GFS Electronics

[Petrucci]

Has anyone out there seen any GFS Electronics schematics ? I stumbled upon these guys and their pedals sound really nice and would like to mod if possible.

http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pedals-_c_207.html

[oldhousescott]

I believe these are rebranded Biyang pedals from China. They are likely variations on popular pedals.

[Petrucci]

Really?! Wow

[jkokura]

Yeah. I saw your post and thought... maybe it's possible they've done something new, but what's more likely is that they've gotten stuff from a Chinese distributer and just tacked their own graphics on them.

Might yield something interesting if you opened one up, but I'd never buy one. I can build something I know I'll like better for less money.

Jacob

[RobA]

Yep, they are rebranded Biyang pedals. So are bunches of other pedals out there today. I picked up one of the Akai Professional "Analog" delays (link below) when they were on a super sale just so I could see what was in it. They are Biyang too. The analog is a PT2399 in case you wanted to know. The pedal is OK and is made well enough, but I find the marketing and rebranding to be pretty annoying.

http://www.akaipro.com/analogdelay

[Petrucci]

Thanks! I've heard a few and thought they sounded pretty decent. More of a curiosity thing

[rullywowr]

This.  They are certainly rebranded Biyang pedals, and are pretty decent for the price.  I have the "Analog" delay and it was pretty cool but I have since cannibalized it for some parts for other projects since then.

[aballen]

I thought analog would be a BBD.  Isn't the 2399 digital?

Yep, they are rebranded Biyang pedals. So are bunches of other pedals out there today. I picked up one of the Akai Professional "Analog" delays (link below) when they were on a super sale just so I could see what was in it. They are Biyang too. The analog is a PT2399 in case you wanted to know. The pedal is OK and is made well enough, but I find the marketing and rebranding to be pretty annoying.

http://www.akaipro.com/analogdelay

[RobA]

Yep. Analog is pure marketing. It's funny how many times they use the word analog in their images and text. I figured for the price, $20(US), there was absolutely no way it was BBD. That along with the overuse of the "analog" in the marketing made me have to buy it just to see what they were really using. If I remember right, one of the places that sells these (probably Biyang) refers to it as a "BBD circuit." I think that's how they justify all the "analog" nonsense. They basically took a BBD delay circuit and replaced the BBD with a PT2399.

[GermanCdn]

If memory serves, the first batch of delays from GFS were labelled as "Analog" as well, but Jay was quick to correct that on the listing and discounted the first batch accordingly.  He always admitted to them being PT2399 delays.

I always find the price spread on the Biyang pedals amusing.  When Akai first came out with them, they were listing at something like $230 a pedal.  Now they're down to $80 ish.  Good work if you can get it I guess.

FWIW, I have the Fame version of the Biyang delay (house label for musicstore.com), and it's a fine delay, and for the price I paid (pretty sure it was around $30 in a combo deal), I probably couldn't build one for much less.

[RobA]

Yep, you are right about the Akai pricing. It was just silly. You are also right about the quality of the pedal. It's a good sounding pedal and pretty well made. For what it really is and at a reasonable price, I've got absolutely no complaints.

[hammerheadmusicman]

i bought a biyang compress-x i think it was, a few yeas ago, after research i found that it's just a ross clone, and is fairly close..

It's not a bad compressor for £40

i would hazard a guess to say, the best you can get new, and off the shelf for that money.

[dc001013]

Have their Black Max Distortion which is in the baby boom series. Took it apart to see if it really used "hi-fi" componenets and whether or not they were smd and to see if I could tell what pedal it is and I'm almost positive it's a Rat clone with LM308 chip and 3 different clippin options. Think I paid 30 for it. Money well spent imo as I can barely build one for that plus labor. Just wish I was good enough or had the patience to trace it so I could do a few mods that I do on original Rats.

Also won a Joyo California which is basically a "Mesa in a Box" tone. Had 6 pots. The voice pot made the pedal very versatile. I got it for around 40 and no complaints although I sold it.

Last overseas, or latest, I bought used of ebay was a rehoused Joyo Ultimate Drive "OCD clone" for about 30 after I read about Freekish Blues Alpha Drive scandal, buying these for 30, rehousing, relabeling with minor changes if any and selling them close to 200.00 I remember seeing a mod for it but haven't done it yet. I will say the pedal doesn't sound like my OCD. Seem's like there is more gain and output as well as more woofiness on the LF setting which is what I used to keep my OCD on with Level around 3 and gain around 9. So the pots have gotta be a different value.

[oldhousescott]

Regarding the OCD, there are, what, 5 or 6 revisions now of that pedal? I suppose depending on which revision Joyo decided to copy, it could well sound different from your pedal. Just a thought...

[dc001013]

I'm not sure how many there are. I only know, or have read, that there the original which has the white knobs and full sized components and they later versions are smd. The latter having black knobs. I'm pretty sure the one I have is one of the first versions. It's old atleast. I will have to search my bookmarks that shows the mod used and compare pcbs.