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Hi there, welcome to my blog - La Revolution Deux. It's an odd name - but I like it! Here you will find all the info on my various DIY Guitar effects builds, amplifiers and guitars. Everything from a humble Ibanez tubescreamer to the holiest KLON Overdrive.

You may also find a few effects builds that I am looking to move on - usually in exchange for other effects/gear/cash. You can always check my ebay account to see what I've got up for grabs.

Have fun, enjoy the blog - Fred Briggs :-)

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Wednesday 23 June 2010

BJF - Honeybee Overdrive


[Note] - this post also includes information on the Bearfoot Honeybee and a Hot Rodded Honeybee a'la the Honeybee De'luxe [Note]

Here it is, the one we've been waiting for - It's the BJF Honeybee Overdrive, widely recognized as one of the best sounding "low-gainers" around. I built one up and found it great as a "slightly-dirtier-than-a-dirty-booster" booster into a tube amp on the verge of breakup. It gives a great dynamic response to your playing, I stuck a compressor in front of it and still enjoyed the feel. All together a top, top pedal, a recommended buy or build!

Here is BJF's own description:

"This very mild overdrive was inspired by an old Supro amp, there is special kind of warm mild overdrive that you can't find from any other amp (or pedal what so ever). Works very well with other pedals or distorting amp giving this fat and warm overdrive character. The pedal is also super dynamic, from clean to overdrive just by using different touch of your hand."

For those who are unfamiliar with the Honeybee and how it sounds here is a demo video for you;


Sounds nice doesn't it :-)

Well the boys over at freestompboxes reversed it and came up with a schematic and PCB layout. Check out Madbean's brilliant file here; http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/YellowShark/docs/YellowShark.pdf for the schematic and PCB as well as a few notes.

An interesting design, the way it controls the high end content of the signal with those feedback loops along with the filter at the end of the circuit and the Jfet, I like it.

Here is a vero layout by IvIark on the freestomp forums - 

Now, onto the Bearfoot Honeybee, there is a slight variation in the circuit, this being C5 (on the madbean scheme) is 220n and is in series with a 4k7 resistor.

Now, finally the Hot Rodded Honeybee (a'la the Honeybee De'luxe) that was cobbled together from the Model-H, the Blueberry and Honeybee schematics. Here is the scheme;


And here is a vero layout for it;



10 comments:

  1. I built this twice and both times it behaves the same way.

    Both times I am confident Ive done it correctly (jumpers, cuts, the right parts).
    The only substitution is the 220nf I have used a non polar cap. Is the image correct showing a polar part here? C3...

    Anyway, the volume control doesnt do anything, the gain appears to work backwards (all the way up = lowest gain) and the nature seems very thin CCW then booingly bassy all the way CW


    Any thoughts appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just built the Bee. Volume lug 1 connects to ground ( not stated on the schematic), thats maybe your volume problem, not sure. I fixed the backwards gain by changing the connection to gain3 to gain1. I have the same issue with the nature pot, hardly any change as moved cw until a huge bass boost near full cw.

    If you figure out the nature problem write back, cheers :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think I give up with this one. I tried volume lugs to ground and it made no odds. I think the vero is just a bad example.

    I am going to work with a different one now: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2011/09/bjf-honey-bee.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey there, the vero has been updated with one that has been verified many times.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The deluxe bee sounds much better without the 1N4007 clipping!
    I lifted those diodes with a switch and the world is totally differnt!!
    So dynamic and transparent!!
    Guys u must try it!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The zener diode is just polarity protection, right? I believe IvIark omits it from his schematic. From what I understand as long as the right power supply is used it can be left out, correct?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anyone working on the BJF Model D???

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post i must say and thanks for the information.I appreciate your post and look forward to more.

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