foot-controlled effects.
Jekyll Channel (green LED) = Overdrive with controls for Drive, Tone, Volume and a Bass Boost switch.
Hyde Channel (red LED) = Distortion = with controls for Drive, Tone, EQ, Volume and a Sharp/Blunt switch.

A settings sheet provided points you in the right general direction to obtain various sounds (rock, blues, jazz, metal) which is useful as a starting point. The controls themselves are highly sensitive; the slightest tweak makes a noticeable difference, the two switches making an especially distinct change. This means finding the tone you want requires some patient experimentation to sift the usable settings from the duds. Definitely not plug and play: you really need to spend some time finding the right tone (for each instrument and amp its hooked up to). Balancing the levels of each channel to each other, the amp, room and the band can take a while too???

I???ve used this pedal through an assortment of instruments and amps (Burns, Godin, Ibanez/Marshall, Traynor, Fender, Carvin, Line 6, Crate). Although not a true bypass, it???s acceptably transparent when off and fairly quiet when on unless each channels' Drive and Volume are set too high.

As for the sound quality itself, I can???t fully recommend this pedal as an overdrive/distortion unit. IMO, the J&H is capable of some ???okay??? sounds but you have to dial your way though some very ???plastic??? (meaning brittle, thin and noticeably artificial) sounding overdrive and a rather underwhleming distortion to get them. Even when you???ve dialed in an acceptable sound it???s nothing to get too excited about. It???s okay, occasionally good, never great. I sigh when ever I know I???ve got to use this pedal because I know I???m going to have to compromise on the sound I really want.

That being said, the J&H isn???t without its uses. Generally, I???ll set the amp up for my clean sounds, use the Hyde's distortion as my rhythm sound then turn the drive down and crank the volume on the Jekyll channel for soloing. This way when I need a clean sound I bypass the pedal and go through the amp, stomp on the Hyde for dirt and use the Jekyll-Hyde combined for leads. In this role the J&H is actually pretty good as a volume booster.

Another place the pedal seems to shine is when used with a bass; really makes it roar while maintaining definition. If sounded as well for the guitar it wouldn???t have taken three years to post a review???

Three years of regular use, no problems. A few paint chips but otherwise good as new.

Haven't used them; hear they're responsive.

Been playing rock and its offshoots for over 15 years and owned a fair amount of gear. To my ears, the J&H is a mediocre as an overdrive-distortion unit; there are plenty of worse pedals but it's the innate artificiality of tone that prevents it from ranking among the best. I'd up the rating to 7 for distortion/lead boost purposes and give it a 8 as a bass distortion unit.

Pros:
- Looks good
- dependable/rugged
- Distortion acceptable to early '80s level of heaviness (nothing
beyond the Maiden to Priest range)although lacking in sizzle

Cons:
- a challenge dialing in a usable sound
- Jekyll channel pretty unsatisfactory for my musical needs

Nearly sold this unit off a few times but always hung on to it for those house-amp gigs where the only alternative is going straight into the amp...spends more time hooked to a bass these days; will probably keep it although if lost I think I'd look for something else...

With any pedal, it takes time to tweek. It is initially 2 pedals in 1 so you need to spend some time with it. I have owned it for about a year and a half and just recently found some new settings that I love!

My signal chain: Guitar > Fender Tuner Pedal > J&H > Line 6 DL-4 > into Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

This pedal is amazing. The Jekyll side is like a way fatter and smoother TS808. I never use this thing without the bass boost on. I dont know why anyone would turn it off. Best tube screamer sound I have heard.

The Hyde side is a little more tricky. It is a scooped, buzzy distortion. I think this side was designed to saturate and boost the Jekyll side, because it sounds horrible on its own. Lots of lowend. The sharp/blunt switch is one thing I would change. The blunt setting is way too dark and muddy and the sharp setting makes the top end buzzy. I wish there was a middle ground to the two. It has so much gain. I usually put the gain around 12:00. If you have it lower than 10:00 I feel that you lose a lot of sustain and over 3:00 it gets way over saturated. The volume on the Jekyll side is much louder as well, but that is not a huge deal though. I generally keep the EQ knob all the way to the left(which is no mids taken out).

Now both together...Thats what this pedal is all about. It sounds so great. Somewhere in the realm of a Soldano mixed with a Mesa mark series(not saying it sounds like those amps, just in that realm). Fairly smooth, fat, saturated lead sound. The Jekyll side comes out a little more since the Hyde side is running into it and very scooped.

I bought it used for $50 used (best $50 ever spent). Only problem I have had was the Hyde side LED hasn't come on a few times. After turning it off and then back on it was back on (maybe touchy soldering joint). Haven't had a problem with it for a long time. Everything else is great, built like a rock.

No experience with the company, but I have heard great things about Visual Sound. I also use their OneSpot and it is simply amazing.

I play a bunch of styles from rock to worship. This is an awesome pedal that covers any base you would need short of metal. It isn't my ideal sound, but it is the closest thing to my ideal tone that I have found. No equipment will make you a better player, but an inspiring tone will help you stay excited about playing.

3 changes I would like to see:
1) Middle ground setting for Sharp/Blunt switch
2) Less scooped sound on the Hyde side
3) Less gain on Hyde side and more sustain at lower gain settings

If it were stolen, I would check out the Fulltone GT-500, which I am still planning on trying out.

I have played every tube screamer and clone out, BOSS, Digitech, DOD, MXR and everything else you would see at a major guitar shop. This is on a different level than BOSS and Digitech stuff. Not quite boutique level, but still really good.

If you don't buy this, buy their OneSpot and you will never buy another wallwart again.

Very simple. There's lots of options, but if you've ever used a stomp box before - and even if you haven't - it's all pretty self-explanitory, with no "cute" names for any of the knobs.

I love this pedal because: 1) It provides a wonderful overdrive on the Jeckyl side that propels a good tube amp (say, a Twin Reverb) into a warm, gritty state of grace; 2) The Hyde side kinda takes that warm, tasteful overdrive and sends it into BigMuff land, complete with searing feedback when you're not playing; 3) There's a million sounds you can get out of this pedal. I used to play through a "real" TS808 tubescreamer and I really can't tell the difference between it and the Jeckyl side of this pedal (what led me to this pedal is that the manufacturer says its guts are the same as a TS808). However, now I have the option of adding a whole new dimension of boost/distortion/whatever to the mix.

FYI: If you're into playing fuzz bass, this thing sounds mean as hell.

This is one tough pedal. I recently used it at a gig where people were jumping onstage to dance, spilling beer all over the place and generally creating chaos. After getting kicked around a little and taking a splash or two of beer, it's still going strong. I'd imagine it probably hurt whoever kicked it worse than they hurt the pedal. Visual Sound did an incredible job of making a tough piece of equipment that sounds great. I simply love it when you can take a piece of gear anywhere and don't have to worry about it getting damaged if things turn unruly. Plus, it sounds great for recording.

Probably won't ever need it. Hope not, anyway.

I play power pop that, at times, needs to get really fuzzy and loud for lead parts. In my 15 years of playing, this pedal has probably served me the best. It only wins out over the tube screamer because this one has the added "nasty" channel. I would definitely replace it if it was stolen. I really have no complaints. I just wanted to weigh in on this thing because I notice a lot of the users who discuss the pedal on this page surprisingly use it for praise music, which I don't imagine puts anyone's equipment in too much danger (just a guess). It's important to know this thing is built to withstand just about any abuse, but also built to sound great for rockers of all kinds.

This pedal is very easy to use and the multiple options for tone adjustment are great. It's capable of a wide spectrum of rock sounds. It's hard to imagine any musician, save for a death metal guy or something, not being able to dial in an acceptable tone. It's highly intuitive, and the manual has some great suggestions for starting points on tone.

The sound quality - especially on the Jeckyll side - is fantastic. I used an AnalogMan TS9 modded into a TS808 for about three years before it became severly damaged, and this is a more than adequate replacement. The Jeckyll side sounds almost exactly like my last pedal, but with the added option of a bass boost, which comes in very handy. The Hyde side is fun to play around with at home, but in a purely practical scenario (such as a gig) I just use it for a boost for leads. Careful how you balance the volume of the two, though, in relation to your amp's volume. Can result in feedback hell if the Hyde is too loud, which you may like. Sometimes I do. In any case, it's nice to have the option. My advice:

So far, so good. I've owned it three months and there have been no problems so far. It seems tough as nails, and the knobs seem way more durable than those on my Tube Screamer were.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I like to play power-pop, surf, garage and rockabilly-flavored stuff. I love using my Tele (outfillted with a Seymour Duncan Little 59 in the bridge) with this thing. I tend to just leave the Jeckyll side on at all times, which pushes my Fender Champ to a perfect point of breakup. It's great having the option of fuzz on the other side, too. I really have no complaints. As a poor working musician who can't afford to drop money on gear that's not going to last, I have to say this is worth the money, especially when you consider what you'll drop on a Tube Screamer. I'd certainly replace it with another J/H if this one was stolen. Basically if you like to keep your rig simple and dependable, this is a worthy acquisition. To all "utility rockers" out there: it's worth giving this thing its day in court. I don't anticipate ever needing another o/d or fuzz pedal.

Very easy to use. No elaborate knob-naming, just drive-tone-volume (and EQ for the Hyde). Although it would have been nice to also see two groups of knobs, one group per section, instead of the knobs being lined-up side by side and a bit more space between them as well. But this is a minor issue.

This is the sound i was looking for. I previously owned a Boss metal zone (MT-2)(amongst others), but that pedal only produced one type of very distinctive cheap metal-sound. I am not after that mid-cut sound, but a sound with a ballsy low-end AND good low and high mids, enough to palm mute chords and also a nice rich tone in which low mid and high are IN BALANCE! Upto now, this pedal does the job well. The "Hyde" side produces a brutal metal/overdrive but with enough transparancy to hear the characteristics of your guitar. The "Jeckyll"-side produces a warm and rich overdrive sound.

The metal casing is very solid and the connector-sockets also feel very reliable.

I've been playing for 14 years, mostly in a band. We write our own music, which is alternative rock with a hint of metal. Normally, i use a Fender american standard Strat or an american standard tele through a Marshall JCM2000 TSL100 head on top of a 1960A cabinet. Effect order: guitar --> pedal --> input (clean channel). I also considered buying the T-REX Bloody Mary, also a kick #ss pedal. But the J&H was ???90 cheaper and featured 2 overdrive sections.

Easy to use. Uncomplicated.

LP-J&H-TSL100-1960a(gt-75s)

I am after a fat, tight, and highly saturated distortion- not an overdrive sound.

Unfortunately,this is just another stomp box that won't cut it. Maybe I have been spoiled by my old Mesa, but my Line6 PodXTL can produce several tones which are leap & bounds over this pedal.

Not a fair comparison, you say? Well, I am only after one single distortion tone and was iunder the impression that this was a distortion pedal. I thought the Jekyl side would b elike aTS9 and the Hyde would be more saturated, but it is not so. I have no use for this piece of well made gear.

The Jekyl side is very muddy and midrangey through this amp- even with an EQ in the loop. The drive control adds nothing after 12-o'clock in it's sweep.

The Hyde side of the pedal has more gain, but even with the 498t in the bridge position of the LP, lacks the ability to lay down the thick and nasty. Palm mutes sound thin and piercing.

The tone is very bright with the Sharp switch engaged and the tone control does nothing for this. With the Blunt switch engaged, the tone is very muddy and again, uneffected by the tone cotrol, which has little use overall.

The overall feel of this pedal is very stiff and sterile. You know how a certain amp can make the strings of your guitar seem stiffer than they really are? Well, that's what this does. A bit more saturation would give me the springy feel I love.

When using both channels in tandem, the damn things runs the signal from Hyde into Jeckyl, making this thing just about as useless as can be.

Listen, I want a fat, medium-gained tone- not AC/DC tone. This pedal actually sounds great for light rock and blues. I'm sure it would kill as a clean boost through the front end of a Marshall, but this is not what the Doctor ordered for me!

Do not buy this if you are after a hard rock tone in a box!

Seems well made.

I play modern rock and the name, marketing and dual channel format of the pedal led me way astray. I've been playing for 12 years and love tube amps and modern rock.

Great little box. I had been searching for a drive unit for about six months when I finally found this one. Not really a need for a manual, if you know what to do with a dirt box, it's really easy to set up well. You just need to spend a little time with it, as the controls have a wide dynamic range and are very responsive. A very small adjustment can make a huge difference in the tone, so it could be a little hard to dial in for folks who are used to far less dynamic and responsive effects like the Boss units.

I play a Fender American Series Strat (Stock), a custom built chambered mahogany tele copy, and a Gibson Les Paul Special w/P-90's. I use .12 gauge strings, and a medium action, and the tones are thumping. My signal chain runs: Guitar- Jekyll and Hyde- MXR Micro Amp- Visual Sound H2o Liquid Chorus/Echo- Electro Harmonix Pulsar Tremolo- into either my Traynor or Marshall tube amps. I play the strat most of the time, and I love the J&H because I can crank out a wide range of very responsive and largely transparent OD and distortion tones. It's really easy to dial in the SRV or Clapton thing, but it's also really nice to be able to actually play my strat, and get a wide pallette of fat, greasy, and happenin' tones that don't sound like either one of them. It'll sing, it'll scream, it'll do the dirty jangle, and everything in between. A lot of reviewers here mention that the pedal is noisy, not so with my unit. The stock strat hums like mad, but this pedal is FAR quieter with it than my MXR Distortion Plus, Boss SD-1, or my TS-9's. My tele and my Paul are nearly dead quiet through it. The Jekyll side does the TS-808 thing very well, but with more available headroom, and the bass boost switch. Personally, I dig what the bass boost does on the high strings, but it makes the lows a little convoluted when used in a full band setting. The Hyde side reminds me very much of my old MXR Distortion Plus, but with very useable and wide ranging EQ and Tone knobs. I set the volumes and gains on both channels at about ten or eleven o'clock, and then adjust the tone knobs to taste. With the Micro-amp as a clean boost after this pedal, the tone is nothing short of flat out spectacular. Using both channels at once is one of the fattest, greasiest, and see-through lead tones I have ever heard. Loads of attitude, and gobs of sustain. For everything I play, (Roots-rock, alt. country, 70' style honky-tonk, folk-rock, etc.) I can't imagine a better unit.

Seems OK so far. I've been using it for several weeks without incident. The casing seems sturdy enough, and the switches are the same ones that are on some of the pedals I've had for years. Metal jacks shouldn't break loose too easily. My only complaint is the loud-ass POP that comes through the amp when I switch the bass boost on and off. I'll give it a seven for now, and bump it up after it holds up for a year.

N/A. Haven't talked to them. I like the way their stuff sounds though, and it was nice to get free stickers with the effects.

For what I do, I can't imagine a better drive unit. Used as a low gain, overdrive/boost to kick the amp hard, or just add a little color and dirt, it's amazing. I have been playing for twenty two years, sixteen of them professionally, and I have tried just about every dirt box ever made. This one gives me some of the best attributes of a couple of my favorites, but with more headroom and improved EQ capabilites. Some have complained that it may be a bit expensive, but I don't think so. A new TS-808 is $169 bucks at Guitar Center, and a new Distortion Plus is $60-$70. Buy them both, and you'll spend alot more, and not have nearly the tonal possibilities allowed by the J&H's tone shaping. I would defnitely buy this again, unless it proves un-reliable down the road, which doesn't seem likely.

Very easy to use like all pedal of it???s type. I usually run the Jekyl at output=1:00 tone=3:00 vol=2:00 and the Hyde at drive=11:00 tone=2:00 eq=7:00 vol=12:00. I usually set the bass boost ???on??? so that the mid-hump is less as the low???s and high???s are brought up to meet the mid???s. I also set the high boost to ???blunt???. With all the control of this pedal, it???s the most versatile drive I have on my pedal board. Here???s my line-up Guitar --> 535Q -> S-DynaComp -> Keeley BD-2 -> J & H -> BF-2 -> TU-2 -> CS-9Pro -> DD-3 -> DD-3 -> Volume -> GE-7 -> Tube Amps

This is a high quality product which produces a high quality sound output. The versatility of this pedal never stops amazing me. Just when I think I can???t find a tone I???m looking for, there it is, right under my toes. I want to point out that like any overdrive or distortion, the second most important pedal in the line-up is a good Graphic EQ. Without the EQ, I found that the Hyde was not as usable (when used standalone) as I would have liked. I hope this is read by Visual Sound. Change the ???EQ??? control so that passive (unity) is at 12:00 noon and not all the way to the left (7:00). The ???EQ??? controls a mid???s trap circuit, so all the way to the left is passive mids and as you rotate this control to the right, results in taking mids away (trap). An active EQ control would make the Hyde more versatile and allow a mid boost if needed in addition to the trap. With a mid-boosted EQ pedal (GE-7), I???m able to dial in that JCM-800 tone nicely. The Jekyl side as many have mentioned is your typical TS808 tone but with the addition of the bass boost makes this more versatile and usable than a TS808. Now, when you stack both Jekyl and Hyde together??? stand back.. some really nice (desirable) smooth singing rectifier like tones appear especially when used with a tube amp. I was also amazed as to how transparent this tone is and allows me to roll back the volume and still maintain my original guitar tones. Nice..

I???ve had mine Jekly and Hyde for a year+ now. It appears that it's built to last.

Very friendly folks??? They are always willing to listen and provide good information and suggestions

I???ve owned a lot of overdrives (28 years as a player) and this one is tops with its uncanny versatility. Not sure if you notice, but I have used the word ???versatile??? a lot in this review. That word sums it up. This is a very high quality pedal and delivers nicely. Put an active ???EQ??? control on the Hyde side (in the next version), and you have the frosting (with ice cream on the side) on the most delicious cake you have ever eaten. We???re just about to release a CD that will be used for ???Focus on the Family??? ministries. This is the pedal I used the most on that CD and I am very pleased with the guitar tones that I was able to accomplish with it. Great tool??? Koodo???s to Visual Sound.

Pretty easy, only the many sounds and many combinations you can get with both channels on takes a little more time to fool around with. you're dealing with 7 knobs and 2 switches...

Amazing sound. so many options, yet within 2 minutes i nailed the sound from this new pornographer's song i'd been listening to on the way to the studio. the tones are great. i wont ever need another dirty pedal. i had an boss od-2r, im gonna sell it (what would i get for that? haha). i use a tele into the j&h into a peavy classic 30, and a dano fish'n chips eq in the effects loop (to smooth down the highest tele frequencies). the sound is amazing.

Just got it, seems sturdy.

Haven't had to.

This unit is fairly easy . Take the time to adjust the tone your looking for. That is most of the problem with some people giving a reveiw. I messed with this unit for four hrs to get the od & tone I like.

I am a STRAT man, all the way. Nothing else. My setup consist of a crybaby classic wah- Visual sound Jekyl&Hyde- MXR Van Halen Phase 90-Ibanez FL9 flanger- Visual Sound H2O Chorus-Echo into a Marshall MG 100 amp. Straight up rock sound and this unit sounds great.

Metal case. Had it for a few years with no probs.

Never had to all them.

Great straight up rock sound. I play rock from 60's to today (If you want to call todays crap rock) and I have no problems with this unit. Like I said take the time to adjust it, use your ear. I use the hyde side as a booster for lead work and it sounds great.

Not plug-and-play, but neither is it rocket science.

I play a semi-hollow guitar into a Fender amp.

I have to say that I almost passed by this pedal after adopting both the Route 66 and the H20 for my rig. I auditioned the older (silver) Jekyll & Hyde and really didn't like its sound at all. But the red Jekyll & Hyde has a "meatier" sound that better matches my taste.

The Jekyll (OD) side is similar (but to my ears, not identical) to the OD in the Route 66. As on the Route 66 the bass boost switch can add some girth to the OD. This is really nice for playing at lower volumes.

To my ears (and probably having a lot to do with the way I set the controls) the Hyde side reminds me of a hot-rodded Marshall. I haven't had any use for setting the tone switch on "sharp", however.

The buffer sounds really good to me. I think I can hear a small difference between the buffered signal compared to plugging my guitar straight into the amp, but it's subtle and not at all unpleasant. The complaint that I have about most buffered pedals -- that the high-end is veiled -- is definitely not present with Visual Sound's buffer.

The other nice thing about a good buffered pedal is that you get absolutely clean switching with none of the glitches or pops that seem to be unavoidable with true-bypass switching.

It's too early to tell how well this'll hold up with long-term use.

I've had no occasion to call upon customer support for this pedal. However, I had a question about two other Visual Sound pedals and was pleased with the rapid, courteous and thorough responses to my emails.

I play improvised fingerstyle guitar, drawing freely from old-school rock, folk, jazz and classical styles. I first picked up the guitar in the mid-`60s, and have been playing "seriously" for the past six years.

My main rig is a Koll Custom DL Thinline through a Fender Vibro-King. I have a small assortment of special-purpose pedals in addition to the recently-added Visual Sound Route 66 and H2O. If the Visual Sound pedals hold up under regular use, I may consider selling the rest of my pedals.

The most important things to me are that the pedal sounds good and is easy to adjust.

The real stroke of genius is packaging two related effects in a single pedal with the stomp switches close together. With one press you can turn either or both effects on or off or toggle between one effect and the other.

The "home plate" shape of the pedals may also be useful. I have both the Route 66 and the H2O and have experimented with placing them at 45 degrees to each other so all the stomp switches are in a cluster. I've been able to toggle useful combinations of three or four switches at once.

Not a problem getting nice tones from each channel, but when you combine them you need to experiment with the settings for each channel, and this depends a LOT on the guitar and amp used. I get wildly different outputs with my Les Paul Jr and Tele.

No idea about version, but mine is made in China. No mods done.

My setup is a Fender tele or Epi les paul through the J&H, going to a Marshall stack. Both channels do sound good, but it's a bit noisy compared to my other od/distort pedals. Even my Tele sounds a bit chunky and warm so I need to bump up the tone to compensate for it, there is a loss in the trademark Tele jangle, feels like a little something (character?) is lost in the process. It's a nice pedal overall, but for not really "boo-teek" territory.

Don't know about that. Mine is made in China, and I'd expect something better for this price. I don't have any information about the quality of components they use.

Never needed.

It's an ok pedal if you're experimenting with od/dist pedals. Nothing really fancy or unique about it. I can conver the same range of tones using my Boss SD-1 and modded MT-2. If stolen, I'd pay a little more and get a true "boo-teek" pedal with true bypass and better components, and LESS noise.

let the knops at 12 o clock and dail only youre choice of volumen and gain. I thing its easy.

The Jekyll is great, Its the reson for buying this unit.
Smooth overdrive sounds from very mild chrunch to fat Rock sounds.
I have a Boss Sd1, Nobels Odrs and a maxon ts 9 to compare with and this is my number 2, I like the Ts 9 a bit more. But with playing in my Band I have only a Roccaforte Plexi full stack ( only clean ),
so I need the Jekyll to have chrunch sounds.
The Hyde is a distortion, Its a mix of a ds 1 and a guvnor. I like that for grunge, punk, metal attacks !! Very good Hard Rock sounds.
I never have the Jekyll Gain over the 2 o clock !! No one needs that ( maybe for you Slayer guys !? ).
Both sounds bad over my Transistor practise amp at home, but shining with the tube Plexi. You can also use both at the same time to get some Santana cream sounds very hot for lead lines.
For live gigs and studio works, I have a Engl screamer + Mesa 1 x 12, with the Maxon ts9 as clean / lead booster a Boss DD3, a Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe and a GCB 95 F. Thats all.
Works good with my Paula, but a bit better with my 70?? Strat.
So I give the Jekyll and Hyde a 9 for sound.

Have it 1 1/2 years and sometimes you must stomp on the chanel selection
knops, two times, the ligths are on but its still clean, thats tricky but for my Band practising its ok. Never would use this at gigs.
Maybe I have a psycho unit ( the hyde is fighting against the Jekyll ;-)

? never dealt with

I play 20 years and the last 10 as a session player in studios ( radio and Tv commercials ) also as Privat Teacher and sometimes at Festifals with oure own Stuff for fun or with Covers to earn money.
So I must be in, at every style. And I can use it in every style.
BUT NOTICE. First you need a realy great sounding Guitar, than a great tube amp. and than the most effect Boxes sounding good.
Second ; the best equipment is only as good as the human that is playing over it !!
When you need a good overdrive AND a nice distortion in one box, forgett the rest and spend youre money on this one.

Considerably easy to use, a couple of knobs and switches here and there, not really a need for a manual.

I use a 1960's Les Paul into a BOSS TU-2 - TS808 - Jekyll & Hyde - Bixonic Expandora - Radial Tonebone - BOSS DM-300 - BOSS OC-2 - Jim Dunlop TS-1 - BOSS DD-5 and then into a Roland JC-120.
It's not bad for value, 2 pedals in 1. Jekyll side has that sweet Tubescreamer sustain and the Hyde side can get just about any kind of distortion.

The Jekyll side is really nice, but the Hyde side isn't as great. The Hyde side doesn't have as much volume as the Jekyll side.

Combining the channels wasn't as great either. They feedback too much.

Haven't had any problems with it yet.
A little big though, kind of difficult trying to put it in the right spot on my board.

I e-mailed the guy in customer support (can't remember what for) and he replied the next day. He was real friendly too.

Play rock with it and it's probably the thing I use most. Been playing pro for about 3 years. I love the sound of a tubescreamer with delay. mmm...

It is way to easy to use, two chanels, very simple. adjust till you get yor proper sound, and thats it!

I use a Fender stratocaster American standard through a Fender PA 100, and this pedal really sounds amazing. I have played guitar for 10 years, and I do matter in tone, and having experimented with several gears, I conclude this pedal really gets what its said.
I also use a vintage Teisco, and it really gets great sound with this pedal. Very versatile, and cheap for its price.

I do depend on this pedal, if lose it, would buy another one inmediately.
Its a tank

Great costummer management. They do respond to any question.
Never had problem with the pedal for 2 years

Over all, just love it. Have played guitar for 10 years, and this is the pedal I had always wanted. Dont really know why some guys here didnt like it, you really can get a very versatil sound out of the pedal, going from soft rock, to heavy metal. I think that analog pedals are the real thing. Not making any promotion about this company, but "real sound, for real people" slogan, I think really fits with the quality of the Jekyll & Hyde. Had tried Pod 2.0 for 2 years, and guys! its plastic sound! After trying to get a nice sound, I finally sold it. The jekyll & hyde pedal is real. Digitals are false tone units for me.

This is a strange pedal and I will explain in the 'sound quality' part of this review.
Ease of use....it's a guitar pedal for crying out load, not a space shuttle.
I bought it new so got all the settings etc on a bit of paper.
Green channel has 3 knobs, gain, tone and vol and bass boost switch
Red channel has 4 knobs, gain, tone, eq and vol and sharp/blunt switch

I reason I'm writing this is because a friend of mine was looking for a new pedal. I mentioned that I had a J&H and he asked how it sounded etc.
I gushed forth with praise about this pedal, and how much different sounds I could get out of it etc. So I thought I would look up other peoples views on this pedal.
I was surprised to see so much bad press about this unit. I'm not sure what these guys want out of a pedal like this, but it does everything and more what I want.
What I have noticed though is that it is important to get your amp sound set up first. I say this because I have a DSL 50 and if I play the RED channel through the clean amp channel it makes a very distorted/fuzzy sound (some might like this, i do for some punk stuff) however, if I play it through the crunch channel it changes the sound completely. Try giving the channel you are playing through a little more gain and it will fatten up a treat.
The GREEN channel is awesome, i love it. Great for chords or solos etc. It works well with Red channel for boosting solos etc.

I know play this through a VOX AC30 JMI and is sound great.

I've had a small problem with the bass boost switch. It was a sticky connection but it seems to have sorted its self out now.

N/A

I play everything from 70's uk punk, Led Zepp, BRMC, Thw Who, The Kinks etc, and get all the sounds I need from here.

Both channels have 3 knobs ? for volume, tone and gain, plus Hyde channel has EQ knob for midrange. On top of that, Jekyll has a bass boost switch, and Hyde has a Sharp/Blunt (more/less compression) switch. For each channel separately it's not that difficult to get nice sounds outta this box, but when it comes to combining them, you get numerous variations ? sometimes it?s confusing. Though the manual with suggested settings was somewhat helpful.

I use this unit with both my US Strat and a Les Paul copy and this is my only OD/DIS unit. The thing is noisy when compared to other boutique pedals, but what can you expect from made in china ?boutique? pedal... Jekyll sounds nice, but I?d say it?s on the bass side, so I almost always keep the tone knob past 2-3 o?clock. Otherwise it?s just another Tubster copy. Hyde channel is not bad either, but I think it doesn?t cut in the mix easily. This channel can get really nasty, if you use it with Jekyll. Overall, this units sounds really usual to me, on top of that, it?s not true bypass, it says it?s ?PURE BYPASS?, but believe me it sucks tone ? my Strat looses some sparkle when the unit is not engaged. I think I could get these kinda sounds with Digitech Dad Monkey and Boss Super Overdrive (or Blues Driver). Really nothing to hype about.

Not sure, had it only for 2 month.

Never dealt with ?em.

Overall, it?s a nice unit, it has a lot of features and I think this effect can cover a lot of music styles, but the sound quality didn?t ?WOW? me. So if you need just usual OD with plenty of variations, this is for you. If stolen, I would definitely NOT buy this unit again, I?d add few bucks and buy a real boutique OD, probably Fulltone Fulldrive, which doesn?t have such a range, but has a great sound and is true bypass.

Two channels just read the other comment from belows

The sound is different from the silver one. Yes it has more gain but it is less crunchy. The new one is more like AC/DC Powerage, Let there be rock era while the old one could go has far has Metallica. The hiss from the silver one was part of the sound and the removal of it did not help the sound I guess. The sound also his definitely more compress and not has soft and subtle has the old one and that is on both channels. I have both and I must admit that I they have a totally different sound. Even if the customer service rep at Visual sound did not think so, obviously he does play guitar and by the tone of all his email he did not really care. I guess this new format could be use has a signal booster.

I had the old one fix once for a cold solder. I will sale this one before that because I do not like it.

Very bad, I?ve spoken to someone call Dave Mullins and he was very arrogant and rude and all this on email (available on request). I?ve send my new pedal there and he said that he has compare it to the old one and that he did not se a difference. Obviously, he did not even compare it. The pedal came back without warning, note or nothing. I will surely not buy anything from this company anymore has it seem like the customer support suck

No I would not buy it again and even if I was considering getting their H2O pedal my latest experience with then has put them on my black list of company. Again feel free to ask me for the email exchange that I had to go through and you will wonder how real that is because it is simply unbelievable.

Anyway there is better pedal out there and have I mentioned I preferred the grey one which has a nastier overdrive. I guess mr Hyde went pop?

The knobs are intuitively labelled and easy to use in that sense, but to tweak them to your liking might take a bit more work just because there's so much to play with.

The biggest problem is actually finding settings so that you can engage both channels together and have it sound usable. Just an issue of spending time on it.

battery compartment is accessed easily enough despite complaints I've read.

I use an Ibanez JS1000 or a Hamer Sunburst DC into Dunlop 535Q wah > EH Small Stone phaser > Keeley DS-1 > Fulltone OCD > VS Jekyll & Hyde > VS H2O pedal > Crate V1512T (all tube class A combo)

The distortion tones you can get out of the pedal are rich and full. The Hyde side to my ears, is a little bit too compressed. It's also way too soft in comparison to the Jekyll side. The Hyde side will get you in the ballpark of solid crunch tones and hard rock stuff e.g. The Darkness or Velvet Revolver. It doesn't have quite enough gain for a fat lead tone e.g. Petrucci or Satriani. A little bit more gain would have been nice. The Sharp/Blunt switch is useful if you have different amps, but I can't see a need for it when you only have one amp. If I set it to Sharp, the tone is just so bright my ears want to bleed. I've used another amp where it was just too dull when set to Blunt.

The Jekyll side is a tubescreamer type tone and it works great as a boost for an amp. It's loud enough as well for this use. The bass boost is also very handy.

Combining both channels didn't work for me. The tone wasn't as versatile as I expected because it always sounded had the Jekyll side's character. Still, it did make for many more options.

One last thing about the Pure bypass the pedal has. I'm not the type that insists on true bypass, but once I took the Jekyll & Hyde out of my signal chain, I found an improvement in my tone when using my other overdrives. Before it seemed a bit thin and lackluster. This was after I sold the pedal off, so I can't compare again to be sure.

It seems very sturdy and I would use it on a gig without backup. However, since I haven't road tested it I won't give a rating.

I've emailed Visual Sound before with questions and they answered within a few days with courteous helpful replies.

The ability to switch between channels or turn them both on/off with one stomp is a really cool feature and you can really cover a lot of ground with this pedal for most pop/rock applications.

I bought this pedal to play hard rock music, but really I was hoping to use it to get a singing high gain lead sound with lots of sustain. This didn't quite work out.

Still, I must say it is an impressive pedal, especially for the price. The distortion tones on the Hyde side didn't seem very amp-like to me, but few pedals do. The Jekyll side does what it does very well, but I've never liked the Tubescreamer tone so much. These factors put together prompted me to sell it and keep looking.

As with any pedal, some amount of trial and error is needed to find sweet spots. The Jeckyl side is easier to get good sounds but the Hyde side always manages to frustrate me for a long time before a good sound is achieved.

I find this pedal to be reasonable compromise for a channel switcher on a good valve amp.

Pros

* Jeckyl (left) side gives a nice Tubescreamer "sound"
* 2 channels can be used at once for boosting solo's etc
* Hyde side(right side) covers hard rock/metal etc
* Sounds quite natural when set-up right although still not valve-like

Cons

* Both sides often sound very metallic and overly bright regardless of EQ shaping or settings on amp
* Tone pot on Hyde side only manages to make it muffled or overly brittle......no in-between
* Hyde side suffers from only modest gain and almost no harmonic richness for any serious guitarist to decently pull off hard rock or metal

Its very well made and the battery compartment lid saves carrying a screwdriver around

It gets a 5 though since the original one I brought from the shop had a defect, the LED's didnt light up at all.
I ordered a 2nd and sent my original back, the 2nd one had the exact same defect so I fixed it myself with solder and wire

Not a bad pedal, can sound quite natural with the right amount of twiddling with it but nowhere near to built in valve amp distortion.

For the price paid I was expecting a more professional "sound".

You are not Harmony-Central, try before you buy with any pedal..

Well, you can dail in only good sounds, realy you cant get bad sounds of it, so because it takes some time to find MY sound....
its an 8.

Classic, warm, chrunch tones at the Jekyll side very good for Blues, Jazz, Rock or Alternative tunes, very, very usefull and sounds realy tube like. a big fat 10 here.
The Hyde is more versatile very difficult to find the main sound, because its is great at every setting. From Hard Rock to Metal its all in there. My tip, dont pull the gain over 3 o clock or its sounds just to gainy.

My gear are Paulas and Strats, Marshall Plexi with 2 2x12, EHX Holier Grail, T Rex Replica delay, Jekyll and Hyde, Fulltone 69 Fuzz, moded Vox V 847.
And a littel home practise Amp.
I like it.

Mhh looks like a tank but sometimes the green LED dont work for a second, this is bad especially with low gain life situations, when you cant realy notice, is it on or not.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I use this as my main overdrive distortion, I have the guvernor, ds1, sd1, Nobels, Big Muff, Zoom, and many more noise boxes but this one is the only I use, now.
I play since 15 years, from rock, blues, grunge, Metal,Jazz, everythink that is funn.
I play in a band, we make gigs, have demo Cd etc....and yes this one helps me to make musik and find great tones.

Pretty straightfoward in use, it's effectively just 2 dirt boxes mashed together, with a few switches. I skimmed the manual for any important info and just ignored the suggesting settings since..well..I have ears and hands, so can adjust the dials til it sounds good.

I primarily use hot singlecoils (Strat & Jazzmaster) into a few assorted delay and modulation FX, into the front end of a Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 and 1936 2x12 cab, with the amp set so the clean breaks up a bit when I dig into the strings. That's what tube amps are for, aren't they??

So you've got your 2 sides, the green 'Jekyll' overdrive and the red 'Hyde' distortion- green has a bass boost switch, red has a "sharp/blunt" switch which is basically a treble boost/cut. Right, one side at a time..

The overdrive is "a funny one", as they say. There's loads of pedals out there that audibly mix the clean with the overdriven signal to retain clarity (the original Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal does, an old fave of mine) and even some that allow you dial in the balance (Sparkledrive). I reckon the green OD side could do with one of these balance dials. Far too much clean in the signal, it just sounds like 2 sounds crammed together in a very unsubtle way, like you're running 2 amps or something.

Fortunately, this works a lot better with a crunchy amp though, the general mix between the 2 is a lot more subtle and pleasing. The bass boost switch is a boon, since so many Tubescreamer type pedals will lose your low end. The gain and tone controls cover a fairly wide spectrum, and the level can very LOUD! More on this later..

So, the red side. Why the hell Visual Sound decided to put that Sharp/Blunt switch in, I'll never know- even with the tone down all the way down, and said switch set to Blunt, I find the distortion still a little too bright. And I use singlecoils, so it's not like I'll have a high treble setting on the amp, I keep it fairly low to keep things smooth. God knows what it'd sound like with a more trebly, humbucker-friendly amp EQ setting.

The EQ dial is pretty useful, but I always leave it on "0" for the lovely midtone. It's not a 'honky' midtone by any means, it just sounds so much fuller in the lower settings. Bringing it up scoops the mids for braving early thrash metal territories.. fun once in a while, but not what I'm about. The volume has just about enough scope, could maybe do with being a little louder maybe, you can't get the huge volume boosts like availabe on the OD side.
from Mik
Now the low end problem. The Hyde seems to have low end hump around 150hz or so.. not a FAT low end, more of a rumbly one. It's not really a problem, until you start palm muting and it all gets a bit wooly. So, I ordered the online mod pack walkthrough thing at Indyguitarist.com to tame the low end, just a simple resistor swap. It made a bit of difference, but didn't totally cure it- I was worried about putting too low a value resistor in and finding all of the pedal's guts had gone since the bass was most prominent in that 150hz region.

But for all these niggles, I really like this pedal. I've got a warm, full sounding distortion on the Hyde side (gain at about 5, the tone and EQ low and the switch set to Blunt).. THEN! With the gain down and the tone and level at about 5-6 on the OD side, I've got a great sounding PHAT boost to add on top of the distortion. It's got a load more volume available too, I can almost double the volume with this setting.

This is what made this pedal for me. I'd messed around with EQ's and boosters to get my leads to cut through with limited success, but with the J&H I can get such a great lead tone and huge volume boost. The amp needs to be set fairly clean for this though, run into a crunchy clean channel, the solo boost just slams the front end for more preamp gain, not a volume boost.

Phew, that was comprehensive. I guess I tend to go for the classic rock-indie rock kinda guitar tones (ala Stephen Malkmus) and this pedal does a pretty decent job. Noise is pretty low unless you dime the gains on both sides, then you get this strange minor oscillation thing..might use it on a song actually..

After having taken the pedal completely apart to get at the PCB for modding purposes, I'd say I have a lot of faith in the construction and parts. Everything seems really sound, no dodgy soldering jobs or anything.

Not had to contact Visual Sound, but from what I hear, the main dude is a real gent.

I mainly bought this because.. well, I got a tax return, haha.. but wanted some kind of dual distortion thing so I could boost for solos and stuff, and also a nice natural overdrive. Turns out I'm alot more into the distortion side with a low gain setting and using the OD for the boost! So it worked out pretty well.

If it broke, I'd probably buy something else, because I like trying new gear really.

So yeah, a few annoyances like it's slightly bright nature and the rumbly low end but it's a great pedal for what I need it for.

I've got a few minutes of samples with the pedal if you're interested in hearing it in action. Just drop me a line at the email addy supplied.

Although it has 3-4 times the knobs of most overdrive pedals, I dialed it in quicker than any other I;ve used. I have never needed the manual. My only complaint is its size. I find it tough to fit such a big pedal in my pedal board. However, to contradict myself, I also find its girth helpful because it has two switches, and its width makes it easier to use the switches indepedently without accidentally hitting the other one.

This is the greatest overdrive pedal on the market. For years I have been trying in vain to get a natural sounding pedal, only to experiment with pedals that sounded thin and lacked bass. This sucker does everything. I use the overdrive for rhythm and then add the distortion for leads. It's easy to control and shape the tone, and it makes my Fender tweed deluxe reissue sound like a Marshall. I used to A/B my tweed for clean with a 412 tube half stack for crunch, but I no longer need to with this pedal. I has so much bass and fullness with the bass boost switch engaged, and it sounds 100% natural. I find that the two channels work very well together. I truly don't understand why someone would feel otherwise unless it was user error. I normally don't review products, but for this I made an exception.

Hasn't broken yet . . .

not needed

Sonically perfect.

Difficult to get good sounds out of both channels together, and the Hyde channel is basically useless as far as good tone is concerned. No amount of tweaking on the Hyde channel gave me a clear, cutting, well-defined sound. Jekyll side yields some decent tones, but nothing to really get excited about.

I run an American Standard Strat loaded with Seymour Duncans and a Gibson Custom Shop Class 5 Les Paul into a THD Univalve with a Celestion loaded 2-12 cab. Effects include a 535Q wah, Big Muff, Keeley-modded DS-1, Keeley Katana boost, Keeley-modded CE-2, and Keeley-modded DD-3. The Jekyll and Hyde was noisy and cheap sounding to my ears. I really wanted to like it, but I found it to be a total disappointment. As I said before, the Jekyll side is okay, but I couldn't get a ballsy, hard rock sound out of the Hyde side. The tone always seemed muffled and confused no matter what I did with the EQ. My Keeley DS-1 blows this inferior pedal away.

No functional problems with it while I had it. The paint chips off very easily, however.

Never contacted them.

This pedal rates a 3 only because the Jekyll side is somewhat useful. The Hyde channel rates a big, fat ZERO. In my opinion, this is an overpriced, over-hyped inferior piece of junk. The Keeley DS-1 is lightyears beyond this thing in tonal quality and COSTS LESS!!! I've been playing about 20 years now and have owned a myriad of pedals over the years. I bought the Jekyll and Hyde on a whim, and it was a mistake. I play blues and classic rock, and this pedal did not inspire or motivate me, and I'm glad to be rid of it.

Easy to use

carvin vintage 16, lespaul,strat,tele jeckle and hyde both sound very good, its not noisey, can get quite a variety of sounds with it

I got this pedal used like new condition and its built very well had it for several months with no problems

50's,60's, rock,country,hard rock, blues playing over 20 years
if I lost it I would get another
Tried quite a few other distortion and overdrive pedals before finding this one.