Black Arts Toneworks Black Sheep Fuzz: Is mine defective?

[ck3]

I just received the first of my Black Friday scores in the mail today, a Black Arts Toneworks Black Sheep Fuzz. It was purchased new from Humbucker Music through Reverb, so I'm the first owner. The pedal looks decent other than a few slightly irregular paint splotches, and the internal components seemed intact when I was installing a battery. The problems I'm noticing are: 1) There is constant, farty intermodulation that worsens as the gain is increased and 2) Different depth switch settings don't seem to noticeably impact the tone of the pedal. Did others have similar experiences with this pedal? I'm contemplating a return at this point.

[ck3]

*double post*-freaking server error.

[ck3]

After reviewing a couple of demo videos more closely and conducting additional tests, I'm thinking my complaints may be related to how the pedal is designed. The Black Sheep seems to only be based on one and a half or so gain stages of the original Bee Baa and has to be pushing the equivalent of a high gain Marshall amp around mid gain to sound like a Bee Baa. The depth switch has a more noticeable effect when the pedal is cascaded into another gain source. I was looking for a stand-alone Bee Baa style fuzz, so the next step will either be a return or flipping it.

This is my second Bee Baa clone disappointment in the same month ... but at least the first one is being modded, and I'm still content with the Earthbound Audio Pale Mare.

[amnesiac305]

but at least the first one is being modded, and I'm still content with the Earthbound Audio Pale Mare.

How are you modding it? I have a Bee Buzz coming as well.

[ck3]

The Bee Buzz is being modded by its original builder. Apparently, the tone control was updated in V3 of the pedal, and I have a V1. If the one you receive is an earlier version, much like the Black Sheep Fuzz, it may sound better cascaded into another gain source ... or Black Cat may be willing to offer a reasonably-priced upgrade.

[rfurtkamp]

The thing is to get a "proper" one, there's no off the rack.

I don't want a re-imagined, I don't want the nasty treble boost removed, etc.

I found one finally but it wasn't cheap and the guy doesn't do them any more.

[lordgalvar]

Agree with rfurtkamp..original bee baa is the way to go. It wasn't even that expensive. I think I got it in 2015 for under $200 last year (it was right around the price of the black cat I think). Just gotta be patient.

I was pretty disappointed with the black cat and barge clones I had. They wernt bad or anything...just missing some character.

[ck3]

It's a dream of mine to own an original AF-100 some day, but I have yet to find one under $375 shipped. Many people selling Bee Baas seem to be charging collector's prices for extra-ratty-looking player's pieces. For now, I paid almost $100 less than the new price for the used Bee Buzz that is being modded, and the Black Sheep Fuzz is currently on its way back to Humbucker Music. I owned one of the first few Barge Concept BB-1 fuzzes mailed out after their initial release (It may have been SN #2 IIRC). The BB-1 was my first direct experience with a Bee Baa variant, and I've been hooked ever since. I ended up selling the BB-1 because I was able to get similar sounds with a DOD FX52 Classic Fuzz with my rig at the time. The Lone Wolf Audio Black Goat seemed pretty decent as well, though a bit too muffled for my taste. If I hadn't blown my Black Friday/Cyber Monday wad by the end of last weekend, I would have also ordered a Stomp Under Foot Son of a Bee.

[culturejam]

The Black Sheep seems to only be based on one and a half or so gain stages of the original Bee Baa and has to be pushing the equivalent of a high gain Marshall amp around mid gain to sound like a Bee Baa.

The Black Sheep is definitely not a part-for-part clone of the Bee Baa. But it does have the same number of gain stages. It differs primarily in how the post-gain filtering is set up (less complex), and it has adjustable input caps.

[ck3]

Thanks for clarifying design parameters. Too bad the post-gain filtering isn't adjustable (unless I missed an internal dip switch or trimpot somewhere).

[rfurtkamp]

The closest I've see in off-the-shelf cloneland is the Maxon, but it's missing the nasty boost (which is what I use the thing for a good half the time).

[ck3]

I've been curious about the Maxon clone, though the upper octave harmonics are a bit of a turnoff. I didn't think the original was an octave fuzz.

The Bee Buzz actually sounds better with the tone control upgrade (provided the sustain is set near the minimum value or cranked).

[rfurtkamp]

The original has octave elements, it sounds pretty faithful to me in the A/B videos out there.