PCB - Vintage Style Circuit Board, MKII Fuzz
This board is a recreation of the circuit board found in Tone Bender Professional MKII pedals. When drawing the layout, an original board was closely referenced to ensure a proper match and fit. Since the MKII boards were cut from stripboard, this board follows the same format but is completely ready for soldering with precut traces and drilled mounting holes.
The build style is very straightforward on the Mk2. It is a standard stripboard build and follows a very linear circuit path across the board. The traces are gold plated making soldering easier than most stripboards. Additionally the plating provides protection from corrosion. For a detailed drawing of the parts and connections originally used on this board, please see the layout drawing linked below.
For a vintage version of this board, see P-PC-BEND-MKII-BRN.
There are numerous great parts choices available for this PCB. To build it as shown in the photos, please see the following parts:
| Part | Description |
|---|---|
| R-A470 | 470Ω 1/2W Carbon Film Resistor |
| R-A8D2K | 8.2kΩ 1/2W Carbon Film Resistor |
| R-A10K | 10kΩ 1/2W Carbon Film Resistor |
| R-A100K | 100kΩ 1/2W Carbon Film Resistor |
| C-SA5-50 | 5µF Electrolytic |
| C-SA50-50 | 50µF Electrolytic |
| C-MD01-630 | 0.01µF Film Capacitor |
| C-MD1-400 | 0.1µF Film Capacitor |
See here for our full selection of germanium transistors.
Note: this listing is for the circuit board only. Components pictured are for demonstration and must be purchased separately.
| Color | Our Part Number |
|---|---|
| Black | P-PC-BEND-MKII-B |
| Natural | P-PC-BEND-MKII |
| Length | 3.046 in. | ||
| Thickness | 0.063 in. | ||
| Width | 1.243 in | ||
| Packaging Dimensions | 1.243 in. × 3.046 in. × 0.063 in. | ||
| Weight (Packaging) | 0.0176 lbs. | ||
| P-PC-BEND-MKII-B - Black version | Length | 3.046 in. |
| Thickness | 0.063 in. | |
| Width | 1.243 in | |
| P-PC-BEND-MKII - Natural version | Length | 3.046 in. |
| Thickness | 0.063 in. | |
| Width | 1.243 in |
 Layout for Natural | P-PC-BEND-MKII |
Product Reviews
I really like the sound of this. It does have a bit of hissy white noise when turned on which I'm not sure if that's the nature of the beast or part of my build quality. I played a real vintage Vox Tonebender in a music store earlier this year but the asking price was $999 so I have been looking around for either a clone or DIY for a reasonable price. I've own a couple of EHX fuzzes (satisfaction & Little big muff) that never really got the sound I liked but this one fits the bill. I have built a couple of phase 90 clone type pedals before and those were a more modern style PCB that was easier to deal with. I consider this a more experienced builder project. The instructions were a bit incomplete by leaving out the footswitch wiring and from some trouble shooting and research I found out this needed to be 9V battery only wiring because of the use of germanium transistors. The holes seemed a bit too large for the germanium transistors and I had to go back and solder a few connections again. I soldered a resistor in the wrong spot and when I went to remove it, I burned up a trace but was able to fix by using the next hole and bridged that spot. Overall I like how this pedal sounds but there were a few pains in making it happen.