18 Months of development has delivered Beetronics' first Smart Multi-Mode Bee Bee Dee Analog Modulated Delay - with Classic, Pitch-Shifted, and Lo-Fi Tape style Modes onboard

A number of Analog and Analog style Delays have recently crossed my path - so there’s evidently a trend happening! I featured the HSE SeaWolf back in March, the Colortone ZeroSum in August, and then the Black Mountain Roto Echo, Anasounds Utopia MK2, Tru-Fi Aqua Echo, PastFX Echo 600, and now this Beetronics Bee Bee Dee all in September!

Beetronics’ Filipe always does things slightly differently, and his Bee Bee Dee Delay is very distinct - with a little bit of Chase Bliss style magic involved - via Digital Controls on top of an Analog BBD Circuit.

The Bee Bee Dee delivers 3 key flavours - classic unadulterated Analog Echo, with optional Modulation, and then Lo-Fi Tape style Delay, and finally Pitch-Shift Delay - where the Depth knob controls the Pitch, and the Mod Speed knob controls the Pitch Rate.

As the max Delay Time is 600ms - this typically means 2 x BBD chips - likely MN3005 variants. It could be 3 even - like the PastFX Echo 600 - which delivers more texture via 3 BBD chips, where typically 1 BBD Chip amounts to around 300ms of delay!

Controls - Tone (Low-Pass to the Left, Neutral in the Middle, High-Pass to the Right), Delay Time (Max 600ms), Dry > Wet Mix, Mod Speed [Pitch Rate], Depth [Pitch], Performance Mode : 2x / Tap Tempo / Mod, Mode : Pitch / Classic / Lo-Fi (Tape), Performance Footswitch (2x / Tap Tempo / Mod - per above toggle-switch), Bypass - Hold for Feedback Boost.

Filipe is all about delivering flavour, and as many variations as practically possible - his Larva Phaser is my all-time favourite for that genre. And surely this super smart Bee Bee Dee will further extend the Beetronics Legacy - who have quite the reputation for full-featured smart devices - like indeed the Zzombee Filtremulator and SeaBee HarmoChorus - which I have and love.

The only Beetronics I haven’t gone for is the over-sized Abelha Tropical Fuzz - hopefully Filipe can shrink that down a little at some stage - as it definitely warrants a more practical enclosure!

In the meantime the Bee Bee Dee give you about the best bang for your buck on the Analog Delay front - with an extensive feature set not readily found elsewhere - and you have some Thermae-style Pitch-Shifting Delay onboard too.

For my purposes I would of course have preferred a stereo output version - but there is a place for a Mono delay on my board every now and again - but it would likely be a quartenary option!

As I typically go for stereo delays - like indeed the Flower Pedals Dahlia Dual Analog BBD Full Stereo Delay - then a Mono delay will never be a major priority for me - but I do have a few, and I would not mind owning this Bee Bee Dee either. 

It claims that it uniquely has a combination Low Pass and High Pass Filter Tone Controls - which seems likely, and I’ve not been able to identify another with that functionality.

So there are several different playback modes here, and some really potent output shaping - for maximum impact.

Lots to love here - including the design. Beetronics does really well on its standard pedals now - where I often prefer those iterations to the custom ones - while it used to be the other way around for me!

I do like a colourful enclosure - but easy legibility and usability matter to me - and some of he more monochrome variants are overall tricker to operate!

The Bee Bee Dee goes for $309 for Standard Model as pictured, and $409 for unique custom edition - both available on the Beetronics Webstore currently - and in European distribution in a few weeks typically!