Biyang FL-8 "Flanger" Analog Flange Guitar Effect Pedal

This is my 3rd Biyang pedal from their ToneFancier series - I first bought the phaser, taking a chance on it as there weren't any reviews of it at the time, and it turned out to be superb and very musical. I then bought the fuzz, and it also turned out to be excellent - giving me amongst other sounds a Queens of The Stone Age low gain fuzz that was distinct from distortion or overdrive and really warm and musical, and the first time I have got such a sound from a fuzz - you can't get that sound from a ZVEX Fuzz Factory which I also have for example. I therefore ordered this flanger pedal without hesitation, and wow - what an amazing pedal it has turned out to be. Before you dismiss me as a fanboy, note that I have about 20 pedals in my collection at present and have been through loads more than that to whittle it down to the ones I have got, e.g. finding that the Japanese made 2 models in the BOSS range sound way better than the later Taiwan 3 models etc. The physical quality of the Biyang pedals is ok, a bit DIY / boutique style, definitely not as good as a BOSS pedal, but still fairly solid. The sound though is seriously WAY better than BOSS, and the range of tones is firmly out there in Electro Harmonix territory (i.e. off the wall and experimental) but with better audio quality. This flanger absolutely excels at analogue resonance feedback - it is such a beautiful sound. Imagine a good guitar feeding back through a warm valve overdrive going through a vintage echo chamber and with the ability to tune that to your chord then play over it. Utterly beautiful, in ring mod / phase / tremolo / echo territory and beautifully musical with it. Well worth the money just for this range of tones alone. It can then do stunning tremolo sounds, and flangey / chorus sounds all with a really lovely depth of tone. In terms of bread and butter flanging sounds, I do actually think the BOSS BF-2 sounds better, but the BOSS is really limited in comparison - it is as if the BOSS range goes from 40-80 whereas the BIYANG goes from 0-100. The speed for example goes from utterly slow, literally like very slow ethereal filter sweeps on a synth, to very fats tremolo, and the feedback resonance control goes from off to overdriven feedback that self-oscillates like an analogue synth filter. This really is a superb pedal and I would recommend it without any hesitation. I also believe that it won't be long before prices start to shoot up. I do think that these will become collectors pedals over time - the Klon Centaur's of the future. I maybe wrong obviously, but these really are boutique quality pedals going for peanuts at the moment. The mauve LED on this pedal is nice and bright as well and so it is easy to see settings in the dark just by getting the light to reflect off your hand onto the shiny surface of the pedal. The wave rate is not digitally repetitive either which is lovely. Just like my Demeter Tremulator pedal, the wowowowowow rate is not rigid but variable - more like wowooowoowowoowooowooow sort of thing, so you ear never gets bored of hearing the sweep. It really is very musical. One last thing to mention - the hiss this pedal makes is pretty good, i.e. low, but with the resonance control turned up you get the most amazing electrical buzzing noise in amongst the hiss - a really musical 'noise' artifact that I would definitely leave in recordings. It sounds a bit like one of those neon insect repellent strip lights late at night in a cafe somewhere - it has a really nice vibe to it, and that is just the noise! Superb. I totally recommend this pedal to sonic experimentalists and recording studio players. For bread and butter flanging maybe get a BOSS, but the BIYANG is almost boutique audiophile quality in comparison.

Love it. Everything from subtle effects ( remember a flanger can be made to produce chorus like sounds, but a chorus can't be made to sound like a flanger) to over the top 'sonic attack' sounds, and all stops in between. Full set of knobs that all work well on a nice stainless steel casing - this is bigger than your normal 'standard' size casing so check space availability on your pedal rig. Also check height clearances if you'll be reaching your foot over the top of it. Sound wise though, this is an excellent unit and great value for money

awesome

A great weird wacky pedal, I guess it won't be to everyone's tastes, but I dig it.

Nice looking pedal, but so noisy. You can hear the flange sweeping the noise. Had some of these Biyang pedals in the past and most have been OK, but the amount of noise coming off this makes it unusable even for “mucking around”. Really disapointing