a Tonebender is a thing of beauty .....

[SG Std]

I have one of these around my house someplace. I'll have to dig it up. I also have a late Vox Tone Bender in the cast aluminum housing.

I remember reading about 'The Yardbox' in a guitar magazine back in the 90s--that it was designed to replicate the tones on Zeppelin`s first LP which is one of my personal 'Top 5 Greatest LPs' because of Page`s explosive playing on it. It did have the nice feature of having both the 'Fuzz' & 'Gain' controls, but it didn`t give me the ability to play like Jimmy Page--haha!

Edit: I was introduced to true guitar-centered 'rock music' in mid-1969; mainly Zeppelin`s first LP [4 months before LZ-2 was released], along w/ Cream`s DG & WoF, & Jeff Beck`s 'Truth'. Those 4 LPs & esp. Zeppelin's debut affected me profoundly, even today. I say all that also because I`ve been unfamiliar w/ Page`s history with the ToneBender, including w/ The Yardbirds & also why Led Zeppelin`s first LP will always be in my 'Top Five!'

 

[slammintone]

The thing about 3 tranny tone benders is that as you roll off guitar volume the tone gets brighter and brighter. Treble booster not required. Interestingly in the vid I noticed Page went into the wah first THEN the Tone bender. Personally I prefer it the other way around (buffered or not). Using a fuzz like this is not plug in and play - the interaction between your tone and volume knobs and the TB is huge. You really need to take time with them and figure them out. And once you do, a light bulb will go off in your brain and a myriad of familiar vintage tones will be available to you.

On another note, and how I landed on this thread, I picked up one of the infamous BPC Tone benders (OC81D) the other day. I have a nice stash of Mullard transistors (I've built some TBs in the past) and was planning on upgrading the pedal. After plugging it in though, I have to admit, it sounds way better than what many people are saying on the Internet.

I also had a BPC MKII like that which sounded perfect. Should never have sold it. The next two I bought more recently had badly mismatched transistors or something and sounded awful and noisy. I might try my luck for another BPC if the Acid Fuzz pedal I’ve been on the waiting list going on three yrs doesn’t show up soon.

 

[JLee]

The biggest issue with the British Pedal Company is that it is owned and operated by Justin and Richard Harrison, formerly of Music Ground on Denmark St.

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

I love pedals. People always relate Page, Hendrix tones to Marshall amps. I have read tons of threads where people go back and for over what Marshall you need to get that tone, but when in all reality the pedals were a bigger factor. I added a good link for checking out a variety of tone bender designs for those who have never been there before. Lot of other pedal designs too. Just do a search within the site for whatever tickles your fancy. I usually go about a quarter of the way into the videos to get past the warm up stage.

Perf and PCB Effects Layouts

This is a library of perfboard and single-sided PCB effect layouts for guitar and bass for pedal building enthusiasts.

effectslayouts.blogspot.com

 

[slammintone]

The biggest issue with the British Pedal Company is that it is owned and operated by Justin and Richard Harrison, formerly of Music Ground on Denmark St.

That’s no issue to me. As far as I’m concerned most of the attacks on BPC are just internet rumor spreading to try and damage a legitimate business. I’m sick of the damn cancel culture these days.

 

[JLee]

That’s no issue to me. As far as I’m concerned most of the attacks on BPC are just internet rumor spreading to try and damage a legitimate business. I’m sick of the damn cancel culture these days.

Cancel culture? lol. They were found guilty of producing and selling fake amps and guitars over the course of twenty years.

 

[F-Hole]

Cancel culture? lol. They were found guilty of producing and selling fake amps and guitars over the course of twenty years.

They did that too, but were actually found guilty of receiving stolen goods (guitars).

 

[slammintone]

Well then if that’s the case they suck. Just like their imitation Tonebenders.