JOYO JF-21 Splinter Analog Distortion Guitar Pedal

BUY THIS PEDAL!

Having now spent a sufficient amount of time with this pedal I'm ready to submit a review.

I can describe the JOYO Splinter Distortion in three words: Buy This Pedal!

I have put together 22 pedal boards now (I'm single so I have money) and I have probably more JOYO pedals than any other brand.

Their customer service (for me anyway) was an actual pleasure to deal with on an issue I was having.

One of the biggest features for me it the build quality. I've had foot switches go out on pedals costing 4 time more. Start with the controls at noon. I think JOYO is the best at setting the internal adjustments at noon as the perfect starting point. Adjust from there per you personal preferences and you're dialed.

I prefer the stock settings but they all sound great. I add my bottom end with an on board EQ so I don't need the FAT setting.

The FILTER (tone) control is opposite of the traditional tone control. Full clockwise is treble cut and full counter-clockwise is where the treble lives.

I love the Joyo pedals.

P.S. I just ordered my second JOYO Bright Day Overdrive pedal that I'll be running (along side my old DOD 250) into a Hagerman Valve pedal. The ODs slamming into a real tube preamp is (that set up and sound) is where I'm at. I have to admit that the tone I have been chasing and have finally nailed is the tone Alex Lifeson (RUSH) had on "Finding My Way" from their debut record.

OK. I'll stop now.

BUY JOYO PEDALS!!!

Mike "Sonic" Meengs

May 24, 2026

I'm very impressed!

Bought this to run my TB-303 clone (and other synths) through. The 303 in particular sounds absolutely amazing through this thing...much cooler than I expected!

Five stars!

Hopefully they replace it, lol

Joyo always delivers! This review is a humorous one, but this is the first time, in over a decade of constant use , that I have anything negative to say.

Pedal arrived, looks great, packaged well. Connected it to a fresh battery and a 9v power supply, and it was basically defective.

1:00

Excellent fatrat clone with less noise

A lot of different tone just like the fatrat. I had bought a fatrat from guitar center, liked its tone and versatility but found it's pretty noisy. I returned it. But I realized I still need a distortion pedal like that. So I decided to try the joyo. It surprised me with its low noise level. I couldn't believe it's less noisy than the real fatrat I had. Maybe I had a defective one? The tone of the splinter is very close to the real fatrat. Only problem is its distortion and filter control is not as refined as the real one. But for the huge price difference, I don't want to be too critical. And most importantly, it gives me the exact tone I want.