Colorsound 3knob tone bender with pnp germanium transistors positive ground colorsoundlike 3knob tonebender with npn germanium transistors negative ground. Supplied with pnp ac128 or 2n404 transistors or you can have the kit without cans if you want to source your own. 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. Colorsound tonebender mark ii professional this is the classic, vintage colorsound tonebender mark ii professional. Huge, smooth sounds available from this great circuit.
The tone is a little heavier and denser when compared to that of the professional mkii. Below is the schematic of the vox tonebender mkiii thanks to stuart castledine for the schematic. Only a handful of these were actually made, although a later. The korgvox v829 tone bender used a pair of these sk3004 germanium transistors. There also appears to be an evolution of the circuit board between the mk1. The only difference is that the 2200pf capacitor in the tone control section was changed to 2000pf. Vintage tone mk1 classic mk1 tone bender build williams audio. Tone bender pro mkii fuzz now directconnect compatible, though the image doesnt show the updated pcb alltime classic fuzz. I also have on order a set of philipsmullard 60s oc75 transistors. Sola sound produced the circuit for vox, marshall and rotosound as well. Professional mkii tone bender oc81d british pedal company. My early experiences with the colorsound tonebender professional mark ii were a long and confusing ordeal, with no real answers to show for it. Colorsound tone bender mk iii clone project documentation.
Tone bender mk1 on perfboard exact repro, full offboard shielded wiring. By dunlops own admissionadvertising, its based off a tonebender. Produced by sola sound in reasonably small amounts, you are more likely to pickup rocking horse sht than one of these. The thomas organ v828 service manual indicated that if european specification transistors were not available, a pair of sk3004 germanium transistors would be a suitable field replacement. Earthquaker devices park vintage germanium fuzz tone. The bpc mkii tone bender oc81d is a detailed replica of the 1966 professional mk ii tone bender pedals created by gary hurst. Mk1 tonebender fuzz owners what do you consider to be the. But maybe its a mkii with some kind of tweaked tone circuit. A good tone bender has everything to do with how the builder doesnt tune it. Jan 05, 2017 the tone bender was released in september 1965 and sold for 14 guineas, approximately. Used by jeff beck, jimmy page and famously also used by mick ronson, the mk1 really has its own distinctive tone. As a result, this circuit is commonly called both the mark iii and the threeknob tone bender. Colorsound tonebender mark ii professional general. Whereas previous tbs had only volume and fuzz controls, the mkiii adds a treblebass tone knob to take you from crunchy bottomrich fuzz to allout catbothering treble filth.
The above arent what youd typically expect for a tone bender set such as youd use. There have been several versions of the vox tone bender and the vox distortion booster, all variants on the basic circuit. While swapping transistors around ive found that, while they bias up fine with a little tweaking, leaky ones over, lets say, 100ua didnt sound as smooth as low leakage ones with the same gains. 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. I get asked about the differences between this and our mkiv sun bender a lot. Options are to build it with pnp or npn germanium transistors or. The kit includes everything you need if you use silicon transistors. In order to have this circuit sound like a tone bender, you must use transistors in the recommended gain hfe ranges and bias the circuit. As tone benders always work better with pnp transistors, this latest fuzzdog offering has the option of. Bender tonebender analogman sunface fulltone 70 fuzz analogman sun triangle big muff boss fz2 hyper fuzz sovtek green russian big muff sun face fuzz analogman nkt275 rams head big muff electro harmonix sovtek big muff pi vintage germanium fuzz black russian big muff fulltone 69 fuzz sunface fuzz skreddy style fuzz super fuzz guitar vintage univox super fuzz fuzz pedal excellent gibson. The one that started it all, the legendary mk1 tonebender. This my tone bender mkii professional oc75 germanium transistors pedal that is listed on ebay.
They arent terribly cheap, but compared to buying a bunch of oldstock transistors and testing and sorting them yourself, probably throwing away a number of them in the end, its a bargain. The latest two pedals are buffalos take on the classic tone bender mkii circuit and a revised version of the original buffalo fuzz. You can even swap a couple of components and make yourself a marshall supa fuzz much fatter, bassier tone than stock or a vox tone bender mkii slightly bassier, not a lot. So far ive only populated the board as i want to paint the enclosure before assembly. But the heart and soul of any tonebender is its transistors. Biasing part of the characteristic sound of the tone bender mk ii is the uneven bias. Philips oc76 germanium transistors that have been tested for leakage and gain selected to produce the best tone. Oct 26, 2005 sola sound tone bender mkii 3 transistors 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. Tone bender mkii guitar effect circuit boards for diy. Twin bender has a long list of features that make it the most versatile and user friendly tone bender available. I just took the plunge and decided to build my first stomp box, so i got the byoc mkii esv tone bender. That jumper and the input cap are the only two parts that need changing in order to. Sola sound tone bender mkii 3 transistors 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.
Oct 21, 2009 in 1968, sola sound released the tone bender mkiii, which was a threetransistor fuzz, much like the mkii, with the addition of a tone control and a different castmetal housing. Its a great time to upgrade your home music studio gear with the largest selection at. Colorsound tone bender mk ii project documentation. Jmi tone bender mk ii professional oc75 mullard transitors. Mar 19, 2012 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. The deimos project is a faithful reproduction of the tonebender. I didnt specify anything because some of the pnp germanium transistors that people use in these are hard to find and.
Tone bender mkii professional oc75 germanium transistors. The yardbirds, the who, the pretty things, the merseybeats, the ivy league and a rather popular band from liverpool called the beatles were. Sola sound tone bender mkiii 3 knob posted by iviark at 19. V version, but with an additional amplifier gain stage. I first built the circuit, using steve daniels schematic, in may 2001.
Colorsound tone bender mk ii project documentation deimos fuzz. Retrotone knowledge skills supplies services vox tone bender. There are the three variations of the mark ii professional. Thanks to jack orman for his negative ground fuzz face article. Ive noticed that 2g381 loaded mkis tend to gate more, but thats just because generally the 2g381 is an extremely crappy transistor. Also the russian transistors are supposed to be a quantum leap forward in consistency, with very low leakage.
So far, i love it close enough to a fuzz face for me to like it immediately and different enough just so i wont ditch it in the never cared for that one builds drawer. We have always used new old stock british mullard transistors in this pedal. These are known as mkiii and mkiv versions, also known as thin case tone benders. For a simple and great sounding tonebender, build the silicon transistor version. Earthquaker devices and the newly resurrected park amplifiers have joined forces to deliver a reissue of the vintage park fuzz sound. 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. The transistor bias trim pot is labeled tr2 on the circuit board. This is the very first one from the whole family, originally build point to point on perfboard. Recorded using a flip video camcorder, fender custom shop esquire and fender pro junior amp. Colorsound tonebenders 3knob general guitar gadgets.
Iii not only added a tone control, but the circuit was a deviation from earlier tone benders. The stroll on is hudsons take on the famous sola sound tone bender mk ii professional fuzz. I didnt specify anything because some of the pnp germanium transistors that people use in these are hard to find and expensive so really its whatever pnp germanium transistors you want to use and have easy access to. The prescription electronics yard box the prescription electronics yard box is a more recent take on the sola sound tonebender 3knob. Sun bender mkiv this fuzz pedal is a blueprinted version of the old sola sound colorsound vox tonebenders that had three germanium transistors and a tone knob. Each stroll on comes fitted with three carefully matched germanium transistors, biased for the best possible tone. Ive laid this out for negative ground operation, so make sure to use npn transistors. While the first version was essentially a slightly tweaked fuzz face, and the second version added a gain. Hudson electronics stroll on tone bender mkii sola sound. The tone bender was a big hit and quickly drew big name players to a growing rank of users. Mkiv is more saturated and early 1970s sounding, and has a tone control that can go from thick to thin and trebly.
The grey one mkiii was made in 1973 and can be seen on some live pictures with jimmy page. Here are the 3knob tone bender versions that can be built on the pcb for this project. If you want to build a germanium transistor version, you can get your transistor set from small bear electronics llc and use the resistor values that he sends with the transistors. Designed by gary hurst it was the british response to the. The tone bender timeline history the big muff pi page. The circuit is all discrete, using a trio of silicon transistors in a modi. Looking at the timeline, the fuzz boxes were likely the new mki tone benders. Only a handful of these were actually made, although a later voxbranded mkiii was much more common.
Click here to download pdf instructions for this kit. Designed by gary hurst it was the british response to the american made gibson maestro fuzz tone fz1. The park fuzz sound is a germanium fuzz from the tone bender family that produces a brighter, almost distortionlike tone compared to. This knob increases the volume level of the effect when rotated clockwise. Sep 27, 2011 tone bender mk1 vero description in progress. Some sola sound tone bender professional mkii pedals exist with the mk1. The front half of the circuit is based on the tone bender mkii, employing silicon transistors instead of germanium ones, which can mean an even louder, nastier bender.
The bpc mkii tone bender is a detailed replica of the 1966 professional mk ii tone bender pedals created by gary hurst. Professional mkii tone bender oc75 british pedal company. Q1 and 2 create a darlington pair that amplify the signal, while q3 is what creates the fuzz. The circuit itself predates the fuzz face, which means that the famous arbiter electronics fuzz face was probably based on this circuit. The circuit is all discrete, using a trio of silicon transistors.
We hope you enjoy the the throbak stone bender mkii pro. The vox tone bender not to be confused with the colour sound tone bender was a copy with only minimal changes to the the component values, and adapted to npn silicon transistors. 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. Bender tonebender analogman sunface fulltone 70 fuzz analogman sun triangle big muff boss fz2 hyper fuzz sovtek green russian big muff sun face fuzz analogman nkt275 rams head big muff electro harmonix sovtek big muff pi vintage germanium fuzz black russian big muff fulltone 69 fuzz sunface fuzz skreddy style fuzz super fuzz guitar vintage univox super. In this layout the trick is in the jumper that connects circuit ground to the power supply. These units were named vox tone bender professional mkii, marshall supa fuzz, rotosound fuzz box. Tone bender mkii guitar effect circuit boards for diy projects.
Jan 24, 2010 this my tone bender mkii professional oc75 germanium transistors pedal that is listed on ebay. Tone bender m iii phobos fu 1 phobos fuzz coloursound tone bender mark iii overview phobos project link 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 1 3 3 1 the phobos fuzz is a clone of the coloursound tone bender mark 3 threeknob. Tone bender mk iii fuzz the final chapter in the classic tone bender series, and by far the most versatile. It was my fifth or six fuzz, following two fuzz faces. Below is a rundown of the features that we feel make the stone bender mkii one of the most versatile tone bender clones on the market. Supersaturated lead tones, or great chord work with the guitar volume knocked back. The oc81d loaded professional mk ii can be heard on many jimmyled zeppelin tracks such aswhole lotta love bpc players series professional mkii tone bender oc81d pedal board friendly casing level and attack controls 3x oc81d transistors as used by the jimmy page limited production we never use stock photography here at distinctive guitar. The original sola sound unit was not called the mark iii, but the voxlicensed version was. Reproduction of the famous tone bender mkii pro used by jimmy page and jeff beck 3 germanium transistors in low noise, mallory m150 polyester capacitors and transistors socketed 1 level knob for volume attack button 1 for levels of distortion fuzz an adjustable gain switch not a pretrim pot inside the pedal a color tone switch true bypass pedal. Thats how i have my tone bender mkii wired, pnp germanium transistors wired for negative ground. Katzenkonig combines the best elements of a tone bender mkii fuzz with a rat distortion. Tonebender pro mkii marshall superfuzz vox tone bender mkii r1 100k 10k r2 10k q2bias 100k preset r4 470r r5 100k q3bias 10k preset c1 10n 15n c2 4.
In 1968, sola sound released the tone bender mkiii, which was a threetransistor fuzz, much like the mkii, with the addition of a tone control and a different castmetal housing. The mkii tone bender is a three transistor circuit based on the mki. I decided to use npn germanium transistors for mine so that ill be able to use a negative ground arrangement, which allows use. The impede impedance miniknob allows twin bender to be used after a wah, buffer, wireless, etc. After the third transistor, the signal encounters the second half of a rat circuit, which its a pair of clipping diodes and a clever singleknob tone circuit. Putb tonebender mkii pnp uses charge pump guitarpcb.