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Ibanez Jemini Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal
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The Ibanez Jemini unleashes Steve Vai's first Signature Distortion pedal. The unique, multicolored Jemini stompbox combines overdrive and distortion in one rigid aluminum case. Magnificent LED lights surrround the knobs, and a unique multicolor case with Vai logo rubber foot pedals dress this awesome pedal. The Jemini is meant to be seen as well as it is heard. Each...
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Searched Ibanez Jemini Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal in Reviews
Mixed feelings 
| Ease Of Use |
This pedal originally caught my eye when surfing through YouTube videos, where I had come across Steve Vai's fancy advertisement that he recorded for his new signature pedal. (If you've not seen it, it is pretty entertaining.) I liked what I saw and heard and decided to try one.
It actually behaves like two independent pedals: Overdrive, and distortion. Each half of the pedal has its own independent Drive/Tone/Level control knobs. You'll see green glow around controls on the overdrive side if that is the active channel, or a red glow around the controls on the distortion side respectively. Activating either side is done by stomping on its respective pedal switch. I'd say the operation is pretty intuitive.
There's a battery save switch which cuts the brightness of the channel illumination by about half. I keep it at full power since I use this in my pedal board where I have a 9V DC power supply. The pedal itself has storage for an extra battery. Yes, extra! Have you ever seen that in a pedal?
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| Sound |
I've used this pedal within the effects loop of my Boss GT-10, as well as plugged directly into my Blackheart Little Giant stack. I've used it with Ibanez JS1200, JEM7V, and Paul Reed Smith 513 guitars.
As for my impressions on the overall sound, first I'll start with the Overdrive (left) side. I wanted to mention that I like the tone control; the tapering a bit more to my liking than on a Vox Satchurator, as I find the sound being sweet to my ears across the full range from minimum to maximum tone setting. (As opposed to the Satchurator, where anything past about the 1:00PM position gets way too screechy.) In fact, I found it almost impossible to get a screechy tone no matter what I did, and that was a surprise. I would describe the overdrive side as being mild and smooth and by itself it is able to give some nice rhythm tones. What I found is that I really liked the way the overdrive side adds extra gain to my Blackheart Little Giant stack which has already been pushed into tube saturation. It really thickens up an already saturated tone. The same holds true when connected into my Boss GT-10's effects loop -- this pedal is a great gain booster for the extra crunch or punch I was looking for on lead tones. I don't particularly care for the sound I'm getting on a *completely* clean channel and just using the pedal to color the sound, however as a gain boost it seems to my liking.
On to the "Red" distorted side: Originally my impressions of the pedal were actually not at all up to my liking. But, originally I had been using it connected within my Boss GT-10's effects loop. That was absolutely a bad idea to begin with, because the sound was a bit thin and I wasn't able to get a good bass boost when pushing the drive way up. I believe it had to do with where I had the effects loop is positioned within the chain in the GT-10. But when I decided to connect it immediately prior to the GT-10's guitar input and not using the loop, that's when I became very impressed. I was able to design a direct-recording patch in the GT-10 that was the perfect marriage for the Jemini's red distortion. The sound was fat, rich, and very much in the ball park of that classic "Steve Vai" sound even with my direct-recording patch. I then was able turn off the GT-10 modeling, and use the four-cable connection method between the GT-10 and my Egnater 4212 Tourmaster amp. With a bit of EQ tweaking I am able to get a gorgeous full bodied distortion on my amp's clean channel.
Using the green side can also push my Egnater's two dirty channels with a nice bit of extra gain while not making it sound muddy. Overall I'm now very impressed with this little dual-pedal and I'm happy I made the purchase. It definitely is giving me more of what I was looking for than the Vox Satchurator.
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| Reliability |
I love its physical attributes -- it seems really well built, and the extra battery storage was nice of them to provide.
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| Liked about it |
1. It provides a nice gain boost from the overdrive side
2. It gives a signature Steve Vai type of rich distortion.
3. It seems very well built
4. The tone knob's sound tapering gives a good useful range
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| Didn't like |
Well, it could have been a little cheaper, but honestly I don't regret the purchase. :)
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
 By PortlandAxe Oct 26, 2009
Last updated: June 03, 2010
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Vai'able Distortion Pedal
| Ease Of Use |
I tried to make this pedal myself - I got a Boss DS-1 and an Ibanez TS-9 and duct taped them together. It definitely didn't look as cool and sure as hell didn't sound as good either.
Ibanez have somehow managed to do what I tried to do and morph two pedals together. Now if you read my review of the TS-9, I wasn't too kind. For some reason for me the Jemini (green zone) component of the pedal kicks but over the TS-9.
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| Sound |
I am using Fender Strats and a variety of Ibanez models including RGs and Jem. The pedal isn't noisy and there are so many great sounds able to be achieved with this bad boy that I could be here all day just on the 'green' side alone.
However I will say this - for me this pedal creates a lovely creamy compressed sound on the 'red' side that is just awesome.
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| Reliability |
The pedal has not failed me yet and given the robustness of the design I can't imagine that it will in the foreseeable future.
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| Liked about it |
I love the cool look of this pedal
I love the natural compression created from the distortion
I love how the Aussie dollar is up nice and high right now so buyin this pedal from the US is very attractive
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| Didn't like |
I wish you could hit the red side and get the green and red side working together.
I also don't like the plastic battery opening switch, it hasn't failed on me yet but I am sure that that will be the first part to fail on the pedal.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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A great "Must Have" distortion pedal!!
| Ease Of Use |
This is essentially 2 distortion pedals in 1 housing. The cool features I like about this pedal is that both distortions are voiced differently, so you're not getting 2 of the same distortions in 1. Also, it has a nice switching feature that turns off one pedal when you turn on the other side. The switching is instantaneous, with no sound gap.
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| Sound |
I use this pedal with a 1968 Fender Twin Reverb and a few ibanez guitars. This pedal was designed by Steve Vai and comes with an instruction insert that shows his settings. Besides nailing the Vai sound, it can do quite a few other very nice distortions, from sweet blues to metal.
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| Reliability |
This pedal has a metal case and is built like a tank.
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| Customer Support |
Never had to contact Ibanez.
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| Liked about it |
I love the space it saves by mounting 2 distortions in 1 housing, plus it eliminates a patch cord.
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| Didn't like |
None
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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Good enough to replace my modded TS-9!!!!
| Ease Of Use |
I love this pedal! It's very easy to dial in desired tones, and the rotary LEDs just look cool. Footswitches are fat and make stomping a breeze.
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| Sound |
I use this little beast in front of a Carvin Legacy 100w head pumped through two TubeWorks 2x12s. The pedals(s) sound great with any guitar I use. I primarily play my Ibanez RG-570 with a Dimarzio EVO2 or an ESP Mirage Deluxe with a Dimarzio Tone Zone. I can dial in slight overdrive crunch all the way up to blistering distortion. Remember though, that the sound you're looking for does not reside soley in effects--it depends on other variables: your guitar, pickups, amp, and speakers.
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| Reliability |
This thing is built "Ibanez Tough!" Very durable case and the footswitches can take some serious stomping.
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| Customer Support |
I haven't had to utilize customer support, and I doubt that I ever will--thanks Ibanez!
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| Liked about it |
What do I like about it? Well, it's gritty enough for me to totally abandon my prized, modded Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer--what does that tell you? I love having a great overdrive coupled with an over-the-top distortion in one neat little package. I love the rotary LEDs, too.
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| Didn't like |
There is nothing I dislike about this pedal--PERIOD! I've been through several distortion pedals throughout the past 26 years, digital and analog, but this one is my favorite.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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Tons of Tones!!! More fragile than appears on Vídeo!!! Vai is defintly there!!!
| Ease Of Use |
The pedal came to me as trade for another equipment. I've already knew it form the "Famous" Steve Vai video from youtube. and my impression form the pedal was not good until i get it in my own hands. The controls are easy to use. Each drive has his own gain, volume, tone controls individually and pressing the pedal in each side You can switch between the two drives offered by Jemini. there are cool leds in the knobs making easy to set it in low light situations. there are a switch to save energy form the leds in case of battery use instead a 9v power supply. Its a very light pedal , but in the video it seems to be more though constructed however.
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| Sound |
I plugged it both in a 35w Solid State Brazilian combo and in a all tube Brazilian Head with 4x6l6 in a 4x12 cabinet. The pedal practically has no noise when turned on.. the first drive is more like a traditional overdrive ( like ts9) but with a richer tone. The better use of this green channel drive is as a booster with the amp drive. the second drive is more like DS1 type but here Vai shows his face!!! The Steve Vai tone is definitely there. the commands are the same , but the drive has way more body and tone richness .the knobs obey fast the commands and with slightly changes You can hear the response.
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| Reliability |
Its a fine option to my setup. I have other drive pedal and depending of what I want to play I'll not bring jemini. But I will keep at another excellent choice in my setup options.. After all drive pedals are the "hotwheels" form guitarists they are fun they are colored and we must have them all!!!
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| Customer Support |
Have not used.
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| Liked about it |
Vai Tone is there. perfect to fans of Vai tone
The swirl look is beautiful
It's practically has 2 drives in one pedal
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| Didn't like |
there's no way to use the 2 drives at same time
its expensive (at least in Brazil ,if compared with other pedal brands)
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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internal use: spec24 spec636 spec583
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