Thanks to Donner for allowing me to jump on this tourbox - I had yet to play a Model H or MGMV & I was very interested in comparing the Honey BeesT and Dyna Red Hot against the BJF originals.
Spent time with all 4 pedals yesterday but gravitated to exploring the Honey BeesT… I'll edit this post throughout the week with my thoughts on each.
Honey BeesTI've had 2 models of the BJF Honey Bee, an early example (I sold this one to Donnel a couple years back) and a customshop "Honey Bear" (HBearOD) Bjorn made for me. My HBearOD is not as thick in the lower mids as my old Honey Bee and has a "woody" snap character in the upper mids… with very good treble presence. I ran both of these through each guitar and amp combination (see below), my notes are based on over-riding characteristics of each pedal not specifically the voice of each pedal though the amp/guitar combination (that would take all day to type). I would be happy to answer any specific question though…
Things I noticed in comparing my HBearOD to the Honey BeesT (all numbers reference clock-face direction) and I left the volume knob between 11 and 1 on all settings.
Drive past ~10/11 seems to only affect Pregain sweep and amount of gain harmonics to dial in... waves of feedback are easy to dial in on high pregain settings. Obviously something the HBOD doesn't truly do.
Master/Slave configuration is evident in the Drive/Pregain knobs: there are just MORE tonal variations with this combo than I'll ever be able to use! As I changed the Drive position it seemed to change the Pregain sweep response, allowing different harmonic and compression at various settings. It's evident to me I may be a three knob guy - singing and too many knobs and I have too much to worry about.
Nature knob at 7 and Pregain at 5 seems to "widen" the frequency response somehow… huge wooly bass & lower mids factor but tighter than my Honey Bee with Nature at 7. Psuedo old school fuzz with the volume knob lower allowing the harmonics to cascade and crash. My HBearOD has this ability too, but not near the grind of the HBsT
My HBearOD is better suited to separate the individual strings in chords where the HBsT has more single note girth… the HBearOD just doesn't have the lead note ability the HBsT has on the unwound strings.
Both the HBsT and HBearOD can provide that woody/honk (insert your description here) snap characteristic - critical upper mid balance that cuts through the mix. This is why I LOVE my HBOD - the initial attack of the note and decay.
Interesting to me, as I expected otherwise, the HBsT seems darker than my HBearOD, perhaps due to the thickness of the lower mid content? Maybe the increased harmonics surrounding the note? I'll need to play around more with the volume and nature to figure this one out.
Overall, I can see where the HBsT takes the HBOD design and takes certain characteristics to the next level of harmonics and saturation around each string.
2/13 updateFavorite setting thus far, Les Paul Humbucker into Swart, 2nd channel -- ride volume of guitar for all shades of breakup.
volume-12
Gain-8:30
Nature - 9
pregain-2
Dyna Red Hot Distortion (apologies I kept typing nature instead of tone)
I have a pattern, I'm not a super high gain guy --- tough to sing my material while channelling judas priest
--- however with Bjorn's designs you don't have to run these things "as they're intended" or even full bore to find something useful.
Comparing the DRHD with the DRD - my favorite settings on the DRD is volume 11, tone 11 and gain at 7 (off)… again, all the "extra" gain I need when riding my volume knob of the guitar. The nature around 10 on the DRD starts dialing out the thick low mid & thump, which with my 6v6 combos and Gibsons is apparent in spades. Tone knob on both the DRHD and DRD can deliver some serious thump, like the gut punching, air moving 4x12 stack lower mid thump… but all in the comfort of your home studio.
Things I've noticed about the DRHD
at 7 the gain starts out a tad hotter than the DRD and sounds like it has more upper mid cut and slice at higher settings, almost like there is more harmonic sizzle?? If that's the right vernacular. Just more gain - it's knobs must go to 11.
In fact, when I was playing with knobs (as that's the fun of it all) with the volume around 830, drive at 2 and tone at 11ish I could dial in some octave type distortion/tight fuzz.
Like all of Bjorn's designs, regardless of volume, can cascade & oscillate into feedback, Very cool… dropping the tone knob didn't loosen and round the bottom end but gobs of lower mid thump.
again, tone knob makes the pedal more usable for my rig right around 11… same characteristic
Another interesting observation (and it could possibly just be my ears) but there is a very pleasing presence or "body" to first position chords (with your volume knob low) that is reminiscent of my PGC body knob… hmmm, Bjorn & Donner… any comments - am I hearing things that should't be there??
Very, very cool anyway - made me want to play Tom Petty.
In my perfect world I wish the DRD gain range was shifted a bit lower (if 7 was 10 and so forth) and could be all the distortion/overdrive I would ever need -- all with the twist of a knob of course. The DRHD is much the same vein.
Favorite settings:
volume -12
gain - 9
nature -11
more to come… more thoughts:
a fourth knob to hollow out the lower mids would be cool. Not truly a treble knob, I think that would make the sound brittle.
p-90's on the wound strings with the nature knob below 11 and with the gain up a bit - very TIGHT. Can really hear the harmonic quality of the overtones.
Makes me think, since I don't have an EL84 amp that the nature can be ran lower for a lot of people due to the typical EL84 tone stack?
Anyhow sounds great with a Greenback.
Model H 4kJust now getting into this one - love the hollow quality of the wound strings… almost like the space between the notes makes the chords sound huge!!
more to follow…Crazy week but finally back to this one... never played the BJF Model H but the BF MH 4k is sick and I absolutely loved it for first position chords. Again I didn't run the gain full bore, it seemed more usable below 11 to me.
Personally I enjoyed the tone and treble positions at "off" or 7... when I ran the volume at noon. I ran into the issue of too much treble and high frequency dissonance at high volume levels. I guess the tone and treble would be more if you have to dial in a lower volumes, which with this pedal could be every scenario. It's loud.
This one will be on my "to buy"
MGMVReally, really dug this one - in fact my favorite use was after the Model H. The speed and depth pots were spot on for me. Not sure where the original BJF vibe was set but the boost knob is a must have. In fact, I think the sonic texture of the MGMV is more interesting than my Swart Tremolo... reminds of a fender brownface circuit.
My gear for those interested…
Gibson LP 54 reissue with P-90s
Gibson LP 58 reissue with throbak humbuckers
Gibson ES339
Swart AST early 2005 model
Scumback M75 25W
tubes: Mazda 5Y3GB, Marconi 6v6, Jan 12ax7's & JJ 12dw7
Fender Deluxe Reverb, 1965
Tone Tubby HE1/Weber 12F150
tubes: Mullard GZ34, brimar 6v6 and Jan GE 12ax7's & 12at7's
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:58 am
yesterday.... 
