Vemuram Jan Ray Review

[darcym]

After the discussion in another thread on this I thought I'd provide a review based on my time using the pedal.

First of all - this is not a "what is this a clone of, it's not a clone, yes it is, it's a rip off" type thread, this is just what is the pedal like, good and bad.

Lets deal with the hard stuff first.

Price: This pedal is an expensive pedal, there is no question of it and no hiding from it. If price is a blocker for you, don't read this review any further as you'll get upset.

Build Quality: it's built like a tank out of Brass, everything inside is neat and tidy and it feels very solid and heavy.

Bling: looks nice, depending on what you go for, bit different, nothing to make me want to own it.

Sound: now the good stuff......

this pedal has many applications, two core functions for me, but I can see others with different amps styles getting more out of it than the two I like.

to give you an idea of my base sound, I play clean amps, low gain strat sounds.

this pedal for me works in two ways. I mentioned in an earlier thread that it was like an Xotic EP booster, and to an extent that is the best description of the first function. It opens up your sound and makes it a much more harmonically rich sound, in the same way as the EP booster does, which I think is a great pedal too. What this adds above that is the ability to shape which parts are pushed to the front of the mix with the tone controls. If you are using the pedal like this you also have the "gain" control so you get open up your sound, and then dirty it as much/little as you like. So although it maybe doing the pedal a disservice by calling it an advanced Xotic EP it's a fair way to get across what it does.

the second function is as a drive pedal, plain an simple. This pedal is basically a subtle voiced black face Fender drive. It's not in your face, it's not super high gain, it's a very warm classic black face over drive, that's very good at responding to guitar/amp/touch changes. With the gain down low it really shines for me just pushing your amp's natural drive sound and then adding +1.5 of it's own voice/gain to it. Pushing the gain harder into the higher gain range it does change your sound more obviously , it's not a black face clone, so doesn't sound exactly the same, it's a little more bottom heavy than the real black faces, but it's super warm. I've got the Wampler black 65 which is pretty much a black face in a box, this pedal for me is a better drive pedal, but it's not as accurate as the wampler in terms of black face voiced. Totally different ideas, so I'm not calling the wampler as I use that all the time, but just using it to give you an idea.

When you get the pedal they ship it with a little screwdriver to adjust a screw on the front of pedal which controls saturation, I think of it as a blend knob really.

For me the pedal worked well with this set in the middle / low point (the out of the box setting) the more you saturate it the more gain you get out of it, but I don't think this is the best use of the pedal.

I haven't tried this with my Marshall amps yet, but I suspect it will work very well pushing the natural drive or low gain settings, I don't think the higher gain settings will work very well as it's just going to clash with what the Marshall is doing.

Vox style amps....no idea, I genuinely can't guess how it would work.


Pros of this pedal - read above, it's amazing.
Negatives: the price is harsh.1 year warranty excluding foot switch (I'd like to see them standby their work more for the price / brags they make)

I can genuinely say though I'm not disappointed after using it for a while and although I'm annoyed at the price, I don't have an issue with the sound it's giving me for that price.

[paultheoneyoulove]

I've been dying to read a review of this that's NOT on TGP. Glad you like it, though waaaaay out of my price league.

Love to try one, though... Waiting for someone to gut one! (Or for the fellas at Mooer to make it tiny...)

[Razorblade_beat]

Good to see an honest review. How does it compare to a lazy j cruiser? Are they similar? BTW I haven't read any previous threads on this pedal.

[ZenOvertone]

Do you have soundclips of the pedal with your amp, would be good to get a feel for it before spending...seen other clips but good to have another view.

[allicio]

How much are they if I might ask?

[darcym]

Good to see an honest review. How does it compare to a lazy j cruiser? Are they similar? BTW I haven't read any previous threads on this pedal.

Nothing like the cruiser at all, apart from quality, think of the cruiser as a boost with a tweed twang, and this is a boost with a black face twang ( yes that's over simplified )

Both high quality pedals, both excelling, but voiced different

[darcym]

Do you have soundclips of the pedal with your amp, would be good to get a feel for it before spending...seen other clips but good to have another view.

Sorry no clips

[casperh7]

About £300 Andy..

[allicio]

Cheers buddy!
Dunno how to say this without coming across a cock, but that to me does seem to be getting towards the norm for high end pedals?
I've just got an od-one and there 339, but you can definitely see and here where the money goes with that particular pedal.
I expect the same is probably true of the Jan ray???..

[darcym]

I don't find it a "rip off"

These are limited production pedals, hand built and have taken X amount of time to design and build the circuit they are using, they have used quality components even to the brass casing...yes you don't need brass casing, and I wouldn't care if they took that away, but I look at the price I paid, I feel I've got a good product, same for things like the Klon, I had no issue buying them a.) because of what had been put into making/designing it b.) demand made them hard to get hold of.

If you put a £200 price tag on a jo jo, I wouldn't be impressed as it's aim is to make a low cost production version of an existing design, they do it well so sell it cheap.

I don't want to pay £300, but I look at the pedals I like the best, and they all cost the most (mostly) and there is a reason for that....they are better pedals, sound better, built better, just a better pedal.