With the arrival of the Custom Shop Nectar Tone Sweetener Drive/Fuzz - my Beetronics capsule collection is now up to 9
When I first started doing the visual for this I thought I had amassed 10 Beetronics pedals to date - but it turns I’m one short of that milestone - it still kind of made sense to mark the occasion of the Custom Shop Nectar’s arrival - which is probably my favourite Custom Shop edition to date. I had to wade through 3 batches to pick out that one - I wanted metal knobs - and a pinkish hue to the core - and the one pictured really captured my imagination. I quite liked my SeaBee at the time of acquisition - while that is probably my least favourite Custom Shop edition to date.
Overall I have 6 Custom Shop Beetronics editions and 3 standard ones - the OctaHive V2, Swarm and Royal Jelly. In fact the Royal Jelly was my first Beetronics pedal - back in 2018 - before Beetronics really got properly busy or should I say buzzy - with Custom editions. I wish for that one that I had waited a bit as there are far better looking later editions - but I don’t mind it.
I probably should have waited a bit longer for the SeaBee as there weren’t any that really captured my attention in the first batch - but I wanted on quick. A lot of those had illegible labels - i.e. insufficient contrast to read the text - where I learned from the Zzombee that it’s important to be able to easily read what’s going on - especially as those two pedals are really very complex in use!
So the Royal Jelly came first in that pedal’s year of release, I then picked up a Custom Shop of the V1 Octahive - really did not like the standard version for that - I always loved my ’Arrows’ Octahive and it sounds magnificent!
I then wasn’t sure when the Babee Series first emerged - as I’m not typically a flat of top-edge mounted knobs (illegible). But I kind of warmed to the format - and grabbed a custom shop Fatbee at the same time as I got my Purple Vezzpa. Since then I’ve pretty much followed the path of release - and acquired each one in succession. I’m not really a Custom Shop junky as such - if the standard version is pretty enough I will happily get that!
All of these (obviously not specific custom editions) are available from the Beetronics Webstore - bar the Octahive V1 which has been discontinued.
Here is a general overview of my 9 Bees [by category] - with year of release (in parenthesis) :
BABEES
- Fatbee Overdrive (2020)
- Vezzpa Octave Stinger (2021)
- Octahive V2 High Octave Buzz (2023)
- Nectar Tone Sweetener Drive/Fuzz (2023)
ROYALS
- Octahive V1 Upper Octave Fuzz (2016)
- Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer (2019)
- Zzombee Filtremulator (2022)
- SeaBee Harmochorus (2023)
QUEEN & KING
- Royal Jelly Fuzz/OD Blender (2018)
And here follow the individual details :
Fatbee JFET Overdrive - $189 / $249 <
Controls - Weight (Master Volume) Flavor (Tone), Honey (Gain).
Cool bluesy and fairly fat sounding JFET overdrive. Has a lovely breakup character to it - mid gainer typically!
Vezzpa Octave Stinger - $199 / $269 <
Controls - Volume, Gain, Footswitch Mode : Fuzzzz / Stinger (Octave).
Cool dual mode fuzz with double-tap mode footswitch - slightly more scratchy octave fuzz than the more searing Octahive - a little more vintage sounding perhaps - both are great!
Octahive V2 High Octave Buzz - > $199 / $269
Controls - Pre (Input Gain), Honey (Output Gain), Volume, Footswitch Mode : Buzz / Octave.
The updated Octahive Format - now tilt Octave Effect on/off via the smart double-tap footswitch. Somehow my original Octahive sounds a bit more potent - but both are great overall!
Nectar
Controls - Volume, Honey (Gain), Taste (Tone).
Really versatile 2-in-1 Drive/Fuzz - sort of Tweed leaning - sounds fabulous - probably my favourite of the Babees!
Octahive V1 Upper Octave Fuzz - $230 / $280 <
Controls - Pre (Input Gain), Honey (Output Gain), Volume, Octave Switch : Off/On.
One of my favourite Octave Fuzzes of all time alongside the Anasounds Crankled Bitoun. Both of those have been on the board an incredibly amount of times - my 'Arrows' version really has something special about it - it truly sounds immense. Somehow the newer smaller smarter V2 one doesn't sound quit so potent? I really like both - but this is the OG!
Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer - > $249 / $299
Controls - Queen (Higher Octave Level), Drone (Lower Octave Level), Species (9 x Harmonic Intervals), Flight (Depth of Modulation - Oscillation/Glissando), Sting (Speed of Modulation), Worker (Input Level), Master (Master Volume).
A long term favourite PLL style pedal - more recently usurped in my affections by the Acorn Amps ADHD and Tark Audio Squidink which both somewhat simplify the format, The Swarm is still a classic of its kind and was one of the first to deliver a really smart simplified take on the circuit.
Zzombee Filtremulator Analog Multi-FX - Filter / Wah / LFO / Tremolo / Swells / Sub-octave / Fuzz etc. - $349 / $449 <
Controls - Filter Type : Ramp / LFO / Mad [PAR - X - BEE], Buzz : Dry / BZ (Overdrive) / BZZ (Fuzz), Parasite (Wet Signal) : Level / Mix / Tap Division / Ramp Up Speed, Wingspan : Depth, Bee (Dry Signal) : Level / Mix / Rate / Ramp Down Speed, Filter Mode : Octave / Off (Amplitude) / Honey, Presets : 1-5 + Live, Tap Tempo / Ramp / Momentary Expression Footswitch, Engage / Alt / Invert / Stop Modulation Footswitch.
In some ways probably my favourite Beetronics pedal overall - like the SeaBee this can be a little complex to use as there is such a broad feature set onboard - the kind of pedal where you definitely need to refer to the manual a lot - so many secondary and tertiary functions - and all manner of nuanced in-betweens. Certainly has a learning curve to it - but can do so many amazing things when you apply it properly. Somewhat usurped in my affections more recently by the Subdecay Prometheus 3 Dual Super Filter - which I find overall a little easier to use. I still really love the Filtremulator - its output can be wholly amazing - but it's rarely easy on the dial-in!
SeaBee Harmochorus Stereo Chorus Harmonizer - $349 / $449 <
Controls - Ramp / Tone / Pattern, Rate / Mix, Depth / Feedback / Harmonies, Ramp Shape : A stop B stop / Up-Down / Up Only, MODE : Dual / Arp / Mad & Roto / Depth / Sting, Effect : < Harmo / Chorus >, Tap-Tempo / Ramping Footswitch, Bypass / Ramp Direction / Alt Footswitch, Tap both Footswitches simultaneously to Access Presets and navigate Up/Down via 2 Footswitches, Press-Hold to save Preset.
Another totally killer pedal in a similar mould to the Zzombee - both are brilliant really - but cannot be operated without frequent access to the manual - just so much going on. By contrast the Jackson Audio New Wave does a lot too - but in a far simpler manner. That said - there is no Chorus pedal quite like this SeaBee - with some insane pitch-shifting and filtered chorus effects onboard. For whatever reason I found the Zzombee a little easier overall to dial in - this is another masterpiece of a pedal - but it can be somewhat tricky to deploy. I think you will be fine if this pedal is always on your board and you get properly used to it - but with how often I chop and change - this one's learning curve and 'refresher' cycle can be a little much at times. I still really love its output - but it makes you work quite hard for it at times. I found the Zzombee a little easier to get along with for some reason - would use this quite a bit more if it wasn't quite so complex - but that's part of its charm too!
Royal Jelly Fuzz/OD Blender - $289 / $350
Controls - Lo (±10dB @ 80Hz), Hi (±10dB @ 2kHz), Queen Channel OD/Fuzz Blend, Honey (OD Gain), King Channel OD/Fuzz Blend, Dry Signal Level, Volume Output Level, Mode Footswitch (Queen/King), Buzz Footswitch (+High Frequency Boost), Bypass/On/Off Footswitch.
A really cool 2-Channel Fuzzy-Drive pedal - with lots of variation - but not quite as much 'Fuzz' as I expected initially. Never quite gets to that full sear as such - but sound really decent regardless. I expected there to be a little more gain on tap for both OD and Fuzz. The combination of controls gives you decent enough range - I just thought it would be a little higher on the gain side. This was my very first Beetronics pedal and acquired right at its original release in 2018. I kind of wish I had waited on this one - as the later versions are far more pretty - but it was a good couple of years before Beetronics fully got in the swing of its custom editions. I always felt that this could be made in a somewhat more compact enclosure too. Great pedal to start off the Beetronics collection though!
