BYOC "ESV" Tone Bender MkII Fuzz Pedal

[duhvoodooman]

A few months back, Keith Vonderhulls at Build Your Own Clone (BYOC) came out with an "Extra Special Vintage" version of his Tone Bender kit. This pedal is a clone of the legendary Sola Sound Tone Bender MkII, a fuzz pedal made famous by Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and other guitar heroes of the late 60's. While it's a germanium transistor fuzz circuit that's similar to the Fuzz Face, it incorporates three Ge trannies rather than the FF's two, and is reknowned for it's thick, woolly fuzz and long sustain.

The cool part about this kit is that Keith has really gone for the absolute best quality, vintage-style components available, with the crowning touch being NOS Philips OC75 PNP germanium transistors. Keith obtained a large quantity of these transistors in still-sealed factory boxes, literally untouched by human hands since they were manufactured nearly 50 years ago. Quite the electronics treasure! You can check out the details on the kit HERE, if you're interested.

I purchased four of these kits--one for myself and three for some discerning fellow Fretters who'd expressed interest in having one of these cool vintage-style fuzz pedals. Because BYOC was running a "buy 4, get 2 free" kit sale, I also received one of their "Large Beaver" Big Muff clone kits and one of their fairly new "ping-pong" delay pedal kits. More on those another time....

In any case, the kits arrived yesterday, and I assembled the first one last night to check it out. Sounds fabulous. I've never had a fuzz pedal that I've been completely satisfied with the tone--but I think this may be the first! Great warm, smooth fuzz tone with unbelievable sustain. The extra transistor vs. the similar Fuzz Face circuit really seems to add a lot. I'll try to get a clip posted in the next few days.

Below is a "gut-shot" photo. When I took it, I'd already removed the three OC75 trannies from their sockets (those three round, black objects in a row on the PCB) and they're sitting there on top of the pedal bottom cover plate. You leave the leads long until the pedal is tested, and then trim them to length for the final assembly. Very elegant looking layout, as effects pedals go! Keith at BYOC outdid himself on this one, IMO. Not a cheap kit at $99, but a great design of a classic pedal using premium components. The relatively small number of components and clean PCB layout makes it a quick and easy build.

 

[Robert]

Clips needed! You are going to make us drool for one of those, aren't ya!

 

[luvmyshiner]

Looks very cool DVM!

 

[duhvoodooman]

One additional thing I should mention about this pedal:

Like the original vintage Sola Sound TB MkII upon which it's based, this is a positive ground pedal. All that really means is that the way it's wired, current flows in the opposite direction through the circuit than it would through a negative ground pedal, which is what 99% of modern effects pedals are. This is necessitated by the TB pedal's use of PNP germanium transistors, which require this current flow.

The implication for the user is that you can't "daisy chain" the pedal with negative ground pedals on a single 9V AC power adapter, like a 1-Spot. If you do so, at best, none of the pedals will work, and at worst, you could burn out the adapter. You can still use a standard center-negative 9V AC power adapter to run the pedal (the type used for virtually all 9V effects pedals), but it needs to be dedicated to just the Tone Bender (though you could daisy-chain other positive ground pedals on that same adapter, if you own any). You can also just power the pedal with a 9V battery, which is what is often recommended for these positive ground pedals. An analog circuit like this one uses very little power, so a battery lasts quite a long time.

 

[mrmudcat]

Oh that last bit of info is of great help brother .Thank you!!

Now to make a deposit into my brain accountoke: :rotflmao:

 

[Ch0jin]

Dude you are killing me here. I guess it's a case of wanting what I know I cant have, but I've been lusting after the tonebender kits (and a couple of others) from BYOC since I found their site, and now this!

DVM, if you end up with one of these kits unbuilt and just kinda lying around taking up space and feel like sending it to Australia, I'll buy it.

Hell I don't care if you build it haha, I'm just dying to see how the extra transistor changes the sound comapred to the fuzzfaces clones I've built.

Anyway, just out of curiosity, did you build your previous Ge Fuzz's negative ground or positive? All mine are positive ground as I'd heard that the PNP style fuzzes were the best.

 

[duhvoodooman]

OK, here's a quick clip. Apologize for the quality of the recording, 'cuz it's recorded through the crummy onboard audio in my PC, plus I had to keep the volume way down due to other stuff going on in the house. Consequently, the background noise level is horrendous. But it shows the basic tone and sustaining power of this pedal:

http://www.box.net/shared/fqe6vdvs4k​

After a few clean notes on my MIK Squier Strat, the first thing I did was just pluck the low E (not hard, either) and let the note sustain. There's no other effect in there, just the Tone Bender. The fuzz control (called "Attack") is right at high noon, i.e. 50%. Candidly, the control doesn't really do much, because even turning the Attack knob all the way down still leaves a LOT of fuzz. Again, forgive the high noise level apparent at the end.

Next is a familiar riff from Jeff Beck & the Yardbirds. I think the original may very well have been recorded with a Tonebender, though probably not the MkII model. Recorded with the middle pickup on my Squier Strat.

Lastly is just some noodling on the neck pickup of the same guitar, with the treble rolled way off.

Definitely my favorite fuzz pedal tone among those I've played. :AOK:

 

[Guitar Gal]

Thanks for the demo DVM :beer:

Sounds awesome and it definitely has a LOT of sustain :AOK:

GG

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice demo DVM.

 

[M29]

Man that baby nails the Yardbirds, what sustain. Beautiful gut-shot. Tidy wiring as always. Nice job playin DVM:rockon:

M29

 

[Iago]

Dead on Yardbirds! The final lead part was quite close to Cream`s Sunshine of Your Love tone also, as far as I can remember it

 

[SuperSwede]

Wow thats a nice Fuzz!

 

[ShortBuSX]

The implication for the user is that you can't "daisy chain" the pedal with negative ground pedals on a single 9V AC power adapter, like a 1-Spot. If you do so, at best, none of the pedals will work, and at worst, you could burn out the adapter. You can still use a standard center-negative 9V AC power adapter to run the pedal (the type used for virtually all 9V effects pedals), but it needs to be dedicated to just the Tone Bender (though you could daisy-chain other positive ground pedals on that same adapter, if you own any). You can also just power the pedal with a 9V battery, which is what is often recommended for these positive ground pedals. An analog circuit like this one uses very little power, so a battery lasts quite a long time.

The reverse polarity adapter One Spot sells wouldnt work???
How much are you selling these for?
Or are they already spoken for?

 

[duhvoodooman]

The reverse polarity adapter One Spot sells wouldnt work???

No, it wouldn't. I had thought the same thing, but I asked the question over at the BYOC forum and it was explained to me that such an adapter would not work!

The reason is because those polarity adapters are for use with devices where the AC adapter plug is wired in reverse, but the device itself is still negative ground. So they're useful for using a wall wart with a center-positive tip with devices (like virtually all effects pedals) that have center-negative adapter jacks, but not for this case.

ShortBuSX, check your PM's for the other questions....

 

[duhvoodooman]

Dead on Yardbirds! The final lead part was quite close to Cream`s Sunshine of Your Love tone also, as far as I can remember it

Thanks, Iago. I remember as a teenager when that Yardbirds tune came out thinking that that riff was impossibly difficult. But it turns out to be s-o-o-o easy, as long as you have the gain & sustain of a good distortion/fuzz pedal to facilitate the hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Re: the Sunshine of Your Love tone, yeah, it's in that ballpark, but I find the Tone Bender to be too treble-heavy to really mimic the famous Clapton "woman tone". Actually, other Cream tunes exemplify that tone even better--Outside Woman Blues from Disraeli Gears is the one I always think of first. But the set-up is the same: played on the neck pickup with the treble rolled way off. The pedal I have that absolutely nails that tone is my "Rabid Rodent" Rat clone.

BTW, I never mentioned that the demo was recorded using my Fender Blues Junior amp. You know me--like to be thorough....

 

[duhvoodooman]

Just for giggles, I recorded a quick snippet of Outside Woman Blues with my Squier Strat through my Fender Blues Jr. The rhythm part is done on the middle pickup through my ZYS pedal in the stock TS-808 mode. The song's main riff is then recorded at the end from the neck pickup with the treble rolled all the way off through my "Rabid Rodent" Rat clone pedal. This is about the best EC "woman tone" I can get, short of going to a humbucker guitar, which makes it a tad rounder & fuller. Link:

http://www.box.net/shared/iuof4djscc​

BTW, if you want to see the master himself do it, here's a cool clip from the Cream reunion concert DVD recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2005. Since he's doing it on his Strat sans pedals, it really doesn't have the "woman tone" element, but it's an excellent performance, nonetheless!




Not that this has anything to do with the Tone Bender fuzz pedal, per se, but I reserve the right to hijack my own thread!!

 

[Iago]

HAHA great sample, now I have to say - Dead on Cream! But why such a short sample?! . I was also aware of people saying how trebly the Tone Benders actually are!
I also noticed that Jimmy Page used his tone control rolled way off on the tele, at least 50% down. When you do the same on the strat's neck pickup using the BYOC tone bender, it sounds like just like Clapton's SG.

I have that Cream's DVD. Clapton was smoking, you could see on his face how happy he was to be back with those two guys, playing the old Cream's songs.

 

[duhvoodooman]

HAHA great sample, now I have to say - Dead on Cream! But why such a short sample?!

Had to keep it short--busy weekend at the DVM ranch. My daughter graduated from HS this weekend, so Saturday was spent in proparation for the big day, and Sunday was the graduation ceremony and party at our home afterwards. I had to go back to work today to get some rest!

 

[duhvoodooman]

Looks like we've achieved consensus on how these 4 pedals will be finished. Behold--the "Fender Bender":

 

[Ch0jin]

Thats going to look cool DVM. Be sure and post us a "completed" pic or two

 

[duhvoodooman]

Here's a "larger than life" shot of one of the completed Tone Bender clones, both outside & in. I'm pretty pleased with how well they turned out:

 

[Algonquin]

Looking good DVM. Incredibly neat and tidy work :AOK:

 

[Ch0jin]

Very nice work! I also note with interest the drastically different layout of the BYOC kits Vs GGG kits.

I realise the circuit is somewhat different, but this is a fuzzface based on a GGG kit. Could the layout be any MORE different?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ch0jin/2641991058/

Anyway nice job. I got four projects in the paint stage right now so I'll have some pics for ya later this week...

 

[Scott57]

One additional thing I should mention about this pedal:

Like the original vintage Sola Sound TB MkII upon which it's based, this is a positive ground pedal. All that really means is that the way it's wired, current flows in the opposite direction through the circuit than it would through a negative ground pedal, which is what 99% of modern effects pedals are. This is necessitated by the TB pedal's use of PNP germanium transistors, which require this current flow.

The implication for the user is that you can't "daisy chain" the pedal with negative ground pedals on a single 9V AC power adapter, like a 1-Spot. If you do so, at best, none of the pedals will work, and at worst, you could burn out the adapter. You can still use a standard center-negative 9V AC power adapter to run the pedal (the type used for virtually all 9V effects pedals), but it needs to be dedicated to just the Tone Bender (though you could daisy-chain other positive ground pedals on that same adapter, if you own any). You can also just power the pedal with a 9V battery, which is what is often recommended for these positive ground pedals. An analog circuit like this one uses very little power, so a battery lasts quite a long time.

Just so I have this right: I would need to purchase a second 1 Spot to power just this pedal and any other positive ground pedals like the BYOC ESV Fuzz.

 

[Kazz]

That is correct Scott.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Just so I have this right: I would need to purchase a second 1 Spot to power just this pedal and any other positive ground pedals like the BYOC ESV Fuzz.

Just two points of clarification:

1) Yes, if you want to power it from an AC adapter. Many people choose to power these positive ground pedals from a 9V battery. These simple old analog circuits use very little juice and a battery will last a LONG time in them....as long as you remember to remove the cable from the input jack between uses.

2) Actually, the BYOC ESV Fuzz is a negative ground design, so will run off your main adapter along with your other pedals. There are other Fuzz Face clones that are positive ground, but the BYOC isn't one of them. Check it out:

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/fuzz.html

 

[markb]

I used to have a Coloursound Tonebender (a Mk III as we'd call it now we know all the differences). It ran for months on one normal zinc/carbon battery as long as I remembered to unplug it.