The one that started it all, the legendary mk1 tonebender. If you want to nail pages tone in it might get loud, a mki. The jmi tone bender mki reissue is an exact replica of the original 1965 tone bender. Colorsound tonebender mark ii professional this is the classic, vintage colorsound tonebender mark ii professional. The vox tonebender will have a lot more treble response than the fuzz facemaybe to. This is the circuit diagram of vox tone bender pedal. Looking at the timeline, the fuzz boxes were likely the new mki tone benders, but. The pcb and layout above the is the pcb, layout and parts list that can be used to build the vox tonebender. There was a late70s colorsound tone bender distortion, which used. Questions about building the tonebender mki circuit. These are very rare and mz has a very dam like reputation when it comes to benders. The kit contains all the parts to make a great sounding npn silicon transistor version of a colorsound tone bender mark ii. The year where africanamericans were given the right to vote in the usa, gemini space program continued working towards getting man to the moon and of course, the year that the sola sound mk i. The tonemender is a very flexible, yet simple clean boost with a 3knob tonestack that allows the user to recreate the classic fender, marshall and vox responses.
It uses true germanium circuits, and achieves the same warm, vintage fuzz achieved by jeff beck and. Before someone says it, i mean one i can realistically find and purchase, id love to get a jerms pedal or a d a m, but i also have an attachment to. Mk1 tonebender fuzz owners what do you consider to be. There are the three variations of the mark ii professional. Brian may of queen used the v816 circuit inside his red special guitar for a. For more than two decades, the tone bender as we know and love it today lay dormant and forgotten. Tone bender pro mkii fuzz now directconnect compatible, though the image doesnt show the updated pcb alltime classic fuzz.
I was never a fan of the sound i got from a fuzz face circuit, or the mkii, mki etc tone bender. Building a tonebender mkii from scratch telecaster. The above arent what youd typically expect for a tone bender set such as youd use in a mk ii pro. Tone burner, modified 3knob tonebender pnp germanium transistor, positive ground this is an excellent variation on the 3 knob tone bender designed by tobias karlsson. Colorsound tonebender mark ii replica complete kit. Vox tonebender circuit board below is a schematic of the vox tonebender. The history of the iconic fuzzbox, the tone bender. My early experiences with the colorsound tonebender professional mark ii were a long and confusing ordeal, with no real answers to. Many builder add trim pots instead of set resistor values to help tune the circuit you.
For what its worth, its essentially a fuzz face with a few circuit changes and is actually the. On another note, this circuit sounds amazing and the trimmers really do allow fine adjustment to minimize the fizz and feedback and get the tone just right. Tone bender mki mk1 amazing clone w texas instrument. When we made the decision to make mki tone benders again after 52 years we decided they had to be the best so we worked with four mki magicians these ones were made by ian sherwen of ghost fx. Although the circuits are similar gary hurst based the circuit around the fz1 structure the tone bender has a much longer sustain and a. Produced by sola sound in reasonably small amounts, you are more likely to pick.
I decided to use npn germanium transistors for mine so that ill be able to use a. Options are to build it with pnp or npn germanium transistors or with npn silicon transistors. In the course of a year, the tone bender was subject to a. Fuzz is one of my favorite fxs, when done right, but most of the fuzz pedals sound harsh to. From its earliest beginnings, the tone bender underwent continuous circuit revisions, was sold. Early in 1966 a new improved tone bender arrived on the scene, this version of the tone bender has become known as the mki. The first incarnation of the tone bender was a three transistor circuit based on the gibson maestro fuzztone. Again dont forget to cut the trimmer legs that are shown over the 9v rail, there should be no connection there. The mk i was a three transistor circuit based on the gibson maestro fuzztone that hurst modified to produce more sustain. I have replaced the 8k2 resistor on the collector of q2 with a 20k trimpot so that. Throback stone bender mk ii pro telecaster guitar forum.
David main from dam has written up a history of the tone bender up until mk ii, so you would do well to check out his page on the history for the full. Like the last one, a bit of a pain but the gary hurst version is slightly more forgiving i believe. The british gives their answer to the american maestro fuzztone through the hands of an electronics engineer. This is due to the oc81d transistors which operate. The tone bender timeline history the big muff page. You can use 2n388a, sk3861, ac127, and a few other part numbers. The very first tone bender later christened tone bender mki, was based on hursts modified maestro fuzz. Tone control software free download tone control top 4 download offers free software downloads for windows, mac, ios and android computers and mobile. Jmi tone bender professional mkii effects database. I have replaced the 8k2 resistor on the collector of q2 with a 20k trimpot so that you can adjust the voltage on q2s collector to 4. If you want to build a germanium transistor version, you. Ive noticed that 2g381 loaded mkis tend to gate more, but thats just because generally the. There are so many tone bender clones my heads about to explode from research. The mk i was a three transistor circuit based on the gibson maestro fuzztone that hurst.
Marshall supa fuzz circuit board below is a schematic of the original sola sound tonebender professional mkii. Jeff beck with a mk i tone bender, 1965 1965 jeff beck uses a mki tone bender with the. Designed by gary hurst it was the british response to the american made gibson maestro fuzz tone fz1. This is an amazing clone of a mki with the proper transistors made in france by mz effects. Tone bender mk iii diy clone phobos fuzz aion electronics.
The tone bender circuit was similar to the input stage of the vox t. Tone control software free download tone control top 4. Walt byrd tone distorter mki vintage copy of mk i british pedal company players series tone bender mki mk i. I decided to use npn germanium transistors for mine so that ill be able to use a negative ground arrangement, which allows use of modern power supplies. Youll notice its his signature super hard on circuit which is a great building block. Colorsound tonebender mark ii professional general. Following the success of this first tone bender, which we will refer to as the mki, it was clear that the design of the pedal needed to be geared towards being a more readily produced item. In the mk iii a typical tb set may give you too much gain, resulting in squishy, undefined. Actcad is a 2d drafting and 3d modeling cad software meant for engineers, architects and other technical. A good tone bender has everything to do with how the builder doesnt tune it. The very first tone bender later christened tone bender mki, was based.
Sola sound ltd tonebender mki hornby skewes zonk machine dam fz673 the sola sound tone bender mki was one of the first fuzz pedals available in the uk. Colorsound tone bender mk iii clone project documentation. Like johnnycrash says, theyre good for certain things. The bpc mki tone bender is a detailed replica of the original 1965 metal case tone bender pedal created by gary hurst in london, england. The jen tone bender circuit included an sft363 and an sft337 germanium transistor, two capacitors. I would try building a ross overdrive, ts808, or a dod 250 those are smooth sounding overdrives distortion boxes. The tone bender professional mkii offers all the features of the standard mkii pedal but at higher gain. Tone bender mki clone effects and processors harmony central. Note that the schematic is a screen grab from modelling software you dont need the three seperate voltage dividers which provide. Tone bender mki tonebender castledine electronics youtube. Colorsound tonebenders 3knob general guitar gadgets. Earning the guitar world platinum award, mind bender is two pedals. Often known as the mythical fuzz due to the very few original examples which exist, the mki.
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