wood&nickel
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Super Electric Effects / Jimmy Behan Sola Sound Mark I Tone Bender
This is a ripping Mark I from the well-respected Irish fuzz maker - one of the better examples of this circuit that I have heard, a steal of a deal to boot! Purchased new from Super Electric on March 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JcV3W_KaA8
The Super Electric MkI is a re-creation of the Sola Sound MkI Tone Bender fuzz from the mid 60s.
It uses the stock MkI circuit, solidly built on vintage style wide pitch veroboard with 3 carefully selected germanium transistors.
The Attack control provides a good wide range from very gated sounds to full sustain. This unit uses a log taper for the Attack pot which provides a more gradual change across the range of the pot. The clean up is smooth while crackle and sizzle on the notes decay is kept to a minimum. Unlike some MkIs, the pedal is very low noise in operation, and captures that classic MkI sound perfectly.
Like the original, it is powered by a 9v battery only (not included) with no LED, and also features a handy battery on/off switch at the front to prevent battery drain without having to unplug the input jack.
This MKI leads with Japanese 2SB type transistors which are very stable germanium transistors in our climate. Most importantly, you know its tuned by the man himself (Jimmy Behan) It has that characteristics of gated mick ronson tones to more overdrive like sustain.
Great germanium goodness! In my opinion Super electric effect's best fuzz pedal! Believe me
Try to google for other opinions!
Condition is excellent!
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The UK fuzz box phenomenon began in 1965 when electronics engineer Gary Stewart Hurst designed an effects pedal called a Tone Bender. The first version of this Tone Bender is referred to as the Tone Bender MKI. The MKI was a three transistor circuit that was based upon the Gibson built Maestro Fuzz-tone that was modified by Hurst to produce more sustain than its American counter part. The story goes that guitar legend Vic Flick, the man responsible for the James Bond Theme, brought a Fuzz-tone (FZ-1) to Hurst and requested the sustain to be increased. The Tone Bender was one the first ever British made Fuzz box available to the public and sold for 14 guineas. It was housed in a folded steel chassis and finished in gold & black Hammerite paint with some of the very early units housed in a wooden and steel enclosure. The MKI was a three transistor circuit; no doubt about it but it was in no way similar to its three transistor successor, the Professional MKII. The MKI circuit was based upon the FZ-1 circuit as where many of the early fuzz boxes to arrive on the scene but had significant modifications that made for a much stronger and more powerful fuzz sound. Firstly was the fact it was able to use a 9 volt supply not 3 volts in the case of the FZ-1. This with the tweaking of certain resistor values gave the longer sustain time and also much more output volume. Jeff Beck's use of a MKI on tracks such as "Heartful of Soul". you can defiantly hear how the circuit has been refined and tuned from one pedal to the next. The MKI is classic Mick Ronson fuzz through and through. MKI when correctly dialled in has fierce amounts sustain with truly astounding clarity for such an old-designed device.
Being one of the first on the scene the MKI was obviously a big influence on what was to come. One of the more famous MKI influenced fuzz boxes and now almost as legendary as its golden cousin was the John Hornby Skewes Zonk Machine. A little more wacky in the graphics department, but not a heavy duty or robust as the MKI, the Zonk Machine was almost identical in its circuitry. Made between 1965 and 1966 in Leeds, England the Zonk Machine like the MKI was only made in small numbers before the pedal was updated with a more modern and easier to produce unit.
Excellent condition
Asking $200
Sms Nine 7 eight I 8 eight O 0
