Tone Bender

The first incarnation of the Tone Bender was designed by electronics engineer and former Vox employee Gary Hurst, who was approached by session guitarist Vic Flick with a request for a pedal that would emulate the sound of an Gibson Maestro Fuzz-Tone, but with more sustain.

[2] Notable examples of the Tone Bender MKI in use include Jeff Beck's sitar-like guitar solo on the Yardbirds' 1965 song "Heart Full of Soul" and Mick Ronson's guitar work on David Bowie's 1972 song "Moonage Daydream".

[3] Introduced in February 1966, this successor of the original Tone Bender has a two transistor circuit which is essentially a negative feedback amplifier.

[1] An early variant of the Tone Bender MK1.5 featured a 500k volume pot instead of the more common 100k, providing a fuller low end.

[4] The Tone Bender MKII is a three transistor circuit[1] based on the MKI.5 version, but with an additional amplifier gain stage.

By November 1966, advertisements for the pedal in Beat Instrumental magazine marketed it as a "Gary Hurst Design".

Marshall continued producing a slightly different-looking version of the Supa Fuzz until at least 1972. Notable examples of the Tone Bender MKII in use include much of Jimmy Page's guitar work on Led Zeppelin's debut studio album, as well as well as Alan Parker's guitar work on Donovan's 1968 song "Hurdy Gurdy Man".

[3] Beginning in 2009, Macari's resumed selling the Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional MKII for the first time in over 40 years as part of their Vintage Series of guitar pedals.

The Colorsound Supa Tonebender utilizes a four transistor circuit based on the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff π.

The Colorsound Jumbo Tone Bender is a three transistor circuit based on the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff π. Sola Sound made this pedal under various names, in various enclosures and for various distributors.

V828 in Vox's 1966 US price list) is based on the same circuit topology as the Sola Sound Tone Bender MK1.5.

It is assumed that these were initially made for the US market, while the Sola Sound versions were distributed in the UK and Europe.