The Biyang RV- 10 ( Baby Boom Tri Reverb)

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....

Die, Hipster, Die!

So, it was kismet- Noisemaker effects listed on Cheaper Pedals? Yes, please! A great company, being distributed by another great group of people- that's important to me. I'm no nationalist. I don't care if it's Merkin or Chinese, or Auf Deutsch- because I like it when everybody has a decent job. But, I'm much more inclined to buy from a nice person than from either a machine or a jerk. Matt and Elliott are nice people. That's a rare thing when it's nice people, up and down the line- I can't say all the way up and down- I don't know about Matt's parts resource- could be sweatshop labour, I don't know- and I can tell you that my local USPS are a bunch of jerks, with exactly two exceptions. Still, it's more than a bit more secure than ordering from, say, Danelectro.

However, I'm sure the question would obviously be- why not just buy from Matt, directly? Because Elliott is a good person, and in a position to do good- not everyone is combing through the Reverb and Etsy lists, like I am. But, people do google search terms- and I can see 'cheaper Pedals" making it into a google search, can't you? So, Elliott can make sure than people who otherwise never would have heard of Noisemaker Effects not only can become aware, but can purchase them. It's the same reason why you book at show at a bar, instead of at a BBQ, or why you put your record out on a label instead of on your own  hand press. Yes, there's a slight loss of purity, but it's worth it for the increased visibility. There's good reasons not to, of course, but if the Bar, record label, or in this case, Pedal salesman is one of the "good guys" who can fault you?

All that having said- what did I get? The Dead Hipster. I got that one for three reasons- it's low gain, so I can use it as a boost. It's one Matt, himself, uses. If that's not enough, I also got it because it is not transparent. See, I've heard complaints about the Dead Hipster coloring the sound, and I just think- why would you get a low gain dirt pedal that doesn't color your sound? I mean, at that point, you're better off just getting a low watt Tube Amp. I know that Epiphones are showing up at pawn shops for under a hundred bucks. I think you want a dirt pedal to either really distort your signal, like a fuzz, or Metal pedal, or you want it to bring out certain frequencies. I've already established that I like mids- I literally made a low gain pedal to do exactly that- bring up the mids to ungodly levels. So, the Dead Hipster brings the "jangle"- which would be your upper mids, to lower treble range. I'm not quite ready for a treble booster, but bringing out those upper frequencies is exactly what I want in a low gain distortion- I want overdriven Tele to lipstick tube Dano tones. I know Matt likes that too- because if you listen to any of his sound clips, everything he plays has the upper mids cranked. If you are looking to boost your signal, highlighting the upper mids is like an Amp's "presence" getting cranked- it's a sure way to be heard- because upper mids are far more directional than lower mids- you're literally cutting through with the smaller wave form. But, that brings me to the main reason why I got it- low distortion, big boost. I noticed with my Donner Party that Matt makes LOUD pedals, so I knew he was my man for a boost. So, why didn't I get a Suckerpunch or a Loudmouth? I really considered both, but like I said- jangle. Why just boost when you can shade the EQ in the direction you want?
So, I got it today. That was fast. I ordered on Monday, late. It's Thursday. I plugged it in with the Epiphone and Vox first- instant Rockabilly roar. Then I went Strat into Vox. Quite a bit more reedy and wiry, I think with a little tweaking, I could get overdriven Tele bridge tones out of it. Tried it Strat into Fender- huge amounts of attack and snap, very percussive. I goosed the gain, and got into a really vicious punky tone- like Joe Strummer on 1st album Clash, so I play the intro riff to "Clash City Rockers" and was amazed at how closely it nailed the tone. This inspired about 45 minutes of New Wave riffing, everything from Cr@SS to Tom Petty, it might not have nailed all those tones, but it was close enough for cover band work. I didn't get time to do the rest of my tests - Epiphone into Fender, Strat and Epiphone into Crate, Strat and Epiphone into Sovtek, etc- but here's my statement-if you want slightly overdriven New Wave to late 50's garage rock, here you go.

I'm Excited!

Some marriages are meant to be. I think this one is. Noisemaker Effects are now on Cheaper Pedals!  I think this should open some minds via their ears. I'm not claiming to be a market analyst or anything, but I think if the Joyo crowd gets into Noisemaker, it can only mean good things. See, the folks buying joyo pedals tend to be semi-working musicians. Guys playing in "Praise" bands on sunday morning, and girls in cheesey cover bands, who practice after a day working at the local Pre-K or call center. I might have the specifics slightly off, but I know I'm right in my direction. These are the people who get snubbed by the "Boutique" makers- an OCD pedal, a Klon Centaur, or a Strymon Blue Sky is not going to be marketed towards them. They can't justify 250 bucks for a pedal, when they get paid less than 20 bucks, if at all for their music- you know? Yet, I know these people- they're professional- and sometimes they're better musicians than the Rock Star that everybody wants as an endorsee. The snob factor ends up working both ways- these "blue collar" musicians tend to call the boutique folks "cork sniffers", while the Boutique folks call them Amateurs, or "garage" musicians. But, see I've been a working musician, and better yet, a sound engineer- I've worked with all of the above, and I can say that rare is the piece of equipment that can make you a better musician. Really, the difference between a Boss DS-1 and a Zvex Machine gets lost if you're playing on a 75 watt Line 6 amp, miked to a church PA, and even if you can hear the difference, you're still talking about a minute difference, when all you're playing is a four chord campfire song, you know? But that guy might want the Zvex for chasing down a tone, when he's playing for his own amusement. This is where Noisemaker comes in- Matt's stuff can do several shades of Big Muff, only better, and can do the Devi Ever "crazy fuzz", and can do a better version of the Memory Man than the TC Electronics Flashback. Because his stuff doesn't get higher than 120, that means that our man in the choir can afford to play around for his own amusement, and might just discover his muse, apart from trying to sound like Billy Corgan, you see? So, I'm totally ready to throw rice at this marriage! Best of luck to all involved!