Tonebender MkIII build

[miter53]

I built this on a board I laid out with an on-board charge pump. It's pretty much Soulbender specs, with some NOS Japanese germs and a OA126 diode.

[micromegas]

OA126! that's a mithological creature....

I love the insides and the carved metal finish is just awesome (full of mojo with those carbon resistors ).

However I would go with some metal pots knobs, but that's only my opinion.

[HamSandwich]

Nicely done! The layout looks great too.

However I would go with some metal pots, but that's only my opinion.

Metal...pot? Knob, maybe? 

[micromegas]

Nicely done! The layout looks great too.

However I would go with some metal pots, but that's only my opinion.

Metal...pot? Knob, maybe? 

Yep, knob, sorry. 

[HamSandwich]

Nicely done! The layout looks great too.

However I would go with some metal pots, but that's only my opinion.

Metal...pot? Knob, maybe? 

Yep, knob, sorry. 

I thought maybe there was some kind of unobtainium metal pot you were supposed to use with that diode. 

[miter53]

Thanks!

Yeah...I bought a handful of OA126's before they got famous and dole them out when I feel like it.

[nzCdog]

Mmmmm Japanese germs

[Coda-effects]

Nice engraving! How did you do it? Etching?

[Cortexturizer]

love everything about this. awesome work man.
while I've mastered teh fuzz face...or at least I feel that I have, I don't really think that I've built a tone bender-esque pedal that I liked so far. there must have been something wrong with my buils cause every time I hear a demo from some else I am amazed at the sound. wait, I'm lying, I did build the MKII called Woozz, which was nice but still, it wasn't quite getting there, in hindsight.

[miter53]

Nice engraving! How did you do it? Etching?

Thanks!

Did it by hand with rotary handpiece, like a Foredom but less expensive. I was inspired by (or copied, if you will) Paul Trombetta's pedals. For some reason, I have screwed up every enclosure etch I've tried.

[HamSandwich]

You've got nice handwriting!

[Martan]

Love the etch. You can make a case for it spelling "votif". Thought I recognized it but not so. Turns out its a french word that translates to "votive":
Quick google search:
"In the Roman Catholic Church votive offerings were made either to fulfill a vow made to God for deliverance, or a thing left to a Church in gratitude for some favor that was granted. Today votives can be lit votive candles, offered flowers, statues, vestments, and, monetary donations."

A nice happy accident if it was unintended. Must be a distant relative of the Fulltone SoulBender version of this

[TGP39]

How does it sound with the OA126 diode in there Mike?
I would love to build this. Beautiful job.

Steve.

[miter53]

I like a red LED in that spot, but I thought I would try the OA126 this time. It sounds a little bit mellower to my ears.

[Bret608]

Looks awesome! The MkIII is my favorite fuzz among those I've built so far. So much so that I'm building another this summer, with different specs. I've been doing way too much reading up on the circuit at the D*A*M forum, FSB, etc. By comparison, after fiddling with it on and off for about two years, I feel like I've just now got the MkII/Supa Fuzz I built sounding good. The MkIII circuit is just way less picky about transistor bias. Different transistors will sound different in the circuit, but it's hard to make it sound flat-out bad.

The MkIII circuit is just using the germanium diode to protect against temperature drift on Q3, especially given that leaky transistors were usually used in that position on original units. It does affect the sound but isn't primarily intended to produce clipping. Interestingly, the really early ones used a transistor as the diode rather than the 1n270 that came slightly later.