You musicians can claim to be original all they want- the truth is, they're fashion victims as much as the next guy ( or girl) . You've got your Stevie Ray Vaughan followers, buying stratocasters, winding the bridge pick up hot, stringing the guitar with telephone cables, and playing through a Tube Screamer ( or better yet, a boutique Tube Screamer clone) into an under 10 watt tube amp. You've got your Noise Rock nerds playing Aluminum guitars into Traynor Amps, set on "crackle". You've got your Shoegazers, and 1990's indie Rockers playing Jaguars and Mustangs, with a big Muff and a fender Amp, with the reverb all the way up, and so on.
My fashion set, as a guitar player is closest to the Youth Pastor at a Church "Praise" band- I go for stuff that's inexpensive, yet can approximate the Tone Lawyers. ( The Tone Lawyers are the guys buying "investment grade" guitars and Amps- all very tasteful, but not necessarily "gig ready" )
In my fashion circles, then, there was a big wave of dudes who totally lost their minds on the Biyang Tri Reverb. It's not quite a clone of the TC Electronics "Hall of Fame" reverb pedal- it's a different design in most of the key factors- but the reason for its popularity is that it can approximate some of the HOF's best tones. I'll admit- the trendiness is what hooked my attention, but I got it for this reason- while I've got a great sounding Spring reverb on an Amp, and my Digiverb can handle the shoegazer special effects- this Biyang is the shortest and simplest route to a shimmery "Post punk' reverb- you know that "big" guitar sound from about 1985, that went from The Edge to Geordie to Simple Minds, to heck I think Culture Club even had it a bit. I set the switch to "Hall", the "A/B" to "A" and keep the "Blend" and "Time" dials somewhere between 11 and 2 o'clock, and I'm on it. No real tweaking required, and I've got that big wet reverb. Combined with the Digiverb, and I'll give the Catherine Wheel a run for their shoelaces. Combined with my Fender Amp, and the JAMC have competition, but on its own, I've got everything from Dan Ash to Geordie to Reg Smithies. That's a lot of my tastes, right there. So, yes, I'll follow fashion, if I look good in it....
You mentioned the Edge and Simple Minds sound,I have 2 Biyang that I use in series and their sound reminds somethin' I heard back in the 80d. Only I don't know what. Now you made me wonder. What were U2 and SM using in 1985? Lexicon, Ursa Major, AMS. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteThe Edge used mostly Amp reverb at that point. Two EHX Memory Man delays, but for reverb, it was two Vox AC-30s and (here's the big one for reverb) a Roland JC 120. Burchill ( Simple Minds) was using Boss Pedals back in the 1980's, again an Analog delay ( not sure which one) and a Chorus pedal ( CE-1) and again amp reverb- 2 Roland JC-120's
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