Vemuram Jan Ray Review

The Vemuram Jan Ray is a fully hand-built overdrive pedal with all the characteristics of a Blackface style amp’s full harmonic and dynamic range in a robust and aesthetically pleasing brass housing. It features simple and intuitive controls designed to emulate the “Fender Magic 6” settings of a pushed amp. Overall, the Jan Ray features impressive headroom, dynamic response and pleasing sustain and saturation while maintaining transparency. We looked at the Jan Ray using different guitars into a Fender Deluxe Reverb and found it to be versatile and adaptable across different styles of playing from snappy and shimmering single-coil through thick and creamy hum bucking overdrive.

“The Fender Magic 6” in a Box

Vemuram spent years researching and developing a pedal that was suited to guitarists on any stage or console with the priority being dynamics, sustain and harmonic saturation of a blackface amp with the volume and treble on 6 with the bass and mids at 2 and 4, known as the “Fender Magic 6” sound. Having played with these settings on Princetons and Deluxe Reverbs, I’ve found the dynamics and response feels immediate and more personal than most overdrive pedals. This experience is a strap in and hold on playing style, where the right hand and volume and tone knobs become the pedal board. Few guitarists play rooms or stages which can accommodate a sound so large, hence the need for pedals to offer the experience. Having used a plethora of overdrive pedals over the years, nothing has ever really felt like the real deal, until the Jan Ray.

Jan Ray Controls

Response and versatile dynamics feel intuitive and seemingly fool proof with a simple layout.I first plugged in with each of the four unlabeled knobs at noon. The volume was immediately opened up on the guitar. While certainly louder, the immediate response and sensitivity to my playing hand gave the impression not only of more volume, but more space. Each note or notes seemed to have more space to go where I wanted it to without any adjustments to the controls. If I wanted a clean and bell-like fender sound, it felt that way by the placement of the pick with relation to the bridge and how the pick touched the string. If I wanted more growl, more attack gave it. Whether playing a telecaster for slightly more stinging country licks or searing Page style lead was as easy as boosting the treble slightly or the gain slightly. Going for a thick woman sound on a Les Paul was as easy as boosting the bass and cutting the treble slightly. With a Strat, cranking the gain and volume gave searing blues licks their wings. Vemuram’s extensive research with renowned guitarists determined that each individual might need more or less overall gain, so the Jan Ray has a trimmer for exactly that, meaning there seems to be no limit to the type and style of harmonic saturation available.

Overall Value of the Jan Ray

The heart of the pedal is its meticulously researched and designed circuit and each pedal is carefully assembled one at a time by hand to ensure its proper function and integrity. Each of the smart looking cream colored knobs has a robust feeling pot with high resolution in each position of each parameter. The robust all-brass enclosure is both aesthetically pleasing and, according to Vemuram, also helps to block out static and noise interferences. While the Jan Ray is one of the more pricey pedals sold by retailers for around $375 new, the used market hovers just under that. Although different in voicing and function, the famed Analogman King of Tone sells for around that from the website but is backordered for years and the used market reflects that. While the KOT is comparable in dynamics and versatility, the value of the Jan Ray is higher at a fraction of the price point.

Who’s The Jan Ray For?

The Jan Ray offers huge dynamic sensitivity, sustain, and rich saturation and harmonic content in an intuitive and well designed format, perfectly suited for the guitarist passionate about achieving authentic breakup, sustain and saturation. The experience of using it is as close as I’ve been to feeling like a cranked Fender amp behind me with all of the space and breadth of response available with the switch of a relay. Excellent build quality, easy to use layout and attractive robust enclosure make for a professional feeling tool for any occasion. And at a price that, while high, is affordable and a used market that feels fair, this is an incredible value for the guitarist in search of an authentic black face experience.