Life's a Beeatch

[thesjkexperience]

The Mystery Knob works a little like the Tone knob on the MH where it does take away some highs, but it does a bit more like take away the attack and sagging it a slight bit. It certainly takes the focus out of the trebles! I need to play again at higher volumes to see how it works with other guitars and amps. In some ways the Mystery Knob acts a bit like the C knob on the MG and the Nature Knob on the Beeatch acts more like the lower right hand knob on the MG. At 9 Volts the Beeatch had the same tight bottom as the MG, but the main difference between the two are the MG has more distortion/focus on the upper mids where the Beeatch is distorted/focused more on the mid to lower mid range.

I just listened to the videos I made and, while I am surprised they are as good as they are for a phone, it didn't capture the sound at all. I had to prop the phone on a pedal bottom for angle and weigh down the back with another pedal so it would stay put. But, the audio suffered for it. I like to have a lot of dynamics and percussive quality to my sound which may be because I do play a lot of acoustic as well. I really fumbled on the finger picking part because I usually only finger pick on my Martin that has a 1 3/4" nut and my LsL is just 1 5/8" and my fingers don't fit very well lol.

Today I want to experiment with Voltages to see if sagging the Beeatch makes the low end as spongy at a BJFE HBOD. At 9 Volts the Feel of the G and the Beeatch are very similar, so to me, the Beeatch is a Bee with a little G in its heart To me the Beeatch is a more useful pedal due to better control of the trebles and bass separately, so I am really pleased I took a chance (and got a great deal).

Great job Donner!!

[Strat-o-lux]

The Mystery Knob works a little like the Tone knob on the MH where it does take away some highs, but it does a bit more like take away the attack and sagging it a slight bit. It certainly takes the focus out of the trebles! In some ways the Mystery Knob acts a bit like the C knob on the MG and the Nature Knob on the Beeatch acts more like the lower right hand knob on the MG.

I just listened to the videos I made and, while I am surprised they are as good as they are for a phone, it didn't capture the sound at all. I had to prop the phone on a pedal bottom for angle and weigh down the back with another pedal so it would stay put. But, the audio suffered for it.

Today I want to experiment with Voltages to see if sagging the Beeatch makes the low end as spongy at a BJFE HBOD. At 9 Volts the Feel of the G and the Beeatch are very similar, so to me, the Beeatch is a Bee with a little G in its heart

So, if I understand from what I've read the Beeatch is simply an HB with extra "mystery" knob (?). But you make significant comparison to the Model G (which unfortunately is pretty much lost on me, having never had an opportunity to play a G). Is the Beeast actually voiced brighter than a standard HB, or just that it has added control function specific to higher freqs? Sounds interesting in any case.

Are you going to post those vids?

Thanks for the info.

[cajone5]

[Strat-o-lux]

Pictures worth 1000 words. That helps.

Thanks for the vids. Somehow my hasty earlier search failed to turn them up.

[Joeleo]

To me, the Beeatch sounds much closer to the Honey Bee than the Model G in that video. Could just be knob settings. All three pedals sound really killer though!

[thesjkexperience]

Please keep in mind this was recorded on an iPhone which didn't seem to pick up all the OD that I heard while recording.

I only have experience with Bearfoot from the first run of HBODs that fugot let me borrow, so I don't know if they have changed. Tour box hasn't made it's way up here yet, so I haven't tried the BEEst, but I heard it is brighter than the BJFE HBOD which for me is often too bright. The Beeatch Nature knob seems to effect mostly the lows and lower mids and the Mystery knob seems to work a bit like the Tone knob on the Model H.

To me it sounds a bit like the middle ground between a Bee and a G, but it seems to be lower OD than either and has more headroom, if you want it, on the wound strings. It does seem to favor my overwound pickups over my Epic vintage set which is in the high 5.x ohms.

I am going to play for awhile now and see how it goes. Our electricity was really bad yesterday, so I hope it is more normal today.

[jonnyrocket]

Finally got the Beatch and it's great! I have been comparing it with the BJFE HBOD (serial number around 446) and BF Beest through my Swart using an LsL Saticoy.

So far I find the Beatch (with mystery knob CCW) to be considerably darker sounding than the BJFE HBOD when Nature turned all the way CCW on both. The Mystery knob so far seems to affect mostly treble in the pedal (but it is done very well as it never gets icepicky nor glassy). Maybe this was the response to the thread requesting a darker sounding HBOD. In terms of gain is similar to the BJFE but so far I haven't been able to set both pedals to sound exactly the same.

The Beest is a very different pedal and the Nature knob seem to have a smaller span for the boomy frequency when turned CCW. Also the change to that boomy seems less gradual than with the HBOD and Beatch.

Interestingly enough, my BJFE HBOD is the brightest of the three pedals and had to turn the Mystery knob all the way CW to sort of match the HBOD in brightness. I guess it is one of the more recent HBOD that Bjorn made brighter. Since I have never played a BF HBOD, I can't comment on how they both compare.

[Strat-o-lux]

Interestingly enough, my BJFE HBOD is the brightest of the three pedals and had to turn the Mystery knob all the way CW to sort of match the HBOD in brightness. I guess it is one of the more recent HBOD that Bjorn made brighter. Since I have never played a BF HBOD, I can't comment on how they both compare.

Interesting. I wasn't aware recent BJF HBs were brighter; mine's an older one and pretty dark voiced. Anyway, guess that answers my question as to whether the Beeatch is voiced brighter than HB: not.

[thesjkexperience]

It seems HBODs get brighter as the numbers go up. Mine is in the mid 200s and the Beeatch is less bright and has a lot more control over both the sound and the feel.

I did add a few more videos I am both trying to get the bugs worked out and not get so nervous during the recording. Follow the other videos to my channel.

[jonnyrocket]

Yes, I was also puzzled by the HBOD being brighter as I always read about them being darker than the current BF versions. I am not sure what year is mine because I was not the original owner.

I will try the pedals again tomorrow and will report back with any new insights.

Thanks for the videos Scott!