A copy of the Colorsound Tonebender MKII PNP (three transistors 2 knobs)
http://buildyourownclone.com/bender.html
How Hard was it?
About a 5 on a scale from one to 10. Just like the other BYOC that I reviewed, the case is already drilled, the directions tell you which resistors to use by their color code, and all you have to do is plug the part in cut the legs off and solder. If you have ever soldered before, you can do this. That being said, I had some problems with this one. I had to change one of the resistors to get the proper bias. It's included with the kit, but it took some brains to figure out what was wrong. I am sure there are some mods that I can do to this to tweak it too, which I will probably start doing soon. You will need a voltmeter for this one.
What's cool about it?
It completely screams. Really. It screams. There is an Attack knob that affects picking dynamics. When turned up all the way you can hear a more definite "chunk" as you hit the strings and it's really easy to lose control of (screaming feed back). When turned down, it's easier to control and less spitty. At first I thought this knob was your average Fuzz control and that I had it wired wrong (at first listen this knob doesn't do a lot), then I figured out what it was from reading up on the MKII.
What sucks about it?
1. There is no FUZZ control. I know I labeled mine with a fuzz knob, but it's wrong. In the directions it says Fuzz, BUT IT"S NOT A FUZZ KNOB. It is an ATTACK knob. It controls the amount of pick attack that you hear, which is cool but you might miss being able to dial in another fuzz sound. The only way to turn the fuzz down is to lower the volume on your guitar, and it will NEVER get clean. With a really low input signal it just gets flat and fuzzy.
2. It's a one trick pony. It's a sweet trick, but it only knows that one trick.
3. Since it's PNP, it is Positive Ground and has to be used with it's own A/C adapter or batteries. No pedal boards here my friends.
How does it sound?
Best description I have found for the Tonebender is, "Raspy sounding fuzz that is aggressive on the top end" and that definitely fits with this clone. I was looking for something to replace my Fuzzface with my Jazzmaster and this did it. My Fuzzface gets really farty with my Jazzmaster, it's less fuzzy and more blubby. The MKII isn't woofy at all. It's like a Fuzzface married a Rangemaster and they had a baby. This unholy union spawned a baby without a tone or a fuzz knob, but it has a weird attack knob and it's mean. Really snappy.
How would I rate this project?
10 even with all it's quirks (uncompatable with pedal boards, no fuzz/tone knobs/ weird attack knob) it's still a kick ass pedal that I think is worth having. If you like mean fuzz that's not woofy that is.
