Beetronics' extraordinary Zzombee Filtremulator Analog Multi-FX Pedal is not for the faint of heart!

Beetronics mines the same superb creative furrow that yielded its Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer a couple of years ago. And I would advise that anyone that did not particularly get on with that - then this Zzombee is unlikely to be a suitable pedal for you.

For those of us who loved the Swarm - like myself - it’s actually my favourite PLL pedal - then the Zzombee is more of that same sort of otherworldly soundstage explorer - where this has even more sounds and textures onboard.

I think I will for sure place it on slot #4 in my pedal-chain - where it will mostly operate as an Auto-Wah, but also as another gnarly filter, filter-fuzz, tremolo, swell etc. I kind of primarily see this as a sort of Filter effect - but with a lot more up its sleeve.

Controls - Filter Type : Ramp / LFO / Mad [PAR - X - BEE], Buzz : Dry / BZ (Overdrive) / BZZ (Fuzz), Parasite (Wet Signal) : Level / Mix / Tap Division / Ramp Up Speed, Wingspan : Depth, Bee (Dry Signal) : Level / Mix / Rate / Ramp Down Speed, Filter Mode : Octave / Off (Amplitude) / Honey, Presets : 1-5 + Live, Tap Tempo / Ramp / Momentary Expression Footswitch, Engage / Alt / Invert / Stop Modulation Footswitch.

As I’ve not had access to the manual I may have misconstrued some of the many functions and labels and secondary / tertiary parameters in my visual - while I feel I’ve mostly got to grips with what the pedal is about.

You essentially start by selecting Primary Filter Mode : Octave / Off (Amplitude) / Honey, and then Filter Type - Ramp / LFO / Mad (Randomized) etc.. The Buzz switch then brings in the gain in stages (4 Levels with Alt). So you have essentially three 3-way toggle-switches and 3 control knobs each of which have numerous alt / sub-modes depending on which key Mode and Type you are on.

There are near infinite combinations here - or 65,000+ Musical Random Patterns as Beetronics explains, and those relatively few controls - with fairly dynamic footswitches too - render a multitude of effects, including a unique and very special Honey tremolo mode :

• Filter
• Wah
• LFO
• Randomized Filter
• Tremolo
• Swells
• Overdrive
• Fuzz
• Low-Octave
• Honey Cross Tremolo (Pulses between the fundamental instrument signal and a low-octave)

I was pretty much sold here on first sight and could figure out a number of uses that I would put this pedal too. At launch there was 1 Standard Edition ($349), and 86 One-Off Unique Custom Shop Editions - where I decided after quite a spell of options overload - that the ZB014 variety (pictured on the right hand side of the visual) was the one for me. There’s no shortage of good-looking editions - but that was the prettiest variety in my estimation - and I just had to have it! It’s interesting that this time around Beetronics has prepared multiple Custom Editions for launch - where usually they don’t materialise until several weeks after launch. I’m sure eventually that there will be far more than these 86 varieties released - which we shall surely see.

I see there being a significant learning curve with this pedal - in particular all the secondary functions make it far trickier to deploy than it need be. You do have the advantage of 5 presets - which should cover me nicely for the intended use of this pedal. While I dare say I will need to spend a good week with it to fully and properly master it!

This was actually a fairly major purchasing decisions for someone in the UK - as the Custom Shop editions plus shipping etc - take you over and above $500! I think it’s just about worth it for me as I have lots of uses for said pedal, and I do really like the ZB014 variety and would be inestimably sad if I missed out on that! Funnily enough the left-hand pictured one - ZB067 is also gone - but only a handful of the Custom Editions were sold at my time of doing the write-up. The Standard Edition will materialise soon enough in the UK - where it will be priced at £409 according to Andertons!

Are any of you fans of the Beetronics Swarm - and who is as enamoured with the Zzombee as me?