Beetronics Overhive Mid-Gain Overdrive The Blackbee Edition

The Overhive Mid-Gain Overdrive The Blackbee Edition is a limited finish of Beetronics' Overhive, a medium-gain overdrive pedal. Beetronics describes the Overhive as "an extremely versatile medium gain overdrive," and says of its character: "It's round and warm tone respects your amp, enhancing it's best qualities while dynamically reacting to your playing"¹. In other words, it is built as an amp-friendly drive rather than a heavy distortion, with breakup that follows your picking.

The Blackbee Edition is sold out at the maker's store, so it now circulates only on the secondhand market. It was listed at a regular price of £151.00 GBP¹.

What the Overhive does: a round, warm mid-gain overdrive

The Overhive sits in the middle of the gain range: enough drive for crunch and pushed-amp sounds, not a high-gain distortion. Beetronics' own description of the circuit, repeated across its Overhive pages, calls it "a versatile, medium-gain overdrive that enhances your amp's natural character with warmth, clarity, and just the right amount of bite"². The emphasis is on the pedal working with your amp's tone rather than replacing it, and on dynamic response, where the amount of breakup follows how hard you play.

For a player comparing drives, that puts the Overhive in the same general family as transparent and low-to-mid-gain overdrives rather than distortion or fuzz pedals. The Honey control is where the drive level lives, and the two toggle switches shape the low end and the overall feel, which is a simpler control scheme than a multi-band EQ drive¹²³.

The controls: Honey, Hive, Body, tone and volume

The Blackbee Edition carries the standard Overhive control set: one knob for drive, one for tone, one for volume, and two toggle switches¹.

The Honey control is the heart of the pedal. Beetronics puts it plainly: "The 'Honey' control just adds the sugar. Roll it down for a nice and smooth crunch, or roll it up for a smooth and dynamic" drive where your playing determines how much breakup you hear¹. The Hive and Body switches are set-and-forget voicing choices: Hive picks between a fatter, smoother feel and a tighter, more focused one, while Body adds low end, which is handy if you move between a single-coil guitar and a humbucker guitar mid-gig and need the pedal to fill out the thinner-sounding instrument.

Power, size and buying

The Overhive requires a 9V DC power supply with a center negative plug, and the supply is not included with the pedal¹. That is the same arrangement as most modern compact pedals, so a standard pedalboard power supply with a center negative output will run it.

On a pedalboard, the pedal measures 5.5" x 3.5" x 2.75" including the knobs and switches, with a bare enclosure of 5.5" x 3.25" x 2", and it weighs 1 lb (0.5 kg)¹. The shipped package is larger, 6.75" x 5.25" x 3.25" and 1 lb 8 oz (0.75 kg)¹.

Beetronics backs its pedals with what it calls a 30-Day Hive Happiness Guarantee, shipping not included. To return a pedal you email within 30 business days of receiving the order to get an RMA form; a full refund requires the pedal to come back in new condition in its original packaging, and wear or missing accessories can mean a 15% restocking fee or store credit instead. Return shipping is at the customer's cost, the item must be back within 7 days of the RMA, and refunds are processed within 5 business days. Scratch and Dent products are sold as-is with no refund¹.

Limited editions: Blackbee, Babee Blue and Custom Shop

The Blackbee Edition is one of several special finishes of the same circuit. Beetronics has also sold a Limited Edition Babee Blue Overhive, which carries the same control set, the same 9V DC center negative power requirement, and the same 5.5" x 3.5" x 2.75" pedal size; it is also sold out³.

Beyond the named limited editions, Beetronics builds one-off Custom Shop Overhives, each with its own serial number and artwork. Examples that have appeared on the maker's site include the Overhive Mid-Gain OD Custom Shop OV1451², a Custom Shop Beet Skull unit²⁵, and a Custom Shop 420 edition⁵. All are described by the maker as the same mid-gain overdrive circuit, with the Hive switch changing the feel from tighter and more focused to bigger and smoother¹. Other Overhive finishes with their own pages include the Skull Blaze, Transylvania, Icelandic, Gamer Skull OV750, Batman, Unchained, Damask, Blood Skull, Blue Blocks and Vectors editions.

If you are looking at the Overhive family for its drive sound rather than a specific paint job, the core circuit and controls are the common thread across all of these versions.

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