Twilight Bender MK3

The smoother, more saturated tone bender version, much more in line with modern fuzz sounds.

The tonebender series are the best circuits I have had the pleasure of encountering and working with in my life (personal opinion). I constantly plug these in for pure joy. I always enjoy every second with them until they become yours.

These tone benders ROAR and are all unique in their own ways! No two builds come out the same, and that is the beauty of them.

Used in the late 60s and 70s to get that heavy rock and roll roar out of an amplifier, notably used by Mick Ronson, Daniel Ash, and many, many more.

Sola Sound introduced the MK3 around 68-69, but the circuit was sold and branded under many names. Often many of these were built with inconsistent parts, using whatever was available, leading each unit to have its own sound.

the construction process

to build a serious tone bender is a true, commitment and to me, a ritualistic undertaking.

No playing around or settling for mediocrity whatsoever.

Each pedal is constructed with the highest quality modern components I am able to source. For resistors, I only use modern production parts, caps generally are a mix of modern and NOS, with each build varying.

You can not simply throw any transistor set into the circuit and call it a day. 

Each build has the transistors live auditioned on the exact circuit board it is going to live in. It takes time to find the right group of transistors.

VARIANT NOTES

Raw aluminum full GE- I feel, this is my favorite MK3 I have built to date. It is by far the loudest, without the need for any extra amplification aside from the 3 germanium transistors, this has PLENTY of extra volume to amplify your amp into its own drive.

This one came out particularly unique- the bloom on it is just insane. Don't know what bloom means? think of it like a flower, you hit the strings hard, the note compresses, then blooms into its full, rich body. It is controlled via your pick attack, and you can reduce the bloom by dialing the guitars volume down, effectively making your guitars volume knob a sort of compression control.

This one is smooth too. I threw an overdrive into it and it was the smoothest, straight cream fuzz ive ever heard.

Vintage Bar Case- this version is a modern recreation of actual vintage units. It is not a 1:1 clone, but uses a reproduction phenolic circuitboard with thick copper traces, and a vintage reproduction bar enclosure. It has been modded for an LED indicator, and an external DC jack for external power usage. This germanium fuzz also- can be daisy chained, as it features an onboard voltage inverter to feed the reverse polarity transistors. It also is able to be powered via battery and features a battery holder. Lastly, the JFET boost mod is available via a toggle switch that allows for either OG (boost bypass) or boost engage, for a more powerful sound and volume amplification, as the stock circuit is not inherently loud, and max volume is practically unity volume.