Tone bender fuzz history books

Fuzz is one of the oldest and most simple of all effects, but that doesnt mean picking any old box is going to sound good. The book is not just a celebration of the most important fuzz pedal ever made but an art tome that allows the reader to completely immerse themselves in the organic beauty of these culturally important musical artefacts. Its more than just a little high or low cut, allowing you to drastically shape the tone of your fuzz. In the course of a year, the tone bender was subject to a succession of revisions that yielded two different versions of the mki, a transitional mk1. The first fuzz face was the one that started it all. Featuring over 160 exclusive images and 30,000 specially commissioned words. The tone bender sounded very much like the maestro, no surprise here as the formers circuit was based on the latters.

Initially conceived as the british answer to the americanmade maestro fuzztone built by a subsidiary of gibson, the tone benderand its. Also in 1966, vox made their own version of the tone bender in italy and arbiter electronics ltd. Housed in a limited edition gray textured enclosure with. Tone bender news newspapers books scholar jstor april 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message. This three transistor circuit was also used later in the 1976 colorsound jumbo tone bender. The sound that revolutionized the world popmatters. There was a tone bender fuzz reissue made in the 1990s. Britbender mjm guitar fx fuzz, vibe, wah, overdrive. Various resource books effects pedals, beatles history, vox history, musician. That inevitably led to the fantastic range of tone bender fuzz pedals from the uk, which had its origin as a modified clone of the maestro fuzztone circuit, later morphing into clones of the big muff pi the colorsound supa and jumbo tone benders among its many iterations. Please ask any questions you may have for this is anasis final auction. I got the fulltone 70 which is a good silicone fuzz face sound and later got the 69 which is more of a germanium sound, both are great but very different imo. The fuzztone stompbox also spawned the avid community of guitar effects aficionados. The one of only 2 compact boss fuzz pedals that actually sounds like a real vintage fuzzthe other is the fz2 not a cosm pedal like their current offering the fz5.

The concept of the british pedal company is to deliver classic british effects to a modern market in a choice of authentic vintage enclosures or compact modern enclosures using the correct transistors and circuit designs of. Jeff beck and jimmy page started using garys tone benders in 1965 and soon demand for his fuzz pedals came in from around the world. May 25, 2018 a malfunction in the console through which the playing of the electric bass guitarist grady martin was being transmitted caused the original fuzz tone effect, mr. The combanation of fuzz and distortion makes this a very unique pedal. Only one of these effects, however, was then available in pedal form, and that pedal, gibsons maestro fuzztone, would also revolutionize the sound of sixties. Gary stewart hurst is known around the industry as gary the fuzzman for being the inventor of the tone bender fuzz pedal, which he began producing in the 1960s. It was available under a number of different names and brands, including vox tone bender mkiii, carlsbro fuzz, park fuzz sound and csl super fuzz. The bun runners tone control is a great little addition to the vintage tone bender side of the pedal. Jimi hendrix was the poster boy for this pedal, making it hugely popular. Tone bender fuzz tone control version, by sola sound of london, circa 197273. Earthquaker devices park vintage germanium fuzz tone guitar effects pedal. Mosrite also repackaged the same pedal for guild around 1967, called the foxey lady fuzz.

Find great deals on ebay for tone bender clone when you shop the largest online selection at. Unfollow vox tone bender fuzz to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. The sound that revolutionized the world is too disorganized and uninteresting a mess overall. Boost supro boost is a clean preamp ideally suited to pushing the front end of a tube amp with up to 20db of boost. The tonebender was sold under a number of different brand names, including vox and park sound. Glenn snoddy, 96, accidental inventor of the fuzz tone. The mk 1 pedal they make is hands down the way best fuzz pedal ever in my humble opinion. Our specially commissioned high definition tone bender images are printed actual size and our beautiful macro details will leave fuzz pedal collectors and photography lovers in a state of rapture. One box to enter the fuzz sweepstakes was the sola sound tone bender mki, which aside from its furry distortion also added sustain. We visit macaris in london, home of the worldchanging tone bender fuzz box to listen to some original pedals and find out how it all came to be. About 1966 vox tone bender v828 through 19671968 marshall 50w lead plexi and a 1969 marshall 1935a 4x12 speaker cabinet with g12m25 55hz.

The phobos fuzz is a clone of the colorsound sola sound tone bender mk. The book walks you through the history of the tone bender and its. Tackle the tone having covered the history and the tech, it really just remains to say get out there and try some fuzz. Oct 24, 2016 sola soundcolorsound also responded to the big muff with the silicon 4transistor supa tone bender in 1973, as used by steve hackett of genesis. The same circuit would also be labeled as the tone bender fuzz, and a simplified variation as the jumbo tone bender in 1975. The big muff history of all versions part 1 kit rae.

Denney stated vox later introduced that fuzz box circuit as the vox tone bender. Very cool vintage kent tone bender fuzz pedal with original packaging and paper work. Sola sound bum fuzz action, mkiv tone benders and a fuzz sound though a marshall class 5 duration. Our new avs britbender uses the same ocseries germanium transistors which were loaded in the mk ii tonebender fuzzes that often dominated the classic sixties recordings. The sola sound tone bender mkiii, and later tone bender mkiv, featured a tone control.

Given the immense diversity of fuzz pedals, and the vast range of sounds they can help you achieve, theres really no reason to exile these pedals into the narrow stylistic box in which many players constrain them. I watched the guys film that pedal show in the basement of macaris last month, and got a bit inspired. The fuzz face, of course, is a sort of industry standard among fuzzesor perhaps its the french vanilla of the fuzz worldnotably used by jimi hendrix and david gilmour, among countless others. The fuzz face is particularly similar to the sola sound unit known today as the mk1. By 1965, british engineer gary hurst had gotten his hands on the maestro and modified it for more bass and sustain, thus creating the tonebender fuzz pedal. Its warm tonal qualities bring out the best in sound depending on what amp you are useing. The vox tone bender was made in chicago by the thomas organ company. The one of only 2 compact boss fuzz pedals that actually sounds like a real vintage fuzz the other is the fz2 not a cosm pedal like their current offering the fz5. This is a very excellent condition boss fz3 fuzz pedal. That inevitably led to the fantastic range of tone bender fuzz pedals from the uk, which had its origin as a modified clone of the maestro fuzz tone circuit, later morphing into clones of the big muff pi the colorsound supa and jumbo tone benders among its many iterations. Art thompson, editor of guitar player magazine, notes in the starstudded cry baby documentary that prior to the invention of the wahwah pedal, guitarists had a limited range of effectstape delay, tremolo, spring reverb, and fuzz. The fuzztone stompbox also spawned the avid community of guitar effects. The only visual difference between this and the standard tone bender fuzz enclosure was the word tone instead of treble and bass under the tone knob. Its a three transistor circuit that came in several different enclosures.

Taking the fuzz pedal one step further, the supro fuzz offers a trs port for expression pedal control of the treble knob. With the expression pedal in use, the onboard treble knob sets the maximum value, allowing the musician to accentuate or tame the abundant high frequency content of the fuzz sound. It was basically the three knob mkiv tone bender with new graphics. The concept of the british pedal company is to deliver classic british effects to a modern market in a choice of authentic vintage enclosures or compact modern enclosures using the correct transistors and circuit designs of the original iconic effects to the highest quality possible. The main difference is that the fuzz face is biased slightly colder, making it more usable in warm environments. A malfunction in the console through which the playing of the electric bass guitarist grady martin was being transmitted caused the original fuzztone effect, mr. Equipped with 3 gainmatched germanium transistor for a fat, searing lead tone, i also made the tone control response and range. The circuit itself predates the fuzz face, which means that the famous arbiter electronics fuzz face was probably based on this circuit. Britbender mjm guitar fx mjm guitar fx fuzz, vibe, wah. Mar 03, 2011 50 years of making fuzz, the sound that defines rock n roll. My new pedal, the gravyboat fuzz, is based on the colorsound one knob fuzz, with some tweaks and mods to make it fit more into a wider range of applications. Snoddy tells gary gottlieb in his book how does it sound now. Heavily inspired by the gibsonbuilt maestro fz1 fuzztone, which was hard to obtain in england at the time, hurst produced a 3transistor circuit after being asked by session musician vic flick for a pedal that would emulate the sound of the fz1 but with more sustain. Our passion for tonal perfection is second to none.

Initially conceived as the british answer to the americanmade maestro fuzz tone built by a subsidiary of gibson, the tone benderand its. An idiots guide to choosing the right fuzz pedal happy mag. Buy products related to tone bender products and see what customers say about tone bender products on free delivery possible on eligible purchases. Aside from the tone bender name, these were purely muff clones and beared. It seems likely that he became familiar with the mkii through his association with jeff beck who reportedly used the pedal to great effect on the instrumental, becks bolero. Tone bender gary stewart hurst interview namm oral history library 2011. Analog publishing for fuzz heads large format illustrated books created in london, uk and printed in italy. The same silver enclosure as the circa 196970 sola sound tone bender fuzz, but this version featured a simplified big muff circuit rather than the tone bender mk iiiiv circuit. Just make sure to read the documentation because there.

Maestro fz1 along with its almost identical update the fz1a achieved a peak of popularity in the 1960s. The very first tone bender later christened tone bender mki, was based on hursts modified maestro fuzz. A third iteration of the tone bender, called the mkii supa fuzz, became a part of jimmy pages signature sound on the earliest led zeppelin recordings. Sola sound tone bender mkii dam reissue 3 transistors sola sound tone bender mkii dam reissue green bastard 3 transistors sola sound tone bender mkii scb dam reissue blue meanie 3 transistors vox tone bender professional mk ii. Little barrie attention fuzz heads cool new book out. Tone bender mk iii diy clone phobos fuzz aion electronics.

It was in the silver mkiv case, branded tone bender fuzz with orange and black printing. It arrived in late 1966, in its iconic big, red and round enclosure. With fuzz face dynamics, big muff sustain and tone bender harmonics, the supro fuzz is your tonal swiss army knife. As of now i use a tech 21 trademark 60 and the tones are sweet and violin like. Along with these special transistors, the unit uses period correct components that are meticulously assembled by hand just like the original tonebender of yesteryear.

The gravy boat, via the colorsound one knob fuzz, can. This is was the first version of the tone bender to feature a tone control. Although it came to define the sound of rock guitar, fuzz appeared first in. The soul bender is cool and i may end up getting something similar as i understand the bender sound much more now than i did years ago. Oct 10, 2017 tackle the tone having covered the history and the tech, it really just remains to say get out there and try some fuzz. Weve worked so hard to get into a stock situation with this pedal, at some points there has been a waiting list as long as a year and a half. The fuzz face, like the mk i, has a fairly balanced tone, but its a little darker. It sounds half way between a tone bender and a fuzz face combined. Find great deals on ebay for tonebender and fuzz pedal. The maestro fz1 fuzztone was the first fuzz distortion device to become widely available on the market for electric guitars and basses, although there had been other prototype devices made. This was the most common version of the tonebender, made from around 197076, with a variety of different circuits inside.

Colorsound tone bender distortion effects database. Our soul bender is based on the legendary colorsound and vox series iii tonebenders made by solasoundengland in the late 60s that was used by beck and page on much of their circa 196870 recordings. Their reverence for the tone bender, the big muff and the ts808. That inevitably led to the fantastic range of tone bender fuzz pedals from the uk. Based on the mk2 tonebender, the supa fuzz had a boomy low end, with a lot of. I thought i would post a brief history of the good old fuzz face here. This is great when using the tone bender alone or when youre combining both sides of the pedal. The fuzz face predecessor the vox tonebender was another pedal in the tonebender series, but it differs from most because of its greatly increased treble response and two transistor circuit. The tones a marshall head combined with a good germanium fuzz face produce can verge on divine.

For those not in the know, the tone bender is one of the classic fuzz pedals, taking pride of. The maestro fz1 fuzz tone was the first fuzz distortion device to become widely available on the market for electric guitars and basses, although there had been other prototype devices made. Oct 27, 2017 about 1966 vox tone bender v828 through 19671968 marshall 50w lead plexi and a 1969 marshall 1935a 4x12 speaker cabinet with g12m25 55hz pulsonic celestion greenbacks. Attention fuzz heads cool new book out telling the story of the legendary tone bender fuzz pedal and its evolution, featuring interviews from. The ultimate fuzz pedal original vox tone bender youtube. With each of the tone benders successive versions, it became more unique, and really defined the sound of fuzz in the mid1960s. Mar 20, 2020 we visit macaris in london, home of the worldchanging tone bender fuzz box to listen to some original pedals and find out how it all came to be. Its a three transistor circuit with a germanium diode, that came in several different enclosures and is closely related to the burns baldwin buzzaround. Despite the name this is more of a straight 60s fuzz than a tone bender fuzz.

Using this pcb, you can also build a baldwinburns buzzaround. Sola soundcolorsound also responded to the big muff with the silicon 4transistor supa tone bender in 1973, as used by steve hackett of genesis. Find great deals on ebay for tonebender and tone bender. Sep 18, 2009 the very first tone bender later christened tone bender mki, was based on hursts modified maestro fuzz. News music art books mag enmore audio clocked needle in the hay.