BJFe / BearFoot Guitar Effects

- Controls for volume, drive, and "nature" - True bypass - Powered by 9v battery or standard Boss style power supply - Hand painted - Bjorn style wiring - Protected against reverse polarity - LED battery indicator UTILIZATION A unique pedals in many ways, but pretty straightforward to use overall. The volume and drive knobs are standard. The nature control is an interesting tone control. It isn't a treble dial or tilt EQ. Turn it back and you have a more accentuated low end, smoother, with more harmonics. Past twelve, you start to dial in more presence and clarity. The really incredible thing about this pedal is how well it responds to your picking and dynamics. Through a cleanish amp and with single coils, it will clean up completely to soft playing. Dig in, and you push it in to clipping. Even with high output humbuckers, roll the volume down a little and you are in clean territory. Really feels like an amp pushed to the bring of overdrive. The paint chips very easily, I don't recommend using velcro on these directly. The wiring is...interesting to say the least. If it wasn't gooped up, I'd have some suspicions about its reliability. SOUND QUALITY Aside from the amazing amp like response, the pedal produces a really cool, distinctive OD tone. Its more of a gritty old school style overdrive, though it can get pretty smooth with the nature knob turned down. A little thin sounding for some, I definitely wouldn't use it as the only OD on my board. But for what it is, an incredibly responsive gritty drive pedal, it is fantastic. OVERALL OPINION This is without a doubt the most responsive OD pedal that I've ever come across. The major obstacle for most people is availability and price. These are hand made by Bjorn Juhl in Sweden, and he doesn't release a whole lot of pedals. You can get on a waiting list for these at customsounds or thesegoto11. Used prices have finally started to drop a little, but still are way out of the reach of many guitarists. I'd recommend against settling for the Mad Professor sweet honey, its really a totally different pedal. Bearfoot FX recently released a cheaper version of the HBOD, but with the strange wiring used and lack of goop, I'm skeptical about their reliability. There are also a few well built clones floating around. But bottom line is, if you can afford it, and want a responsive OD with a unique voicing, this is a great choice.

- Controls for volume, compression, and 'body' - True Bypass - Solid Hammond Enclosures - Powered by 9V battery or standard Boss style 9v(-) adapters - Beautifully painted (easily chipped..) - Protection against incorrect adapter polarity - Bjorn style wiring (love it or hate it) UTILIZATION Very simple and straight forward to use. Bjorn does ship these with a one page manual, but there really isn't a whole lot on there that you shouldn't be able to figure out by yourself, so if it got lost between users, no worries. The volume and compression knobs are pretty common, they do exactly what they describe. The Body knob isn't something I've seen before. It really dials in "character" to your amp. Yep, that sounds weird, but thats what it is. Very cool features. The paint job is beautiful, but chips very easy, and can become pretty ugly fast. Kindof annoying for a pretty expensive pedal. The pedal will protect itself from adapters of the wrong polarity which is a really cool feature especially for something so expensive. The wiring is, shall we say unique? I've seen a few of these with the goop removed, and they don't look pretty. Definitely nowhere neat as other boutique builds on the market. I've heard some concerns that this can effect reliability. Personally, I've never had a problem, but was a little annoyed that something I paid a pretty penny for looks like it didn't really receive a whole lot of care in the build process. SOUND QUALITY It sounds incredible. Simple as that. Take any amp sound, through the PGC in front of it, and you have that amp sound but better. You really do need to try it out before that's quite that clear, but I'm telling it like it is. There are some decent videos on youtube that give an OK indicator of this. The compression is overall pretty subtle. You CAN get squashy sounds, but will need to max out that comp knob. Mostly, it adds some really beautiful sustain, and a ton of character and clarity. The body knob really does great things to your tone, and you find yourself having a really hard time switching it off. OVERALL OPINION It's very good. That's really the simplest it can be put. This has been described the compressor for people that don't like compressors, and I can see why. It doesn't take over your tone, it won't kill your dynamics, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, BJFe stuff isn't that easy to get hold of. The waitlists are LONG and rarer pedals like the PGC just aren't made very frequently by the one man operation. Used prices are a little ridiculous on this one, I've seen it go for $850 on ebay before. All in all, if you can afford one, or find a used one for a good price, pick it up, it is fantastic. If not, I'd take a look at the Diamond compressor, which is very similar is terms of use and feel.