NPD: Bearfoot Honey Beest 4-Knob

Great review. I've been really curious about the 4-knob version with controllable pre-gain pot. I had a 3-knob, and it was a bit too high gain for my needs. I have a Boiling Point right now, but I REALLY miss the HBOD cranked/exploding tweed sound...

 

Good review! Now that my Model H is sold (due to major gas for a stereo Wet) and I have a Honey Bee left... I've been majorly thinking of replacing my Bee with a Beest only cuz I don't have a higher gain pedal now for blues rock type of stuff. And I really like my Bee - so if I can get a higher gain version I it now with the absence of my H, it might be the right idea.

 

Now that I just purchased a Model H (see above ) after having had the Honey Bee and thinking it was the best stacking pedal I've ever had, but not enough drive for me to retain it in my rig by itself, the Honey Beest is definitely where I'm leaning as well. I recall the HBOD really gelling well with my tweeds so since the consensus is that the Model H is a great organic amp like high gain pedal I will definitely be looking to once again have a nice warmer pedal.

 

I'm also interested in the Beest. However I just stack my Bee into a Timmy for more gain. That is a great combo and covers a lot of ground. I want a Beest but I think the Bee and Timmy combo covers it pretty well.

 

This is what I need to settle on - is if I can just get close enough the Beest with my Tim + HBOD combo.

 

See that's what sucks...I moved my HBOD before I got my Tim..and I love my Tim. So now I'm back at having to get more Bjorn/Donner stuff...so rough this life

I hope I like it...I know the maker is great and my previous experience with Donner's stuff is top notch, but I had a KoT and a Himmelstrutz and neither one found any love on my board so as always I will be cautiously optimistic!

 

Yah the Model H has a little similarity with the HBOD if you listen to PITC demos but they are still pretty different. More low end & low mid grunt, more aggressive and much more rockier. It has a balanced nice midrange but nothing like a Marshall in a box pedal or tubesscreamer. It's full and grunty, but yes more aggressive, classic rock type of vibe. I REALLY like the Model H and may get another one in the future. But right now the Stereo Wet was a bigger priority and desire for me.

Yeah about the Tim + HBOD, you've gotta get another HBOD to try again to stack with your Tim... It's awesome.
Or I guess you could just try a HBOD. But from the demos they are definitely different enough where there not really overlap. In the same family - yes... But definitely different siblings.

 

hmmm, well to maybe help clear a few things up about the Beest ...

The Beest is basically an HBOD with a built-in PRE gain booster.
This booster is tapered to be 'guitar freindly' when upping the gain ~ as you turn up the pregain you get a little more treble and upper mids and a little less bottom, which is what you need as you increase distortion and compression to keep it from turning to mush.... My favorite HB stack with singles was always the BJF Red Rooster Booster into the Bee, and this is close to that, just in one box.
One way to think about it, is as a master volume amp ... turning up the pregain and downing the master gives you pretty different sound/feel than the reverse,,, and all the shades in between ....

But this is different than those that use HB into Timmy ~ with Timmy as a booster/eq

hope that helps some with their decisions ....

 

+1. I use mine exactly this way -- incredibly flexible.

 

Thanks for the input DonneR! Questions though.... I'm not putting the HBOD into the Tim/Timmy, I'm doing the opposite.... Tim/Timmy into the HBOD... will this yield results closer to the sound of the Beest? Cuz you can trim bass off to accentuate the mids more stacking them like this.

 

Right, same concept, pre distortion boosting versus post distortion boosting - Beest is an 'integrated stack' if you will ... every booster has its own character/EQ

 

Awesome cool. Thanks so much!

 

So when the pre-gain knob is down, is it like getting this booster out of the circuit? thanks.

 

Seriously... Donner's customer service and dedication to customer satisfaction is amazing!

 

Almost, the Beest is tweeked a hair to perform more apparopriately at fuller gain settings and throughout its range - it has a little less bottom overall - which you may not notice much unless you run your Honey Bee with the nature full left.

Its nothing earth shattering, its just the correct pregain boost for this circuit in most applications in a single box/in/out/power tap .... and its really versatile for a 4 knob box....

but you would still have more control with a separate unit like a Timmy pre HB ...

 

Oh this might help....

..on the HBst4 turn the pregain full left/off to start at closest to an HB standard.
then as you turn the pregain up it gains Saturation and Treble - hence the name: Bee S T

the 3 knob BeeST has the pregain at about 3 oclock on the 4knobs pregain knob.

does that make sense ?