The BJFE / OneControl Mini Bee Series Capsule is now complete - Honey Bee Custom, Silver Bee and Blue Bee Custom
Here we have 3 variations on the same theme - each with a slightly different timbre and character. Similar to when you talk about fragrances - where you have ’Flankers’ that are variations on a classic signature scent. And that’s exactly what we have here - the Silver Bee and Blue Bee are ’Flankers’ to the core main Honey Bee. Where the Silver Bee is more Modern, Punchy and Super Tight - it has a slightly harder edged and denser texture, while the Blue Bee is kind of softer around the edges, Thicker sounding, and carries overall more gain - it’s mainly intended for Single Coil pickups! It’s funny that because of its added tightness and greater density - the Silver can feel more bassy at times than the Blue Bee, which is supposed to have more depth onboard.
I’ve had the Honey Bee Custom since September 2022, and while I featured the Silver Bee in January of 2023, I had not prioritised that one until recently. The spark to completing the Trio was really the Blue Bee Custom - which seemed to be in very short supply all of a sudden. Once I secured the Blue Bee I then decided I should probably add the Silver Bee too - and that entered the reference collection at the last minute - in fact just in time for the very recent end-of-month Pedal Chain status update!
Two of these pedals are ’Custom’ editions (vs Standard), and two have a side slider-switch - to flip between Vintage and Modern voicings.
All 3 have the same controls - V | D | B | T or Volume | Drive | Bass | Treble. For the purposes of comparing all 3, I had Volume for each set to Max, and Drive at near enough 2 o’c on each. So for the individual details below I will just focus on the variables - which are the Bass and Treble settings.
There’s apects of each that I really like - and they all sound pretty decent with my humbuckers. I feel the classic is still the OG Honey Bee, and therefore the one most worth having - but the other 2 are pretty great also. I love the symmetry of having the full set with the most potent editions.
These variants used to be more widely stocked worldwide, but stock levels now seem poor and patchy for most dealers - looks like Andertons for instance has decided to move away from that brand as there’s so much out of stock currently - and several of the newer editions are missing.
If you generally like the sound of the Honey Bee, but want it slightly more modern, tighter and punchier - then the Silver Bee is right for you. If you want one which works particularly well with Single Coil pickups - then that’s really what the Blue Bee was designed for - while it sounds excellent with my humbuckers too.
My only niggle here - which is a criticism I level against a lot of Mini Pedals - is that all of these have a somewhat moderate output volumes - which I typically need to post clean-boost to bring them up to unity with the rest of the rig. I have some properly potent Mini Pedals which get the degree of volume just right - but there seems to be a very significant number of Mini Pedals with somewhat inoptimal output volume.
Acquiring one of these in the UK is tricky - as the main UK Dealer - Andertons doesn’t stock any of these, and doesn’t in fact appear to be re-stocking any of its OneControl pedals. While if you’re hunting one of these in America then there is a USA OneControl Website for that. In Europe These Go To 11 is normally the best stocked dealer for OneControl / BJF / BJFE. For the UK though I need to rely on Reverb.com and Ebay listings. Currently the Reverb.com listings tend to be fairly worldwide, while most of the Ebay references are Japanese originated. Obviously OneControl originates out of Japan - so there is plenty of availability there. While the Honey Bee Custom is seemingly long sold out, and there are not that many Blue Bee Custom Minis still listed!
Individual Pedal Details below as usual :
Honey Bee OD 4K Custom - $239
So in October of 2021 I got the Compact 4K edition of the Honey Bee OD - direct from Sweden, and courtesy of Björn Juhl himself, and Sebastian Nylund at TGT11. Then when a mini version of that arrived in 2022 - I thought I had to have that too - particularly on account of its handy left-side slider-switch - which allows you to flip between Vintage and Modern Voicings - albeit not as modern as the Silver Bee - which is another level or two tighter and punchier.
For me the Honey Bee is perfectly balanced - supposedly based on a somewhat beaten up 60's Supro Amp. It has a lovely rich and nuanced breakup texture in any case, and is one of my preferred overdrive flavours, albeit not as high up as my Blues Drivers and Dumble Drives - but still very much top tier.
For my tonal preferences, I have Bass @ Noon, and Treble @ 3 o'c - Volume at Max, and Drive @ 2 o'c thought these tests.
Overall the Honey Bee is still my favourite take - the best balanced for my rig, and the one with the best harmonic texture - while there's probably a degree of 'horses for courses' here - where one of the Flankers might better match your particular rig.
The Blue Bee is largely intended for Single Coils, while the Silver Bee seems a little more agnostic - but obviously delivers more of a modern timbre. That's not so say I do not really like the Blue Bee and Silver Bee too - as I do indeed favour those also - while the Honey Bee is a relatively easy winner for me in this selection.
The Honey Bee OD 4K Custom Mini was acquired from These Go To 11, in Sweden.
Silver Bee OD 4K - £229
So this is a further modified Bee circuit which does a neat trick with the lower end of the pedal's profile - being in some ways more of a Q Bandwidth thing than a Low-Cut - as the Bass still feels pretty potent on this variant, and for some settings feels more potent than the Blue Bee - on account of it's harder edged and punchier delivery.
The best way to describe the Silver Bee is 'Punchy'!
And like the Honey Bee Custom - this Silver Bee also has a Voicing slider-switch on the side of the pedal which gives you Vintage and Modern voicings.
In fact for my preferred settings for the Silver Bee the Bass knob is dialled back the furthest - to 9 o'c, with Treble @ Max, Volume @ Max, and Drive @ 2 o'c as previously.
You do get some really cool textures on this pedal - and in early testing I almost preferred this to the Honey Bee - while over a more extended session - the better overall balance of the Honey Bee kind of wins out for me. The Silver Bee though is more cutting in the mix and adds a modern edge to that signature flavour. In fact all 3 pedals sound really distinct - and you would instantly identify each variant in a blind test.
There are still some subtleties and nuances in how each is deployed
I acquired the Silver Bee Mini from the Finnish NordSound Guitarshop - courtesy of Reverb.com of course.
Blue Bee OD 4K Custom - $239
While the Silver Bee is slightly harder hitting and more punchy - the Blue Bee, which has been specially developed for Single Coils, has a rather softer and spongier delivery - with more girth!
Its character is typified by a thicker soundstage with a somewhat saggy low end. And while the Blue Bee is supposed to have the most Bass content, the harder edge of the Silver Bee means that I end up rolling back more Bass on the Silver edition.
So, as before I've set the Blue Bee with Volume @ Max, and Drive @ c. 2 o'c. And for my preferences - the Blue Bee sounds best with Bass @ Noon, and Treble @ Max.
For each of the trio my preferred settings sound fantastic with my humbucker pickups. In some ways the Blue Bee sponginess is possibly the least suited to the rig - but it's an interesting flavour profile for me - a little thick and woolly with that inherent spongy softness.
I've obviously had the Honey Bee for the longest time, while I just had the weekend really to get to grips with the Silver Bee. But that was somewhat more instantly appealing than the Blue Bee - which I've had for a fortnight, and where I've eventually acclimatised to all 3 varieties.
The Blue Bee is likely somewhat specialist for humbuckers - while I kind of preferred it to the single coil profile for that in many ways, I still feel that the Silver Bee is somewhat more optimal than the Blue, and the Honey Bee is still the best balanced of all 3, and has overall the most appealing textural profile for my preferences.
It really is mostly like Fragrances, where the 'Flankers' aren't typically as long-lived as the classics!
I'm still delighted of course that I got my hands on all 3 of these.
The Blue Bee Custom 4K OD was acquired from Thomann, in Germany.
The next OneControl Minis on my list are the long-overdue Dimension Blue Monger, and Strawberry Red 4K RC OD Edition - while I might rather decide to go for a Red Strawberry Deluxe instead - it all really depends on how opportunistically I can acquire those. Where I've been looking to get in the Dimension Blue Monger for several years - I just haven't prioritised it until now!
