Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Vox tone bender – two knobs and three silicon transistors. It’s kind of a silicon MKII with clipping diodes on the output. It’s loaded with a Jen FZ III circuit, which I wasn’t aware that it was ever used in a Vox. Photos from someone that grabbed a fuzz from me recently – Initially … Read more
While I was working on another fuzz face layout (the Sonus Jimi Mod 1968), I thought I might do a quick adaptation for the Vox Tone Bender, as there was room for the additional resistor. Quite fond of the Vox, so I’ll probably build this once I’ve finished my current project. Usually I like to … Read more
Some notes for later from a recent Vox Tone Bender build. Mainly wanted to jot down the placement of the pots and switch, as this layout is quite tight in a 1590BB – there’s no room for error. I probably should have made the layout a row or two shorter, but I just liked the … Read more
After realising I had the “right” transistors for this, I thought I should have a crack at a Vox Tone Bender. I’ve done a generic vero layout with room for mods, with some common values listed – I guess the most obvious is the external bias pot, which could be replaced with a standard 8k2 resistor. The D*A*M … Read more
The Buzzaround’s Italian cousin – the Elka Dizzy Tone. Extremely similar, some are seen with a 1M Attack pot. This layout is based on the D*A*M Fuzz Sound MKIII layout. ELKA DIZZY TONE – 0.15″ VERO LAYOUT VIDEO DEMO
Also known as the JHS & Ricken’s Fuzz – the JEN FZ III Fuzz is a simple silicon variation on a Tone Bender MKII. First things first – this is reported to be very bright, so maybe increase the 10n capacitors to something a little larger to let more lows through, or add a 10n to … Read more
This is the fuzz section from a big old Italian phaser – the Montarbo PB-2. It’s extremely close to the Montarbo Sinphoton – a few different value resistors here and there, and a different tone section. Apart from that, same same. MONTARBO PB-2 FUZZ – POINT TO POINT LAYOUT MONTARBO PB-2 FUZZ SECTION SCHEMATIC
This one looks like a real oddball on paper, kind of a very strange Big Muff in some ways, but not really… The case is a piece of art in itself – this is where the Italian design aesthetic comes into play. Maybe not the most practical case, but damn it looks cool. The tone controls … Read more