British Pedal Company Rangemaster Fuzzbug MKII

The British Pedal Company Rangemaster Fuzzbug MKII is a limited edition fuzz pedal that recreates one of the rarest British fuzzes of the 1960s. The original Rangemaster Fuzzbug was released in late 1966 by Sola Sound as a competitor to the already popular range of Tone Bender pedals, and only a small handful of those prototype pedals were ever produced¹². The MKII reissue brings back the three-transistor version of that circuit, built with OC81D germanium transistors in a cast aluminum casing³.

It is a strictly limited run: 25 units worldwide, each signed and numbered from 1 to 25, and handbuilt in the UK³. The maker's listed price is £329.00⁴.

What it is and what it does

The Rangemaster Fuzzbug MKII is the British Pedal Company's take on the three-transistor Fuzzbug circuit. The maker describes the pedal's character through its transistors: "OC81D: Smooth gain lots of saturation"³. In practice that means a vintage germanium fuzz voice, with two controls on the outside, Volume and Sustain, setting the output level and the amount of fuzz³.

The pedal runs on a 9V battery, which the maker lists as its power source³. There is no DC power supply specification on the product page, so players should expect to power it the way 1960s fuzzes were powered.

The original 1966 Fuzzbug

The Rangemaster Fuzzbug was released in late 1966 as a competitor to the already popular range of Tone Bender pedals¹. Fuzzbugs were built by Sola Sound, and surviving examples were fitted with the various different electronic circuits the company was developing at the time². Only a small handful of these original prototype pedals were produced⁵.

Surviving originals fall into two circuit variants, which the British Pedal Company identifies as the MKI.5 two-transistor circuit and the MKII three-transistor circuit⁵. The independent history site Fuzzboxes.org, which has examined surviving examples, breaks the story down further:

Fuzzboxes.org also notes a rumor of a version that was not formally branded as a "Rangemaster" pedal, though no such Fuzzbug has resurfaced².

How the MKII reissue differs from the MKI.5

The British Pedal Company has reissued both circuit variants. The MKII covered here uses the three-transistor circuit with three OC81D transistors³. The Rangemaster Fuzzbug MKI.5 uses the two-transistor circuit and is built around an OC75 transistor instead¹. Both are fuzz pedals in the same limited-edition series¹.

The choice of transistor matters to players chasing particular vintage voices: the OC81D is the transistor family associated with the later three-transistor Tone Bender designs, while the OC75 belongs to the earlier two-transistor era³¹.

Where it came from

The British Pedal Company builds its range around reissues of rare 1960s British fuzzes, including the King of Fuzz Tone Bender and the Buzzaround Fuzz. The Rangemaster Fuzzbug MKII is described by the maker as a 1966 reissue, breathing new life into a fuzz so rare that only a small handful of originals exist³⁵.

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