TONEBENDER MKIII - Vintage Doom Fuzz Machine
TONEBENDER MKIII
Hand-built Zero Fret style
These are for serious tone nerds only.
Each pedal has its own distinct character, built around desirable vintage germanium transistors, hand-selected for gain, leakage, and noise performance.
TRANSISTOR OPTIONS
GREEN
AC125 / AC128 / OC44K
BLUE
AC125 / AC128 / GT320B
(Extremely rare Russian military-spec germanium)
RED
AC125 / 2SB56 / MP16B
(Russian military-spec 2N404 equivalent)
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I’ve built a number of Tone Benders now, and everything I’ve learned on my germanium journey has been applied to this batch.
Circuit refinements
• The original backwards tone control has been corrected, so it now works the right way around.
• Standard Tone Benders tend to go ice-pick sharp far too quickly.
I’ve adjusted the pot taper to give a much wider, more usable sweep in the darker low-end range — perfect for doom.
The highs are still there, but now live right at the end of the control.
• The resistor linking the tone control to the output has been completely omitted (as DAM also does), resulting in significantly more output volume.
These small but deliberate changes, combined with modern electrolytic values, give you a unique take on the classic Tone Bender — not just another vintage clone.
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Build details
• WIMA and JB capacitors throughout
• Custom PCB designed specifically for this run
(Laid out to resemble wide-pitch vintage vero and follows the original layout)
• Alpha potentiometers and footswitch
• Fully screened cable to prevent long runs acting as antennas — deadly silent at idle
• Neutrik jacks
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This batch is strictly for players who care about proper fuzz tone and build quality.
Each pedal is built, boxed, and ready to ship worldwide with FREE SHIPPING.
🤘🏻🖤
DEMO:
Talking about the subtle differences between the three units: