Aang

Aang

Today we have a classical fuzz: the Solasound Tonebender MKII. Next to the Fuzz Face this is one of the most iconic fuzzes out there. I personally don’t like its sound too much, for me it is too harsh and ear piercing, but many guitarists swear by it. It should be in any fuzz collections, so it is worth to build yourself one.

It is ye good ole’ Fuzz Face architecture with an added input gain stage. It is built with PNP Ge transistors, so it requires a -9V power rail. To get that I have added an ICL7660S-based circuit. You can leave that part off if you don’t intend to use it with the same power supply as your standard +9V effects. The last gain stage’s bias can be set with a trimmer, I usually set it by ear. As usual with Fuzz Face derivatives, its sound heavily depends on the transistors you use. If you don’t have a larger stock at home to choose from, I’d recommend buying a matched set from one of the pedal parts shops. The build documentation can be found under the Projects menu.