freestompboxes.org

has anybody seen the inside of one of these? tons of people sing its praises, so i wonder what it actually is

all you need to do is put these words into google and you get this:

http://www.vilo.net/mp3/ampsamples/BJF/honeybee/

missfortune - September 24, 2006 06:25 PM (GMT)
My favorite OD, right now, is a homebuilt runoffgroove.com circuit, the Supreaux, modelled on a Supro 16T amp. It's lo-fi, warm, raunchy, and chimy (at different gain settings). It adds a lovely character to my Tele through a Musicmaster bass amp. Bumped with a Bad Bob in front, it fattens up a bit. It also sounds great pushing fuzzes (Fuzz Face, Little Big Muff, Tonebender MKII clone). Not to mention the solder buzz I got while building it.

I'd love to compare it to a BJF Honeybee (supposedly also based on a Supro sound), but as a hobbyist, I can't even begin to justify three bills for the BJFHB, no matter how great it may be.

and this

Sounds ridiculous, I know, but imagine the sound of a cranked tweed champ, but bigger - and that's sort of what I'm getting from my BJF HoneyBee. The mad Swedish professor claims that he modeled this one on the sound of an old Supro, and it really does capture the flavor of burned-in power tubes pushing a small speaker. Housed in a standard MXR sized hammond box, the 'tone' knob is labeled "nature" and it really does behave in an atypical way. Rather than shaving off treble, a counter-clockwise twist boosts bass & adds more distortion than the "drive" knob does when dimed. Very subtle interaction between these two controls and even with all settings maxed, there's very little distortion till you dig in with the pick. This little box seems to have the most dynamic response of any pedal I've tried. And it plays very well with others.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/367965-post38.html

Can't seem to be able to find a homepage for BJF but Mad Prof is at mpamp.com though he doesn't mention the BJF pedals on his own website. And he's Finnish, not Swedish - that's like calling an Irishman English or a Dutchman German.

Anyway, after this thread, I've had about enough, sorry.

I'm going to make some coffee. You guys take it from here?

Hi,
I am Bjorn Juhl of BJF Electronics and I thought I'd chime in on this one.
The Honey Bee is a slewrate limited amplifier and no I have not released any schematic for it as it happens to be my best selling model that alsopays my bills.I can say that the Honey Bee isn't based on any known design and really this model I at first just made as an anniversary model and had a pedal hater to my aid listening for this and that overtone and going : nah it sounds like a pedal.

It has been said on may boards that there are many fine lowgain overdrives and there truely are.

I did try the Supreaux a while back and while it does not behave and sound like a Honey Bee it is one fine pedal to boot and one I'd recommend.
There are many more very fine OD's.
On one forum I read that my pedals are vapour wear and maybe that draws attention to them.

Through my experience I'd say Honey Bee is not for everyone,for instance many people complain it does not have enough gain nor enough treble- but then nor did the amps it had as a model- my pedal hating friend had a Supro in for repair so if I could make it sound like that but really in remembrence of all the too small amplifiers that neither distorted enough nor had the treble.....unless you strike hard

I have realeased some DIY project and also think general awareness of what sounds do to musicians is both interesting and important.



At your service
Bjorn Juhl
BJFElectronics
Sweden

BJF --nice I love that bee.

HI,

Thank you, I am glad you do.

Have fun
BJ
BJF Electronics
Sweden

Hi BJF
I have not heard one of these pedals - any similarity to the Crowther Hot Cake - it too is a slew rate limiting overdrive
bajaman

bajaman wrote:Hi BJF
I have not heard one of these pedals - any similarity to the Crowther Hot Cake - it too is a slew rate limiting overdrive
bajaman

Hi
Well, I hear Honey Bee's are vapour wear and may perhaps not exist other than in cyberspace;)
Hm, none whatsever, while I have played several Hot Cakes and also talked with Paul Crowther, who's real gentleman btw I have no idea at all what the Hot Cake is made of other than it has an OP amp and that it was designed with 9V batteries from firealarms....you see those are changed when voltage drop below set level..........if you put a Hot Cake on variable supply you can hear a bias system havocing and suddenly sound changes-actually I prefer that but Paul feels the headroom in bypass would be too low.
I could guess from the way it sounds how it must be made, but it is of little consequense.It would be boring to make anything that is allready made......
Oh I think maybe the most prefered settings on a Hot Cake is 12,12,12......what does that tell you?
Ah, yes I used to get batteries from a soundman at the Royal Theater mostly used those in wha's and other non critical things.
The first time I heard of slewrate limiting circuits was sometime 1984 and there are ofcourse numerous ways of implementing such things;)
Go check it up and see what you can come up with.
I think there are a couple of studies made in the late 70's......

Have fun
BJ

I don't know anything about the Honeybee or Supreaux.

However, if you really want to clone the sound of a Supro amp, I would suggest studying it's paraphase phase inverter circuit and how it affects the overall tone of the amp. That's the key to its unique distortion character, "whole lotta love" sound, etc.

Hi,

Well the Supreaux,I think you can buy as a kit on line.....it's good sounding unit, I can tell from having played an assemblied one.

Yes, I'd agree if target is to nail the sound of a Supro and a specific model the amplifier in itself would best be examined.

The Honey Bee though was more an attempt at nailing a function and maybe one that wasn't very enchanting back in 1979
And no I don't think it really sounds like Supro but it does do that well no distortion unless you play hard.

Have fun
BJ

Hi,

Well the Supreaux,I think you can buy as a kit on line.....it's good sounding unit, I can tell from having played an assemblied one.

Yes, I'd agree if target is to nail the sound of a Supro and a specific model the amplifier in itself would best be examined.

The Honey Bee though was more an attempt at nailing a function and maybe one that wasn't very enchanting back in 1979
And no I don't think it really sounds like Supro but it does do that well no distortion unless you play hard.

Have fun
BJ

Used Honeybee's are coming down in price (although still around $325). The goop is rubberized, easy to remove and the circuit should be easy to trace. That being said, it's a tight little pedal with a pleasant sound.

Hey BJ...

hey, any body have the schemematic or layout ??

coz i really love it and i'm in Indonesia and it's imposssible to get the honey bee

please pm me if anybody have...

underage wrote:hey, any body have the schemematic or layout ??

coz i really love it and i'm in Indonesia and it's imposssible to get the honey bee

please pm me if anybody have...

If we had one, it would be in this thread

Until someone buys it and reverses it, the best "clues" can be found in Bjorns (BJF) posts here. He's a great guy who has left us some clues to the process behind his pedals.

underage wrote:hey, any body have the schemematic or layout ??

coz i really love it and i'm in Indonesia and it's imposssible to get the honey bee

please pm me if anybody have...

Use something else

seniorLoco wrote:

underage wrote:hey, any body have the schemematic or layout ??

coz i really love it and i'm in Indonesia and it's imposssible to get the honey bee

please pm me if anybody have...

Use something else

but what could i do... i already love the tone by watch it in youtube and my friend show me how it sound via email..

arghh.. i know a ling distance love would be hard to do

try starting with the ROG Supreaux and mod it to taste.... different circuit, but goes for a similar style tone.

I'm not looking to get into a pissing contest but to me the Supreaux and the Honeybee sound nothing alike. Just my opinion.

The Rotagilla wrote:I'm not looking to get into a pissing contest but to me the Supreaux and the Honeybee sound nothing alike. Just my opinion.

try starting with the ROG Supreaux and mod it to taste.... different circuit, but goes for a similar style tone.

As mentioned, NOT the same...just an attempt at a "similar style tone".

I simply wanted to give him a "starting point". Also, as mentioned "mod it to taste".

MoreCowbell wrote:

The Rotagilla wrote:I'm not looking to get into a pissing contest but to me the Supreaux and the Honeybee sound nothing alike. Just my opinion.

try starting with the ROG Supreaux and mod it to taste.... different circuit, but goes for a similar style tone.

As mentioned, NOT the same...just an attempt at a "similar style tone".

I simply wanted to give him a "starting point". Also, as mentioned "mod it to taste".

I understand the intent but I just disagree with the starting point. I just think there are other pedals that are closer sounding, that's all.