So, Rocker and Vox seem to be bonding quite well with the Beest and finding some positive results. I would like to hear some more from Alan, especially since he has a Model G to comp it with.
I spent some considerable time and critical listening today with the Beest by itself, and comp'd with:
Deluxe Bee
Model G
SYOD V1
SHOD(one of 10 hand-wired by Jukka from a schematic that Bjorn gave him)
To update, here's what I found:
I still stand by by original impression that the Beest needs some lower mids to balance out it's voicing, and about 15-20% more gain
would bring it on par with the Deluxe Bee.
As I also particularly mentioned, the voicing of the nature knob is such that for me without question the best, most complete tones are found with N set from about 11:00/10:30-9:00/8:30.
This is where the strong upper mid voicing is offset by the introduction of more bass frequencies, and where it just sounds more balanced.
On that note when you nudge the Nature knob forward post 11:00, yes it does open up..there to noon, and then from noon to full CW where it further brings on the sting, and opens up even more which is very cool.
However, post 11 on N and you lose those lower frequencies, and that openness is not supported by some ample lower mids, and this is where the pedal sounds just plain thin...and I back that up with my own ears, the fact that I'm using hotter humbuckers, and that against all the other aforementioned pedals that I comp'd the Beest with, that is what it is.
Just calling a spade a spade as I hear it, nothing more, nothing less. Conversely, I hear that happening openness that occurs from post 11:00 on N, and I know the added lower mids will absolutely create the authoritative vibe that I want to hear with the Beest throughout that range of the pot.
SYOD V1 is a good example...a similar type openness occurs from about 10-noon on the treble knob, and then it pours on the slice from there, but even when I had the treble maxed, it may have sounded quite bright, but not thin because the lower mids were there.
Here's something else I zoned in on...my initial impressions were that the Beest was like a SYOD dipped in honey, and I think the "leanness" of it's overall EQ structure gives it less of a Honey Bee sound and is more like the SYOD in that manner,
However when I comp'd it with the Model G(D-maxed, N-3:00, C-maxed), and the SHOD(drive and focus maxed), I heard the overdrive character and qualities closer to these two pedals moreso than the SYOD, both with single notes and chords, up and down the neck.
I have had the Model G for quite a long time, so I'm very familiar with it(as well I have a '57 GA 40, and have owned four other of these amps, so I know very well what Bjorn was going for when he voiced this), and it's got that characteristic bark to the grind at the setting mentioned(mainly because the C-control maxed, fully focuses the mid/upper mids and immediacy of the attack response) that I also hear in the Beest because it's drive emphasis is so focused, and I think this may be what Rocker and Vox are digging so much.
Here, I would say also that the Beest's gain is slightly hotter than these two, but again, not as hot as the SYOD and Deluxe Bee.
Regarding the Deluxe Bee, when I had the Deluxe's Nature at 9:00, and the Beest's at 9 as well(again drives maxed), I found the lower frequency emphasis quite similar(compressed, looser low end), and this is where I find the Beest sounds most like a Bee, albeit with a lot more clarity at this setting than the Deluxe.
Focusing on these two, the Deluxe is darker overall...even when I left the Beest at this setting, but cranked the nature knob fully CW on the Deluxe Bee, thus losing it's bottom end, the Beest was still more pronounced than the Deluxe.
Here's where I'd like to illustrate a related point...I feel even with added lower mids and a bump in gain, the Beest will sound more Bee like,
but not like the Deluxe...the Deluxe has an overall looser feel, is more "slushy" and "mushy" in the best way possible, due to it's characteristic sag of course, where at lower nature knob settings the frequencies seem seem to shift around a bit like tectonic plates.
The Beest however, because of it's brighter, more modern voicing, with some added gain and lower mids, also introducing more compression characteristics(and thus more dynamics/range on the drive knob), would bring it closer to the Deluxe, but because the drive focus is so pronounced on the Beest, I think it will end up acting as a "frequency stabilizer", as the lower frequencies "shift" about, and this is where I think the Beest could sound incredibly happening!
Just to clarify, I am purposely trying to reduce the many variables that exist, as I am using the same guitar/pick-ups, through just the one dual triode channel of my Matchless, same Matchless cab with mismatched Matchless voiced Celestion 25 watt and 30 watt speakers, EQ set flat(Bass and treble at noon), volume level consistent, etc, etc to let these details and nuances more easily reveal themselves.
Having said that, I think how Rocker and Vox are approaching it gives the research a different angle and decidedly different approach(playing through different amps, guitars, stacking pedals, playing through darker settings or rolling back tone knobs), and that diversity is a good thing.
Personally, I'm already looking further down the road, as Donner mentioned about doing tweaks to the circuit, and doing more research(where's a teleporter when you need one so we can all do this in real-time...
), re-evaluating, re-testing, and that's where I might broaden the scope of my approach, and focus on more variables as the Beest gets further dialed in.
Lastly, maybe by early next week, I can get some demos together to flesh-out some of these findings, because talking about sound after a while for me just hits a dead end, and I would encourage Vox, Alan, and Rocker to do the same.
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:50 pm
