Maestro FZ1A & MK1 Tonebenders

[HendricksonDrew]

I need some fuzz advice: I've been saving up for a creepy fingers fuzznugget (fz1a clone) and already own mk1 tonebender, is it worth owning both? I understand the mk1 is based on the fz1a (or maybe just the fz1) but don't know how great the overlap between the two is. Thanks for the help!

[magnus02]

i think so...

i never bonded with mkI's,II's or III's but love the fuzz nugget... so nasty and spitty...

i love the pedal and although i'm not shocked more people don't have one since it's obscure, i think a lot of people who dig nasty fuzz would really like it

[itkindaworks]

Yes, IMO they're pretty different sonically.

[kelvinator60]

FZ-1 and FZ-1a are very different and both are very different from the MK1. I have a Fuzz Nugget that has the FZ-1 circuit (he only made 2) and I love it. I couldn't bond with the FZ-1a.

MK1 has much more gain. Very British, obviously.

[dorfmeister]

I need some fuzz advice: I've been saving up for a creepy fingers fuzznugget (fz1a clone) and already own mk1 tonebender, is it worth owning both? I understand the mk1 is based on the fz1a (or maybe just the fz1) but don't know how great the overlap between the two is. Thanks for the help!

http://www.stompboxes.co.uk/History.html

From the page above:

"The UK fuzz box phenomenon began in 1965 when electronics engineer Gary Stewart Hurst designed an effects pedal called a Tone Bender. The first version of this Tone Bender is referred to as the Tone Bender MKI. The MKI was a three transistor circuit that was based upon the Gibson built Maestro Fuzz-tone that was modified by Hurst to produce more sustain than its American counter part. The story goes that guitar legend Vic Flick, the man responsible for the James Bond Theme, brought a Fuzz-tone (FZ-1) to Hurst and requested the sustain to be increased."

"The MKI was a three transistor circuit; no doubt about it but it was in no way similar to its three transistor successor, the Professional MKII. The MKI circuit is loaded with a single Mullard OC75 and two Texas Instruments 2G381 devices. It was based upon the FZ-1 circuit as where many of the early fuzz boxes to arrive on the scene but had significant modifications that made for a much stronger and more powerful fuzz sound. Firstly was the fact it was able to use a 9 volt supply not 3 volts in the case of the FZ-1. This with the tweaking of certain resistor values gave the longer sustain time and also much more output volume. The two pictured MKI's on this page when side by side do sound different. The slightly earlier model with the dry letter labelling has much more of a FZ-1 character to the tone and is very reminiscent of Jeff Beck's use of a MKI on tracks such as "Heartful of Soul" The silk screened model is much more focused and tighter sounding, you can defiantly hear how the circuit has been refined and tuned from one pedal to the next. This MKI is classic Mick Ronson fuzz through and through. The output level is well over double that of the other MKI and when correctly dialled in has fierce amounts sustain with truly astounding clarity for such an old device.
The circuit construction is the point to point technique to the maximum. The board is blank compressed fibre board and is only being used to actually mount the components; each part is wired directly to the next with the board only being held in place by being directly wired to the pots. Quite crude in design but very ingenious. I have seen probably one of the first ever made MKI's which had a circuit that was made on strip board and not like the one pictured here. This circuit was covered in black paint to hide the component values so is very likely this is a prototype unit.
The MKI also featured some very some high quality features within the rest on its construction which was to set the standard for the Sola Sound made Tone Benders to come. Shielded cable was used on all input and output cabling, something most manufacturers do not do to this day, which helped to give excellent interference rejecting properties and good noise levels. True Bypass switching as standard. Usually seen as a modern feature in pedal building, the MKI had this way back in 1965. As far I have seen this is the first time true bypass switching was actually used in a pedal."

[HendricksonDrew]

Thanks for all the advice; I'll keep on saving for the fuzznugget and stop my worrying about redundancy