Sola Sound Tone Bender Fuzz

[havenmusics1]

What amp are you running this through? 

[CrankCase02]

Yeah, I had one and sold it. Bah! Now I have to make a new one because modern manufactured pedals are absolute crap. IC's sound awful. I'm currently trying to figure out whether to make a fuzz face clone with low gain silicon or germanium transistors, or one with FETs.

The transistors are not OC71 but they are a close quivalent. I can't remember the actual numbers but I do remember checking their equivalents.

[CacheSeaker]

@Blondegraemey who are ure influences!? U sound a lot like me! I love the pedal!

My top 3 are

1. Joe Walsh

2. Stevie Ray Vaughan

3. Jimi Hendrix

[gtrscience1]

whats the difference between the sola sound TB and the colorsound TB?

I mean the sola sound mk lll and the colorsound TB ?

[gtrscience1]

whats the difference between the sola sound TB and the colorsound TB?



[AeolianSeventh]

@gtrscience1 The name on the box and the ultimate fate of the money which first purchased it.

[bigjohnnygee123]

Hi Graeme I'm wondering if you've ever heard of the big knob tone blender? They're made in the UK and only cost £60... Is this too good to be true?

[blondegraemey]

Sorry, I am not familiar with it?

[metalcore929]

Raspy as fuck, sounds great!

[TheSterlingSound]

Great demo and playing. Still looking for an original one.

[pypower]

Good bit of playing.I love these pedals nothing would make me sell mine.Have you done the simple mod to boost the output coz i cant see it,the difference is massive.

[blondegraemey]

This one is stock. It has quite a vol boost without any mods. G

[pypower]

@blondegraemey you must have a one off,coz i have 2,and both unity output when the pedals volume is up full it just about matches your amp thats our they were made.check the 220k resistor between the tone and volume pots the one closest to the jack sockets.all you do is put a lead across the resistor,to cut it off,and the differnce is massive a much more user friendly pedal.

[greenham1]

i have one of these and it is the best thing ever, so simple aswell. perfect fuzz for me

[SNAkEPiTpRoDuxions]

This is a great Demo, I really like that you just played the damn thing as many different ways you could come up with in seven minutes. No blah blah blah--"Now I'm gonna adjust knob, such and such, because thats what you do with pedals to make all these nifty sounds. Plus i bet you are all watching expecting me to adjust some knobs, but I really think i can give you a much better understanding of this pedal if tell you what it can sound like rather than just playing...

[ureadmymind]

Are Colorsound & Sola Sound the same company?

[dirtyTony666]

Hi would you mind selling this pedal ????

[blondegraemey]

Sorry man, I sold one ages ago and it took me a long time to find another! G

[plxplxkthx]

@dirtyTony666 just to say you can get em from the manufacturer in one of the shops on denmark street in central london. cant remember which shop exactly but its one of the friendly ones haha

[orbitbuilder]

@dirtyTony666 hi, check out ebay, I have one of my tonebender clones up there now for a giveaway starting price. Auction open worldwide. #220672740189

[danceofthedruids]

So for a Who fan from the 60's .... your opinion .... this pedal vs the Lovetone Cheese Source and/or the 2009 JMI reissue or none of the above?

[blondegraemey]

Of the three, I like this one best. G

[danceofthedruids]

@blondegraemey could not find an original Sola Sound so I wound up getting one of the JMI MKIIs ....

[orbitbuilder]

@danceofthedruids Hi, I make fuzzers.

orbit Mk1 and Orbit Mk2

I have them up on youtube. Tell me what you think Thanks

[danceofthedruids]

@orbitbuilder The MKII was nice ... would be cool if you could do a side by with a Tonebender and the MKIII and a Fulltone Soul-Bender and maybe the JTM reissue .... sorry for the side bar blondegraemey ... maybe you could comment as well .... the Fulltone has been attracting my attention as well as the JTM reissue. Peace bros!

[orbitbuilder]

@danceofthedruids

To tell you the truth I don't own any vintage fuzz pedals or anyone elses. I only build them. I have plenty of parts. The small differences in fuzz pedal sounds can be sometimes just a few parts different. The parts tollerences were 10% -20%. And the transistors ge or sil. can be way off. I would be open to to side by side if I had the other pedals.

[8291963]

I need one of these screw JMI

[marvelboy04]

so this is the mkiii?

[blondegraemey]

Yep!

[mrbeautiful999]

That's an awesome box man!

Thank you for an excellent demo once again.

-cb

[PopExpo]

i always thought fuzzes especially germanium ones sounded better with single coil pickups.

[rocktunes]

Nice pedal!

[hiway52]

I absolutely LOVE the way you open up the midrange at 4:19-

[zwiebackdude]

whats that song at the beginning?

[blondegraemey]

It's my old band Candleman Summer. G

[mirkus21]

I´m absolutely impressed...!!! I have heard so much pedals but this is a real tone thing...!!! what would you suggest to buy when you can not buy something like this in southamerica? thanks for the video!!!!!!!!!! GREAT!!!!!!!

[blondegraemey]

You would have to try ebay for an old pedal like this. The best modern alternative would be the DAM Fuzz Sound but they are VERY rare and hard to find. A company called ThroBak make a Tone Bender clone but I have never tried one. G

[SonicStrings]

Hi There!

I've just bought a Tonebender on Ebay (Dick Denney Reissue wich is supposed to be very close to the original). Is it normal for a Tonebender that the Fuzz knob only brings in the distortion within last three quarters? thanks!

[blondegraemey]

Is that the bigger box version from the 90's? If it is, it is nothing like this one. It uses an IC to get the fuzz rather than transistors. G

[SonicStrings]

Yes, it's the bigger box version - but according to some Info out there in the web it should be very close to the original (can't compare it as I haven't got a vintage one, but it's sounds great to my ears...). Well, I'll watch out for an original one some time... cheers

[atthebottomofyourcup]

Well it could be normal for the pedal you bought. Not everybody knows how to build a Tonebender. There is a bit of work or if you get it right first time it's a luck of the draw. I have spent 8 or so years with the fuzz and making many other pedals. I have found a few great circuit designs and the gear that works great with it . The big secret. If the pedal is a good one you have to have the other gear to go with it.

[FrankM993]

hey man but it's for whole lotta love?

[sixbladeknife44]

Sounds great! Have you compared this one to the Fulltone Soulbender?

[blondegraemey]

No, I've never tried one. G

[clanger]

Nice demo and cool sound. I have an original one from the previous year and looks to be almost the same inside. Are they germanium diodes? I could not find any specific info and the components are unmarked.

[blondegraemey]

The circuit has one (unmarked) germanium diode and three germanium transistors. G

[clanger]

Cheers for the info.

[JoeyHawk]

Hey Graeme, do you know of any in-production clones of this particular Tone Bender? I love the sound!

[blondegraemey]

The best is by the JMI company. They sell the metal case Mk1 but only in very limited numbers. You will have to be quick. G

[JoeyHawk]

Wow, that one's quite a bit of cash! I've been trying to figure out which clones are clones of this particular Tone Bender you have... I've found the MJM 3 Knob Brit Bender, which sounds very nice, and I've also been looking at some D*A*M pedals. Is the Tone Bender in this demo a MKI, MKII, or MKIII? Just so I know what to look for as far as clones go. Thanks for introducing me to this great type of fuzz by the way, I really dig the sound. :)

[blondegraemey]

This is the MK3. DAM pedals are brilliant boxes, highly recomended! G

[allan4425]

Great box! Sounds better with single coils.

[plxplxkthx]

@allan4425 all fuzz does c:

[allan4425]

Howdy, @plxplxkthx,

it may not probably general rule, Maestro (FZ-1A and FZ-1S) sounds very nice with humbuckers, also Peter Cornish G-2 sounds great with all pickups.

But Vox Tonebender sounds great ONLY with single coils:)

[cariboufudge]

I tried to build the two knob clone of this from one of those build your own clone kits but mine doesn't clean up nearly as well as this one. When I turn down my guitar's volume, it gets this horrible sound like the gate is too high or something. I have to pick hard to get any sound out of it and when it comes out it sounds like each note just shrivels up and dies. It doesn't sound the least bit natural. Any idea what the problem might be and how I can fix it?

[blondegraemey]

Sound like the transistors are not correctly biased, or they have been installed backwards ie: q1 where q2 should be and vice versa. Also, you may have the pin-out wrong. G

[copilottheband]

the Solasound 3 knob tonebender in this video and the MKII Tonebender that you built are different circuits. :)

yours is designed to be rude and everything crude. it's delicious.

[ytrikoz1982]

Please tell me a differ between dirstortion and fuzz pedals? Some times fuzz sounds like dist or i'm wrong?

[cariboufudge]

fuzz tends to be more compressed and usually has more sustain. More "squishy" sounding generally. There's a fine line though. Some pedals can be considered both depending on who you ask. Big muff is a good example of one of those pedals thats in between. Some call it fuzz, others call it distortion.

[scorpguitar79]

wow..when you turned that thing on my jaw dropped-thats the best sounding fuzz pedal that I have ever heard! Love the germanium diodes. Well played man-I love how your hair changes with each video.

[sirchuckypoo]

anybody know of a less expensive pedal that gets close to this sound?

[stratsnfuzz]

One of tonebender type fuzz clones will probably get you in the ballpark (ex. Fulltone Soul-bender).

[copilottheband]

build your own 3-knob tonebender. there's kits and schematics out there, if you look.

[allochthomas]

what a great sounding pedal!

[alterdcrash]

thatz a really nice fuzz you have there.

[kidderminsterbro]

great demo.

after 35 years and it still sounds and works great.

my favorite fuzz.

peace,

rich

[palmz51]

Great Stuff!!! you really did this pedal justice with ur playing! I just made a DIY version of this using matched transistors from smallbear and it sounds great!!