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school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 1:44 pm
by ifeellikeatourist
So in the spirit of the freekish blues discussion, I want to hear who here has experience with these cheap Chinese pedals that are floating around eBay/amazon these days: biyang, moen, daphon, artec, joyo, etc.

I'm not too interested in their dirt--ILF builders have me covered there--but I'm interested mainly in a cheap reverb and/or analog delay...anyone here tried any? What would you recommend?

I remember a while back metalmariachi did a comparison between the mxr carbon copy and the moen pretty dolly and said the latter stacked up quite well considering its price. Thoughts?

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 8:00 pm
by jrmy
For verb / delay, I've heard good things about Muza - I believe that several ILFers have said they dig 'em. I actually got the Muza modulation box for Xmas (it has step ring mod - how could I not ask for one?!), but sadly I am far away from any electrical instrument or amp at the moment.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 8:39 pm
by 01010111
Yep, I try to talk people into the Muza delay every chance I get. The only bad thing: on some settings it really gets a very digital sounding shimmer. But if you want a combo reverb/delay it's hard to beat. The sound is just :love:

My favorite setting that's nice and murky is the analog delay and the plate reverb with he reverb set to maximum time and mix on everything halfway. That in combination with some heavy fuzz is my doom sound.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:11 pm
by foomanfat
I am on and off enamored by the Muza delay. I, honestly, can't think of why I haven't bought one yet.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:19 pm
by Achtane
wfs1234 wrote:Yep, I try to talk people into the Muza delay every chance I get. The only bad thing: on some settings it really gets a very digital sounding shimmer. But if you want a combo reverb/delay it's hard to beat. The sound is just :love:

My favorite setting that's nice and murky is the analog delay and the plate reverb with he reverb set to maximum time and mix on everything halfway. That in combination with some heavy fuzz is my doom sound.


Yeah I have found that on some reverbs you get a fizzy kind of thing at the very end where it fades out. It's not something I think you'd notice in a situation louder than noodling volume though. I really like how if you slam the spring reverb mode it creates a fake spring hit noise.
Shit even does reverse delay into reverse reverb with both 100% wet, COME ON.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:36 pm
by Birthday Boy
Isn't it really noisy?

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:57 pm
by 01010111
Only if you are :idk: it's one of the quietest delays I've ever had, when it's bypassed that is, and if you're not playing even with it on it has super duper low background noise. This is the second time I've heard someone complain about the background noise on it, is it a 'I hear it from a guy who talked to a guy who had one' kind of thing?

That spring reverb setting bugs me a lot. Ever since I had my tone knob removed it's been super loud. So even clean I'm making it do that weird reverb spring hit sound. So when I hit with fuzz it sounds a bit like chitty chitty bang bang's driving around somewhere in the background. If my guitar's clean sound wasn't so loud I'm sure I'd like the novelty of it more.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 10:11 pm
by Birthday Boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p69xaMZtJ9A

Top comment and reply, also the demo itself. I also think I've read it on here and maybe other places..

If it's not a (common) problem I may have to pick one up.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 10:29 pm
by Achtane
Yeah, that's the noise I mentioned. Except it only does it on the modulated reverb setting and I think the reverse verb, and it's really quiet. Maybe I got a lucky one.
If it was as noisy as in that video, maybe I'd pass.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 10:59 pm
by Birthday Boy
Yeah. There are other demos where it's not nearly as bad. We'll see. Thanks!

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:06 pm
by ifeellikeatourist
Awesome, ill check that guy out...never heard of muza. I really like the idea of a delay that can do good verb, because reverb is a necessity for me, but I can always use another delay, so I hate to spend much on "just a reverb" when I can get another delay that can give me the same toanz and so much more for the same price.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:09 pm
by oldangelmidnight
They Biyang delay is a simple delay that sounds great. Quiet and analog-ish. A lot cheaper than the Muza, if you just want something simple. The build quality is just fine. I've also got their chorus and it's the same.
I had the Joyo EQ and the build quality was great. Something about the sound didn't work for me, though. I just received an Ultimate Octave via Secret Santa so I'll have to report back about that.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:23 pm
by ifeellikeatourist
So, checked out the muza delay on amazon, looks pretty versatile. Funny thing though, the description seems to be for a belcat analog delay :idk:. Someone must have copied and pasted the wrong description or something, lol. I also found both of these with proper descriptions on the 'bay.

Keeping the ball rolling, anyone here have experience with any cheap Chinese power sources? Artec has one that looks like a decent pp2 knockoff for half the price...something tells me though that there's no way it's isolated...any insights? I think biyang has one too, but its been a while since I looked at it.

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:35 pm
by Chankgeez
Wot, how many posts into this and no Freekisht Blues?

Re: school me on cheap chinese pedals....

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:41 pm
by Gone Fission
Most cheap "analog" delays these days use a pt2399 digital chip. Nothing wrong with that per se, but full disclosure would be nice.