I have always wanted an Ebow and this was a nice comparison. I feel like the Ebow produces a better sound and cleaner sustain, but I think Joyo has the better harmonic mode; much cleaner and with a little delay before the harmonic kicks in. The Ebow harmonic mode kicks on right away and it's a but much. That being said, a $30 difference isn't all that much really and I'd rather spend it on the more tried and true product. I vote Ebow.
Excellent comparison - but at least for those not in the US the price difference is quite a bit bigger: An Ebow costs €95 at Thomann, and at the Joyo just €55. I ordered the latter, and I am very pleased with it! Not just on guitar either - it sounds absolutely amazing on fretless bass.... The harmonic mode works really natural too: you can get great fifths and thirds harmonics depending on where you hold it, and I love how that sounds particularly on a clean guitar!
I actually preferred the harmonic mode on the Joyo. It's not necessarily better, but certainly different. I've been using Fernandes Sustainers for around 20 years.
Somebody needs to create one that straps onto the palm of your hand or one of your fingers so that you could be free to pick the string as well with a guitar pick. That way you can have the versatility that exists with an installed Fernandez or sustainiac
-5 for Danzig reference. JOYO is such a great company. Have many of their products, all quality on a budget. That HB is an AMAZING guitar!!!! Love love love mine!!! (HT EB)
For the demo, I would have liked to hear them both on a clean guitar sound just to hear the nuance of each. I know they typically aren't used on a clean sound, but I think it would be easier to hear any differences. Just my two cents.
Ordered an eBow last night on Amazon and woke up today to your video. Thanks RU-vid. I was able to get the eBow for $39 using rewards due on a credit card or I would've cancelled the eBow for the Joyo in a heartbeat. Thanks for making pertinent videos for us. You have a new subscriber.
Cool! I like that all this stuff is coming down to prices that I can afford. I've had a couple of Joyo pedals now for about a year and they're holding up nicely! Thanks for the review!👍😎🎸🎶
Still experimenting with my ebow, I have external jacks and smaller pickups on ukuleles. Using magnetic tape and magnets themselves to bounce that signal. I have three pedals from Joyo they are awesome.
Subscribed. This is the first time I've come across your reviews, and you do very good work. Good playing, no pointless talking, no stupid jokes. Just a succinct and useful review.
To me, the first part (B-string with normal mode) sounds better with the original E-bow, but there is also a clear volume difference between the gadgets on the video which seems to propose that Joyo makes the string vibrate more and thus the gain and distortion of the amplifier (and maybe the recording microphone) might affect the sound too. The funny guy with the awesome silky hair doesn't use the original one on the wound strings but the harmonic mode sounds better by the Joyo in my opinion. So, ideally you'd own both of them I guess. I haven't reached a section of the video that discusses ergonomics but having played with only with the original E-bow, I'd be very interested in trying out the Joyo sustainer. The dude is awesome, I subscribed right away after the remark of him spending the money on shampoo and conditioner and thought to myself: youtubers should not remind watchers in every video to subscribe, people will do that when they see something that they really like. Few seconds later the dude fires the sales pitch, dang. The dude's still pretty awesome.
I think I would prefer to stick with ebow I truly wished I'd never given mine away. It was when I was in the position not playing guitar for personally unable to stay with ebow I would love to cry through chorus. Stacked compressors and the touch of reverb etc. And there's other effects to I can think of Wow, enjoyed the video. Keep up the nice nice work. It's wonderful. Thanks for the inspiration. I must get myself an ebow
You arte not only talented at guitar and improvising but have cool hair too! I love how you give real opinions on cheap guitars and expensive ones. This is a great video also. I decided to go with the Ebow because of this as i'm using it on a magnatone varsity lap steel guitar. I did think the joyo was thinner and although very cool, ebow is the show. Fatter, warmer. I'm an old dude now so i guess i need that during the cold Winters in Maine. MT
Hey! Max! I love you your videos, so helpful and informative! Thank you for your generosity! I think the elbow did seem to have a bit of a softer tone maybe a little "silkier " sound thank you and stay safe!
I actually liked the Joyo better, the Ebow has the mellow, soft violin tone that it’s famous for but I liked the cicada tone on the Joyo, I also think you could get the same mellow sound by wheeling back on your tone knob or positioning the Joyo further away from the top of the pickup. I think it’ll be a great addition for anyone that owns a Ravish Sitar pedal and is into Indian ragas and drones.
The problem usually is that the shape isn't a comfortable thing to hold player in a guitar I bought one I broke on purpose because it was so frustrating trying to get sustain going from string to string it would buzz the string and fuck there goes that take recording. Ebow looks the most comfortable to hold playing a guitar.
I've played for over 50 years and all my life playing I've had a sound in my head that sounds like a human voice. Not singing words but a sound of a voice. I don't know if this makes sense or not but it's like a backup singer doing a melody without saying the words. I've chased that sound a these years
I accidentally got this beautiful “singing” sound recently that you might like! It ended up happening when I played a friend’s baritone guitar through my pedalboard and then boss acoustic guitar amp. When I strummed it sounds like a heavenly chorus of almost human voices singing and the main things that seemed to give it that overall sound were the slow decay on my tc electronic flashback delay pedal, a reverb pedal, the reverb and chorus on the amp itself, and (I think more than anything else) the built in harmony setting in the amp set to “unison” with the volume of the harmony all the way up. Because it’s meant for mimicking vocal harmonies, I think that particular effect gave it a more voice like quality that really surprised me! If you’re interested, I could try to get a short video sometime to share what it sounds like on my acoustic guitar.
If you ever see BOC do Don’t Fear the Reaper live, Bloom sneaks in with the Ebow at the end Buck’s solo for big sustained note. Buck goes back to intro/verse riff. A cowbell is always there of course. In demo the Ebow had a more clean and mellow sound
Thanks for the show. I have two Ebow’s. One black no over harmonic a grey one with over harmonic dual switch. Plus a Fernandes sustainer guitar. Now I’m looking at the Freqout pedal made by Digitech.
First video I've watched of yours. I got a couple laughs ("I'm just going to spend it on shampoo and conditioner.") Good video. I did think the Ebow sounded a bit softer on standard mode than the Joyo.
There's also the TC Electronic AEON. Amazon has if for $70 as well. I know that EBow users have said that it's harder to use. But I don't know if that's because it's different and they are used to the EBow, or if it's actually harder to use. I haven't used either, so I don't know.
keep in mind though, we have been hearing music made with the ebow for decades. in many ways we've been conditioned or "taught" to prefer the ebow sound. For me, as long as it's not functionally broken like the tc electronics aeon, a player can make music with the Joyo with a different set of aesthetics that's not necessary identical with the ebow.
When JOYO release this device, I commented on the same day that it was 20$ more than the real thing and asking them what are they now smoking (because even their amp are a lot more expensive now). It seem they adjusted the price of this one at least.
They both sound very similar but I found ebow smoother than the joyo…The question is why did not nobody create a multi sustainer for the six strings of the guitar at the same time and with the option of muting by clicking on a tiny button?
Great video. I'm loving that HB guitar too.. killer looking tele copy.. Here in Indiana the sustainer is made. Used to be called Maniac music I believe. The original sustainer in the Kramer guitars back in the day. Still in Indianapolis
Hi Max that's an interesting little device. Forgive my ignorance but I have never seen them befor. I think it's cool. for me the white one sounded better than the gray one. take care from your pal Helcat in Australia.
Would have liked to hear the melody of the eBow played thru a Wah Wah pedal just for fun. I like the appearance of my pewter eBow although it is a bit heavy. Is it worth $30 more? Probably not. I was impressed that they did include a double set of batteries and a black velvet purse. I'm glad there is brand competition.
I've had an ebow for about 15 years. Fun to tamper with, always felt very restrictive. I couldn't stand isolating to one string in order to hold the vibration sustain effect.
I have an ebow. I'd say I got it new in the 90's. It has no "harmonic" switch/option. I've always wondered about this a little. I doubt I'm missing much...
Love my Ebow! Doesn't get much use, but it's a cool device when you need that infinite sustain effect. I used it on my Linkin Park Iridescent acoustic cover. Check it out!
Nice review! I’ve been searching and I can’t find, how can i have a guitar chord sound infinite or stable just with a single strumming. What do you suggest? This is just for a single string it seems :)
Im a shredy boy but over the last year or so ive been vibing with ambient style . Which is great i can experiment and fuck around with a clean sound in a totally different and ethereal way. But damn why the ebows gotta be so spensive xD ill have one at some point but at least i have a volume pedal
I love your videos ,, you have real talent ,, the terminator playing a guitar lol ,,I think you are the best guitar player in my lifetime that I have ever witnessed,, you are amazing,, I’m your biggest fan
Hi Max, You must be reading my mind, because, 5 seconds before you made the comment about the money you saved would be going down the drain on shampoo and conditioner, I was thinking man he must be using a ton of conditioner on his hair, I kid you not, man that's spooky! I live in a man cave and don't get out much, because I've never heard of any of those devices, Joyo or Ebow! You know that is kind of cool! But if I had one, and with the money I'll saved, I would build a bracket to hold it in place, so I could hold my beer with my free hand! No, but really that is kind of cool, but I think I would rather have a guitar from Schecter's that has the Sustainiac. Humm.. I'm not sure, let me see, Joyo $70 or Sustainiac $1,329 I don't know.... Thanks Max great video, keep up the good work! I love your channel your the best! Great hair by the way, and I wasn't kidding about the conditioner! That's Spooky man! Todd P./USA
