Joyo launches new R Series with R-01 Tauren overdrive pedal
New budget overdrive pedal made in China
4,7 / 5,0 | 
Joyo has just announced a new pedal range called the R Series. The first release will be the R-01 Tauren overdrive pedal. It has a LED illumination setting, which could be perfect for dark stages.
Joyo R-01 Tauren
I’m a fan of Joyo pedals because they are cheap, interesting and useful. They are surprisingly useful for gigging guitarists, as they are cheap enough that if they get lost or damaged it won’t break the bank.
I still own and use Joyo’s Ultimate Drive pedal when playing at gigs where it may not survive a rough night. It sounds good when played loud and works well.
The new R-01 Tauren drive pedal looks like it could be the next step upwards from my Ultimate Drive pedal. For one, it looks a little more rugged. Joyo states the sound quality Joyo is better than its previous pedal, too. “Premium tone at an affordable price”, the marketing says.
Budget effect pedals made in China can sometimes be great units and Joyo is one of those companies that have a few gems in their line-up. Hopefully the new R Series will be good enough to keep tabs on if you’re on a budget.
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- Joyo R-01 Tauren drive pedal · Source: Joyo
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- Control the Tauren’s illumination · Source: Joyo
Lights, action!
The Tauren has an ambience LED light on the front and rear sides of the unit, which sounds useful for dark stages.
It can be set in one of two ways: You can either set the lights to be on all the time or it can come on when the pedal is engaged. The setting is via a sunken switch on the underside of the Tauren, so you can have it set up how you prefer.
Tone-wise, I’m imagining that the mythical name means it’ll be voiced in a similar fashion to a Klon overdrive. It has a simple interface with volume, gain and tone controls. Easy enough to use.
R Series
I’m also looking forward to seeing the rest of the new Joyo R Series effects. Apparently we can look forward to the following pedals soon: R-02 Taichi Overdrive, R-03 Uzi Distortion, R-04 Zip Amp Compressor/Overdrive, R-05 Maximum Overdrive, R-06 O.M.B Looper/Drum Machine, R-07 – Aquarius Delay/Looper, R-08 Cab Box Cab Sim & Ir Loader and the R-09 XVI Octave!
At this price, the main competition will be the TC Electronic pedals. Watch out, TC!
RRP – GBP – 49.95 / USD 59.95 available from December
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One response to “Joyo launches new R Series with R-01 Tauren overdrive pedal”
They will probably WAY undercut TC when they show up on Ebay shipping out of China. And since companies like Joyo have already figured out that it really doesn’t cost more to make a decent pedal than a cheap crappy one, there’s going to be less incentive to 3-5 times (or more) the price for a “high end” stompbox when the cheaper clones sound 90% (or more) the same anyway.