Joyo Dyna Compressor

[jwilson67]

"I bought a plastic tricycle and it just doesn't hit the highway speeds I was hoping for. In 30 years I haven't gotten high road performance from any cheap tricycle. I guess I prefer walking."

Yeah yeah - I know. LOL If I want a truly good compressor I'm going to have to at least go into the $200+ territory. I'm just a cheap bastard ok?

 

[justdave42]

I really like it. Fantastic value.

 

[Shardik]

Does anyone here have any thoughts on comparing this to a Boss LMB-3? Things such as how much tone coloration is going on (if any?), low end feel, or anything else worth mentioning in direct comparison to the LMB-3.

I've been using the Joyo for a while, and my main gripe with it is that I find it seems to be slightly distorting/muddy, especially with strong input signals. This has been a slight irritation, but then again I HAVE lived with it for a while, so I have learned to like it. Still, I wanted to try something else, and the other day I found a reasonably priced bundle of Boss bass pedals, including the LMB-3. Got it yesterday, and given the good review on ovnilab, I was pretty excited.

Turns out my first impression was disappointment, but the good things first: Bypass seems to be pretty transparent. When on, the sound is clear (no problem with mud here). So after playing around with it, I decided I didn't like the Enhance much, and left it off or on a very low level if I wanted some "bite", but I guess a touch of treble on the amp or other EQ could accomplish the same (or better). It seems to me that it does a good job of compressing, and I like that it has a selectable ratio.

So what is my problem?

Well, first, I miss an attack knob. To me, that is a very easy way of dialing inn the punch available. I guess carefully adjusting threshold and ratio may give what I want, but it feels less intuitive.
Second, and most important, I find that on sustained notes, the compression kicks in, but as the signal from the bass fades and goes below the threshold, there is a slight swelling in the sound level at this point before starting to fade. This just feels unnatural. Is this something others experience?

I will try to do more A/B testing tonight, and my initial impression of the Boss LMB-3 may be put to shame, but so far the Joyo is the one staying on the board.

 

[chaosMK]

I have one- not too into it. I got it for the cheap but am not too big into compressors anway. I prefer to use fingers and a saturated tube power section.

 

[jwilson67]

I got a Joyo compressor but got rid of it right away. Way too much low end loss. It seems like it might be a good for guitar as it definitley introduced a more cutting sound. You do get what you pay for but I have heard their overdrive pedals are stellar for bass.

 

[boristhespider7]

I've used it on bass and guitar and have to say i've found it much better than other compressors i've tried (which aren't many....but it beats the inbuilt one on my Ashdown head). I don't like compressors generally as i find they either alter the natural tone or add hiss or both (maybe i've only tried rubbish ones?). However i would use the Joyo Comp if i was playing some slap bass, evens out the lines quite nicely. BTW, i'm using it with P bass and no other pedals so low gain. Use it much more on guitar where it does a good job of evening out the dynamics

 

[Shardik]

I did more testing yesterday in a more A/B-testing fashion. Now the scale has tipped in favor of the Boss LMB-3.

Here are some observations:

• The Boss LMB-3 has more internal noise/noise amplification than the Joyo Dyna Compressor. The Enhance knob on the Boss also enhances noise hiss.
• The Boss has less or no low frequency loss, while the Joyo loses a bit of the deepest bass.
• As stated earlier, the punch of the sound can be controlled with a combination of Ratio and Threshold on the Boss, while Joyo has its Attack and Sustain knobs. I'm on the fence on which pedal is easier to operate.
• When using an active bass with powerful output, the Boss LMB-3 stays clean. Joyo gets a pronounced Overdrive-like distortion.
• When using a passive bass, both pedals are clean and brings out the tone of the bass quite nicely, but they are still different. I think the Joyo has a slightly more woody, organic feel, especially noticed when playing with a passive J bridge pickup engaged in my PJ bass.
• The Boss has more features, and especially the Ratio knob allows you to fine tune how much those peaks are supposed to be compressed.
• The Boss seems to have a more even frequency response all over (when the Enhance knob is off, that is.
• If you dial a high ratio and a rather low Threshold, the volume rise when the signal falls below the threshold is rather pronounced. This is not or at least less the case with moderate ratios and higher threshold. When I learned how to dial this thing in, I realized that the higher ratios lose too much punch for me anyway, and at my usual compression settings, this is not an issue.
• Both pedals are very clean when bypassed. The Boss has a very slight noise hiss, but ignorable in most settings.
• When I dialed in the best sound I could for my preferences on both pedals, the Boss LMB-3 had a better sound than my Joyo Dyna Compressor. But I have to admit that on a passive bass that doesn't trigger the distortion on the Joyo (the way the powerful signal from an active bass can), the race is close, and I guess if noise is a problem, the Joyo Dyna Compressor may actually be the better choice for a passive bass.

There may be more, but after an initial disappointment, mainly due to the unnatural fade of sustained tones when using high threshold ratios (which I seldom use), I think the Boss LMB-3 is a stayer. I still have to test it with the band (and hope any noise issues do not arise). The main reason for me to go for the Boss LMB-3 is the dependable clean tone and the unnoticeable deep end loss. On my settings the identified shortcomings are not a problem.

A note on the Enhance knob. I see most people recommend to turn it off completely. On my settings, I found that it is usable in small amounts. It adds a little bite to the tone between 7 and 9 o´clock (or between 0% and 20%, if you like), and it has a slightly different character than just turning the treble control on your amp or EQ.

 

[HamOnTheCob]

For what it's worth, I've had a Joyo Dyna Comp for probably a year or more, and last week I noticed distortion in my signal and it was my Dyna Comp.
After turning the pots back and forth, it went away. Then it came back a few days later. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
The real story is that it's not even worth complaining about. I got a year out of a $35 pedal that was awesome. I just ordered another one. We'll see how this one fares. I can live with replacing this pedal once a year if necessary. It hurts less to drop $35 than to spend real money on a comparable name-brand compressor, with no guarantee it will last any longer than the Joyo.

Jacob

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just got a notification that someone "liked" this post of mine, and I felt it necessary to note that I ended up figuring out that it wasn't my pedal that was causing a signal issue. I can't remember which part of my signal it was, but it didn't end up being the Dyna Comp. TB won't allow me to edit my original comment, and I can't see a way to delete it either.

Cheers