Warm Audio Warm Bender

The Warm Audio Warm Bender is a fuzz pedal that packs three discrete Tone Bender-style fuzz circuits into one enclosure, selected by a rotary switch on the front of the pedal. Two of the three settings are germanium circuits built around NOS transistors, voiced after two of the most storied British fuzz designs of the 1960s, while the third is a proprietary silicon circuit with a more modern character. Warm Audio calls it "the ultimate Tone Bender fuzz experience in a pedalboard-friendly footprint"¹.

The pedal was released in February 2024 alongside the RingerBringer ring modulator, and Warm Audio lists it at $199 MSRP²¹. At launch it was priced at $169, with UK and European pricing quoted at £153 and 179.00 euros by one reviewer and £209 by another³⁴.

Three circuits on one rotary switch

The core idea of the Warm Bender is that a single rotary switch on the front of the pedal selects between three discrete fuzz circuits, rather than one circuit with variable voicing⁴. Each setting has its own transistor complement and its own character:

Warm Audio describes the NOS 76 setting as based on one of the original "MKI" Tone Bender circuits, bringing "a cutting, present tone to the front of any band"¹. Guitar.com's reviewer, Cillian Breathnach, notes it is a two-transistor circuit using one OC76 and one SFT337, both germanium, voiced after early Bender sounds⁴. Delicious Audio's buying guide characterizes it as early Bender tones with cutting highs, clear presence, and a versatile drive⁷.

The NOS 75 setting is the bigger, warmer of the two germanium modes. It uses three OC75 transistors to recreate the sounds of a Mk II Tone Bender⁴, and Warm Audio says it delivers the iconic "Mark II Professional" Bender-style fuzz tone¹. Delicious Audio describes it as recreating the legendary Mark II Professional with enhanced bass response⁷.

The Silicon setting is Warm Audio's own design rather than a reproduction: a proprietary silicon 3-transistor topology circuit that the maker describes as "a more modern distortion-like take on this legendary flavor of fuzz"¹. Delicious Audio found it produces a Bender sound with a tighter low and top-end response, resembling a smooth distortion-like tone⁸.

The controls and the Sag switch

The control set is deliberately simple. The Warm Bender carries Attack and Level controls, in the manner of a faithful Tone Bender reproduction⁶, plus the rotary circuit selector and a Sag switch on the back of the case⁸.

The Sag switch is the one control that goes beyond a straight reproduction. Warm Audio says it "starves the voltage to create that 'dying battery' tone with added touch-sensitivity and compression"¹. Guitar.com's reviewer measured the effect in practical terms:

For players chasing the sagging, spluttering character of an old fuzz running on a half-dead battery, this is a switchable version of it rather than something you have to fake with a dying cell¹⁸.

Where the circuits come from

The Tone Bender family the Warm Bender draws on is one of the foundational British fuzz designs. The early Vox Tone Bender that inspired the pedal was used by Ron Asheton of the Stooges, John Lennon, Lou Reed, Kevin Shields, Ratatat and others⁶, and the Mark II Professional circuit that the NOS 75 setting replicates was most famously used by Jimmy Page with the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin⁶. RockBoard's PedalPedia entry adds Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend among the artists whose tracks were crafted using the two most popular versions of the British Bender fuzz sound⁵.

The MKI lineage behind the NOS 76 setting traces back to Gary Hurst's three-transistor Tone Bender "MKI" circuitry, the same family covered on the Sola Sound Tone Bender MKI page. Warm Audio has form with this kind of tribute: the Foxy Tone Box took the same faithful-recreation approach to the '70s Foxx Tone Machine¹⁹¹⁰.

Inside, the Warm Bender is built with 100% through-hole construction¹. Guitar.com's teardown of the pedal found "through-hole components at least, and what appears to be a relatively simple two-layer beige pcb"⁴.

What reviewers said

Guitar.com's review counted "a total of five NOS germanium transistors, three circuits and a sag switch" as the pedal's headline hardware⁴, and the site's 60 Seconds video segment called it Warm Audio's latest "very faithful tribute" to a classic pedal¹⁰. Gearnews reviewed it as a multi-mode germanium recreation of the MKII Tone Bender circuit⁸.

Guitar World's Chris Gill, reviewing the pedal alongside the RingerBringer, found one limitation at the extreme end of its range: the "Warm Bender loses note definition of chords at high-gain settings," though he noted root/fifth intervals can still sound quite heavy⁶.

The pedal has also found its way onto at least one notable pedalboard. Joe Perry said: "I have a real Tone Bender fuzz, but I've been using the Warm Audio Warm Bender Fuzz with true bypass"¹¹.

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