Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Further insights into Drunk Beaver's incredibly smart-switching Irpin take on the Roland AF-100 Bee Baa Fuzz
Someone asked me earlier this week if all Drunk Beaver pedals are this high quality - as he had acquired he Irpin from my influence, and was really liking it so far. I would say all Drunk Beaver pedals are of he highest quality - as you can see by the nature and neatness of their circuitboards - which I fully display for every pedal - GPX is a fanatic archive for Drunk Beaver pedals and there are over 60 Drunk Beaver articles on the site!
It has to be noted hat Drunk Beaver has 3 different series of pedals - where the busiest series is the Small Batch Pedal Drop project - which has a new pedal pretty much every month - and we’ve had 33 to date - with the Irpin the latest. Some of those are quite experimental and more of an acquired taste - but there are various gems along the way - which sometimes cross into the mainline brand - which currently consists of 19 pedals, and then there’s the Affordable XR Series - of which there are 4 to-date.
The mainline pedals are all killer, while I’m not always as enamoured with the entirety of the Pedal Drops - some are more hit and miss for me but still probably a 70/80% hit rate - while some of those are exceptional too and deserve to be moved into the mainline series. I feel the Irpin Bee Baa is one of those!
Controlling the Irpin
This is the first time that Vitalii has delivered Jackson-Audio-style multi-mode footswitches that I can recall. Where each side of the pedal has 3 playback modes. The Right-side is Boost / Fuzz / Boost + Fuzz, and the Left-side is Flat EQ / Scooped EQ / Flat + Scooped.
The Left-hand EQ Footswitch has 3 different styles of Footswitch Press - Long which toggles between Flat and Scooped EQ, and Double Press - which gives you combined Flat + Scooped EQ. Then here's the tricky part - as a quick press on said footswitch - actually impacts the right-hand LED / Function - and toggles between the Boost (Red) and Fuzz (Blue) Modes.
The Right-hand Boost/Fuzz Footswitch is somewhat simpler - with just 2 press styles - Short and Long - Short switches on and off the Boost or Fuzz Mode (as set by the Left Footswitch!), and a long press gives you the dual playback Boost + Fuzz mode.
It's certainly functionally a little odd with that Left footswitch toggling the right function too - but obviously really clever - and really works!
I very occasionally end up on the wrong mode via the wrong footswitch press - but it's very easy to then select the correct one. The two footswitches are so clever in having those 3 playback modes per side - which elevates this Bee Baa Fuzz over any similar one - as others just can't keep up with that versatility. It's a genuinely fun and dymamic experience - and it allows you to work your way up several gears on the fly.
Mode Preferences
Both Boost and Fuzz Modes are excellent - where I do though have a fondness for the Blue and Purple Modes on both sides. Which mostly means Fuzz, or Boost + Fuzz combined on the right, and Scooped or Flat + Scooped on the left.
I mostly get away with the same settings on the Control Knobs - but do occasionally feel the need to tweak things up slightly. My core settings are : most of the knobs @ 3 o'c, with the Tone control @ 4 o'c.
The Irpin Bee Baa has a quite superb fuzz texture - really rich and complex - which does mean you need to dial it in fairly diligently. That combination of different modes really is what makes this pedal exceptional. There are other fuzz pedals from within the range whose core tonality is more satisfying. While in combining core fuzz and functionality - the Irpin has to be the reigning champion.
Now that Vitalii has mastered the multi-mode footswitch - I look forward to seeing that on other pedals in the line.
I've long love how most of Jackson Audio's pedals have 4 different playback modes on each side - so you can really switch and gear things up on the fly. All the delivers a most marvellous live performance tool set.
I'm surprised to see that there are some still in stock on the Drunk Beaver Rocks Webstore - surely those are all about to be snapped up - they're at a very reasonable $175 - where you get the best of superior mostly THT components - here alighted to super smart functionality too - a really marvellous fuzz for sure.
There's still no demo for the Irpin Bee Baa Fuzz - so I'm using a stock Bee Baa Fuzz demo for sound-sample purposes - while the Irpin is much much smarter than the average Bee Baa!
Sound Sample - Original Roland Bee Baa Fuzz
