D*A*M Tone Bender MKIV

The D*A*M Tone Bender MKIV is a germanium fuzz pedal built as a replica of the Sola Sound Tone Bender MKIV, a British fuzz box first released around 1970. D*A*M describes the design goal of the project in two words: "flexible vintage." The builder sums up the intent as "The theme of function that I wanted for this project can be summed up as, flexible vintage."¹²

The pedal uses carefully selected NOS NKT OC84N (New Market OC84N) germanium transistors, which the builder credits for a fuzz tone with "a good deal of liquidity and movement in its tonal repertoire," not static in its dynamics or overly clumpy.¹ The enclosure carries a turquoise paint scheme with red and yellow screen print.¹

A flexible vintage fuzz

The original Sola Sound Tone Bender MKIV appeared approximately during 1970, and early MKIVs built during the first half of the 1970s featured a three-transistor circuit loosely based on the Baldwin-Burns Buzzaround.³ At launch, the only thing that set the MKIV apart from the Tone Bender MKIII that Sola Sound was already producing for Vox was the enclosure and graphics; the two share the same circuit family.³ D*A*M puts it plainly: "Tone Bender MKIII, Tone Bender MKIV. Same party different frock," with the two distinguished by biasing.¹

The lineage runs back through the whole Tone Bender line. The earliest Tone Benders used three germanium transistors like the MKIV, and later Sola Sound models such as the Tone Bender Fuzz were, in Tom Hughes's words in Premier Guitar, "again very much like the MKIV but with a different name and graphics."⁴ The MKIII added a tone control and a different cast-metal housing, and MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley and Jamie Stillman note that "MkIV revised the EQ range."⁵ Analog Man's manual for its own MK-III/MK-IV style build describes the shared format as three germanium transistors and a TONE knob.⁶

D*A*M's own history with the line is long. The builder has been making Tone Benders since 2002, after studying a large percentage of the surviving vintage units, and D*A*M has produced Sola Sound-branded reproductions including the D*A*M Tone Bender MKII SCB and the D*A*M System Tone Bender MKI.⁷⁸⁹ The MKIV was project number 5 for D*A*M, and project number 2 for Miss Haynes.¹

The controls and reversed sockets

The D*A*M MKIV keeps the control layout of the original, which includes one behavior players used to modern fuzzes need to know about¹.

The reverse-wired fuzz control is a trait of the circuit family rather than a D*A*M quirk. Aion FX, describing the Colorsound/Sola Sound Tone Bender Mk III circuit, explains that "it's a gain cut control wired in reverse, so it has the illusion of increasing it in the same way as other fuzzes or overdrives."¹⁰ On the D*A*M MKIV, the builder states it directly: "The fuzz control works in reverse, full fuzz, full left."¹

The tone control was also tweaked from the original: the treble cap was slightly increased in value to give the brighter side of the control a bit more range, so the full span of the knob is useful and can match unity with the bypassed tone.¹

The Tone Bender MKIV circuit and the D*A*M project

The circuit is built with the 680k/100k bias network that D*A*M identifies with the MKIV family, described by the builder as constructed with "the 680k/100k bias network."¹ The replica circuit boards are the work of Mr. Castledine: "The replica circuit boards are courtesy of the magical mind of Mr. Castledine."¹

The transistors are NOS NKT OC84N germanium devices, selected by the builder.¹ This differs from the vintage originals, where fuzzboxes.org notes the vast majority of 1970s MKIVs were built with unlabelled transistors, possibly made by STC.³ It also differs from other D*A*M Tone Bender projects: the MKII SCB uses OC75 transistors, black glass and for the most part unbranded,⁸ and the D*A*M reproduction MKI.5 uses genuine Mullard stamped OC84 devices.⁷

A D*A*M reissue of the Sola Sound Tone Bender Mk. IV, made in England, was documented by TONEHOME in 2013.¹¹

Availability

D*A*M states that the MKIV is sold through Macari's in London, and asks that interested buyers not contact D*A*M directly: "Please do not contact D*A*M about purchasing this product. We are purely the builders and cannot supply this product to the public."¹ The same arrangement covers D*A*M's other Sola Sound reproductions, including the Tone Bender Professional MKII.¹²

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