Tone-Bender Clones or the original?

[popvulture]

Soul Benders are indeed pretty great--I used to have one of the big box NKT275 ones but traded it. Got an awesome script Phase 100 in its stead but still wish I had both

[Eivind August]

Had the Fulltone Soul Bender back in the day, which was pretty neat. Think that's a mk III? Fat tones that could be subdued by volume knobbage.

But really, the Blackout FUBAR is the only one that oscillates to my knowledge, and as such is the only viable alternative.

The Fubar is basically a hot rodded fuzzbear, right? Owned one for a short while. Bought it thinking it was a tone-bender clone capable of some oscillation trickery. Sold it cause it was an oscillation trickery box capable of gimmicking a tone-bender. Barely gimmicking that is, it took carefull tweaking to find one particular setting, and it wasn't exactly the bees knees among tone-bender clones imo.

As a more temperamental fuzz it rules though, it's just not what I was looking for

I dunno man, if you don't starve it, it's a pretty straight up Bender. The oscillation is basically engaged by one knob, if you leave that one alone, it's just a TB. The knobs are sensitive, with loads of available sounds, which to me means that it is versatile. As for how well it mimicks a vintage TB, I wouldn't know, not having tried one of the originals, but it was definitely in the same ballpark as the Soul Bender (maybe a little less gain?).

[ck3]

I don't know if the Clusterfuzz has any Tone Bender pedigree. That'd be a question for culturejam. It's a versatile fuzz, but I wouldn't say it gets rude.

Tonebender variant or not, mine sounds pretty rude and hairy to me if the 8 bit knob is beyond 12:15 or so.

Enchanter Effects (founded by a man some call ... Tim) is a local CT builder who produces affordable Tonebender MKII clones and posts his wares on Reverb. I have one of his pre-production germanium models. The build quality is solid, and he informed me his production units contain higher quality components.

[popvulture]

This guy's got a MkII as well:

http://toetagselectronics.com/project/toe-bender-fuzz/

Haven't played that particular offering, but I REALLY like his EF1 (Bosstone clone) and am kinda pissed at myself for not buying one yet.

[frigid midget]

Had the Fulltone Soul Bender back in the day, which was pretty neat. Think that's a mk III? Fat tones that could be subdued by volume knobbage.

But really, the Blackout FUBAR is the only one that oscillates to my knowledge, and as such is the only viable alternative.

The Fubar is basically a hot rodded fuzzbear, right? Owned one for a short while. Bought it thinking it was a tone-bender clone capable of some oscillation trickery. Sold it cause it was an oscillation trickery box capable of gimmicking a tone-bender. Barely gimmicking that is, it took carefull tweaking to find one particular setting, and it wasn't exactly the bees knees among tone-bender clones imo.

As a more temperamental fuzz it rules though, it's just not what I was looking for

I dunno man, if you don't starve it, it's a pretty straight up Bender. The oscillation is basically engaged by one knob, if you leave that one alone, it's just a TB. The knobs are sensitive, with loads of available sounds, which to me means that it is versatile. As for how well it mimicks a vintage TB, I wouldn't know, not having tried one of the originals, but it was definitely in the same ballpark as the Soul Bender (maybe a little less gain?).

I see. My own experience with 'real' tone-bender style fuzzes is extremely limited, so I'm probably not qualified to judge how good thid or that pedal mimmicks a tb

What bugged me the most about the tone-bender settings on the Fuzzbear...There's not a whole lot of gain/saturation on tap
I guess in that regard I wished it was *less* vintage correct

[rustywire]

I've tried a handful. They can and do vary greatly, even between the same revisions...depending on which transistors are used and who builds it.
There are over a half dozen versions to explore. Professional MK II being the most popular, from my estimation.

D*A*M makes Pro MK2s for Sola Sound, so those are what I would consider original without being vintage in the full sense. They do use vintage parts but weren't assembled decades ago. They fetch a premium but whew lad, you can see & hear the care that was taken in their construction & tuning. Others I've tried do come close, if I were to quantify it, most well-built clones will get you 90% there (Solas being 100). Then there are the similar ballpark builders who come closest: Castledine, Pigdog, Jerms & Skinpimp. They're on par with the Solas, maybe 1 or 2 percentage points behind...if that. They're all exceptional, not cheap in any sense. Well worth it for studio use & critical listening applications, they're nuanced and responsive in the best kind of ways.

I would recommend starting on the inexpensive side & trading up, to see if the upgrades make much of a meaningful difference to you. They hold value and/or appreciate like true 20th century vintage examples...so the likelihood of getting stuck with a pricy pedal no one wants is all but nonexistent. Good luck


PS: I, too personally avoid JMI/BPC and that's that

[Confuzzled]

Ok, so if you you all don't mind me asking, what is the lure about the original tone-bender sound? why is it copied so much? ease of circuit? The classic sound? Why the appeal that has brought on so many clones over the years? Admittedly I do like (for some odd reason) the original housing though I don't think it would fit on my board and the input and output being reversed bugs me...

But what is the appeal? What made the original sound so great?

[rustywire]

You cant really lump Tonebenders under the catch-all original Tonebender sound as it can & does vary. I don't have the answers, Sway. Try plugging those questions into a search engine and doing some research for the answers you seek.

[Confuzzled]

You cant really lump Tonebenders under the catch-all original Tonebender sound as it can & does vary. I don't have the answers, Sway. Try plugging those questions into a search engine and doing some research for the answers you seek.

I have, and though the lineage is understandable I'm still not getting what the allure is to make so many clones and variations.

[Chankgeez]

I think it's like any classic pedal circuit, it's been used to make a lot of music and therefore people are interested.

Before the internet, some of these pedals were really difficult to find. Now the originals are just really expensive.

For somebody who doesn't necessarily want to spend that kinda money and/or can't afford one, a clone and/or variation is a good alternative.

I'm someone who appreciates vintage stuff, but I'm not a purist. I'll try a newly built pedal if it sounds good to my ears.

[Confuzzled]

I think it's like any classic pedal circuit, it's been used to make a lot of music and therefore people are interested.

Before the internet, some of these pedals were really difficult to find. Now the originals are just really expensive.

For somebody who doesn't necessarily want to spend that kinda money and/or can't afford one, a clone and/or variation is a good alternative.

I'm someone who appreciates vintage stuff, but I'm not a purist. I'll try a newly built pedal if it sounds good to my ears.

agreed. i like that they're still putting out the same old design after all these years in the UK. Even that big ass enclosure, i just find it odd that they haven't updated it more considering the competition from all of the boutique builders making clones and improvements on the circuit.

[Pete]

I compile lists of different groupings of pedals when I'm doing pedal research, so I might as well share my list of Tone Bender-style pedals I know about:


-Analogman Sun Bender
-BearFoot FX Arctic White Fuzz (sonic hybrid of tone bender and fuzz face-like sounds)
-Big Knob Pedals Tone Blender
-Big Knob Pedals Colour Jumbo
-Blackout Effectors Fubar
-Blackout Effectors Fuzz Bear
-BlueTree FX Color Fuzz Tone Bender
-Catalinbread Katzenkonig ("best elements of a Tonebender with a Rat")
-Creepy Fingers Magnabender
-Creepy Fingers Magnabender Mk. II
-Creepy Fingers MK 1. Tonebender
-Creepy Fingers MK 1.5 Magnabender
-Creepy Fingers MK II Supabender
-Creepy Fingers Mostratono
-Devi Ever Ruby
-Earthquaker Devices Tone Reaper
-Fulltone Soul-Bender
-Gooch FX Trendbender
-Gooch FX Gilgameish (gain of a Tonebender and "bloom" and openness of a Fuzz Face)
-Gooch FX Rambo (combines the sound of the Ram's Head Big Muff and Colorsound Jumbo Tonebender into one pedal)
-JHS Firefly Fuzz
-JHS Bun Runner (right side-heavily modified Tonebender)
-Lovepedal Bonetender
-Maxon FW10 Fuzz Elements-Wind
-MJM Guitar FX Britbender
-MJM Guitar FX Britbender (Authentic Vintage Series)
-Plum Crazy FX Moan Sender Mk1
-Plum Crazy FX King Rasp
-Skinpimp FX Skin Bender MKI
-Skinpimp FX Skin Bender MKII
-Skinpimp FX Skin Bender MKIII
-Solid Gold FX Rosie
-Stomp Under Foot Dirty Rooster
-Stomp Under Foot Supa Dirty Rooster ("based on the Jumbo Tone Bender with a very different clipping section that gives
a better crunchy Fuzz that is usable throughout the knob from low gain crunch to all out monster fuzz")
-Tomkat Bender
-Wilson Effects Fuzz




And probably a shit-ton more, some of which have probably been mentioned in this thread.

Can someone tell me what the whole "mk1", "mk11" etc. thing means? I've always wondered about that.

[friendship]

You cant really lump Tonebenders under the catch-all original Tonebender sound as it can & does vary. I don't have the answers, Sway. Try plugging those questions into a search engine and doing some research for the answers you seek.

I have, and though the lineage is understandable I'm still not getting what the allure is to make so many clones and variations.

At risk of the obvious, the allure is probably for people who like that sound. I don't, I had an original Vox Tone Bender and I didn't like it at all. I've heard clips of the Mk 1.5 version that sounded kind of cool but everything else I've heard and played sounds dull to me. So the proliferation of clones for it has been bewildering to me, but I guess a lot of people like that tone.

[agiant]

I compile lists of different groupings of pedals when I'm doing pedal research, so I might as well share my list of Tone Bender-style pedals I know about:


-Analogman Sun Bender
-BearFoot FX Arctic White Fuzz (sonic hybrid of tone bender and fuzz face-like sounds)
-Big Knob Pedals Tone Blender
-Big Knob Pedals Colour Jumbo
-Blackout Effectors Fubar
-Blackout Effectors Fuzz Bear
-BlueTree FX Color Fuzz Tone Bender
-Catalinbread Katzenkonig ("best elements of a Tonebender with a Rat")
-Creepy Fingers Magnabender
-Creepy Fingers Magnabender Mk. II
-Creepy Fingers MK 1. Tonebender
-Creepy Fingers MK 1.5 Magnabender
-Creepy Fingers MK II Supabender
-Creepy Fingers Mostratono
-Devi Ever Ruby
-Earthquaker Devices Tone Reaper
-Fulltone Soul-Bender
-Gooch FX Trendbender
-Gooch FX Gilgameish (gain of a Tonebender and "bloom" and openness of a Fuzz Face)
-Gooch FX Rambo (combines the sound of the Ram's Head Big Muff and Colorsound Jumbo Tonebender into one pedal)
-JHS Firefly Fuzz
-JHS Bun Runner (right side-heavily modified Tonebender)
-Lovepedal Bonetender
-Maxon FW10 Fuzz Elements-Wind
-MJM Guitar FX Britbender
-MJM Guitar FX Britbender (Authentic Vintage Series)
-Plum Crazy FX Moan Sender Mk1
-Plum Crazy FX King Rasp
-Skinpimp FX Skin Bender MKI
-Skinpimp FX Skin Bender MKII
-Skinpimp FX Skin Bender MKIII
-Solid Gold FX Rosie
-Stomp Under Foot Dirty Rooster
-Stomp Under Foot Supa Dirty Rooster ("based on the Jumbo Tone Bender with a very different clipping section that gives
a better crunchy Fuzz that is usable throughout the knob from low gain crunch to all out monster fuzz")
-Tomkat Bender
-Wilson Effects Fuzz




And probably a shit-ton more, some of which have probably been mentioned in this thread.

Can someone tell me what the whole "mk1", "mk11" etc. thing means? I've always wondered about that.

I've just traded my Keeley Time Machine Booster for a Klinger Custom Pedals Chroma Zone Fuzz, a tone bender clone made in Australia, it's on its way!

http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/klinger/chromazone

Mk means "mark", for versioning. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_(designation)

[Ghost Hip]

I have had the Fulltone Soul Bender and an early bigger enclosure Earthquaker Tone Reaper. both sounded pretty similar to each other and I also loved how simple to use they were. I am no expert on tone benders but what I think makes them great is how straight ahead they are. Super easy to dial in, they don't get buried in the mix, and they sound great whether you have them fuzzed out, dialed back, bright, or dark. I overlooked them for a long time due to how watered down the market is with variants and clones, but I will not make that mistake again.