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VFE Bumblebee v.3 questions about sweep, etc.

Started by BurningSkies, March 07, 2018, 06:45:30 PM

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BurningSkies

Just picked up a VFE Bumblebee (#BB0060, board says 3.0) to take the place of a standard 'slow gear' type pedal. I play bass, so all comments reference that use.  I'm just playing around with it right now, but looking for some clarification on some of the control/parameters. The person I bought it from says they sent it in for 'service' recently, but who knows. ;)

-Bass Tweak: From what I can tell, this when turned back all the way allows more bass signal through the pedal. Correct? Any specifics on how this interacts and adjusts? I pulled it all the way back and it seemed to retain my bypassed tone fairly closely.

-The 'sweep' appears to be non-linear if that makes sense. Is this correct and intentional, or is this a mis-adjustment of the other 'tweak' controls? The 'second half' of the volume sweep when triggered is faster than the initial attack/sweep. It's not necessarily bad/good, just different from what I've been used to with other swell pedals.

Thanks for any insight.




zgrav

The Bumblebee is not a project board released here yet (AFAIK), so there may not be a lot of personal insight people can share about using it. 

Here is VFE's description of the Bumblebee controls:
LEVEL: Sets the amount of gain in the output section. As a swell pedal, a master volume/boost is critical to creating the perfect swell and avoiding volume drops.
SUSTAIN: Sets the gain/sustain of the optical compressor. The compressor section is tuned to work with the swell, so settings above 12:00 will result in a LOT of squish. For use as an "always on", natural compressor, set this control at 12:00 or below.
ATTACK: Sets the speed of the swell effect. The range of this control is set by the S-F-M switch above it.
S-F-M: Sets the range of swells that the ATTACK control can achieve. S = slow, F = fast, M = medium. This control also affects the release, or how long it takes for the effect to "reset" between notes
MIX: Blends between the swell and compressor output sections. Use this to isolate either section, or blend them for a unique "blooming" effect.
TRIGGER: Adjust the sensitivity of the swell effect. This control is the key to getting the best, most natural swell sounds. Set it so that the signal cuts out when you mute the strings, and swells in full when you pluck them (even a single string played on the 20th fret).
INTERNAL CONTROLS: The TBASS trimpot balances the sensitivity of the swell from low to high notes. DO NOT tweak the TWEAK trimpot, as this is factory set for the most natural swell - from fast to

http://vfepedals.com/bumblebee.html