1968 SolaSound Tonebender Professional MKII clone -- guitar effect Demo -- I built it

[searchin4music]

Pure Vintage Heaven! Awww Yeah Baby!

[RastafariPoet]

ZEPPELINNNNN

[Icequeenxxx]

Isn't this a BYOC ESV 2-knob Bender?

[wnorcott]

@Icequeenxxx I bought the bare BYOC circuit board and used all my own parts

[ureadmymind]

Hi,could someone answer this question who knows the answer.I bought a new Sola Sound Pro MK II Tone Bender from Colorsound that was made by them with D*A*M*.It's a exact replica/reissue,the original casing,everything.There is a clone of the same model that is made just by D*A*M* & it doesn't have the original casing.It's also used & it's selling for $800 on ebay.Is my pedal worth this much or more?I bought it for much less than $800.

[JaxMusicSupply]

I like it. Sounds like there are some octave harmonics coming in. Pretty cool.

[eggman6]

Sounds a bit shitty, and theres nothing special about the oc75, you could easily substitute any other germanium transistor and get an equally good, or maybe even better sound, since tolerances varied alot.

If your clip demonstrated what was so special about these transistors, we're not missing out, it really sounds awful.

Although i suspect the awfulness is probably down to something else, since silicone transistors dont sound bad at all in the right circuit.

[wnorcott]

Thank you Simon Colwell. LOL. Well, there is no accounting for taste.

[eggman6]

Ah, you're recording direct, thats never really going to work out amazingly good. I noticed you're using a BYOC kit, looks like they omit the 10nf capacitor to ground at the input which would help bleed off some of that treble.

[SP221177]

Hi!

Can you show me a demo with the fuzz level/attak at "zero"?

Thanks...

[wnorcott]

Hi,

thanks for listening.

I am sorry but I built this for my friend who lives in Taiwan. I no longer have the pedal.

Bill

[taygoo13]

i dont think he used it on the albums though

[taygoo13]

Did Page Use this live in the 60's

[wnorcott]

Yes, Page used it live on early Led Zepplin albums then later on he switched to the Tonebender Mk III which is the one that adds a tone control and has a softer fuzz tone.

Bill

[Juckey2008]

Yes, Mr. Iommis early sound is a mystery in many respects. I can only speculate and guess to how he got that super heavy sound. I have been trying to assemble the facts from interviews, photos and books.

[MrBingo9er]

@Juckey2008 if you listen to proguitarshops review of the big muff pi ri it sounds about identical to his early tone ...i think Iommi used a rangemaster treble booster on the first album ,didnt he ?, i know he used one but im not sure when he started

[Juckey2008]

Bill, Hello

I have been researching Tony Iommi's sound for many years and this is the first post that I have ever read that indicates Iommi used a Toneblender. Can you please inform us how you know this? Have you ever seen a photo or read this in an interview? The only reference that I could ever find about Tony Iommi using a fuzz pedal was an interview from the Gibson web site. It is still posted there. He said he used the Rotosound Fuzz.

[wnorcott]

Yeah he used it on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" album. it was in a very old Guitar Player magazine> I think he may have also used it on 1 song "Into The Void" from the Master of Reality album. Most of the time Iommi used a Rangemaster which I also built one of. I am surprised he said Rotosound fuzz because he used a Rotovibe (like a rotary speaker sound on an organ) pedal on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Are you sure it wasn't rotovibe?

He is a man of mystery that is for sure.

Bill

[JacoThe2nd]

Actually he used a Laney Klipp amp on Master of Reality, which are known for their fuzzy sound.

[garbeaj]

Dunlop Rotovibe came out in the early '90s...He must have used a Uni-Vibe...

[Al112987]

This sounds like a can of bees, not the smooth sustain I'd expect from a Tonebender, the high notes are especially fizzy, how did you record this?

[wnorcott]

Listen to the video responses (above) especially Greeny featuring SolaSound Tonebender Professional MKII -- I built it" and "Tonebender Blues Image -- blues instrumental -- SolaSound I built it" which is probably the sound you are looking for -- same pedal. When you build them yourself you can make it sound like more than 1 sound and this is a case of it. Like I said, listen my other Tonebender demos. I can get any sound I want out of mine. Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath used one too.

Bill

[wnorcott]

The technical reason it is really fuzzy on this recording and smooth sounding on all my other demos is that there is a "bias trimpot" in the circuit that adjusts the maximum amount of fuzz, and for this recording it was set very high. After this first demo I adjusted it so it sound more like Jimmy Page on the other recordings. You can adjust it any way you like.

Thanks for listening.

Bill

[Priole2000]

That's a cool direct tone. It reminds me of 'White Room' in a lot of ways. How does this baby sound through an amp? You should do a demo of that as well.

[wnorcott]

Thanks. I have recorded 3 Tonbender songs through an amp

1. Greeny featuring SolaSound Tonebender

Professional MKII -- I built it

2. Tribute to Mick Ronson -- glam rock guitar instrumental glitter

3. Tonebender Blues Image -- blues instrumental -- SolaSound I built it

Click on Video Responses section above make sure you type &fmt=18 on the end of the link to hear it in stereo. I always play better on a "song" than just riffing in a "demo" so please listen to these songs.

Bill

[Priole2000]

Cool. I will check those out. Thank you.

[ledzepplinisthebest]

did you get it off of that byoc website? And did you do any mods yourself or just did by the instructions if you got it of that website?

[deVonder]

Wow....I've been after this tone forever and have probably spent well over $600 trying to find it. Do you sell these pedals OR do you know where a guy could get one that sounds similar???

Thanks!

[Stratman78]

deVonder, Go to the Build Your Own Clone website and get the kit. It will be under "E.S.V. Two Knob Bender."

[robertgroove66]

hey Bill, that's some nasty fuzz tone!! different form my original Sola, way angrier!!

Rob

[wnorcott]

Hi Rob, I had the trimpot turned up near max on this demo, you can also listen to the video response Greeny with the Sola tamed quite a bit by adjusting trim more musical sounding.

Bill

[ledsabbath165]

Real Classic sound, nice!

[wnorcott]

Thanks man. I have the gain pretty high on this. I adjusted it a bit to lower the gain and recorded Peter Green's "Greeny" again a quick jam, anyway, this pedal sound real good when you turn down the volume and tone on the guitar. That is the trick. Listen to the other cut and see what I mean.

[wnorcott]

To listen in stereo type this at the end of the URL

&fmt=18

in other words the link in your web browswer should end with watch?v=mNFDneLXkUk&fmt=18