BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Great points guys! Once a person has an opinion of something it takes a HUGE effort to change their minds. Even if you have concrete facts to show your point. (psychology 101) It is why conspiracy theories have such a hard time breaking through to the masses. aahhemm cough 911 cough.

I didnt think the Ghetto Stomp was a clone of the HBOD as I had both at one time when trying to find my OD sound/style. Ghetto is a great pedal, but I wouldnt have guessed a copy. In the end I returned it as the HBOD stacked so well and was for more adjustable now look at my signature.

Zink (sp?) is a straight up crook using STRONG references to Bjorn's product. Jetter, JKS (I forget the initials) clone, but change the name and can/do modify the circuits slightly. Boutique amps might be even worse cloning Fender, Marshall and Vox.

I guess the system is the same one that thinks free downloads of inferior 128 mp3 copys of copy-written songs is great. In America as long as you are getting more for less it is just fine.

I hope none of you guys make much money playing in cover bands. Or copping other guy's licks.

ibodog wrote:I hope none of you guys make much money playing in cover bands. Or copping other guy's licks.

the clubs i play in pay licensing fees to ASCAP/BMI

ibodog wrote:I hope none of you guys make much money playing in cover bands. Or copping other guy's licks.

I fail to see how Hendrix & Gallagher suffers by my copping their licks verses Bjorn losing a sale due to cloning.

Slim Henderson wrote:

ibodog wrote:I hope none of you guys make much money playing in cover bands. Or copping other guy's licks.

the clubs i play in pay licensing fees to ASCAP/BMI

So if Zink sent Bjorn 5 cents per pedal then you'd be ok?

ibodog wrote:

Slim Henderson wrote:

ibodog wrote:I hope none of you guys make much money playing in cover bands. Or copping other guy's licks.

the clubs i play in pay licensing fees to ASCAP/BMI

So if Zink sent Bjorn 5 cents per pedal then you'd be ok?

maybe not 5 cents......but yes, if there was a licensing fee being paid, then i would indeed feel better!

one of my good friends is building a pedal right now that is soon to be released, and he LICENSED the circuit from the original designer. but then, he is a person with a great deal of integrity. i do not know what kind of person Zink is.

Slim Henderson wrote:maybe not 5 cents......but yes, if there was a licensing fee being paid, then i would indeed feel better!

Songwriters would be lucky to get 5 cents from ASCAP/BMI each time their song was played in a night club no matter how much effort they put into the song. Unfortunately a song has to get quite a bit of airplay after the songwriter has signed up with the rights organization before they'll see any sort of check. Limited and exclusive airplay won't show up on the radar to trigger a disbursement.

Slim Henderson wrote:one of my good friends is building a pedal right now that is soon to be released, and he LICENSED the circuit from the original designer. but then, he is a person with a great deal of integrity. i do not know what kind of person Zink is.

Is that the Finger Print thingy I've seen a couple of threads about at other forums in the last week? It looked like the original designer was quite helpful in verifying the schematic someone else reversed on that one. Sounds like a bad deal for your buddy.

As far as Zink goes, I have no idea either. From the looks of his web site he's a county boy and family man. Actually his web page just looks like a personal web page of a guitar gear tinkerer and not that of a commercial pedal site.

I think no one cares about this sh*t anyway until it shows up on the TGP emporium when the person who bought the cloned pedal decides to unload it. Then all the guys who payed the big bucks for the Big Name Brand circuit get all insecure about their resale value and get all pissed off.

mcass63 wrote:

I play them and I cherish them

A lot of heat and valid standpoints from all factions going down on this thread, the amalgamation of which provides a broader scope than any one person could. We all know it's a flawed system, but does that mean you continue to flaw or have the integrity to at least conduct yourself a bit more ethically.

Circuits are like chord progressions in a way, in that they can't be copyrighted although geniuses like Metallica will try.

It's all how you put it together...the whole package, not just the parts, or the sum of the parts, or even how you tune it, it starts with having a better brain leading down a path that starts with learning the craft, living the knowledge, and exercising the experience that leads to the whole package--in this case, like songwriting what you want to hear, how much or little you care to be derivative or not, and realizing that sound until it comes to fruition.

To say Bjorn has a lot of knowledge about electronics and sound is an understatement...he is truly old school, like the great engineers and producers back in the day kicking ass with the sounds from songs from 30-40 years ago that we still today completely revere,

and that's because A LOT of thought went down before the record button was pushed---that's the emphasis he puts behind his circuits whether they be a "simple" booster like the BPB or the complexities of a Model H...that's old school staying connected to core sonic ideology and concepts--that's why his pedals don't sound like pedals, and why his stuff is modular--they achieve this seamless integration and distinct sonic signature from each model, even when they go through their iterations along the way.

He took a blank page and wrote a song...from scratch, and then he wrote another, etc--try staring at a blank piece of paper trying to write an original sounding song vs. jumping on the copycat wagon and tweaking it from there approach...that's integrity--that's a better brain , and hence why I quoted the above.

bit O honey is a candy bar

Hi,

Below is a composit post of two that I made on TGP recently. I have adapted just one handle to answer correctly in this forum:

Right I might buy one of those Zink a bit of Honeys for a friend that flies a lot to gigs in foreign lands because he'd need a small overdrive

I have said that I don't really mind people using the Honey Bee circuit as long as they make no reference to my name or company or my products and they might instead but their own name on their own work and really I don't see that as being much to ask......

If someone wants to build one for their own use that's just fine but I really don't want to have my name or company name or product names associated with another company as that's dillution of brand...

I just really don't want to be dragged into threads about other manufacturer's products.

I have also said that if someone wants to use the same circuit for commercial purposes then please stay clear of my name, my company name or product names or any reference to either of those and please use your own name to market.

I don't see any kind of credit I'd get from someone using my name, my company name or product names in their marketing?

Circuits have absolutely nothing to do with that.

As I recall neither Marshall or Traynor used Fender's name or company name or product name in their marketing while Fender used one of Gretsch's product names..........


There's been an online derivation of the circuit I used in the Honey Bee product, and I'd like to point out that the RAT is likely based on the MXR Distortion + by the same way of reasoning
Ah right and I did tell a little about the theory behind the circuit ........oh well.
Perhaps later I'll find the time to write also a story about the Honey Bee and how it came about.

In 2002 when I introduced the Honey Bee there was no similar product and of course it was hard to sell a product no one knew what it sounded like or felt like to play and Honey Bee also created it's own myth that there were two versions due to a Music Toyz clip where a guy played a guitar that is normally associated with single coils but that had a humbucker at bridge


I shall add that I do get financial compensation from a number of companies that do use my name and company name in their marketing and on products and this is regulated by industrial standards and good commerce conduct and I also have then insight in that the products produced are what I'd like them to be and using the exact parts I have specified............

Well ibodog: you know the worst competitor to any manufacturer is his/her own secondhand units.......


In the very first post of this thread this question is asked:
"compared to the Honey Bee what's the deal?"
Therefore valid answers to OP would be definition of this deal.

This very thread is proof that a circuit but it will need a connection to a name to sell however use of company names in commerce is regulated by law and business segment ethics
One can keep in mind that the music business consists of roughly 200 families that do get along following unwritten rules and this holds the key to tradeshows and a number of other things.....
Now I would think people in general can have opinions on trademark violations and this forum may have a rule to save the forum from involvement.........
and this thread will pop up on google and other search engines ..........

Yes I know there's also the circuitpolice promoting transperency in marketing but do they get the subtle details that seperates a competitive product from piracy?
They would come though if you make anything

Heated arguements usually result from any topic that involves $$$....

Well, they do say that there's no bad publicity as long as they spell your name right

I have in my signature an affiliation to something I don't know the name of yet:

I am in the process of launching a US operation that will produce some BJF products since I find I get less time and the mere fact that these will be made in USA will directly affect the pricepoint at which they can be retailed but not only that I'm also looking at various ways of mechanical construction that I feel will be good but that can save assembly time and that too affects retail at least within USA.
This is something time may be ripe for after ten hard years making pedals and lifting heavy weight in the marketing.
I think it will be good for many poor musician and I remember being one. It is utterly hard to try to live on your music.

What I'll further do is instruct exactly how I select components and how trimming is done so that some circuits like the Honey Bee that does require selected components to work right each time will be made just the way I make them. This is somewhat timeconsuming and will affect retail negatively but in total view retail will be competitive.
And this company will produce a product that will use the name Honey bee and that will be as exact as can be

Further I'll add that I understand Dan Zink no longer uses any reference to BJF Electronics Honey Bee or anything related and also makes his own take on the circuit which is all fine by me and I wish him well and good fortune.

Also Nick Greer is a friend of mine and while I haven't tried his Ghetto Stomp I know he's a designer that has his own thoughts and is a builder of fine pedals.
I think there was a reference to Honey Bee mostly because the Ghetto Stomp is designed for about the same purpose and that's evolution and from the soundsamples I think he caught another angle and that's cool!

Have fun
BJ