BJFE Guitar Effects is a company which manufactures effects pedals for use with instruments such as an electric guitar. These pedals are commonly used by guitarists to modify the sound of their guitar before it reaches the amp. The company is located in Sweden, and was founded in 2000 by Björn Juhl. "BJFE" stands for Björn Juhl Förstärkarelektronik. Pedal types include distortion, overdrive, "vibe", compression, and equalization. Due to the limited production and handbuilt nature, these pedals are considered "boutique" guitar effects. BJFE pedals are all handmade by BJ and his wife Eva Juhl paints the lettering and pictures. BJFE pedals typically follow a "color" naming scheme, and an adjective to describe the sound. See below for examples. Custom shop models are usually painted by Donner Rusk in the USA. BJFE drive pedals designs also tend to lend themselves well to "stacking", or cascading several pedals in successive order. Björn has written a guide on this here. Also, the drive pedals typically are dynamic in nature- showing different EQ or distortion depth as the input guitar level changes. For example, the Honeybee overdrive may sound nearly clean with guitar volume at the lower range, but gritty and overdriven with the guitar volume at its maximum setting.
Founder history
Björn Juhl began creating models for production sale upon founding the company in 2000. However, he began building effects units for guitar as early as 1981. In 2000 Björn was displaying his repair skills at a guitar trade show, and made three pedals to demonstrate his skills. Here he teamed up with Harri Koski from Custom Sounds in Stockhold, to begin a partnership distributing guitar effects which Björn designed to a worldwide customer base. Björn Juhl has two kids, a daughter and a non binary child named Martina. His daughters name is Marlene and music is a big pleasure for her. She is going in her father's footsteps. BJF Electronics initially started in June 1999 as an amp repair business. Björn repaired all kinds of things from a Tubon, to a Music Man amp that had been used to test how to take the live and neutral currents out of a three phase connection. Björn handled the extreme and difficult cases that other repairmen wouldn't touch because they thought they'd take too much time or were considered hopeless repair opportunities.
Construction and philosophy
BJFE pedals are enclosed in a 110x60x30mm chassis, in an ELFA K-430 enclosure for most pedals. The circuit boards are wrapped in neoprene, which is a kind of rubber used in diving suits. The neoprene is capable of withstanding heat, water, and other fluids and it cushions the electronic components inside. The circuit board is also sealed to preserve trade secrets. The first BJFE pedals were painted in nitrocellulose—beginning in 2002 the pedals are handpainted in oil. Oil is much more durable, and ages well. Björn Juhl states that the colors are chosen to provide a pleasant palette. Each model comes with unique artwork inside the back pedal cover, painted by hand.
Models
Current models listed here, along with a description. A more full description of all the BJFE pedals complete with their history can be found on the BJFE Pedal Descriptions independently maintained by David Cittadini on the on the BJFE Forum.
BJFE overdrive pedals add a "touch sensitivity" to the distortion in most cases- picking lightly or slight reductione in the volume knob position reduce the distortion.
Björn was asked by his BJFE pedal distributor, Harri Koski, to consider designing amplifiers. Björn was fairly busy building and designing pedals for the BJFE line, and did not have the time to also build amplifiers. It was suggested a new company be created where Björn could design the effects and amplifiers, but they would be constructed and distributed under the name Mad Professor Amplification. These are pedals and amplifiers designed by Björn but not hand built by him.
