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Statement from Lovepedal:

NEWSLETTER EXCLUSIVE
We are very excited to announce our relationship and representation of
Hermida Audio Technology!


I have known Alfonso for many years. He has always had an ear for great guitar tone and a passion for engineering some of the most sought after products in the guitar industry. His goal is to replicate as close as possible the dynamics and frequency response of the tube sound and then engineer products accessible to everyone from the bedroom player to those playing in front of thousands of fans.
His products and engineering chops are legendary: the Zendrive, Zendrive2, Tiki Drive and Reverb to his full set of compact speaker cabinets in both ported and open back configurations. His customer list includes some of the most demanding musicians out there.

We stand proud to be the sole manufacturer, global distributor and retailer for Hermida Audio Technology products. Our arrangement frees up Alfonso Hermida's time to do what he does best: push the envelope by designing some of the best guitar products.

We have lots of great ideas so get ready for a new era my friends.

Sean Michael - LovePedal

that is hard to say, as I purchase them base on price value per bulk.  I usually buy a whole bunch from eBay and I've been pretty lucky so far.

Would this shielded two conductor wire work as good as the RG-174u?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221196339272?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Nice - both the build and playing.

So far with the 60s fuzzes I've tried, I've found all but the 2 transistor early MK II/FF circuit that bit too thick and synth-like for my tastes.  But that MK I circuit certainly has a very distinctive sound.  Very cool to see/hear you achieved that without the super scarce mojo transistors of the originals.

Did you make the enclosure yourself?  It looks a nicer shape than the originals.

Thanks!  The enclosure was purchased from Fry's Electronics and sells for $12.00 USD.  The quality and construction of this enclosure is the same as Electro Harmonx classic Big Muff or Small Stone Phaser. 

I dunno, but like working with both vero and perf.  Both are great mediums to learn electronics.

Thanks!!  I just ordered two bags of AC125s, I hope those will be enough to make more of these great fuzz pedals.

Thanks!!  I just ordered two bags of AC125s, hope these wll be enough to make more of these great fuzz pedals.

wow great looking clone! what was the transistor combo, if you don't mind sharing the secret mojo?

Oops....I knew I forgot something..
The winning transistor combo were 2N404 for Q1, Chinese 5N10PC for Q2, and an AC128 for Q3.

Q1: 62hfe, 100uA; Q2:121 hfe, 168uA; Q3: 80hfe, 136uA

Source: -9.20

Attack@max

Q1:
C: -9.18
B: -0.54
E: -0.50

Q2:
C: -3.94
B: -0.14
E: 0.00

Q3:
C: -8.61
B: -0.02
E: 0.00

Attack@min

Q1:
C: -9.19
B: -0.53
E: -0.49

Q2:
C: -9.09
B: -0.04
E: -0.00

Q3:
C: -8.67
B: -0.02
E: 0.00

How do they look?

This certainly sounds like a MK I to me! I may use this vero layout you did. Sounds great. How hard was it to bias and all?

The first progression you played sounds like Mick Ronson doing Velvet Underground!

Thanks!

Well, the vero is certainly verified.  Building it is the easy part, the hard part about this build is finding the transistors that will bias with this circuit.  You can do the shortcut and use trimmers, but I think it changes the tone and fuzz charateristics.  I went trying to bias by swapping out transistors left and right.  Took me a week to find the tone.

Watcha think?

awesome sound from that build! the enclosure looks rad and overall a good job sir 

Thanks!  I got the enclosure from Frys Electronics for only $12USD.

After a week of tweaking and swapping transistors, I finally found a transitor combo that got me the sound close to the original 1965 Tone Bender MK1.

A couple of recent videos I made:

My Clone:



Here is the original 1965 Sola Sound Tone Bender.

Did some tweaking today and finally finished.  I think she sounds much better now. 

Here is my latest sample. 

Here is the vero I made and is verified, used this to build this.

I made this enclosure.  I saw this enclosure at my local Frys electronics store and thought it looked close enough for a TB MK1 enclosure.  I painted it and drilled it out.  I can't wait to finally tweak this TB MK1 project and put it in this enclosure.







Here is the actual TB MK1 enclosure compared to the one I got from Frys.

I breadboarded the Tone Bender MK1 and used the Tonebender MK1 transistor set that small bear offers.  I've never played or heard the actual 1965 Tonebender MK1 so I'm playing this by ear based on what I have read online and specially from this forum.  I made a video of my results.  Did my tone bender MK1 breadboard come close to the actual 1965 tone bender MK1 using the small bear tone bender MK1 transistor set?  Is the Tone Bender MK1 suppose to sound like this?

Here are some specs:
Here are the voltage readings I have on the breadboard:  Source: 9.38v

Transistor set from Small Bear.  http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=1311

Q1: 75 hfe, L83, Q2: 106 hfe, L113, Q3: 140 hfe, L157.


Fuzz at max:

Q1:
C= 0.00v
B= -8.51v
E= -8.97v

Q2:
C= -3.89
B= -9.19
E= -9.36

Q3:
C= -0.15
B= -9.34
E= -9.25

Fuzz set to min:

Q1:
C= 0.00v
B= -8.53v
E= -8.94v

Q2:
C= -0.03mv
B= -9.32v
E= -9.35v

Q3:
C= -0.10mv
B= -9.33v
E= -9.35v

I was using a 2010 Gibson Les Paul Junior with P90 pickups and a stock 2007 Fender Blues Jr for this video.

 Check out a fuzz face variant by Gus Smalley.  The schematic is from the 90s and a very underrated build IMHO.  Very dynamic sounding fuzz and very responsive to your playing.   Refer to Jimi Hendrix Live in Monterey or Winterland the hear how this pedal is close to sounding like.