Vox Tone Bender Fuzz Pedal

This is the early 1990 model with the AC128 transistors.Thats one reason they all sound a little different The gain varies on AC128.2 knobs, in-out.but you have to find your tone.The amp and guitar you use ect.You gotta find it so I will give it a 8

It took me a while to find out how great it sounds,I have been useinf it with a old Telecaster and a 100 watt Marshall.It nails that vintage Jeff Beck Yardbyrds tone with a little digital reverb.I can also get a good Stones tone.At first I thought it was ****.It took me a few hrs before I got it

Just keep it out of direct sunlight and heat IT's a TANK

Anyone can fix this thing but VOX

I have played for ever.Ilike it alot Some may sound a little better than others like ALL Fuzz Face's

when i first got it, and plugged it in on it's own, i wasn't all that impressed, and after playing around with it in all different positions and settings i still wasn't thrilled. at first it sounded trebly hard to EQ with the rest of my rig and harsh but then.....

what i eventually discovered was that... is sounded F'ing FANTASTIC when used with a class A tube amp w / vox (true bypass) wah in front - then compressor - then THE VOX tone bender FUZZ - THEN EQ !! then AMP!!! I have since sold my beloved russian big muff AND my Maxon OD808 ... i dont need em anymore. however proceed w caution - because if it weren't for my setup... in other words by itself it tended to sound like a blown speaker. so this rating is in light of how it fit in -! ALSO it should be noted i thought it sounds best with my P90 equipped Git. I think i'd rather have an actual fuzz face for the strat but i since i dont own one i can't say for sure.

theres not a DC option and... when i opened it up to change the battery (6 screws ugh!) there wasn't too much goin on inside it's a very simple and small circut, very similar to the Fuzz Face i'm told and "analogman" said he can mod this to fuzz face specs, but the way it sounds now i wouldn't change anything (now that it's tamed). I'd rather get a dunlop fuzz face modded by him. ALSO I couldn't get confirmation from VOX but I think it's true bypass if it's not, it doesn't suck any of my tone. it appears to be reliable not much to go wrong.

I emailed vox and asked them for some info (is it true bypass)... they never returned my email, oh well. there web site says the pedal was made from 1993 untill recently i was wondering what year recently was, never found out.

i don't want to brag but my amp is class A and sounds great clean or overdriven with VOX wah and EQ boosted by itself but i was looking for a pedal to give me that extra channel for distortion/fuzz (some cream but no mud) i've tried the DS-1(not enough cream), russian Big Muff(warm too much mud) pretty good together, Ts9/Maxon 808 (OK but not FUZZY just OD) and some in combination all were decent, but NOW... i've since sold ALL those other pedals on ebay, as i said at the top i still have my VOX wah (has some overdrive to it) and a compressor then THE VOX TONE BENDER then EQ then phaser then chorus and with my P90 retro-fit pickup my CLASS A amp and setup the VOX TONE BENDER is conditionally a 10 - every setup is different your milage may vary.

Although it only has two knobs, it took me a while to figure out that to adjust the fuzz level, it really depended on the volume knob on the guitar. I bought it used so I didn't have a manual

This is the best sounding fuzz under 100 dollars, no contest. It's a TRUE fuzz. It sounds ballsy and it's something that you can really groove with.

I'm not so sure about this. Since it doesn't have an LED indicator, sometimes I forget to shut it off and it loses a lot of power. I'd have a back up, for a gig.

Bought it used. I don't know how to contact the company if it broke.

I love this fuzz because it sounds really vintage and it does its job. adds a quality that no other fuzz under 100 dollars can give... it just sounds real and in-your-face, unlike so many digital fuzzes these days...

2 knobs... on / off. ummmmmm......

more of a vintage sound. can cut back on the gain for more of a classic od sound. not as gritty or heavy as a rat or muff(i have both), but it's really "clear" (for lack of a better word) and cuts through no problem.
a solid 10.

hard metal casing. no issues. however, you have to take the pedal apart to put the battery in(no power supply out on this )

they take a couple of days to answer, but i've dealt with them in the past. this pedal has been discontinued, so i'm not sure what the status of this would be.

it's got the tone of a much more expensive pedal....if you're looking for more of a sorta "grunge" or heavy fuzz, get a rat. but, this is damned good.

Very simple re-issue (or ball-park remake, at least) of a '60s Vox fuzzbox. Two controls, "Attack" which contols the level of fuzz, and "Level" which controls the volume. This unit would probably have been manufactured sometime in the mid-1990's at a time when Vox was going through something of a revival and getting in tune with the classic tone of its products that most people associate with.

When I think of '60s fuzz, I think of Davie Allen, The Seeds, The Stooges and all those other wild Pebbles-style garage bands. That's the vibe that I'm looking for with fuzzboxes and this does not disappoint in that regard.

Although I have several guitars, the one which really brings this box to life is my Danelectro U2 re-issue (does a more magical sounding guitar exist?) which I plug into a Vox Cambridge 30R, no other effects. On the bridge pickup, psychotic lysergic high-times and '60s biker movie tracks rise to the surface while with both pickups on together (remember the Dano series wiring makes 'em louder and heavier) a warm and strong late-60s blues tone comes out.

The Vox Tonebender pushes up the treble somewhat, but that's no bad thing. I would describe the sound generally as rough and abrasive though it lacks that kind of sizzling quality that I have heard in other fuzzboxes. VERY touch responsive although I didn't care too much for settings other than Attack set at full. It had that "ripped-speaker" sound which I found somewhat unappealing. This unit works best as a full-on fuzz.

I've owned it for about 8 months now so too earlier to tell.

I've dealt with Vox(UK) in the past over a different product and they really were extraordinarily helpful even though I was unremmittingly hostile towards them. I had a broken-down amp which they actually came to my house to collect, fixed it and then returned it by courier. I doubt that you'd get that level of service from FMIC.

I wouldn't say it's the perfect fuzzbox and it does have a missing quality that I can't quite put my finger on. As I stated earlier, it just doesn't have that sizzle that you hear on many '60s garage recordings but on the other hand, it does have an abrasiveness that is mucho attractive without the crunch of, say, a Fuzzface that I never really liked. And it will do the 60s fuzz thang with authenticity.

For anyone seeking to recreate the 60s psych vibe, I don't think you can really go wrong with one of these. They give a great tone and although out of production now, you can still find 'em on Ebay. So get bidding!

The V829 model. A black metal box slanted towards the front with just the on/off footswitch on the up facing panel. The top side panel has output, Level knob, Attack knob, input. Easy to use but subtle, really very subtle. With just the two dials you can spend an innordinate ammount of time twiddling and listening. If you like that sort of thing.

I'm using mine with single coil guitars (Hagstrom futurama, Fender Strat XII) > Vox Tonebender > Crowther Hotcake > Marshall 2098 > 2 x Celestion vintage 30's in parallel at 4 Ohms. Yes. True bypass this, which is what you want. I don't know whether it's just mine but it's pretty trebly, quite noticibly so. This could just be down to the variation in transistors, some a brighter than others. For the first year of owning this pedal I thought I'd made a big mistake and that it sounded utter shed. But now I utterly love it. It breaks up in a really scuzzy way and sounds TOTALy 60's, like. Geeeorgeous through a valve amp (my friend had this tiny little valve thing made out of an old radio and it was just the business through that. Used it for recording.)

Hmm not so sure about the quality. The on/off switch seems a bit rubbish (certainly compared with the Hotcake which has a very very nice on/off switch I can tell you) and there have been times when it seems to work intermitantly. Sometimes it takes a press or two to get the thing kick started, which is obviously not a good sign. Other than that though it's robust. The paint chips off easily, which I like. The only other quibble is that you have to unscrew 6 screws to open this fella up and change the battery. And they don't fit very well so the threads are going to go after a bit. Not good.

never had to deal with them.

I play psychadelic trance and mad stuff. It's crap for modern metal/hardcore etc cos it sounds like the 60's are here again. But for everything else it's the tops. Probably way too expensive but then I haven't seen many around. No 9v plug!?
The sound can be utterly lovely. It's a FUZZ and it's GERMANIUM CHarged. If you like Fuzz, it being different from distortion or overdrive, then this works a treat. I used to have a Boss fuzz pedal which was utter rubbish. This is the real thing. Probably not as good as the very best but good. Pick one up second hand. Do some mods too it (ie get good transistors - see http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm).
I recommend.

two knobs, fuzz and level, input and output jacks and a footswitch

I have several other pedals: a DOD overdrive 250, an old EH Screaming tree treble booster, DOD FX 65 chorus, Dunlop Crybaby and Rotovibe. I play through my original that I have to this day 1971 Fender Bandmaster (my coming home from Vietnam gift from mom and dad)loaded with Celestion vintage 30's and a Marshall reissue Bluesbreaker. I use my original 1976 Les Paul Standard and a reissue 1957 Fender Strat. The Vox pedal works good and gives me that ratty, shredded speaker, fuzztone like the Yardbirds / Vanilla Fudge/ Frigid Pink sound, especially with single coil pickups

I bought it as new from a ma and pop music store that was going out of business. It sat in a music store display case for years. other than shelf wear and age, it works great and seems to be fairly rugged. I don't play in bands anymore just jam with my grandkids and my sons so I don't worry.

never dealt with Vox, but I'm sure it's out of warranty due to it's age

I started playing in the early 60's so i have been through virtually all guitar music genre. I like to play a lot of the psychedelic stuff from the 60's so I use the pedal for that. It gives a real nice overdrive sound when chords are played, sort of a Deep Purple/ Black Sabbath sound. I looked at other fuzz pedals and after playing it and seeing the price compared to the new stuff it was a good purchase. I would almost compare it to one of the Big Muff pedals that I bought in 1972 as far as quality.

Your basic fuzz. Two knobs.

At the right setting, it is great, but if you run it through a over drive that would make it sound even better. Higher pitch than the other fuzzes I have, but a great pedal to combine with other pedals. My is not the original, it is the V829. Must have for all FUZZ LOVERS. LOVE THAT TRUE BYPASS.
Setup: 73'Stratocaster/w 79'PUs(I get better tone with these flat poles(strange but true))===> Colorsound FuzzBox===> Diaz Texas Square Face===> Vox TB===> Keeley DS-1 Ultra Seeing Eye===> Zvex Octane2===> Fulldrive2 S-FY===> Guyatone MD3===> Gibson Atlas 56' 80watt Head===> Carvin 12"x4 cab

BUILT LIKE A TANK, with a very smoooooth and light button:)

ITS ALL GOOD.

The Tonebender, as most of you know, is a very basic early effect. The model reviewed her isan original mid 60's grey model.

2 inputs: input/output and 2 knobs: attack, which controls the amount of fuzz, and level, which controls the volume of the unit.

I primarily use this effect with my single coil guitars, a Mosrite Ventures model and a Danelectro combined with either a Fender silverface Twin or a small Fender Bullet. One very important note: I have found that this fuzz effect works better than the Maestro Fuzztone on single coil guitars, as the signal is stronger. The Fuzztone, I have personally found, works nicely with guitars w/ humbuckers.
The fuzz sound can be described as somewhat similar to a Fuzzrite, as far as pure fuzz raspyness goes. It is a little less abrasive and a little more bassy. I was impressed with how it handles soloing on all notes, low and high. If you are trying for a Yardbirds or fuzzed out garage/psych sound this is one way to go. It has a fuller, more dynamic sound than the Fuzzrite, but it's a toss-up as to which I prefer, as the Fuzzrite is a very unique cool sound as well.
This unit, because of its sturdy construction and simple circuitry, has survived very well. There are no problems with the sound as far as noise - it sounds exactly as it should.

I haven't had it for long, but I would predict, with proper handling, this unit will provide much reliablity. I would even gig with it - it's just that sturdy looking. It is very old, so who knows, but the components are pretty heavy duty and the transistors last indefinitely. I would keep a tight leash on it however, as these early models in this quality are difficult to locate.

I purchased this effect from Future Music in Hollywood. They were very helpful and accommodated my testing the effect for a long time with their amps and guitars as well as my amps and guitars. I had previously purchased an original Fuzztone, which they let me return, no problems, and exchange for the Tonebender, which was more expensive.

I play surf and garage types of sounds and the Tonebender is a welcome addition to my arsenal. It is very important to me to reproduce the sounds and vibe that I hear on records from that period as faithfully as possible. I have been playing for about 20 years and wish I had bought one of these a long time ago!

Im not going to restate things other reviews have said , so i'll just expand alittle from my own knowledge: Its very easy to use , not as easy as a Boss pedal , but what is! The sound not only comes from the pedal , but the player, the set up , everything . Through a clean set up , it was a perfect distortion. On bordum, I tried to attain a Peter Yorn mild distortion , like Noel Gallagher uses w/ his Epiphone Sharetons (I think Yorn uses a few of thm , maybe Casinos?)


Any how , for those sounds, this isnt your pedal . use a mild distortion (ds 1 , ds2 , blues driver , or a lightly adjusted fuzz)
This pedal, in my opinon is #1 in what its designed to do. balls out fuzz!

Very ! I however, left this pedals as i do with all my effects, in specialty fitted boxes to hold the pedal , but with the sides cut with holes just big enough to conect it to other pedals, with the front plate cut out to step on it , so i dont needa back up , and i cant find one it seems =( (I'll pay up to 140 for oe ,if your selling)

easy
i will work for your sound straight away or it wont.

With a good valve amp -AWESOME!
I've been hunting down an early two knob70's model(has tone bender in 70's typeface)for ages.I have owned a late 60's jen tone bender-but this one just creams it.
This must be the model Mick Ronson used because it has mick's wonderful raspy quality to it.When i kick this thing in ,it pushes my whole sound into sonic mayhem.Unlike the other reviews i dont find that it slices your head off.
Combine this pedal witha good wah and your in ziggy stardust heaven.UNREAL!

i hope i can depend on it

Before you try or buy-ask yourself what do i want this for?
I like this fuzz because its sound is somewhere on the brink of mayhem-BRING IT ON.
I play space rock-so for me-
The 70's vox tonebender is a classic.

easy, attack on 10 level to taste

was a 1, now a 10. i bought the reissue used, it stunk. i had a matched pair of germanium transistors from small bear elctronics and snt the pedal and germs. to alfonso hermida, ahermida@erols.com. he put them in the pedal and it is now my favorite fuzz pedal(although) i am waiting for his fuzz wah with his hybrid germqnium/silicon fuzz). this tonebender sounds so cool and aggressive like doyle bramhall II and charlie sexton on the arc angel cd, which has the coolest fuzz tone sounds. the fuzz is fat but with a edge, but not too ice picky, perfect!!

yes.

don't know about vox, but alfonso hermida is the best ahermida@erols.com

i wish i could find another to have alfonso mod as well, this fuzz sounds like my fulltone soulbender but is nastier!!!

Two easy knobs... level and attack turn untill it's ok, shoudln't take long really... it's a fuzz afterall!

Using it with a tele thinline and also a H-S-H Ibanez configuration. It's a bit noisy but all fuzz are in their on right. To me this fuzz is quite usable... and musical if you like fuzz and find one of these cheap get it. It's great on slightly overdriven sound adds something nothing else provides. On its own don't expect it to be an heavy metal toy... this is a re-issue of a 60-70's fuzz so expect just that type of sound.

As far as backup is concern I don't buy 2 of each thing I have I'd rather have diversity.... I looked inside the box and the switch is probably the first thing that's gonna go bad, but that's easy to replace and the same goes for any of the parts inside... fuzz are relatively simple circuit the only thing voodoo about them is teh transistor pair... in this case germaniums.

Never dealt with them but they care about their history and are proud of their gear so I'd hope they care as much for their customer if ever in need for help.

i play mostly rock and blues, but I also play anything I fancy, I don't limit myself to anything particuliarly. Been playing for 10+yr, gear I own is online at http://www.angelfire.com/pq/glorbz/BunkerStudio.html If stolen or lost would look for it, since I don't use this all the time I wouldn't be in an hury to find one... but since lots of people hate those I might not have to look for a long time! I love the way it reacts to dynamic playing, and it behaves well on slight overdriven sound, also gives you more highs if you need/want some it's neat... What I hate and find stoopid is that it's not true bypass but has the dpdt switch to be so... no big deal I'll mod it to be! Some people would like this unit to have a led, but hey it's a fuzz if you don't know it's on you need a new set of ears! It's a nice thing to have around to add a diferent flavor, I find this one to be better than what I expected from reading the posts here... wich is a thing to remember always trust your ears and don't overlook any pedal because someone didn't like it... be your own judge.

In theory, its very simple, two knobs: Volume and Attack. Getting it gel well with your gear is another story. I am giving it a five becuase, it is easy to get a good sound out of it, it does take a lot of tweaking to get it to sound great..

It is a very picky fuzz thats for sure.. Definatly made for single coil pick ups, ass the output from my Les Paul Special with P-90's has the tendany to goose the imput. Placement in my set up is important too, it sounds fine when put after my TS-9, but if its put before it, its output drops, which i'm still trying to figure out. Also It took me a good week of eq twiddling to get a good tone out of it, and still have good clean sound, as this box piles on the treble, so clean it made my tone rather muddy. After the fact it sounds fine in my rig.

i cant see it breaking, as there is not much in there to break, I have used it with out back up and will continue to do so.

no clue.

Very much a 60's sounding fuzz, noisy, buzzy, and enough treble to send ice picks through your ears, just what you need from a fuzz box. For the price i got it for I am more than happy with it, you have to love discontinued models.

This is the original fuzz box I bought in 1966 for $35 Canadian.

In '66 I used a Tele. Got the great Satisfaction and Psychotic Reaction sounds. Back off the volume it became a great treble booster.

Wanted to return it because it wore out the battery too soon. The man at the store was only gonna give me $25 so I kept it. Never any problems even after 34 years. Now use a wall wart to power it.

Never knew it was there!

Hey, it's a fuzz box! Recent prices for the original Tonebender are over $200 - it's not for sale.

really easy to use, but you must be subtle with it. two knobs just start from 0 and tweak away

I use this with an old fifties tweed Fender champ, and sometimes a fender vibrolux reverb, with an old fifties jazzmaster. It is noisy, but you have to adjust the fequency.It has the sixties sound but what I do is is turn the gain and volume up to ten, then I back off my volume just a touch. This helps tremendously in controlling the fuzz! I like to let it warm up with a battery before I play. It could be a little less noisy, but hey it a FUZZ BOX!!

This is a reissue, and it has never given me a problem.

I have not had to call vox

This is a good fuzz that has been around forever. The original tonebenders are pretty pricey and pretty heavy. It does cut out alot of the low tones of your playing, but as a specific "sound", I think it is pretty accurate to those early guitar sounds of Hendrix, Clapton and Page.

I bought this thing before I knew much about fuzz pedals and soon realized how bad it sounded compared to a good fuzz. The fuzz seemed to roll off in buzzy glops with absolutely no musical tone. Fortunately, I found out that the many versions of the tone bender are identical or very similar to the original Fuzz Face. I had some Germanium 2N527 transistors that I had used in a home made Fuzz Face. After I took out the stock transistors and replaced them with the new ones, this piece of garbage became the best pedal I have. Now it sounds just like a good fuzz face with the screechy harmonic sustain and the subtle picking sound you hear when you hit the strings.

No problems, but the metal case is flimsy

I got ripped off when I bought this thing, I wouldn't pay more than $80 or $90 dollars for one now. You can get the transistors at www.eden.com/~keen for $5/pair. I would not order anything this guy has on back order, the retards he has handling his distribution are sure to loose your order. Also, beware that unlike silicon components, you have to be carefull when soldering germanium components. If you apply too much heat, they can be ruined. You should clamp the lead with needle nose pliers when soldering to dissipate the heat. Just heat the solder, stick the lead through the hole and let the joint cool; it's not difficult.

Two knobs, attack and level, attack is the amount of distortion, level is the output level. It's easy.

Tried it with a Fender Bassman and a PRS but it sounded awful. The guy in the shop went straight to the shelf for another one. It sounded awful too. We though it just didn't match the amp so we tried it with a Marshall JCM600 combo and it still sounded awful. Okay, so maybe it's me and I just didn't have the settings right but I tried all the pickups on the guitar, volume, treble, the settings on the pedal and the amp and nothing made it sound nice. Other people in the shop were even looking at us with horrified expressions - okay that could have been my playing. The only thing that I can think of is that the particular shipment of pedals had been sitting around with their batteries in for a while and weren't getting enough power. I will try this pedal again and ab it with something else but at the moment it gets a real thumbs down. I'll give it a 4/10 just for sounding like distressed machinery.

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Pretty Damn Simple. IF YOU DON'T GET IT, YOU ARE RETARDED!!!!

Cheesy, trebly disrortion on a clean channel. Makes your clean channel sound like a crappy $20 amp. Ok with distortion, as it adds a bit of raunchiness to the sound. Not very Fuzzy. More like buzzy or fizzy. Mine is actually a friends, but he hasn't paid me the money I lent to him for it yet, so I have it. Since its a used reissue (I'm assuming its a reissue), it may be that just mine is screwed up. My friend says he loves it, but I don't care for it. Ratings: 5 on clean channel, 7 on distortion channel.

Seems pretty sturdy.

Never dealt with 'em. Since it's used, I have no idea how to contact Vox. Doesn't seem like you'd need it anyway

An okay pedal, but it depends on your other equipment and your own personal tastes. Like I said, I bought it used, so mine might be screwed up. Trust your own ears and go try it out if you're interesed in it.

Hmm..... volume and attack. you figure it out.

Oh boy. When you have the attack all the way up, and your using it with a tube amp with the preamp cranked to the max, it has some of the greatest distortion you've ever heard. Not the greatest as the only source of distortion but exellent with overdrive behind it.

oh yeah. I think the germanium transistors increase the life of the battery, there is no ac adapter plug, but you really dont need it.

This box is absolutely fantastic. If you have a tube amp, buy it. If you dont, get a zoom driver, or a sovtek mig 100 tube head. I would definately buy it again, I just wish I had an older one.

This things sounds totally GEAR!!!! Only 2 knobs, volume and attack. Attack is mostly a tone control. The tone is really trebley and harsh but gets smoother when you turn your tone control down. Gets classic sixties fuzz sounds, kinda near the Beatles "Revolution" "Let it Be" solo, "I,Me,Mine" sounds. Also a neat trick. If you unplug the cable from the input jack the thing turns into an oscillator thing, sorta pseudo theremin but you gotta touch it. Turn the attack knob to vary the pitch manually. Sonic Youth fans take note.

Kinda noisy but it is old and it is FUZZ. A lot of you will probably not like it but fuzz fans will definately.

Since it's old and uses germanium transistors that wear out I wouldn't depend on it totally. I'd get a reissue for a backup.

There are loads of places that can repair old simple fuzzes like this so I'm not too worried.

Fuzz freaks will dig it. A lot of high end,(call it the 1000Lb Bee). Not a lot of gain, about the same amount as a Fuzz Face. I hear people like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton used these in the Yardbirds but I cant' reply since I'm not too familiar with the Yardbirds stuff. I was watching my copy of David Bowie's video "Ziggy Stardust the Motion Picture" and they shot Mick Ronson's foot on his wah wah and next to the wah was a Tone Bender. So imagine Mick Ronson's lead and feedback sound, he also used a Marshall and a Les Paul. I havn't played a reissue so I don't know if they sound the same or not.