Barge Concepts BB1Jr. Bee Baa Fuzz Clone

The pedal itself is pretty straight forwward but it may take some tweeks of your setup to find that sweet spot in the sound. It's got a lot of bass which may require you compensate by rolling off the bass on your amp. I use an RC boost in my effects chain before any distortion or fuzz and able to tame it through that. It really shines through my Gibson SG Classic w/ p90's. Very useful for that 60's psychedelic era. I recently did the guitar intro to Emerson Lake and Palmers "the Barbarian" and it nails it. Also "Toasted", Eden's Children and pretty much anything by Iron Butterfly.

This pedal also blends well with some distortion effects. I have a Keeley modified tube screemer behind it if I want more of a distortion/fuzz and it works wonders.

There's distortion and then there's fuzz. Just thick, chaotic, out of control mayhem. I wouldn't recommend it for punchy metal riffs but I use my distortion pedals for that. The 2nd fuzz mode sounds like a swarm of angry bee's! For anyone who was around in the 70's, think of that army commercial with the catchy fuzzed-out guitar in the background. It sounds a lot like that.

More solid construction than the original Bee Baa.

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First off, I owned the original bee baa back in 82' and it sounds exactly like I remember it. At the time, I was a sophmore in high school and found one used at Pampalone's Music in Boston for around $50 and change. I was into it then because it sounded so f***ed up and not the polished sound of the day everyone was going for.

After using it for a few months and having jam sessions at my freinds place, it ended up getting stolen out of my locker at school and I haven't seen one since. So fast forward in time to around when grunge became popular, I'm reading through guitar mag and find out the originals are promoted to cult status and going for $300-$400 if you can find one.

So I recently purchased this BB-Jr via ebay for much less because I'm more about the sound than I am the vintage value of it. It's a much smaller and convenient package and the same exact circuit minus the treble boost. I don't really need the boost since I have a boost pedal already. It actually works out better that way because of the way I arrange things in my effects chain.

So where is my original now?? Who knows? Probably in the hands of a 40 year old Cumberland Farms clerk back in Weymouth, MA. Well, at least he made a $300 profit since the 80's, ya gotta give him that.

The unit has 3-knobs, Volume, Tone, Sustain. It also has 2-switches, Fuzz On/Off, and Fuzz A/B. The 2 LED's, can change from Red to Green, depending on what mode it's in. It would be hard to get a bad sound out of this unit, but anythings possible!

Here is where this pedal shines. I have owned/own about every Fuzz under the sun...over 35 units total...(yea, I love FUZZ)and this was a welcome flavor. This is one thick sounding pedal, that sustains very well (think Big Muff) and has alot of control over the sound with the Tone control. I have 5 Fuzz's on my board at this time...1)Euthmia Crucible Si (the best 2-knob fuzz, hands down)...2)Baja Tech Customs, DaMOAF (BigMuff clone, that is really much more clear and Powerful) 3)BYOC Fuzz (I built this one, has all the mods and tweaks you can put on the circuit...Thanks Keith) 4)BackPedal, Fuzz Ball (Germanium fueled insanity) 5)Barge Concepts BB-1 Jr. (Thick, Thick, Thick Fuzz). I'm running these through a Mesa Maverick and they sound great. I love the fact that the BB Jr has LED's to tell you when it's on...Green Led...or when it's off...Red light. Not that it needs any indicator, cause when it's on you feel it.

Well, here is where I did have a little trouble, when I received the pedal and turned it on, all I got was a faint sound coming through. I contacted Geoff, and he said to ship it back to him. A few day's later I received it back with a new switch, apparently it was a faulty switch, he said it was a first for them. I'm not upset about it as I feel that sometimes you can get a bad part. I wish I had been refunded for shipping it back, since i got it non-functioning...but, hey it works. The workmanship and layout of the cicuit is top notch and should last forever...hopefully the switch will as well.

Geoff is nice fellow who answered my questions and fixed the problem quickly. What more can I say.

I love this pedal. I havent been able to find ANY Fuzz that sounds as heavy as this. It is the thickest Fuzz I have ever used, Period. If it were lost or stolen I would get another one before he gets smart and starts charging more for these. Great Value, Great Tone, Nice layout. Get one and you'll know what "Wall of Sound" really is.