Let us establish a fact, the term overdrive encompasses a huge range of tones. These tones in turn can be put into sub-genres and so on. What really makes a huge difference is how the clipping of the tone is achieved, donโt worry weโre not about to get technical.
It’s widely agreed that Fet drives sound the most amp-like, this is because Fets behave like a valve/tube so the break up (clipping) you hear is far more natural. And so it is that we have here the Fatbee overdrive from Beetronics, a new JFET-based drive with a surprising heritage.
This pedal is a result of a collaboration with a pedal legend, Mr. Howard Davis.
This man is responsible for many of the Electro Harmonix golden era pedals including the Deluxe Memory Man and Deluxe Electric Mistress, so you can expect good things!
From our demo you can clearly hear how the pedal has plenty of gain on tap but doesnโt get fizzy, instead, it manages to maintain clarity and raw clear crunch tones most of the way. At higher levels, the Fatbee becomes a little fuzz (buzz?) like which can be(e) great fun.
Just like an amp, the fatbee responds well to playing dynamics and different guitars which gives the player great versatility from a three-knob pedal.