Honey Bee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jackbart1960]

Brian,
Finnished my Honey Bee last week. F'n awesome!!!! I was definately impressed to say the least. Metal pedal it's not by a long shot. But what a nice singing OD. I'm using it as the last box in my front end chain and hitting it with a Fulltone Fulldrive and a Barber Dirty Bomb. I'm kinda pissed though. I've spent crap loads, a grand ++, on various dirt boxes and haven't been any more happy than I'm with this unit. To pay hundreds for something I built for $35 kills me!!! The only problem is that anyone that checks it out wants one. So there is order in your mail for another H.B. board, I can't imagine that it will be the last, and a couple of others. If the Siver Fox is the same league I can't wait to finnish it. I'm just waiting on a couple of caps. 56n, 27n, 20n were kind of tough to find in sizes that would fit but found 56n and 27n on Digikey last night and should be here none to soon. I think I'm going to use a 22n wima for the 20n.      
Peace and have fun in D.C..

                                            Jack Barter

[jkokura]

Congrats on the happy result! It is a pretty cool pedal.

Also, if you find your friends are bugging you too much, you can feel free to steer them my way...

This thread is worthless without pics! Show us your Bee!

Jacob

[stevewire]

Jack,
What amp are you using it with and what type of guitar?  Does it differ much from your amp's natural over drive?  I am interested in this build.  I am quite happy with my newly finished Rangemaster in conjunction with my Les Paul and AC30.

[jkokura]

Rangemaster+Paul+AC30 is a trifecta. There is something special about that combo right there!

Jacob

[jackbart1960]

Steve,
I'm mostly playing a Am Std. Tele with stock p/u's and the other 30% is Am. Dlx Tele, a LP Std, and a Am. Dlx. Toronado with P90's  in to a Egnater Rebel 20 with two 1x12's with a Green Back/Weber Blue Dog mix being fed by this

And here's my take on the Honey Bee it's painted with Dupli Color Metalcast over a polished Hammond box with jet printed water slide decals.

Peace. J.J.B.

[jackbart1960]

Also Steve. It's very amp like touch/atack sensitive and the Nature knob is more like were the growl takes place knob. From very dark to bright with out being a stick in you ear. The Volume/Drive controls are very interactive and can do a nice clean boost to a very warm grind with play between the three controls. Fed a good wack it sings like an SOB. Thinking JTM45 for the cost of the build of this cool little box.
Oh ya if you didn't figure out I really like it to
Peace. J.J.B.

[eniacmike]

sweet pedal board. that is the ultimate roots rock/americana rig. I don't know what kind of music you play but thats what it looks like to me.

I just got a tone press and it's my FAVORITE compressor. I think I have a compressor disease because I have 4 right now.

[jackbart1960]

Dam close Mike. I didn't think I'd be that transparent But I'm jamming with a buds Jack White type outfit to my country punk/blooooze stuff to the nephew's metal thing with just tweek and not miss a beat. Very versitile set up. But as you can see the pile behind the board my line up could change at a whim. I'm always think'n But now with Madbean's stuff this could get realy crazy. LOL. Peace. J.J.B.

[stevewire]

Jack,
The pedal looks great.  I am looking forward to trying this build at some point.  I am just a little cautious in that I feel most of my favorite OD pedals (Bluesbreaker, KOT & Timmy) have sounded too similar to my AC30's natural overdrive that it might be redundant.  I've got a Soul Bender board on the way before I can get around to the Honey Bee.

Jacob,
I had practice with my band last night and the Rangemaster did well.

[jackbart1960]

Steve the redundancy factor is always in play it's one of the reasons that this DIY stuff is a gas(fun for you kids) curing G.A.S. without busting the bank. If I do come up with something that is redundant it cost me $20-40 tops and if it works and sounds decent I know I can always get my parts money back at least. You can never have to many dirt pedali though. No?  
But do hear you as far dup'n the sound of your AC30. Think of your AC wound up with out being a gazillion db. Not a big gain box at all but more of a lard switch just a nice fatting your signal. Also we are probably close to same taste in tone as an AC30 was definately in play when I bought the Egnater. With Nele the Tele and this wack'n the Eg we are just about pee'n. LOL!!  Peace. J.J.B.  

[stevewire]

Hey Jack,
I certainly don't mind having some pedals that I've built sitting on my shelf rather than on my board.  I definitely have gotten some gratification from building some things myself, and of course it has solved a little bit of my OD over spending problem.  Even if some of these aren't of use with my present rig at this time, they could come in handy later and I have a few other amps around that might like them too.

Can you get any nice Jimmy Page/Supro type tones with that Tele and Honey Bee?  It's my understanding he used a Supro from time to time in the studio.

[jackbart1960]

Steve i really don't know about the Supro/Page thing. Just very smooth and full. I hate to use an over used cliche but "creamy" does fit here.  Peace J.J.B.

[stevewire]

Steve i really don't know about the Supro/Page thing. Just very smooth and full. I hate to use an over used cliche but "creamy" does fit here.  Peace J.J.B.

It's my understanding that the Honey Bee is supposed to sound kind of like a Valco Supro amp.  It's said that Page recorded Led Zeppelin I with his Tele and a Supro amp.

[jackbart1960]

Steve you're going to laugh at me I don't own L.Z. I. I do own the complete Columbia recordings of Robert Johnson it's what Page/Plant ripped off without due credit. Don't mean to be a dick but that has pissed me off for about 30+ years.
To me OD/distortion boxes range from in sand your speaker sounding like ass grind to a nice wound up amp sound a smooth blur of harmonics and grit. The H.B. is definately on latter end of they scale by a long shot!!!! It's kinda funny though everyone who's anyone in my opinion loves this box!!
As soon as I can get another together I'll be taking a good chunk out of a refret on Nele the Red Headed Tele. The luthier I've been using for years has flipped over this one .
Peace. J.J.B.

[stevewire]

Jack,
A little off topic, but I am a fan of both.  I am not real sure where LZ ripped off Robert Johnson, more like Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Jake Holmes and some others.  While Jimmy Page's song writing credits may at times be questionable, Robert Johnson hardly remains clean on the subject.  Just about all of the recorded songs of Johnson have their origins from musicians that predate them.  For instance "Sweet Home Chicago", of which many scholars trace the song's creation to the Scrapper Blackwell composition "Kokomo Blues," while others note its similarity to songs by bluesmen Kokomo Arnold and Leroy Carr.  So I am not too caught up in who invented the wheel, but find that both Page and Johnson do a really nice job of polishing up the final product.

Back on topic, yes I will have to try this build.  But that will have to wait until I finish the Sould Bender, of which I am waiting for the PCB to arrive.