DeMarco Electronics Klonebender II

The Klonebender III has instantly become my number one fuzz/distortion pedal. The tone knob is a sweet addition and is quite sensitive. One bit I noticed straightaway was the absolute lack of hum or buzz. Only when I pushed the Fuzz control to maximum did I have any peripheral sounds with which to deal. Dialing in a beautiful fuzz is difficult NOT to do.

This is -- I promise -- the first pedal with which I have been completely blown away by upon first plug-in. (I set Fuzz to 8 o'cloock, the Tone to about 9 o'clock and the Level/Volume to around 2 o'clock.) Brilliant, warm fuzz. No clatter or rumbling, simply smooth, fuzzy fuzz! I tried it first in a Fender solid-state, then my Fender "Woody" and my Vox AC30. Same song, second verse. It really proved itself to my ears its immediate worth. As I said, cranked all the way up the Fuzz contolr does cause a slight amount of hiss; however, it is accompanied by a sustain which is quite useful and singing. A trade-off of sorts, I guess, but with my Keeley Comp/Lim in front of it, sustain was quite easy to pull out at some of the lowest Fuzz settings. I really cannot say that it was too brash, too soft or too cuddly=fuzzy. I am definitely the third of the bears...it was just right. It does sound best with humbuckers.

Only owned for one week, but it is the proverbial tank. Nothing wimpy about this pedal.
I prefer using it with a battery but I asked him to put in an AC adapter for me just in case. Both work fine (esp the carbon-based battery which comes with it as alkylline tend to make some of my analogue pedals "hissy."
He is very easy to work with as the pedal was being built/painted.

As above. He has been quite friendly and I do not anticipate problems...except an increase in price when this work gets more recogniton...which it will.

The Klonebender III is perfect for my styles of music: British Pop/Pop-Rock/a bit of 60's power rock. I am a fan now and would want to keep this pedal up and running always. If it disappeared, I would hunt one down. It has already worked its way into "my sound" along with my 80's Tube Screamer and my Line6 DM4. One word of caution: follow his advice about plugging it into "true bypass" pedals or you could give your listeners as well as yourself a bit of an ear-ache.
Otherwise, well-done. And, I am well chuffed to have this piece of kit in my arsenal!

I have two of these--one purchased in July 2005 and the other in October 2006. There are some sublte differences in the two, but both are very easy to use and sound just like they are supposed to: MKIIish.

Two knobs: attack (fuzz/gain) and volume (output volume). Turn them clockwise for more fuzz and/or volume; counterclockwise for less. Simple.

Both versions are true bypass. The 2006 version has a very bright LED, while the 2005 does not have an LED. It's easy to tell when the fuzz is ON, though.

2005 version cost $80.
2006 version cost $130.

Both KBIIs sound great. The 2005 model has a bit less overall gain than the 2006 model. Rick mentioned that he's using higher gain transistors and a different value resister in the output stage for higher gain.

Both units nail the MKII Jeff Beck/Jimmy Page sound. The fuzz is very articulate. Rolling back on the guitar volume will clean the KBII up a bit, but it's still a fuzz box.

The KBII is a bit picky about stacking boosts or ods into it, but it really sounds great running into an od.

I'm currently running the 2006 version into a homemade Supreaux od (officially licesned circuits kit). These two pedals with a Tele into a Fender Musicmaster Bass amp sound amazing. It is lo-fi greasy, raunchy, sick tone heaven!

I've gone through a lot of fuzzes, and this is one of my faves, hence two in the house.

These boxes are very well made. Inside, the layout is clean and the workmanship is top quality. The 2005 version did cut out on me (a bad tranny), but Rick fixed it quickly and at no charge. I have no lingering worries over reliablility.

Rick has been great to deal with. Each pedal is made-to-order, and his turnaround time has been under a month. When the first KBII died, he was very gracious and took the time to diagnose the deeper issue. At first he suspected a switch failure, but after replacing the switch, he found it still wasn't behaving. A bit more investigation revealed a bad transistor. He kept me up to date as he worked on the pedal, and no charge on the return shipping. A great and friendly builder.

I play garage blues and live on fuzz. This pedal nails the late 60s-early 70s Tonebender sound (Yardbirds, Zep, Mick Ronson Ziggy Stardust, etc.), and is a quality build. It sounds great with my Tele and MMB, and while I still have a Big Muff on the board for a different flavor of fuzz, the KBII fills the slot for warm classic fuzz. The addition of an LED on the 2006 version is nice, since I run all of my fuzzes through one loop of a true bypass switcher--the LED makes it easy to know which fuzz will come on when I his the FUZZ BUTTON on the looper. I love this pedal, and have no qualms recommending it to players looking for the early Zep sound.

Very easy to use, the pedal is built with lightwieght aluminum chassis and painted with a hi-gloss hammertone grey paint (just like the original Vox Tone Benders). The Klonebender II has two chicken-head knobs, one to adjust Attack and one to adjust Volume. The switch is also true-bypass which makes it very convenient for those savy about integral guitar and amplifier tone.

Before I describe the sound quality, I'd like to depict the arrangement of my guitar setup:

2005 Fender Standard Telecaster (modded with Texas Custom Shop Hi-output pickups)-->Dunlop Crybaby w/Fasel RI(soon to be replaced with a Vox wah)-->DeMarco KlonebenderII (mine was custom-printed as Tone Bender Professional MkII)-->Vox AC30CC.

As anyone will tell you, the Telecaster has a fragile ouput nature and breaks up real easliy with a distortion device, however, I modded my Telecaster with copper shielding within the electronic cavities and a copper shield to reduce hum and increase integral sustain. Once you work out the settings on your amp and on your guitar, you can get a nice vintage bluesy, acid-rock, type sound with the KBII. There is also an internal trim-pot inside where you can adjust the waveclipping of the device from smooth square wave (think Jefferson airplane or Iggy Pop) to more aggressive, thin sounding saw-waves (like Yard Birds, eary Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, or Iron Butterlfy). As far as having a versatile fuzz, and as far as being close to an original ToneBender MkII, it nails that vintage 60s, bluesy, aggressive, psychedelic, acidic sound very well. I love it! All I need to do is practice some more and continue to learn with the proper adjustings in order to refine certain wavclipping via the controls on the pedal, guitar, and amp in order to achive the "right" sound or "sweetspot". I only rate the DeMarco Klonebender II a 9 just because I play it with a Feneder Telecaster and the tone breaks a little too early with some hiss because of the nature of hi-output single coil pickups; HOWEVER, under the right conditions and adjustments, this breakup becomes very smooth and desireable to me and I become addicted to it! (results may vary on which guitar you have: Les Paul, Strat, etc.) So just experiment until you hit the "sweetspot".

Personally, I think the pedal is very reliable becuase it was carefuly constructed and hand-made with quality analog components (just open up the bottom and look how nicley those capacitors, resistors, and capacitors are soldered to the circuitboard, awesome). Although this pedal is lightwieght due to its aluminum chassis, its's just as sturdy as some other pedals that use steel chassis. I think that this pedal will last a long time with proper care. I am not afraid to use this pedal at gigs. Excellent job Rick, you know how to win a musician's heart! :-)

I really think that Rick DeMarco sure has good taste in authenticity and sound, and most of all quality. I have heard that he provides a one-year warrantee on all pedals that he sells, I've yet to learn more about it though. Overall, I think that Rick is more than willing to help his customers with any issues that should arise with his products, and he makes sure that his customers are happy and satisfied. Should any issue arise, even after the 1-year warrantee has expired, I'll still be compelled to ask Rick for advise and help. Upon request of ordering or purchasing the Klone Bender II, you can ask Rick to custom build your pedal; e.g. paint clolour, word printing/labeling, etc. and I think that's great! Wow! How cool is that? Awesome!!!

I normally play various forms of rock (classic, avante-arge, some jazz, blues, and some post rock). Lately I've been learning classical guitar at school. This pedal suits my playing styles and needs perfectly because it has that vintage 60s fuzz-distortion sound (which I like very much), and nails it very well. You won't be dissapointed! If you love that vintage smooth, creamy, buttery, chainsaw, buzzy, bluesy fuzz distortion, and you don't want to spend a fortune on Coloursound reissues or vintage Vox ones, this is quite a steal. It's the real deal! Don't hesistate, get it! You won't regret it!

It's real easy to get a good sound out of. Real easy to operate. It didn't come with a manual but any dweeb can figure it out. Anyway Rick is always reponds your emails!

I have used with my American Stratocaster with Texas Specials and with my both Les Paul Standards (DC & Singlecut). This pedal does give that vintage Yardbirds and early Zepplin guitar fuzz tones.The KLONEBEDER II uses germanium transistors, yet is quite happy in line The sound is inspiring! (Be warned - true to its "just like the original roots" its also quite noisy...) I still rate the sound a 10, though, because I think that the noise sometimes is a necessary compromise to getting the TONE. (Kind of like using a turntable as instead of CDs - which I also do!)
At low Attack settings, the tone is quite midrangey and fat - like "You Shook Me" off the first Led Zep album. At higher Attack settings, the sound is like the Mick Ronson "Ziggy Stardust" tone - rich in harmonics, quite aggressive, yet still musical. With the Attack on full this sucker gets totally raw (and quite noisy) - behaving like a blusey sounding Fuzz Face - except that it can take the signal from a humbucking pick-up without choking on it (something that a Fuzz Face tends to do - of course that pedal was designed for Jimi's Strat...). My effects set up consist of: MXR Dyna Comp-HAO Rust Driver-Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive-Demarco Electronics Klonebender II-Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe-MXR Phase 90 (with R28 mod)-EHX Small Clone-Demarco Electronics T-Booster

Just bought it - built like a tank!! Also the builder gives you warranty!!

The are hand made one at a time by Rick DeMarco in PA - check it out : http://stores.ebay.com/DeMarco-Electronics_W0QQssPageNameZviQ3asibQ3astoreviewQQtZkm

THIS PEDAL ROCKS!