A flexible stomp that spans overdrive and fuzz modes, and sometimes seems to blend them in an inspiring way.
A very juicy, creamy, dynamic fuzz tone that’s well suited to many styles. Bonus slate of drive tones.
Crown-mounted knobs can be tricky to see.
$199
Beetronics Nectar
beetronicsfx.com
If you imagine a gain-pedal spectrum, fuzz is usually situated at one end and boost at the other. The Nectar, from California builder Beetronics, makes it possible to explore both extremes in a single pedal. It also beautifully blurs the lines between those extremes, generating fuzzy overdrive, and thicker, more OD-like fuzz within its wide range.
Beebadoobee Built
Ask Beetronics why they chose to explore the realm of fuzz and overdrive in a single pedal and the likely answer will be “because we could.” Indeed, Beetronics tends to march to its own drum. With just a single footswitch, there are limitations to Beetronics’ take on the concept. Most players that use fuzz and overdrive use two different pedals, or a larger pedal that uses two footswitches to access the two circuits together or independently. Here, you have to use a toggle on the pedal’s crown. But for players that love saving space, having one little pedal that can cover it all is an appealing proposition. Another is how the Nectar’s tones often seem to blend fuzz and overdrive, creating complex dirt sounds.
The Nectar doesn’t mark the first time Beetronics dabbled in fuzz/overdrive fusion. The Royal Jelly runs the two effects side by side, in a much larger three-footswitch, seven-knob pedal. Nectar takes a more economical approach. Apart from the fuzz/drive mode toggle, there are knobs for output volume, “honey,” which controls the gain, and “taste,” which is a dark-to-bright tone knob. All are mounted on the pedal’s crown, which can make it tricky to see your settings on the fly, but it’s easy to navigate the controls by feel after a little practice. The Nectar is a very what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of pedal, with no secret settings or hidden controls or sub menus.
Beetronics pedals are very nicely built. And they have made it a signature of sorts to creatively stretch the meaning of “printed” in printed circuit board—adorning it with a floral graphic similar to the one on the plastic plate on the pedal’s face. Checking out this nifty internal touch is, however, the only reason to remove the plate. There’s no battery connection inside and the pedal is run by an external 9V DC supply only.
Bouncing the Beebop
The core tone in the Nectar’s fuzz mode, which I’m guessing many players will use the most, is rich, creamy, dynamic, and full of sustain. It strikes me as voiced to appeal to a wide range of guitarists and playing approaches. And at the risk of over-egging the metaphor pudding, it is undeniably honey-like, rather than a reproduction of the harsh, edgy, Velcro-like tones you associate with early fuzz boxes. Such smoothness—some might hear a balanced, contemporary distortion— means the Nectar works across genres without sounding too vintage, which is a good thing, in my opinion.
That said, the Nectar’s fuzz mode can sting when the taste knob is up high. With some guitar/amp combinations, you might even hear traces of harshness. But it is mostly appealingly sweet and luscious at heart, and there is so much range in the gain control that you might be tempted to skip the drive mode. Right up to around 10 o’clock on the honey knob, the fuzz maintains a thick, clear, edge-of-breakup response that’s very dynamic and definitely well south of true fuzz in terms of gain. It’s an appealing overdrive alternative.
As rich as the fuzz mode’s low-gain sounds are, the drive side’s fat-boost and low-gain overdrive sounds offer a practical alternative to fuzz mode. Real breakup, predictably, happens much deeper in the honey control’s range. And when you max it, the drive mode gets aggressive, with a throaty bark reminiscent of, if not precisely like, the MXR Distortion+. It’s a gutsy sound and adds character and muscle to any guitar you put in front of it. In drive mode, the Nectar also stacks well with other overdrives. I love how it meshed with a Marshall-like JHS Angry Charlie and a Tsakalis Six (which approximates the Paul Cochrane Timmy, Marshall Bluesbreaker, and Analog Man King of Tone) without devolving into a muddled mess.
The Verdict
With a tonal range that bridges brawny boost and a particularly delectable fuzz, it’s hard to avoid wishing the compact Nectar’s two modes were footswitchable rather than toggle activated. Still, the sounds alone, which mostly manage to avoid glitchy, spitty fuzz and tend more toward the smooth, creamy side of drive, will appeal to a lot of players that like their gain devices more predictable than unruly.
NAMM 2019 Editors' Picks Day 3
Juan Alderete and Nick Reinhart from Pedals and Effects join the PG gang to talk about new noise machines from Beetronics, Synergy, Blackstar, Nordstrand, and more.
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.