
Very wide range of mix/EQ control, great tones for both OD and fuzz.
Separate gain controls for overdrive on each channel would be nice.
$289
Beetronics Royal Jelly
beetronicsfx.com
Double trouble from a 2-channel fuzz and overdrive blender.
A fast glance at the Los Angeles-based Beetronics’ catalog reveals a few things: their love of apiculture, a keen eye for design, and a fondness for all things fuzz. And though Beetronics is fairly new and their hive of effects still small, the sounds and the bizarro/sci-fi sense of design say a lot about the company’s focus and enthusiasm. Beetronics latest, the Royal Jelly, hints at an evolution toward more sophisticated circuits and sounds. It’s a 2-channel fuzz and overdrive. But rather than just stack an overdrive alongside a fuzz, the Royal Jelly uses the 2-channel layout to offer two different blends of overdrive and fuzz. It’s a thoughtfully voiced dirt machine that makes it easy to switch between cool, contrasting filth tones.
Into the Hive
Each channel features a blend control that mixes output from the fuzz and overdrive circuits. They’re labeled “queen” and “king,” but perform the same function. Overdrive gain is controlled via a knob called “honey.” Unfortunately, the overdrive gain cannot be tailored for different levels for each channel. But the shared-OD design does lend cohesiveness when switching between channels—even when using radically disparate settings to differentiate the two channels. Both effects share the “lo” and “hi” controls which boost or cut treble and bass by as much as 10 dB. One of the most intriguing controls is the dry knob, which enables you to mix in dry signal. It makes the Royal Jelly useful for subtle but trippy backgrounded fuzz textures, which are a cool bonus efect.
The left footswitch moves between the queen and king channels. The center buzz switch adds slicing high end to the fuzz circuit—nice if you’ve made the nastier of your channels less mean than you thought. The right-hand switch is the primary bypass for the the effect. There is no battery option, but there’s a standard 9V center-pin negative adaptor. The Royal Jelly feels hefty and durable. And if you’re curious enough to open up the unit, there’s a very cool and clean honeycomb inspired PCB, replete with bee caricatures.
Buzz Your Fuzz
For most amps, the quickest way to dial in a classic overdrive tone is to turn either the king or queen channel completely counterclockwise (dialing out the fuzz) and use the honey to tease in your desired amount of gain. I loved low-to-mild gain settings—translating to about 10 o’clock on the honey scale, with the dry mix in the same ballpark.
Boosting the lows summons distinct Big Muff-like characteristics that are more than suitable for oozing, ’90s Smashing Pumpkins tone—especially with single-coils.
This gets you natural-sounding amp breakup with a little extra dynamic grit if you dig into the strings. The hi and lo boost/cut controls are very responsive and sensitive. But the responsiveness of the dry mix is often the key to dialing in perfect overdrive for a given set of pickups, enabling you to higlight detail in single-coils and note definition in humbuckers.
Once your overdrive is dialed in, you can increase the fuzz content via the king and queen knobs, which yield everything from a buzzy edge in the overdrive to a thick, monstrous wall when turned completely clockwise. Boosting the lows summons distinct Big Muff-like characteristics—more than suitable for oozing, ’90s Smashing Pumpkins tone, especially with single-coils.
In live settings and with other pedals, the Royal Jelly is agreeable and easy to work with. The smart control layout became apparent while jamming away with a full band. I could very easily change either channel’s OD/fuzz blend with the king or queen knob using my foot. And the buzz switch really does deliver the goods to rise above a raging band when you need it. What’s more, the Royal Jelly excited other effects in my chain in very cool ways. And I’d typically set up one channel to slightly boost other cherished fuzzes in my chain. My germanium Fuzz Face clone, for one, loved the Jelly’s gain structure and EQ profile.
The Verdict
The Royal Jelly is an exceptional overdrive and fuzz unit, and gets bonus points for the brilliant dry mix and king/queen blend controls. It would be nearly perfect if you could have separate EQ and volume parameters for each channel. But one of the most beautiful things about the Royal Jelly is that it’s not over-complicated. And it’s well worth the initially expensive-looking $289 price tag—especially if you need to move betwwen many modes of fuzz and overdrive and don’t want to dedicate four pedals to the cause.
Do you overuse vibrato? Could you survive without it?
Vibrato is a powerful tool, but it should be used intentionally. Different players have different styles—B.B. King’s shake, Clapton’s subtle touch—but the key is control. Tom Butwin suggests a few exercises to build awareness, tone, and touch.
The goal? Find a balance—don’t overdo it, but don’t avoid it completely. Try it out and see how it changes your playing!
The author dials in one of his 20-watt Sonzera amps, with an extension cabinet.
Knowing how guitar amplifiers were developed and have evolved is important to understanding why they sound the way they do when you’re plugged in.
Let’s talk about guitar amp history. I think it’s important for guitar players to have a general overview of amplifiers, so the sound makes more sense when they plug in. As far as I can figure out, guitar amps originally came from radios—although I’ve never had the opportunity to interview the inventors of the original amps. Early tube amps looked like radio boxes, and once there was an AM signal, it needed to be amplified through a speaker so you could hear it. I’m reasonably certain that other people know more about this than I do.
For me, the story of guitar amps picks up with early Fenders and Marshalls. If you look at the schematics, amplifier input, and tone control layout of an early tweed Fender Bassman, it’s clear that’s where the original Marshall JTM45 amps came from. Also, I’ve heard secondhand that the early Marshall cabinets were 8x12s, and the roadies requested that Marshall cut them in half so they became 4x12s. Similarly, 8x10 SVT cabinets were cut in half to make the now-industry-standard 4x10 bass cabinets. Our amp designer Doug Sewell and I understand that, for the early Fender amps we love, the design directed the guitar signal into half a tube, into a tone stack, into another half a tube, and the reverb would join it with another half a tube, and then there would be a phase splitter and output tubes and a transformer. (All 12AX7 tubes are really two tubes in one, so when I say a half-tube, I’m saying we’re using only the first half.) The tone stack and layout of these amps is an industry standard and have a beautiful, clean way of removing low midrange to clear up the sound of the guitar. I believe all but the first Marshalls came from a high-powered tweed Twin preamp (which was a 80-watt combo amp) and a Bassman power amp. The schematic was a little different. It was one half-tube into a full-tube cathode follower, into a more midrange-y tone stack, into the phase splitter and power tubes and output transformer. Both of these circuits have different kinds of sounds. What’s interesting is Marshall kept modifying their amps for less bass, more high midrange and treble, and more gain. In addition, master volume controls started being added by Fender and Marshall around 1976. The goal was to give more gain at less volume. Understanding these circuits has been a lifelong event for Doug and me.
Then, another designer came along by the name of Alexander Dumble. He modified the tone stack in Fender amps so you could get more bass and a different kind of midrange. Then, after the preamp, he put in a distortion circuit in a switchable in and out “loop.” In this arrangement, the distortion was like putting a distortion pedal in a loop after the tone controls. In a Fender amp, most of the distortion comes from the output section, so turning the tone controls changes the sound of the guitar, not the distortion. In a Marshall, the distortion comes before the tone controls, so when you turn the tone controls, the distortion changes. The way these amps compress and add harmonics as you turn up the gain is the game. All of these designs have real merit and are the basis of our modern tube–and then modeling—amplifiers.
Everything in these amps makes a difference. The circuits, the capacitor values and types, the resistor values and types, the power and output transformers, and the power supplies—including all those capacitor values and capacitor manufacturers.
I give you this truncated, general history to let you know that the amp business is just as complicated as the guitar business. I didn’t even mention the speakers or speaker cabinets and the artform behind those. But what’s most important is: When you plug into the amp, do you like it? And how much do you like it? Most guitar players have not played through a real Dumble or even a real blackface Deluxe Reverb or a 1966 Marshall plexi head. In a way, you’re trusting the amp designers to understand all the highly complex variations from this history, and then make a product that you love playing through. It’s daunting, but I love it. There is a complicated, deep, and rich history that has influenced and shaped how amps are made today.
Lenny Kravitz’s lead-guitar maestro shares how his scorching hit solo came together.
Hold onto your hats—Shred With Shifty is back! This time, Chris Shiflett sits down with fellow west coaster Craig Ross, who calls in from Madrid equipped with a lawsuit-era Ibanez 2393. The two buddies kick things off commiserating over an increasingly common tragedy for guitarists: losing precious gear in natural disasters. The takeaway? Don’t leave your gear in storage! Take it on the road!
Ross started out in the Los Angeles band Broken Homes, influenced by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and the Beatles, but his big break came when he auditioned for Lenny Kravitz. Kravitz phoned him up the next day to tell him to be at rehearsal that evening. In 1993, they cut one of their biggest hits ever, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” Ross explains that it came together from a loose, improvisatory jam in the studio—testament to the magic that can be found off-leash during studio time.
Ross recalls his rig for recording the solo, which consisted of just two items: Kravitz’s goldtop Les Paul and a tiny Gibson combo. (No fuzz or drive pedals, sorry Chris.) As Ross remembers, he was going for a Cream-era Clapton sound with the solo, which jumps between pentatonic and pentatonic major scales.
Tune in to learn how he frets and plays the song’s blistering lead bits, plus learn about what amps Ross is leaning on these days.
If you’re able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Tobias bass guitars, beloved by bass players for nearly half a century, are back with the all-new Tobias Original Collection.
Built for unrivaled articulation, low-end punch, and exceptional ergonomics, the all-new Tobias Original Collection comprises an array of six four and five-string bass models all offered in both right and left-handed orientations. The Tobias range features Classic, Killer B, and Growler models, and each is equipped with high-quality hardware from Babicz and Gotoh, active electronics from Bartolini, and the iconic Tobias asymmetrical neck design. Crafted from the finest tonewoods, Tobias Original Collection bass guitars are now available worldwide on Gibson.com, at the Gibson Garage locations, and at authorized Gibson dealers.
The bass world has been clamoring for the return of the authentic, high-end Tobias basses, and now, Tobias has returned. Combining the look and tone of the finest exotic tonewoods, such as quilted maple, royal paulownia, purpleheart, sapele, walnut, ebony, and wenge, with the feel of the famous Tobias Asym asymmetrical neck and the eye-catching shapes of the perfectly balanced contoured bodies, Tobias basses are attractive in look and exceptional in playing feel. However, their sonic versatility is what makes them so well suited to the needs of modern bassists. The superior tone from the exotic hardwoods, premium hardware, and active Bartolini® pickups and preamps results in basses with the tonal flexibility that today’s players require. Don’t settle for less than a bass that delivers everything you want and need –the look, the feel, and the sound, Tobias.
“I’m thrilled to release Tobias basses, emphasizing the use of exotic woods, ergonomics, and authenticity to the original Tobias basses,” says Aljon Go, Product Development Manager for Tobias, Epiphone, and Kramer. “This revival is a dream come true, blending modern craftsmanship with the timeless essence of Tobias.”
“It’s amazing to see this icon of the bass world return,” adds Andrew Ladner, Brand Manager for Epiphone and Kramer. “These models are truly a bass player’s bass, and true to the DNA that makes Tobias world-class—the ace up the sleeve of bass players around the globe since 1978. Today’s players can find that unique voice and feel that only Tobias can offer.”
For more information, please visit gibson.com.