house... your HB

exhausted

house, can you comment some more on the BJF honey bee.

i'm primarily interested in it's degree of transparency.

i'm looking for something low gain but transparent to take the place of my rust booster potentially.

Pacomc79

exhausted wrote:

house, can you comment some more on the BJF honey bee.

i'm primarily interested in it's degree of transparency.

i'm looking for something low gain but transparent to take the place of my rust booster potentially.

Most of the opinions I've read about the HB's is that they are not transparent. It does color your tone, but in a good way. Like dripping gooey honey. You might also check out the Baby Blue, it's supposed to be great with the fenders.

If you just want transparent maybe OCD or SHO or Super Chili Picoso something like that?

Or, ha ha. Keeley/Analogman BD2 why not try the Analogman this time.

exhausted

well, the SHO and picoso don't give me any advantage over the rust booster.

right now, the rust booster is basically my "drive channel" for both amps.

but i want to run my amps a little cleaner normally. the volume jump to drive is too much with a straight boost.

enter the low gain overdrive.

the diamond can't do it. it's too dark. it's on ebay.

a modded BD-2 is in the running for sure since it's a known quantity to me. even it might be a bit smooth though.

hmmmm.

Pacomc79

OCD maybe? Zendrive, Timmy, Eternity? Barber Silver LTD? Honeybee should be in the running.

Direct Drive maybe. what did you think of the clips? The DD is not transparent, it's more mid humppy.


You might be shocked here, but the Keeley Rat on mighty mouse mode (middle) is freaking killer with the gain down and the volume cranked.

exhausted

i didn't get a chance to listen to them.

i almost have a prejudice against the zendrive and timmy from people on tgp giving them pearl necklaces every 5 seconds.

the OCD is up there. i'm concerned about the differences in older and newer ones but i understand the newer ones are less scooped which is good.

i'll have to listen to barber's clips tonight. the silver LTD looks like the front runner out of his pack.

Pacomc79

the newer ocd has a pot change to 500K I think making it decronkulously better. I'm thinking about going with a Burn Unit or Tone Pump in the new OD. But it depends on the direction, because J of Z says this new SB1 (Scotty Proanalog) dirty boost that Gibbons is using is the dogs testicles. Could be a good one for you as well. That or maybe the Dirty Dan a dirty version of the bad bob, available through Tone Factors custom shop. SB1 might be a good one to get because it isn't known yet really. Scotty is a genius, but then most of these guys are.

The Timmy and Zendrive are also astrofreaking nomical on Ebay because people don't want to wait 4 weeks.

Oh and one more to scope. Burriss Boostier (Boostiest)


oh crap, one more, TC Jaurning DGTM, Gristle King, Luxury Drive. (Pedalgeek) They look awesome.

HailHailVitalogy

not that i know much about these pedals you guys are talking about

the Eternity is a good idea though...a friend of mine got it a few weeks ago, doesnt have much drive, great low drive pedal and the tones you can get from it are just fantastic

JofZ

There is no such thing as a true transparent pedal. They all add some color to one degree or another. I have played a couple boost pedals that were as color free as you could get, but I didn't enjoy them.

If you want a boost pedal that will add a little shimmer check out the SBEQ.
It is an eq, but so much more. No clips so it justice.

Then you have the real boost pedals. What type of music are you playing?
The SB1 is a Dirty boost, I like it a lot. But if you play at home it isn't for you.

If you are a gigging player and like to stomp and then tweak your guitar for lead tone then there is no other pedals like Scotty's. The ProAnalog Dual Drive, Pro Drive and Dirt Roayle w/cheeze are just amazing. But, you have to drive your amp.

If you play at home, then I would suggest one of BJ's boost pedals. They add color, but the good stuff

The honey bee is a supro amp style OD. It is a sweatener and will smooth out any fuzz or od that is stacked with it. It makes huge amps sound small and is one of my favorite pedals. There is nothing else like it.

So tell me what you play, how you play and where you play and I can help you. All this top end stuff is suited for specific situations.

exhausted

i play at home. just recording and noodling about. generally, clean to mild overdrive tones. i'm more focused on modulation and filters rather than high gain.

by necessity, i run my amps at low volume. i run my fender at between 3.5-4 and choke the hell out of it with an attenuator. i run my orange's preamp at about 10-11 o'clock and run the master at about 9 o'clock.

at these settings, with a strat or tele, it's right at the edge of saturation and breaks up if i dig in. it gives me some range on the volume knobs too.

the tone is good in the air and is recording well. the amps layer very well.

however, i want to run a little cleaner to make room for my gibsons. as it stands, i have to crank them right down and they lose their character.

right now, i have an HAO rust booster that works very well overdriving the amps but, if i'm running the amps cleaner, the actual volume jump is too great to get to drive. shared walls, it's a bitch.

thus, considering replacing the cleaner boost with a external drive source to run into primarily clean amps and hoping to control overall levels a bit better.

it's just constant compromise to work at such low volumes.

JofZ

exhausted wrote:

i play at home. just recording and noodling about. generally, clean to mild overdrive tones. i'm more focused on modulation and filters rather than high gain.

by necessity, i run my amps at low volume. i run my fender at between 3.5-4 and choke the hell out of it with an attenuator. i run my orange's preamp at about 10-11 o'clock and run the master at about 9 o'clock.

at these settings, with a strat or tele, it's right at the edge of saturation and breaks up if i dig in. it gives me some range on the volume knobs too.

the tone is good in the air and is recording well. the amps layer very well.

however, i want to run a little cleaner to make room for my gibsons. as it stands, i have to crank them right down and they lose their character.

right now, i have an HAO rust booster that works very well overdriving the amps but, if i'm running the amps cleaner, the actual volume jump is too great to get to drive. shared walls, it's a bitch.

thus, considering replacing the cleaner boost with a external drive source to run into primarily clean amps and hoping to control overall levels a bit better.

it's just constant compromise to work at such low volumes.

FWIW, I run my Germino without an airbrake and only use it at home. I keep the vol between 2 and 4 and use a boost pedal, then add od pedals for flavor. It works great.

I think you'll get what you are looking for from one pedal the Red Rooster Booster.

Pacomc79

JofZ wrote:

FWIW, I run my Germino without an airbrake and only use it at home. I keep the vol between 2 and 4 and use a boost pedal, then add od pedals for flavor. It works great.

I think you'll get what you are looking for from one pedal the Red Rooster Booster.

from DAM Or BJ?

I've been loving the heck out of my EGDM through the orange Ex and in the APT my settings are similar. I prefer the gain at about 9:00 though and the master up around 1.

JofZ

Pacomc79 wrote:

from DAM Or BJ?

I've been loving the heck out of my EGDM through the orange Ex and in the APT my settings are similar. I prefer the gain at about 9:00 though and the master up around 1.

From the BJF!
My chain is pretty much all BJF with a diamond memory lane, and 2 Skreddy pedals, and a Proanalog MK2.

Pacomc79

JofZ wrote:

From the BJF!
My chain is pretty much all BJF with a diamond memory lane, and 2 Skreddy pedals, and a Proanalog MK2.

I thought Scotty's older stuff was discontinued?

exhausted

i can't see the booster getting me there without the large volume hop.

but i'll search out clips later.

how do you like the memory lane? it sounds great in the clips. too bad getting true stereo is such a pain though with the extra box etc.

JofZ

Pacomc79 wrote:

I thought Scotty's older stuff was discontinued?

Not if you ask him real nice
Scotty and I are very good friends, He lives 35 mins from me and I talk to him 500 times a day, he is one cool dude. I think he has one of everything in his house, and his stuff is on tour with so many top notch players it is silly. I can't say enough about him.

Pacomc79

JofZ wrote:

Not if you ask him real nice
Scotty and I are very good friends, He lives 35 mins from me and I talk to him 500 times a day, he is one cool dude. I think he has one of everything in his house, and his stuff is on tour with so many top notch players it is silly. I can't say enough about him.

yeah the royales with cheese are Ill.

JofZ

Pacomc79 wrote:

yeah the royales with cheese are Ill.

very much so, it is my next pedal like I need one.

Pacomc79

JofZ wrote:

very much so, it is my next pedal like I need one.

yeah, I kind of lust after a fuzz royale. I am so enamoured with my new guitar it's time to sell everything else and start getting very tonally specialized.

House53

Ex,

I agree, the HB is not transparent. It is low gain, it doesn't add a lot of grit to the tone, but it definitely "colors" things.

Depending on how you set the nature knob it can add low, mid, or highs... I set it to fatten things up and it really does a great job.

I echo JofZs comments... stacked with my maxon or with the PPF it really does smooth out the other pedals (sounds compressed to my ears, I like that)

Think about how a cranked tube amp compresses and gets smooth... the HB does that really well. So if you are pushing the signal and get that end of the world tone... very cool.

Last night, I was playing my ______ (i don't want to say, because I am off the wagon and embarassed. through my star nova (little 5 watt amp)

Anyways, I had the PPF and HB plugged in and the tone was ripping good. Meanwhile, my wife and I had a conversation about our house hunting... While I played! It sounded very good, but was at conversation levels.

Anyone wanting a solution for at home tones... check out the Star Nova. It doesn't sound that great by itself, but run some pedals through it... it really shines at low volume and direct recording.

So, to answer the original question, it isn't a clear boost... but it doesn't add a bunch of grit to the tone either. Compression is what I hear.

JofZ

House53 wrote:

Ex,

I agree, the HB is not transparent. It is low gain, it doesn't add a lot of grit to the tone, but it definitely "colors" things.

Depending on how you set the nature knob it can add low, mid, or highs... I set it to fatten things up and it really does a great job.

I echo JofZs comments... stacked with my maxon or with the PPF it really does smooth out the other pedals (sounds compressed to my ears, I like that)

Think about how a cranked tube amp compresses and gets smooth... the HB does that really well. So if you are pushing the signal and get that end of the world tone... very cool.

Last night, I was playing my ______ (i don't want to say, because I am off the wagon and embarassed. through my star nova (little 5 watt amp)

Anyways, I had the PPF and HB plugged in and the tone was ripping good. Meanwhile, my wife and I had a conversation about our house hunting... While I played! It sounded very good, but was at conversation levels.

Anyone wanting a solution for at home tones... check out the Star Nova. It doesn't sound that great by itself, but run some pedals through it... it really shines at low volume and direct recording.

So, to answer the original question, it isn't a clear boost... but it doesn't add a bunch of grit to the tone either. Compression is what I hear.

The HB has picking dynamics to die for, I just love digging in with that pedal. Everyone should have one IMO.