Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I’m a fan of compressors, in my opinion they are the unsung heroes of great guitar tone – they level it all out and give you tone a consistency and sustain that would be impossible to achieve without a compressor. Toadworks have been around for a while now and offer their own compressor the “Mr … Read more
[NOTE – This post also contains details of the Fulltone Soul Bender] Vox Tone Bender Mark III Introduced in 1968 the Sola Sound Tone Bender MKIII is the last in the line up of the classic Tone Bender circuits. It produces a more mellow, less aggressive fuzz than the MKI & MKII Tone Bender circuits. … Read more
Pigdog Fuzz 1.5 – Tone Bender MK1.5 Replica Pigdog Fuzz 1.5 Gutshot Pigdog Effects are the creations of Steve Williams and they’re grown in his organic pedal allotment which is located in London, England. As you can see from the images above and below his creations are some of the finest available – the build … Read more
So, here is the first pedal to be housed in those new enclosures I’ve had built. It’s a one off custom design by myself – a Fuzz hybrid that is capable of any tones ranging from a simple boost right up to full on octave/ring mod Fuzz meltdown. All hand built point to point on … Read more
The Sola Sound Tone Bender MK1.5 was introduced in 1966 with a view to replace 1965’s Tone Bender MKI. With a new sand cast enclosure and a two transistor circuit (which was much easier to build and bias!) it would seem Sola Sound were onto a winner and ended up with an effect which is … Read more
This is my original Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive CTO-1 and it’s for sale – it’s basically brand new in box; never been gigged. Here it is on ebay, available worldwide: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110845081997&clk_rvr_id=325179384338#ht_500wt_1287
Garfunk M. Rafferty over on the D*A*M Forums brought this to my attention. Iggy + Stooges = Awesome…
The Sola Sound Tone Bender MKI was one of the first fuzz pedals available in the UK. Designed by Gary Hurst it was the British response to the American made Gibson Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1. Although the circuits are similar (Gary Hurst based the circuit around the FZ-1 structure) the Tone Bender has a much … Read more
The Vox Tonebender circuit ranks as one of the earliest Fuzz Pedals available. Here’s some info from http://www.legendarytones.com/fuzz%20feast1.html: “The oldest fuzz in our collection, this 1966 Vox Tone Bender was made famous by that group of British lads known as the Beatles. This unit is a simple design, uses two germanium transistors and is built, and … Read more
The Dallas Rangemaster is probably one of the best known vintage effects out there. A simple germanium treble booster it was used throughout the 60’s to boost the inputs of typically “dark” sounding British amps of the time to create a huge wall of overdriven valve tone. Used by a load of guitar greats for … Read more