Brown Sound In a Box II and BSIAB (contour) Comparison

BSIAB III is not the official name of the 'contour'...this is just what I called it because it's the next progression in the BSIAB line.

The BSIAB II pedal has become famous for its replication of Eddie Van Halen's hot guitar tone from the early days of Van Halen. More recently, it was discovered that a contour knob could be added to this box to provide additional tonal varieties.

As you can hear in the video, there is a definite difference in the tonal characteristics of the two pedals. The contour knob acts a bit like a mid sweeper and sweeps through frequencies in a different manner based upon where the tone knob is set.

Though there are benefits to the contour, one thing I noticed, and tried to control in the video, was the fact that it becomes difficult to control a mid-range squeal at certain settings. Especially at higher volumes, this is an issue. I may try to experiment with a value or two to see if I am able to tame that down a bit. 6/25/11: I've since incorporated this pedal into my main gigging rig and I've not had an issues with it at gig levels. I actually run it into my distortion channel that is set at slight breakup for tunes that require more gain and it is working great for me.

If you'd like to try your hand at building this pedal, go to http://www.generalguitargadgets.com and purchase the complete BSIAB II kit or a BSIAB Contour kit, or have Jason at StompTone build you one. Contact Jason at http://www.StompTone.com for a pre-built pedal.

In this video, the pedal was demonstrated using a 1983 Les Paul™ Deluxe™ through a Carvin Vintage 50 amp on the clean channel into an Carvin Vintage 4x10 cabinet. Two George Ls™ and one Monster Rock™ cable were used.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Eddie Van Halen
• Brown Sound
• Brown Sound in a Box
• Carvin™
• Les Paul™ Deluxe.

[Crazytjeuh]

for the 3 extra dollars i think i'll get the contour version!

[StompTone]

@Crazytjeuh: Might as well...

[crosswayokc]

Just built mine. MANNNNNN! Thats a beast! I don't even play tunes that heavy, but I know what sounds good. Best distortion I have ever played. My Fender Twin is now not really far off from a JCM800. I just might start playing heavier tunes as an excuse to use this. I would love a version of this that has less drive(more of a 70s Marshall sound). The way I see it, if your going to be playing big distorted guitar you need to either get a JCM800 (not that JCM2000 crap!) or get this pedal.

[StompTone]

@crosswayokc: I love 'em!

[Guitarbque]

Is that a tail end of a doobie on the side of the BSIAB 3 ??

LOL- Great Vid- 3 wins!!!

[StompTone]

@Guitarbque Funny...but no. Thanks for tuning in. The contour version does offer more tonal possibilities for sure.

[xntrickk]

it sounds good, but my ears don't hear the "bround sound"

[StompTone]

@JonDeth: It's mostly because Eddie made it so popular, I suppose.

[JonDeth]

It's clearly a great sounding pedal but I've never understood the claimed mystery or superiority to the "brown sound". It's just a dark groany high gain...

[StompTone]

@100roberthenry Yes and yes.