New Pedal Day: Tinkering With A Mouse So It Becomes A Rat!

I have written a number of blog posts about my favorite guitar pedal company Biyang.  They are a family company located in China that builds high quality guitar pedals for much less than other brands.

For those who don't know, Biyang also ghost-builds guitar pedals for other companies.  All the Guitar Fetish pedals?  Yep, those are built by Biyang.  The high end Akai pedals that go for $150?  Those are just rebranded Biyang pedals.  They have the exact same components and wiring that the original Biyang pedals do.  Only the Akai pedals cost three times as much.

Biyang also makes pedals for Cordovox.  In fact, they don't even change the look or model names for them.  They just put Cordovox instead of Biyang on the pedal.  So you can see my point, in that, Biyang is a dang good company, and you might be playing one of their pedals and not know it.

For the last year I had been reading up on the Rat Pro Co pedal.  It's famous for that 80's metal sound.  But it has many uses.  I mean, Blur's well known song, "Song 2" is a perfect example of the Rat Pro Co.  So it's not like the Rat is only designed for hair metal.

Biyang is known for using specs of other manufacturer's pedals, building with high end German parts, and coming out with a clone version of those pedals.  I was really interested in their version of the Rat.  Well, lo and behold, they have the "Biyang Mouse DS-8."

 
Unfortunately, unlike a lot of their other pedals, I hadn't heard good things about this one.  I guess it was so poorly liked, they took it off the market.  This made things a bit rough for me since I couldn't find one available in the states.  But then, I got to thinking.  Remember what I said about them building pedals for other manufactures?

Biyang made two versions of their pedals for themselves.  The Tonefancier series was encased in a chrome housing.  They would then make a second, more colorful version of that pedal.  So I started looking around.

I found a new-oldstock Biyang Distortion pedal on Reverb.com.  I thought to myself, "That's got to be the same pedal as the "Mouse."  I read up on the description, and it was the same as the Mouse.  So I pulled the trigger, and bought one.

But I also had a plan.  You see, in my research I came across a guitar forum user named "11 Gauge."  Note: That refers to a wire size, not a shotgun.  He talked about the Mouse, and how it was virtually the same as a Rat except for one thing.  They had installed a 56K ohm resistor where they should have installed a 560 ohm resistor.  Here's his photo:

So when my Biyang Distortion pedal arrived I tested I immediately tested it out.  I had to agree with the reviews.  It just wasn't that great sounding.

So I took it apart, and checked the circuit.  Guess what?  It was exactly the same as the Mouse.  Exactly.  Also, it had the same flaw as the Mouse.  It had that stupid 56K ohm resistor instead of a 560 ohm resistor.

Long story short, I bought a pack of 10 resistors so I could use one.  I took my sweet time, and changed out the incorrect resistor as per 11 Gauge's instructions.

I tested it out on the bench, and I have to say I noticed a few things.  First up, it had a lot more usable gain.  You could get that super crunchy gain if you wanted, but you could also get a slight breakup if that was the sound you were after.  The other thing I noticed was the three way switch was more effective.

It has three modes: (from top to bottom) Normal, Bright, Warm.  I always kept it on Bright.  The other two settings just cut the volume.  I didn't really notice any difference in sound on Normal or Warm.  Once I changed the resistor I did notice a bit of difference to the sound.  It still dropped the volume, but it wasn't as bad as it was.

I'll be honest, if I knew more about electronics I would just take the three way switch out.  I don't think it adds anything.  Honestly, I think it takes away more than it gives.  But that's just my thoughts.
I haven't had a chance to play around with it as much as I would like, but I was happy with the sound when I did play it.  I'm looking forward to hearing how it sounds with single coils, vintage humbuckers, hot pickups, and active pickups.  Again, like I tell other players, "Just have fun with it."  And that's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to have fun with it.

New Pedal Day: Biyang Flanger

This is my fourth review of a Biyang pedal.  So far, all of them have exceeded my expectations.  It's amazing that pedals that are so affordable not only match up with the higher priced BOSS pedals, but I think they are superior in quality and sound.

I wasn't sure if I should get a Flanger however.  I have had the same DOD Flanger for fifteen years.  I chose it because I could get the perfect sound for the solo in Lit's "Miserable."

The one thing about it though, is that, it is bright.  But that's okay because I like bright.  However, when my amp is set bright, and my pickups sound bright, well, adding a bright flanger to the mix is a bit of overkill.  The other problem is that, it was a one trick pony.  It could do that one song well, but not really any others.

However, for the price, I had to try the Biyang Flanger.

Again, it doesn't disappoint.  The one thing is does really well is adding a deep flange to metal songs.  If you've ever heard Dimebag Darrell play "This Love" off of Panteras' "Vulgar Display of Power," you can really hear his Flanger pedal cranked up.  This pedal does exactly that sound.

It can also sound exactly like the intro to "Come as you are by Nirvana."  It's a very deep flange without being muddy.  I also like how it's very versatile with the four controls.  So you can really play with the controls until you find something you like.  And you really do have to play with it quite a bit to dial in your particular sound.

So overall, the Biyang Flanger is a great pedal to add to your pedal-board.  Right now I think the BOSS Flanger is running about $99.  The Biyang is half of that, and sounds better.  So, if you are thinking about getting a Flanger, get a Biyang.  You'll be glad you did.

New Pedal Day: Biyang Overdrive

Lately, I have been buying Biyang Pedals direct from Hong Kong.  I have found they are amazing pedals, and the price can't be beat.

Here are some previous reviews I have done

The Reverb Pedal:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-pedal-day-biyang-reverb.html

The Blue Pedal:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-pedal-day-blue.html


I always wanted a good Tubescreamer pedal.  However, the real ones cost a good chunk of change.  And the cheap copies tend to sound just awful.  A long time ago, I bought the Bad Monkey Overdrive pedal used, and it just sounded cheap to me.  Since the Biyang pedals have really surprised me so far, I decided to take another chance on their Tubescreamer copy.

First off, I had to decide between the OD-7 and the newer OD-8.  The OD-8 is kind of neat in that it comes with multiple chips that you can change out to adjust your sound.  I honestly want to plug and play so I decided on the OD-7. 

I have to say, it nails that Stevie Ray Vaughn sound.  I had a Danelectro Wasabi Overdrive that I used as a bright boost, and this does that sound, only better.  I've found that I tend to put all my controls straight up at 12 o'clock, and that is a perfect sound for me. 

The OD-7 has an interesting feature.  It has a switch so that you can flip it to, TS, Bright, or Warm.  I run it at Bright all the time.  I kind of found the other settings were not needed.  You can get the same sound from the bright switch, just adjust the tone and drive settings.  I guess if you needed to change the sound on the fly it would be good for live settings, but otherwise, I think they could have skipped the switch, and left it on the bright setting all the time.

One thing I think is cool is that the "on" light is a brilliant shade of green.  Like classic Tubescreamer green.  In the darkness, it is very bright so you know whether it is on or not.  I really like running the OD-7 along side the reverb pedal.  It's like they were made for each other.

Like other Biyang pedals is has true bypass, and can be plugged right into your pedalboard.  So you can either run a battery or an adaptor for it to work.  I also love the hard metal casing.  This thing could survive the end of times. 

Something I really like is that this pedal pretty much adds another amp to my collection without me having to buy another amp.  Right now, I am playing a Laney GH-100-L through Warehouse Guitar Speakers Veteran 30 speakers.  My Laney head is equipped with the British sounding EL-34 tubes.  So my whole set-up is very British sounding. 

But when I put my amp to a clean setting, and engage this pedal, I get a very Fender/American type of sound.  It's like I changed rigs with just the step of a pedal. 

But here's the great question, what does it really sound like?  Well, here's a review of the pedal on Youtube.

Most Tubescreamers start around $100 and go up to over $200.  This pedal is as good and maybe better, and I paid $45, and that includes shipping.  I would completely recommend this pedal to any player needing a Tubescreamer pedal.  Again, I would put this pedal up against any other Tubescreamer type pedal, as well as other Overdrive pedals.  It's really just that good.

New Pedal Day: Biyang Reverb

A while ago I wrote a review of the Biyang Blue pedal.  Take a peek:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-pedal-day-blue.html

I have a few moderately hilarious thoughts to begin with.  I actually ordered the Biyang Reverb pedal before I ordered the Blue pedal, but it took it a while to make it here from China.

So why did I order a reverb pedal?  Well, my main amp right now is an older version of the Laney GH 100L.  Here's the link to it:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--LNYGH100L

It's a heck of an expensive amp, so you'd think that there would be every toy on it.  Well, it's kind of missing something, and that something is reverb. 

So I bought the Biyang after seeing it on Ebay, and watching some videos of it in action.

Here's the photos of mine:

So here's my review of it.  This pedal starts where other reverbs end.  It can get a huge almost tremolo effect.  I was messing with it, and turned everything way up, and my Sister started complaining.  Why?  She said I was trying to do what the Smashing Pumpkins did, but I was doing it much worse.  Now you have to understand my Sister hates everything I do, but she was right about the Pumpkins. 

The sound had that huge delay/molten ball of garbled mess that the Smashing Pumpkins had in a lot of their songs.  But honestly, you can get a very nice sound if you put both knobs at 3 o'clock.  You can get a huge reverb bordering on delay if both knobs are at 12 o'clock.  After that, everything starts to go into delay territory. 

I will say one thing that made me go "huh?" was when I put the settings up high, it sounded like a drum splash cymbal was being hit, and coming through my speakers.  I have never heard anything like that ever come through my speakers.  It just surprised me.  I didn't know what to think of it.  In fact, I still don't.  If I was playing with a full band, it might come through as being pretty cool. 

Something that this pedal has that kind of surprised me was the A/B input/outputs.  If I wanted to have fun I could run two of my amps at the same time with this pedal.  One of these days for the fun of it I am going to do that. 

Like the Blue pedal it also has true bypass, and is built like a tank.  It has the built in adaptor connector so you can attach it to a pedalboard or 9V adaptor. 

So my vote is, I love it.  I already have the TS Overdrive Biyang pedal coming at me in the mail.  So expect a review on it in the near future. 

New Pedal Day: Blue

In the farthest reaches of Ebay, I found something I could not live without... more musical equipment.  (Surprise, right?)  I found some really nice pedals that are made with high quality parts, and are pretty inexpensive from Hong Kong.  I think the only reason they are not known or liked in the U.S. is their unfortunate name.  The name of the company is Biyang.  Again, a really bad choice for a name for the U.S. market.

I had been wanting to buy a Boss Blues Driver, but had never gotten around to it.  So I found the Biyang Tonefancier Blue BL-8 pedal on Ebay.  I looked up some reviews of it, and really dug it.  So I found a place in the U.S. that had one, and bought it for $45 off Ebay.

I haven't gotten to play it as much as I would have liked, but so far I like how different it is from my normal set-up.  I normally play British style amps with EL-34 tubes, so I have a lot of mids.  This pedal is more of a Fender (American) crunch with a heavy low end.  This pedal didn't really mesh well with my Laney amp.  However, I have an old solid state Rocktron amp that I bought for like $80 years ago, that this pedal just slays on it. 

This pedal is actually more crunchy than I would like in some cases.  I want just a bit of break-up, and it gets crunchy a little too fast.  The one thing I would recommend is to have your amp set as clean as possible.  That way, it balances out a bit better. 

So it's hard to describe sounds over the internet as everyone seems to hear things very differently.  The best thing I can say is that it sounds like the electric guitar in Jace Everett's "Bad Things," from the True Blood soundtrack.

There are a few things I really like about it.  It is adaptable for pedal-boards as it has the input for a Boss style adaptor, or 9 volt battery.  The casing is also a very durable metal.  It is also true bypass.  I really dig that the guitar cable input and outputs are extremely tight. 

The only thing I think it's missing is the overall "tone" control.  The Blues Driver has one, and I think this pedal could really benefit from it.  But if you want a very simple pedal this is it.  It has level (volume) and drive.  That's it.

To make up for having no tone control, I think this pedal sounds best with very clean vintage style pickups whether they are humbuckers or single coils.  I think filtertron pickups would sound really good through this pedal, but I don't happen to own a Rickenbacker at the moment.   

Biyang also makes other pedals.  I have been wanting a Reverb pedal for years so I bought one of their Stereo Reverb pedals.  I will review it when it gets here in a few days.  I have also been wanting a TubeScreamer clone, and Biyang makes one of those as well.  It's simply called the Overdrive OD-7.  They also make an OD-8 that comes with changeable chips, but that's more than I need.  I will be ordering the OD-7 later on in the week.

I know a few people will be asking, "Well, if you wanted a Blues Driver why not buy one?"  Well, the Biyang is anywhere from 25% - 40% cheaper than the Boss.  It is also made overseas.  They are both made with good parts.  So why pay more?  I have played both, and I like both in different ways.  But overall, I am happy with my purchase. 

So I will post more reviews once the pedals start coming in.