Ramble FX Twin Bender Fuzz

The Ramble FX Twin Bender Fuzz is a fuzz pedal from Ramble FX that puts two vintage Sola Sound Tone Bender circuits in one enclosure. A two-way toggle selects between the MKII Professional, a three-transistor circuit, and the MK1.5, which uses two transistors and produces less fuzz. Delicious Audio describes the result as "an explosion of harmonics and infinite sustain that melts into feedback"¹.

The pedal carries the MKII Pro/MK1.5 switch that makes it, in Delicious Audio's words, "two 'Benders in one," and it adds controls the originals never had: Bias, Impede, an EQ toggle, plus Attack and Level knobs¹².

The controls: Bias, Impede and the EQ toggle

The original Tone Bender Mk I.V and Professional Mk II pedals featured just two controls. The Twin Bender gives you considerably more to shape².

The Bias knob is the one that reaches into how germanium fuzz actually behaves. Pedal of the Day explains that it "aims to recreate the variations in fuzz and tone from the original units, as temperature would greatly affect the germanium transistors"². Delicious Audio puts it more simply: the Bias sets the operating voltage of one of the transistors, and at low levels makes the fuzz more sputtering¹.

The EQ toggle is a three-way switch offering two extra EQ flavors, a Mid boost and a Fat option, with the center position delivering the stock tone¹.

Placing it in your chain

The Impede mini-knob is what sets the Twin Bender apart from most vintage-style fuzzes. Delicious Audio notes it "allows Twin Bender to be used after a wah, buffer, wireless, etc."¹. Pedal of the Day describes the mechanism: Impede changes the pedal's impedance by adding resistance at the input, which helps restore tone that may be lost by a buffer or wah². In Delicious Audio's buying guide, the impedance control "allows the pedal to be placed anywhere in your chain and the bias knob can starve the voltage"³.

From the Tone Bender MKII Professional to the MK1.5

The Twin Bender uses the same circuit as Sola Sound's Tone Bender MKII Professional, the pedal Jimmy Page and many others used¹. The MKII mode is based on a three NOS germanium transistor circuit, while the MK1.5 mode uses only two of them and therefore does not reach the later version's extreme fuzziness¹.

The two circuits are closely related by history. One Control's account of the Tone Bender line notes that since the first generation MK1, successive models were developed, including the Mk1.5 in 1966 and the Mk2⁴. Fuzzboxes.org's history of the Professional MKII records that early "short board" MKII pedals from 1966 were converted from MK1.5 units: they "retained almost all of the individual parts of the 'MK1.5' circuitry that the pedals started" as, rearranged on the old stripboard⁵. The later conventional "large board" MKII, built from late 1966 into early 1967, wore a shade of gray paint also used for Marshall SupaFuzz pedals built at the same factory at the same time⁵.

Pedal of the Day's reviewer found the pedal faithful to its sources, writing that "the Twin Bender is able to accurately reproduce two of the most beloved and popular fuzz tones ever created"².

The Twin Bender from Ramble FX puts two of those circuits in one box: a two-way toggle switch selects between the MKII Professional and MK1.5 sounds, which Ramble FX describes as "two 'Benders in one"¹. The MKII side uses the same circuit as the Sola Sound Tone Bender MKII Professional, the pedal Jimmy Page used, and Ramble FX describes its sound as "an explosion of harmonics and infinite sustain that melts into feedback"¹.

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An earlier version of the pedal was sold as the Ramble FX Twin Bender UNProfessional Mk II / I.V Fuzz, reviewed by Pedal of the Day in 2018 as "a brilliant effect to have if you want to conjure up some vintage sounds"².

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