Biyang OTD-100 PRO

Easy enough to plug in etc, though manual is a waste of time, as was the pedal.....

Rubbish! Level control was useless - just let a crackling noise through 99% and then rammed the sound up to speaker breaking levels for the last 1%. Had to turn both guitar AND amp to minimum levels, the pedal was unusable.

Pedal obviously not right from the beginning.

Bought from 'Honestseller123' on ebay (registered in Canada but supplied fron Hong Kong). Unfortunately received an email warning me that this seller was suspect after I'd returned pedal. Needless to say seller has since disappeared and I'm left well out of pocket, as it appears are others. Btw he was the ONLY person selling Biyang products on ebay, so be warned if they reappear in future.

Would not trust these pedals again, and would suggest that anyone else should make sure they try them out in a shop first before parting with any cash.

I lost around ??80 on this rip off, don't get caught as well.

awesome...really easy to setup

really great tone at reasonable price. Can get classic overdrive sound to heavy rock sound. Boost with TS9 or TS9DX really great guys.

u should try one cause superb quality sound.

This pedal is straightforward to use, bass/treble/gain/level.

The manual is terrible being translated from chinese into poorly written english. I am sure a drunkard could write a more comprehensible manual than this. Thankfully you won't even need to read the manual unless you want a good laugh.

The OTD-100 PRO differs from the two other OTD-100 pedals in this lineup through the use of different tubes. The OTD-100 VAL uses a chinese 6AX7 and the OTD-100 STD uses a chinese 12AX7. The OTD-100 PRO uses an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7. Thus they are priced accordingly.

Lets first state what this pedal is not, it is not a distortion pedal nor are you going to get anything close to a hard rock sound.

The Biyang OTD-100 Pro is more accurately described as an overdrive sharing similarities to the Tubescreamer family of pedals. Contrary to the marketing info available you won't even get close to a hard edged rock sound let alone "metal distortion".

The OTD-100 Pro isn't a versatile pedal, if you're thinking that this pedal will cover a wide range of sounds you'd be wrong. However what it does well is smooth overdrive sounds and bluesy tones. The biggest gripe for me is the limited gain sweep, it goes from overdrive to outright fuzz 3/4 of the way. You'd be correct to conclude there is no hard clipping in this unit.

Overall it's a decent pedal for overdrive and fuzz tones but the selling point is obviously that tube which I will point out didn't do anything I could hear. I A/B tested the pedal against a TS-808 through a tube amp first then through a solid state amp.

The results were surprising, I found that I preferred the sound of my TS-808 because it retained the clarity and dynamics of the guitar better than the Biyang. Single notes sound mushy/fizzy on the Biyang, and you can't compensate unfortunately.

The second most surprising thing was that the Biyang did nothing to warm up the solid state Vox Pathfinder. I always thought that tube pedals could be used for this purpose but now I know the answer, the tube is mainly a marketing device. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the clipping was solid state passed through to the tube.

An issue with this pedal is that it can sound harsh if you're using single coil pickups. I didn't like the metallic edgyness I got just from rubbing the strings, hard to explain but it's got an ice picky plink noisyness to it. This relates to all pickup positions.

Built solidly, it looks nice albeit a bit tacky now that I realize the tube is mostly for show. I would say that this thing would last on the road, just don't get any water or potato crisps in that tube display hole.

The guy I bought it off was responsive to my queries and responded to my dissatisfaction. He eventually offered to refund my money minus shipping after I told him I had already gotten rid of the pedal.

For anyone reading this review and thinking of buying one from the auction site Trademe, please beware of such statements from this guy:

"I am told by local players that this compares to pedals in the 300-500 dollar range!!!"

These outrageous claims tarnish the name of decent companies, I have no doubt Biyang make good value pedals for those on a tight budget.

Overall you could squeeze more gain out of this pedal if you use another pedal in front of it as a booster or use it to drive an already distorted amp. Because I have no need for another unremarkable overdrive pedal, I ended up trading this pedal within a week of buying it. YMMV.

I recommend that if you're interested in this pedal to try it out if you can and listen to as many sound demos as possible, don't buy into the hype surrounding these "tube laden" pedals. If you can pick this up for cheap and I mean 100 bucks then it could be worth it if you don't own a decent overdrive pedal.

Level, Gain, Bass and treble controls. Couldn't be easier.

This pedal is as clean and quiet sounding at idle and once you hit the strings it takes off like a chain saw. The true bypass method is quiet as you switch it on and off which I appreciate. The sound is more of a mix between an overdrive and distortion in range. But set the gain high and it is a distortion lovers dream. Truly musical.

So far it stays in my pedal case and works without issues. I have only had it a month but I it seems rock solid.

I really wouldn't know. The ebay store I buy these from (hazedonfused) are quick and dependable, but I have not needed to contact Biyang. I have read from other postings that they do respond to questions, but I have not needed to ask any.

I personally think these pedals are incredible sounding and for the cash how can you beat them? I think Biyang has a nice thing going, and we will soon see these boxes repackaged at twice the price. The samples of the sounds are dressed up but accurate, they do sound that good.

I have several Biyang Tonefancier stompboxes and when I think of Distortion, I was at first not really interested in the OTD-PRO.However, upon receipt of this item, this is much, much, more than a Distortion device. The ODT-PRO is a tube driven(EC tube) pre-amp, gain,overdrive (what have you) box and I was blown away right from the start. Very easy, simple controls, dedicated power supply and huge sound.

There are many Tubedrivers on the market, but doubtful any sound better than the PRO. The last one actually owned was a vintage Akai Shred-o-Matic. It does provide some warmth and gain, but not near the presence,power, and harmonics of the PRO. I actually felt the ground rumble when turned up some and coupled with my tube amp.Also placed it with the a Fender 100wt SS amp, and it kicked that one as well. Not sure there is one better out in the market(and at this price).

I have several Biyangs, and you can feel quality right out of the box.They seem to have dedication to impress both in quality and price. This could easily pass for a boutique model and thus command a much higher selling price and I don't believe there would be an argument after hearing the unit. Has not been road tested or put through different setup and scenerios, but I do feel it will hold up nicely. Giving it an 7 for now due to time owned, but zero problems thus far.

I have spoken directly to Biyang, but mainly would ask the authorized seller I purchased from in the US. Seems to be responsive to the customer's needs and I believe would support any issue I found with the product.

Again,find no fault with the PRO.It is suprising how much I have come to depend on this as an intergal part of the sound in a short time.There is enough adjustment to color the sound output a little or alot.Creamy,powerful,mighty. Would for sure buy again. Might check other units in the price range, but I think they have an awesome unit here and don't want to "voodoo" my tone :0)
Check out Biyang !!

You have level, high, bass and gain controls, works by a 6 volt adapter only, solid construction, has an Electro Harmonix ECC83 valve, true bypass. simple and easy, straight forward pedal without loads of irritating tone swithches and the like.

This is a Boutique Chinese made pedal that does what it says on the tin \ manual. The sound blows me away, it reminds me of an old Marshall all valve vintage 1x12 rockbaby at full blast, from almost clean to pure valve saturation, Thick and creamy distortion that sustains so well and beautiful harmonics too. i have owned boss, ts9 fulltone, vox, and tonebone valve pedals and this is in a class of its own, all the other valve pedals i have owned seem to always have to much mid in the sound,( too much american `Sorry` ) what i love about this pedal is that it has a nice high\tone and thick bass controls that enhance your sound without colouring it unlike all the other valve pedals i have owned. For me it`s heaven having a pedal that you stomp on for that overdrive \ distortion and it gives you that sound instantly without fiddling with loads of knobs trying to EQ it to keep it sounding like the EQ settings on your own amp.
I use all vave amps Marshall JMP, Fender Blues, haven`t tried it yet with a transistor amp as i don`t own one but i will have to borrow a mates just to see what sound i get.

Had it a few months now, no problems yet, not tried to contact biyang.

check the website at WWW.biyang.com.cn

I play Rock and Blues, funk and jazz, This pedal is very good for blues and rock rythem \ solos. I would definately buy again if it were stolen.