Beetronics Swarm

The Beetronics Swarm is an analog fuzz harmonizer that takes a different approach to pitch shifting than most octave and pitch pedals. Instead of digitally tracking your notes, it converts your input signal into a square wave and then multiplies and divides that wave's frequency, producing nine possible harmonies spread across two octaves¹. The result is a fuzz tone layered with pitch-shifted copies of itself, which Beetronics sums up as sounding "like a thousand killer bees coming to get you"¹.

What makes the Swarm distinct is the modulation applied to those harmonies. Beetronics describes the range as going "from a nearly perfect tracking harmony, to a wild and uncontrollable swarm"¹, so the same pedal can sit close to a conventional harmonizer or drift into detuned, pulsing chaos depending on how you set the modulation controls. Guitar Pedal X places the Swarm in the Schumann PLL tradition of phase-locked-loop-style harmonizer fuzzes, a family of pedals that use frequency multiplication and division rather than note detection to generate their intervals².

How the Swarm works

The circuit turns your input signal into a square wave first, which is what gives the Swarm its fuzz character, and then applies frequency multiplication and division to that wave⁵⁶¹. Because the harmonies come from math performed on the waveform rather than from pitch detection, they track in a way that behaves differently from a digital harmonizer: the maker's own description leans into modulation that can pull the harmonies away from perfect tracking entirely¹.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson counts 7 controls on the Swarm², and the maker's pages name them: WORKER, SPECIES, QUEEN, DRONE, FLIGHT, STING and MASTER³⁷.

The controls

FLIGHT and STING are the heart of the pedal's character. Beetronics says these two controls let you sweep, pulse, or detune your harmonies, and describes them as highly interactive⁵⁹. On STING's extremes, the maker explains that counter-clockwise the harmonies sting at every note, while clockwise they hover up and down around the root¹⁰. Guitar Pedal X's earlier coverage of the Swarm likewise breaks the control set down as fuzz level and master volume knobs alongside the harmony and modulation controls¹¹.

Power and practical details

The Swarm requires a 9V DC power supply with a center-negative plug, and it draws around 7mA¹⁵¹². No power supply is included with the pedal⁵. At 7mA it is a light draw by pedalboard standards, well within what a typical isolated supply or even a daisy chain can deliver, though the center-negative polarity is the standard Boss-style convention and worth matching correctly.

Other specifications from the maker:

• True bypass switching¹
• Enclosure size 5.5" x 3.25" x 2"¹
• Pedal weight 1lb / 0.5 kilos¹
• Package weight 1lb 8oz / 0.75 kilos, package size 6.75" x 5.25" x 3.25"⁵

Beetronics offers a 30-Day Hive Happiness Guarantee on the Swarm, with shipping not included; the maker notes a possible 15% restocking fee, or store credit instead, for returned products showing wear and tear or missing accessories³.

Limited and Silver editions

The Swarm has been released in a long series of limited and custom editions, and Beetronics' product pages show most of them sold out. The standard Swarm itself is listed as sold out¹, as is the Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer Limited Edition at £192.00 GBP as stated³.

The Silver Limited Edition Royal Series, part of the maker's Royal Series range, was offered with 20 units available on its first batch and is now sold out¹³. Beetronics also lists a Silver BF20 Limited Edition with the same 20-unit first batch, also sold out, at £192.00 GBP as stated¹⁴. Both Silver editions share the standard pedal's core design: analog fuzz harmonizer, true bypass, 9V DC center negative power, 7mA current draw, and the same enclosure and control layout⁵¹.

Beyond the Silver runs, the editions named on Beetronics' site include the Swarm Limited Edition Royal Series, the Swarm "Donatello" Limited Edition, the Swarm "Great Pumpkin", the Swarm Fyre, the Swarm Asas de Fogo, the Swarm Blue Hagen Custom Series, the Swarm Jasmin Custom Series, the Swarm Flor D'agua, the Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer The Blackbee Edition, the Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer Limited Edition Majin Bee, and the Swarm Fuzz Harmonizer Limited Edition Bambee, alongside one-off Custom Shop builds¹⁵. All of them carry the same analog fuzz harmonizer circuit, true bypass, and 9V DC center-negative power requirements as the standard pedal⁵⁹.

Where the Swarm sits among fuzz pedals

Compared with a conventional fuzz pedal, the Swarm adds a pitch layer that most fuzz boxes do not attempt. It turns the input signal into a square wave, then multiplies and divides the frequency of that wave, giving nine possible harmonies in two different octaves, with modulation applied to the harmonies that takes them from a nearly perfect tracking harmony to a wild and uncontrollable swarm¹. That makes it Beetronics' harmonizer take on the fuzz format rather than a traditional fuzz circuit.

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