Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
I came across a series of photos of this build on the PedalPCB forum, and there seemed to be a bit of confusion around the schematic. Thought it was worth documenting some of the observed values here for reference. The board shown below is from the wedge enclosure. There’s also a more pedalboard friendly version, … Read more
Yes, it’s another MKI. I designed this layout based on a Zonk to fit a specific enclosure width. So nothing remarkable, just one for me to use later. MKI TONE BENDER – SHORTY It’s missing the 33k resistor that normally sits across the 50k pot, cause I like to use an A25k instead. I sometimes … Read more
I’m surprised I had not covered this one before, but I suppose it is a MKI, so it should feel fairly familiar. There seem to have been a few different iterations — essentially just different flavours of the MKI, so keep that in mind when choosing transistors and biasing the circuit. Some versions also used … Read more
So this looks like one of the D*A*M one-offs from back in the day – a MKI style fuzz, using a variation on a Zonk layout. There are some departures from stock values, some of which are not entirely clear. Here’s the thread from an old FSB post. Here’s the thread on the D*A*M forum. … Read more
Quick Zonk Machine layout to suit an enclosure that I just picked up from MW Pedal Parts – pretty much one row difference in terms of where the mounting holes are drilled compared to old layout that I have been using, and I decided to move a couple of components around while I was at … Read more
I’ve had a couple of questions about these recently, and out of curiosity I decided to take a closer look. In 2024, Sola Sound released a few versions of a hybrid MKI, built by Dave Main of D*A*M. So what is it? It’s essentially a standard MKI circuit, but with the first two germanium transistors … Read more
Just to offset the amplifier posts for the pedal folks – here’s a set of three Tone Benders that I just finished. By a set I mean a MKI, MKII and a MKIII – and no I did not include a MK1.5. The layouts and info on how to build these can all be … Read more
The SonicVI silicon MKI Tone Bender is firmly based on the original, with a few additions and some minor changes. Being silicon based, the transistors do not self-bias, so additional resistors have been added from V- to the base of Q1 & Q3. The transistors used are early Mullard PNP silicon OC202 which are quite … Read more
Someone mentioned this in the comments recently (thank you ClassicFuzz), so I thought I’d have a look at the photos on Reverb. The Goldie is a MKI in a MKII enclosure from March 2022, likely to be inspired by this unit found in Germany – which is an absolute train wreck of work. … Read more
I purchased a sheet of phenolic board locally to make some MKI boards, as I didn’t want to pay $25 postage on a $3 board from the USA (postage to Australia is often a killer). I couldn’t find a template anywhere, so I reversed one from a product image online – I did make one … Read more