The Beekeeper is a dual-channel D-style tube preamp. It is inspired by the work of a legendary L.A. boutique builder whose name has become synonymous with sophisticated guitar tones. His amps have found homes with several notable players — a testament to their distinctive sound and feel.
The Clean channel has a Fender-style foundation, but with a gentle midrange boost, giving it a more vocal quality. It delivers a clear, singing tone that stays present in a mix without sounding harsh. The response is dynamic and touch-sensitive, smoothly transitioning from clean to mild breakup as you dig in.
The Overdrive channel has a thick, creamy tone rich in complex harmonics. As you dial the gain up, notes smoothly bloom under your fingers, lingering on the edge of feedback.
The Beekeeper uses a cascaded channel design, where the Clean channel feeds into the Overdrive channel and acts as a boost in front of it. Balancing the CLN VOL and OD controls gives you complete command over the overdrive's character.
The EQ is a refined take on a classic passive 3-band circuit, offering more control and less interaction between the bands. The tone stack and toggle switches are placed early in the circuit, right after the first gain stage, and affect both channels equally.
The Beekeeper is easy to integrate into different setups. It can be used as a standard overdrive into an amp, run into a power amp, or used in a direct-recording or amp-less setup with a cabinet simulator—often the most popular approach.
The pedal runs on a standard 12VDC input, internally boosted to 280VDC for proper tube operation and an amp-like response. A high-quality wall power supply is included. It can also run from a pedalboard power source using a 12VDC/500mA outlet or two 250mA outputs via a current doubler.
A true-bypass switch keeps the signal path intact when the preamp is off.
The Beekeeper covers a lot of ground but feels most at home in blues and jazz.