There’s … a definite theme to the new arrivals this month, shall we say? 😁
I managed to find two of my bucket-list pedals, both of which I thought I’d never get the chance to try. While doing the background reading for their blog posts, I ended up stumbling upon another rare pedal that I didn’t even know about. And then I grabbed one of their cheaper cousins too, because the opportunity was there.
Dear readers, June has been One Control month.
BJFe In Your Hand Series Honey Bee Overdrive 4K by One Control
Bjorn Juhl’s (aka BJF / BJFe) Honey Bee overdrive pedal is a legendary boutique pedal. While it’s not as unobtainium as (say) a Klon Centaur, early serial numbers are far more sought after, and that has driven up second-hand prices a lot.
Fortunately, One Control in Japan have released a hand-wired run of Honey Bee OD pedals that replicate those early-serial-number Honey Bees to a T. The first batch dropped late 2024; by the time I heard about these pedals, they’d already sold out. I really thought I’d missed out.
Another batch dropped in May 2025, and this time (through sheer dumb luck) I didn’t miss out. Is this bucket-list pedal going to delight? I’m looking forward to finding out.
One Control Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Standard
This is one of two mini pedals released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the legendary BJFe Honey Bee overdrive pedal. I got its sibling (the Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Custom, aka the red one) back in March. Now I have the complete set.
This hasn’t been off my pedalboard since it went on (one of the main reasons why I haven’t managed to get any First Impressions blog posts out on time!) I’m using a photo of this pedal as my wallpaper on my phone.
I wasn’t expecting to love it quite this much. But the real test will come when I compare it side-by-side with my beloved Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive. I really do think it’s in with a shot of ousting my long-term #1 drive pedal.
One Control Blue Bee OD 4K Mini Custom
This pedal has really sneaked under the radar so far. I’ve only been able to find a single demo of it online, and no review at all. I haven’t seen it for sale on One Control’s Japan website either – only the US one (which doesn’t ship outside the USA).
Then, bizarrely, two examples turned up at Andertons while I was doing the background reading for the two Honey Bee pedals. I figured that, if I didn’t get one now, I’d probably never get to try one.
It’s going to be awhile before I sit down to explore what this pedal can do.
One Control Strawberry OD 4K Mini
To save on postage costs on the Blue Bee OD 4K Mini Custom, I had a look at what else I could add to the order. The sensible thing to do would have been to get some more packs of PRS strings. Me being me, I went with another drive pedal instead!
I’ve seen people write some nice things about the “berry” line of BJF-series mini pedals from One Control. Unfortunately, they’re difficult to get here in the UK. I picked this one because it was the only one available from Andertons, it was on sale, and the postage savings on getting it with the Blue Bee made it cheaper than a second-hand example I found.
I’m expecting this to be a good contender for the role of “generic overdrive tone”, like the Boss OD-3, Wampler Belle, and the like. I’ll report back when I’ve spent some time with the pedal.