Behringer Fuzz Bender

The Behringer Fuzz Bender is a fuzz pedal from Behringer, announced in November 2024 as an affordable take on the 1960s Tone Bender circuit¹. Behringer pitches it as a way to "recapture those classic rock tones that started a revolution in music with its all-analog circuit"². The control surface is deliberately simple: two chicken-head knobs, Level and Attack, plus a MOD switch and a chrome true bypass footswitch³⁴.

Behringer says the pedal covers a wide range, from "a nice tone with a bit of hair that responds to your pick attack, to a nice velvety sound that works great on single-coils or humbuckers," and that with the Attack knob maxed you get "a really aggressive fuzz sound that has a ton of sustain for all your Stoner Rock and Doom Metal needs"⁵.

The controls

The Fuzz Bender keeps the control layout of the original it honors: two knobs and a switch. Behringer describes the layout as "super-simple," with Level and Attack setting the output volume and the amount of fuzz⁵.

The MOD switch is the one modern addition. Behringer says it "toggles between the original circuit and a modified version with different harmonic content"². Press coverage describes the modified mode as allowing "higher outputs and additional mids"³, and MusicRadar's reviewers characterized the two modes as "switchable modes, the second with more output and body in the mids"⁴.

The original mode has its own character. In gearnews' 2025 fuzz buying guide, Julian Schmauch wrote⁶:

That responsiveness to picking dynamics and pickup changes is the kind of behavior players usually associate with vintage-style fuzz circuits, and it is what the ORIG mode preserves. The modified mode trades some of that for a louder, more mid-forward voice³⁴.

A Tone Bender homage

The Fuzz Bender is Behringer's take on the Tone Bender, the British fuzz circuit that dates to 1965. The story behind the original: session guitarist Vic Flick, who played the James Bond theme, approached designer Gary Hurst about modifying his Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone for more sustain, and Hurst's modifications of the FZ-1 led him to design his own circuit, the Tone Bender⁷. The Tone Bender was, in the words of one history, "the British answer to the American Maestro Fuzz-Tone"⁸.

On That Pedal Show, the Tone Bender was named alongside the Fuzz Face and the Big Muff as one of the cornerstones of classic fuzz⁹.

Guitar World called the Behringer Fuzz Bender "a Tone Bender copy" when it was announced¹, and gearnews later described it as "their recent Tone Bender homage, the Fuzz Bender"⁶. Behringer itself frames the pedal in similar terms, saying the company has "always been about bringing it back, old-school"².

The Fuzz Bender is one of several Behringer recreations of vintage fuzz designs, alongside the SUPER FUZZ SF300, the BASS BRASSMASTER FUZZ, the OCTAVIA OCTAVE FUZZ and the Ring Stinger. It also sits in a crowded field of Tone Bender-inspired pedals from other makers, including the Keeley Fuzz Bender, the JHS Bender, the Expresso FX Fuzz Bender Mk I.V and the Expresso FX Fuzz Bender MkII, the Tone City London Bender and the BSM Fuzz Bender.

What reviewers said

Press reaction to the Fuzz Bender has been largely about how close an affordable pedal can get to a vintage circuit. In gearnews' 2025 fuzz buying guide, Julian Schmauch wrote⁶:

The same guide noted the pedal's popularity: "Since its release, the pedal has become so popular that you might have to wait a moment until they're available again"⁶.

Not every reaction was positive. A commenter on gearnews' original announcement, quoted by the site, took issue with the enclosure: "Tbh I do not care what the price is, this thing is too big for what it does," a complaint about fitting it on a full pedalboard³. Behringer's stompbox-sized enclosures are larger than most modern mini pedals, and that size is the trade-off for the price.

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