MJM Guitar Effects Britbender

this is a follow up from some time back. i saw the comment about the 3 control versus the 2 control brit bender. the 2 control has alot more gain than the 3 control. it is brighter sounding. the 3 control may not sustain quite as long either. to counter the brighter 2 control brit bender when using humbuckers (or single coils too), just use your guitar's tone control. if your guitar's tone control doesn't taper well, just look into another type of capacitor(sprague?)to get your guitar to adjust.

mjm has plenty of versatility with his pedals. you can't go wrong with any of his fuzz's. i like the 2 control brit bender & the london germanium fuzz. and the 60's vibe is awesome. wonder if he'll try making a wah pedal. i should check his site to see.

built to be used over & over. i have older pedals of his--the big boxes. i like his new look with his pedals, but my old ones are great.

always answers emails quick. A+ rating here. he is the company.

he builds great effects. no discussion needed. made to be played.

way simple
always sounds good

perfect, over the top, wooly and fuzzy, lots of bite. ripping speaker tones

looks solid

mjm is great at returning emails and very helpful

amazing!
I owned other similar pedals and this is so open and saturated.
love it!!!

it's the perfect balls out fuzz -so easy to use.
2 knobs and it sounds great at all fuzz/boost levels. only thing to keep a heads up on is the requirement for a negative-ground power supply -if you don't want to use a battery. but that is the nature of this circuit.

perfect! so fuzzy! lots of snarl and spit and growl. loads of bite but still so very warm sounding. very balanced eq. great classic rock sounds. excellent for soloing, and also excellent for chording. tracking gets a bit wonky/hairy on the bottom end, but that's the point -it sounds so cool. this unit makes no apologies for being a fuzz.
the britbender sounds very British of course, but it also works great through a fender twin reverb. the louder i turn up my amp the better the britbender sounds.

looks solid.
inside looks super clean with simple circuitry.

talked to michael -he was always quick to respond to emails and really seems passionate about gear.

i play loud rock. the britbender is a killer addition to my sound. been playing 15 years. to me this is way better then the soulbender by fulltone. the soulbender was smoother. but this unit is fuzzier and more inspiring.
i would replace this unit if it were stolen.
great value -mjm uses top quality components.

Just plug it in and go! Works great with fender twin, marshal , and just about every other amp I've tried. No manual came with it, but none is really needed.

really bright fuzz, really nails the 60's Yardbirds tone, much more so than the prescriptions electronics yardbox, at least IMO. Has a really fat tone with humbuckers, but despite what MJM's site info, it works just fine with either humbuckers or single coil. No need for the two knob version, the three is way more versatile. My previous fuzz pedal was a BOSS and the MJM Britbender makes that sound like a cheap piece of sh*t.

No problems whatsoever, I am sure I could throw the thing out the window and it would still work just fine.

no need, but when I called to order the guy I spoke with was very helpful and informative. He advised me to go with the 3 knob version over the two knob, despite me telling him I mainly play a les paul. I had some worries because the website advised using the two knob version with humbuckers. However his advise proved true, couldn't be happier.

very easy to find a fuzz level. makes single coils real fat, not buzzy. humbuckers work well too. when keeping the fuzz setting low with humbuckers, it sort of sounds like a heavy overdrive.

this was the fuzz i was looking for. no knocks on other fuzz's, but this thing is fat, ripping, cutting, spitting in the way i wanted a fuzz to sound. the sound clips on his site are good, because i got what i was listening to. i actually think it goes beyond pages dazed & confused sound, which i think this effect is modeled after. this effect is clear--you will stand out with a big sound with it.

hand built, my impression is that mjm cares about his products. for what you pay, it is built well. he is easy to communicate with.

easy guy to talk to. i feel i got a great effect. listen to the sound clips on his site, they are good. he makes many effects.

think mississippi queen sound. but fresher, works well with the amp. not fizzy or buzzy. fat, popping notes. i like it better than the fulltone effects. fulltone's fuzz's are good, just not what i was looking for. where some fuzz's can hide a pickups color, this fuzz for me lets the pickup do its job--you can still sense it's feel with your picking.

This thing is easy. Nuff said. The adapter socket is a plus.

It is quiet when disengaged, and it sounds long and warm when engaged, tones seem to last forever and pulsate in a really nice way. Using it with a custom strat with 57 humbuckers and it just sounds awesome. ..dude

This thing is like a tank, its just a big metal box, which i love, just a box full of fire and brimstone.

I havent contacted them, have had no need, but their site is easy to navigate and informative, if I had to I'd probably get ahold of them quickly.

I got it for real cheap, and i'd pay more for it but the store owners that sold it to me dont know anything about anything, and frankly they'd ripped me off before so I thought I should rip them off at least once. I think they thought it wasnt worth much, seeing as it wasnt a name brand pedal. Works for me.

There is a knob for level (volume) and a knob for fuzz (amount of gain) - very simple. This is the Britbender Original, not to be confused with the three knob Britbender which has a tone control.

I have an Epiphone SG, Squire Telecaster, Peavey Supreme XL head, and Peavey 412 XXL cab. I wanted to get Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck tones from the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin and that's what I got, dead on! This is modeled after the Sola Sound Pro MKII, which many British artists used, so I am sure sure you can get those too (Pete Townshend, Keith Richards, George Hariison etc.). I have also tried this with a Fender Standard Stratocaster and even though this isn't the MJM London Fuzz (though still made with Germainium transistors), I got a decent Jimmy Hendrix sound.
At high gain settings there is noise, but the original Tone Bender was never sublte. I have a Dunlop Classic Crybaby Wah and the Britbender sounds great with that too, however at high gain settings, the sound can start to break up when sweeping the wah. It's probably the wah because when engaged there is a small signal boost which can be remedied by turning the guitar volume down. Also sounds great with some amplifier overdrive.
More than one sound can be achieved with this pedal, but basically one has a high gain, medium gain, and low gain sound. I wanted a searing, ripping lead tone from my favorite guitarists as listed above and that's what I got.

I have had it about six months and have not used it a show. However, it seems to be built solidly. It is housed in a hard metal case, so it's probably tough. Also MJM guarantees his work.

I have e-mailed Michael Milcetic a few times and he responded the next day with detailed answers. As the other reviewers stated, Michael goes out of his way to help you get the sound you're looking for. He earns every dollar.

I have been playing for a few years now and like the Yardbirds, Led zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, early Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Santana, Jeff Beck, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. If this was lost or stolen I would definitely buy another. It is worth every penny. The pedal does exactly what it is supposed to while still letting one sound like oneself.
I think the price paid was absolutely acceptable. It is a vintage/"boutique" product, but not outrageuosly expensive like some other similar products. Before I bought it, I read reviews and listened to several sound samples of it and the Tone Bender versions of different producers. I found this to be the best and I believe that is what I got.
Because of my satisfaction with the Britbender Original, I have just bought an MJM Foxey Fuzz (Michael Milcetic's version of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi), which I am sure will be awesome as well.

Mine has two knobs for fuzz and volume. #50 and its a beauty!

Monster fuzz with a Les Paul into a Marshall amp! Ive retired this pedal because its TOO good! Other pedals Ive retired (the ultimate compliment I can pay) are the Maxon 820 Overdrive, Blues Pearl Blue Screamer, Austone Fuzz Nutz and Banzai Cold Fusion. Those pedals are simply too good to use when I can break them out as NOS (new old stock) in about 20 years! In the ,eanwhile I use the Rocktron Sonic Glory Overdrive, Maxon OD 808, Prescription RX Overdriver (new white paint version with better switch!), Roger Mayer Axis and Spitfire fuzzes, Vintage Rat, Austone Millenium Overdrive, DOD 250 Overdrive and Fulltone Soulbender!

Nice build.

Good.

Worth the money. Im a blues-er. I wail on lead guitar- my idols are Roy Buchanan, Johnny Winter, Clapton, Hendrix, Frampton, and Larry Coryell.

Very simple. Two knobs, one level one attack (fuzz).

I am playing a 1958 historical LP Standard and "real" 1963 Tele into this and then into either a Dr. Z Route 66 into a 4x12 pre-Rola Marshall cab, a Maz 18Jr w/ 2x10, or a old 1968 50w Plexi into the 4x12.

Fuzz is very aggresive and there is perhaps not as much range as there could be. With attack turned completely counterclock-wise (off) there is still a ton of gain. Works best with the Tele into the Maz 18. Dead on Led Zep I with the gain backed all the way off and bridge P/U rolled off a bit. Also gets Beck's Yardbird's tone. This is NOT the pedal to cop Wheels of Fire or the JBG Truth though. That would be Fulltone's Soulbender + the LP into the bigger amps with treble or bass P/U rolled to about 6-7. The Britbender is far too intense and spitty for this (you have to roll off to about 3 on a LP to clean it up enough, even at its minimal setting, to get it into Clapton or Beck range. Perhaps the 3-knob version of this has that potential as well.

Does it clean up well? Yes and no. It is a bit too saturated at the minumum setting, but does have a very nice range of colors at all points as you back off guitar volume.

Only had it for 2 weeks.

I emailed the maker and he was very prompt and friendly. His response to the "over the top" question: that the 2 knob Sola Sound Tonebender pedal was never subtle. Fair enough.

It is what it is. If you've got an old rosewood neck Tele and the right amp, this will get you into early Zep territory right away. If the idea is to overdrive your LP like later Cream or early Beck, the three knob version is the better bet.

2 knobs, very simple and intuitive. It is hard to get a bad sound out of it...every setting is great.

Used with a variety of Gibsons and Fenders into Marshall, Vox, Fender and Matchless amps. This fuzz has made me sell all of my fulltones and other boutiques.

Uses the highest quality period correct components, including NOS Ge transistors. Assembly quality is very very good. I would be very surprised if there were ever a problem with it.

Michael is as nice and supportive as they come. I will be buying more of his pedals, because the tone and reliability is as good as they come, and his customer support is unparalleled.

You will not find a better sounding fuzz, or a nicer guy than Michael. Many have said they are not happy with the cosmetics of MJM pedals....I personally think they are sort of cool. Plus, when a product sounds this good and is this reliable, who cares what it freakin' looks like? This isn't a fashion show!

Simple pedal - it has just TWO knobs for attack (fuzz) and volume, a high quality switch to turn the effect on or off, an a/c adaptor input, 9 volt battery clip, input and output jacks. True bypass switching also.

This is an exact recreation of the heavy fuzz used in the mid to late 1960's by the British rockers. Les Paul or Tele into a Marshall amp is standard operating procedure for this pedal. No one else makes this pedal except MJM since Dick Denny of Colorsound has died, and Fuller only makes the later 3-knob version (early 1970's -Soulbender).
A 3-knob version with a tone control is also made by MJM.

Built very well, very solid.

Pleasant fellow up in Canada makes these pedals by hand, uses top shelf high quality parts, and builds pedals that look and sound great! His electronics have a pretty good vibe to them. Musictoyz.com and 30th Street Guitars in NYC (where I bought mine) carry his pedals.

Worth every penny since the Colorsound version sold for alot more money than this MJM pedal. This pedal is pretty raucous sounding, with aggressive tones that are heavy but still smooth and musical, fat and complex.
If you want more versatilty for playing chords and rhythm, then the 3-knob version with the tone control is the way to go since the 3-knob version is a little more tame, but if its pure unadulterated lead guitar you are after, if you want a box that you can step on to deliver authentic over the top tone lead tones, look no further. This is a traditional fuzz that uses 3 germanium transistors, its not an IC op-amp overdrive. Best way to use this pedal is to set your amp clean and loud to the point where the speakers break up if you strike the guitar strings hard- at that point when you step on this pedal it will overdrive your amp and smooth out the rough edges, giving you a musical tone. This pedal, this exact version will become a collectors item in the future as the entire analog technology, especially the use of Ge transistors, becomes obsolete in the face of digital modeling devices. Im all for analog and am stocking up on the best pedals currently available, which include the Maxon OD-808, Reverend Drivetrain, Banzai Cold Fusion, Austone Millenium Overdrive, and the Roger Mayer Spitfire and Axis fuzz pedals.

Ummm, gee? can it be any simpler to use? input-output-level-attack
seems simple enough for me.

Ahhh! now for the goodies. this pedal is AWESOME! for all the gain on tap it remains remarkably quiet. in fact, this pedal has way more gain than i'll ever need or most likely use - but the tone is SWEET!
for my particular setup(all Marshall - JTM45/50wt.Plexi/SL-X ...my three amigos!) i use the Brit primarily with the JTM45. this pedal allows me to work with my amp at lower volumes while maintaining great
tone! i have found that i have to really roll back on the guitars volume to make it work for me - it's just to blistering a pedal at full up. the sonic-print of the fuzz is definately old school ala Page/Beck ..... and with the help of my Marshall it throws me back some 25/30 years to when tone was tone boys and not all the oversaturated mush it has become with todays mosh-pits! this pedal grinds very nice and smoothly with it's fangs at an instant with the tweak of a volume knob. this pedal rocks but you got to know your stuff and have the feel for using something like this. if you just want to make rude over-da-top gritty-distorto tone ..... this pedal will do that for you too. but really now, this pedal is way better than to be used in that manner. this is a players pedal .... for those who are refined and know tone/feel/breath to a note. you can make one hell of a loud noise with this thing and drive people away -
or, you can make it sing baby if you have the soul for it. this pedal
is a keeper and sure to be an all time favorite by mature/disciplined
players.

Built very sturdy. I dig the hand craftmanship that went into this thing and the selection of components used - this revealed somebody's care and maturity as a player and as one who knows how to get to the end result.

N/A

I've been playing 25 years easily - i know gear and i know tone. this pedal lets me revisit my younger days as a teen learning all the
Led Zep i could handle and everything else that was early '70s. i always held a bias against fuzz pedals because i never really had one like those of my heros - what i could get my hands on was too far inferior .... so i wouldn't use'm. i really dig the thoughtfulness that went into the choosing of parts (carbon comp resistors, polycaps,
germanium transistor, etc,) this pedal was designed to deliver an authentic flashback in fuzz usage - it delivers the goods and then some! in short, a must have pedal for old schoolers who know taste, tone, and feel.

Two knobs, one for Fuzz attack and the other for level. Pretty darn easy. No LED.

I play a Les Paul or an old 67 reissue Stratocaster through a myriad of boxes into a Budda Stringmaster 4X10. I usually more of an overdrive guy, but I love this little box. It's great for fat, full lead tones. Roll back you guitars volume and it cleans up well. I have no problems nailing my own takes on Allman Brothers and Page tones. I also found like the way it interacts with humbuckers more than single coils. It doesn't sound bad with singles, it's that just it sounds GREAT with humbuckers. Very violinish. I heard a live recording of Jessica and was looking for something that had those kinds of tones in it. This does it for me. It's not very noisy at all, for a fuzz anyway.

I have had it for about 1 month, and don't own a backup. Looks like a solid piece of craftsmenship. Nice gold hammertone paint job on a very reliable looking case.

Here's the thing. I ordered it from www.musictoyz.com and it didn't come with a manual, or any papers except for my sales receipt. I have no idea how to contact Mike. I heard he is great about customer service, but I may never know. I tried searching for a site on the web and didn't find anything. I don't think I will need any help judging from the product, but it would be nice to have some contact info just in case.

I play any kind of rock music, and I dabble in blues. I think any rock solo that needs a fat smooth tone could benefit from this pedal. I've been playing about 9 years (I'm only 22) and this one of the best fuzz boxes I've heard. I have tried a few Fulltone boxes (Soulbender, 69, and 70), and this is way more pleasant sounding to my ears. I have never found a Fulltone box I liked anyway. I would buy it again if anything were to happen to it. The price isn't that bad either. Compared to some other crap selling for much more. Although it doesn't have an LED, it doesn't need one. You can tell when it's on by the great sound you are making. I don't think I'll take off a point over the manual/papers issue. It's no big deal. Maybe Mike or someone else will read this and let me know how to contact him. He builds awesome pedals either way. Gotta give em a 10.

Very easy to use. I was getting great sounds out of this pedal the moment I plugged in! I have the two-knob version, where the attack knob controls the intensity of the fuzz, and the level knob controls the signal volume output. There is a three-knob version of this pedal which has a tone control, but I chose this model because it is a sonic clone of the pedal Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck used in the late 1960's.

Sounds very intense- the attack knob varies the amount of fuzz from moderate to heavy. If you set the attack knob to minimum, and back off your guitar's volume control the sound cleans up nicely. The sound cleans up less dramatically at higher attack (fuzz) settings, but that is to be expected considering the huge amount of gain. This pedal is not noisy- I get no extra noise using my Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Marshall AVT 50 watt combo.
This pedal sounds tremendous- the lead guitar tones are searing hot, fat, sweet and smooth, with lots of sustain, not too much compression or mid-range boosting, a very well-balanced tone overall. I have the orange Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz and this MJM Britbender sounds better when I patched them up together and compared the two pedals. With chords and lead solos the Britbender sounded better than the Axis Fuzz. Chords ring clear enough to be used with the Britbender, much better sounding than my old Big Muff. The sound of my string bending and vibrato above the 10th fret was stunning. One of my friends said instantly that I sounded like Jimmy Page from the double live Led Zep album. This is the sound of the best 1960's fuzz units that were ever produced. I can easily get Hendrix and Allman Brothers tones as well as that punchy Jimmy Page/Led Zep sound. This Britbender has a lot of volume output and can be used to slam the pre-amp section of your amp and help push your amp's front end into overdriving. I have only tried this pedal out using my amp's clean channel, and it sounds awesome that way, but I suspect that if I lower this pedal's attack knob I can also use it to overdrive my amp's lead distortion channel.

This pedal is made from the finest components, the best switches and jacks, and should last a lifetime if you dont abuse your equipment. The on/off switch looks very good, very reliable.

Excellent- responds to e-mail questions within a day or two.

This is one of the best boutique fuzzes available, along with the Austone Textone and Roger Mayer Spitfire. I have been playing blues/rock for 20 years and have fallen in love with this pedal very quickly. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it immediately. This Britbender is better than the Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz, and most other fuzz pedals. I have retired my old original vintage Electro Harmonix Big Muff because its a piece of crap compared to this Britbender pedal.
The Britbender is not expensive considering that drummers spend 200 dollars on a single cymbal, and this pedal sounds alot better than their cymbal. I have analyzed all the fuzz pedals that are available from the 75 or so effects pedal manufacturers that exist, and have concluded that the pedals I listed above are among the very best available. To put my money where my mouth is I bought each of the pedals that I mentioned, and am completely satisfied with all of my purchases. Peace.