Vox 1960s V828 Tone Bender Germanium Fuzz Excellent

The Tone Bender story begins with Sola Sound in England. Jennings Musical Instruments entered into an agreement with the Musical Exchange to purchase Sola Sound fuzz pedals rebranded with the Vox Tone Bender name — while Thomas Organ, the American distributor of Vox, chose to bypass Sola Sound entirely and had the V828 produced by Italian manufacturer JEN. The two versions share a circuit lineage but differ in transistors, case construction, and tonal character. The V828 uses two germanium transistors — most often the Italian-made SFT363 and SFT337 — to create a thick, sustaining fuzz with smooth overdrive characteristics. Compared to the later variants, the V828 generally provides more low end and a fuller, creamier tone.

The germanium transistor circuit produces thick, saturated fuzz with rich harmonic texture, exceptional clean-up from the guitar volume control, and the slightly unstable edge that gives vintage fuzz pedals their unique personality and musical responsiveness. That interaction with the guitar's volume control is the defining characteristic of the germanium fuzz design — rolling back the guitar's volume knob cleans up the fuzz progressively and musically, giving the player a range from full-saturated bloom to textured overdrive to clean boost from a single pedal without touching the controls. The V828 was famously used by the Beatles on tracks throughout Rubber Soul and Revolver — the specific fuzz character on those recordings is this circuit. 

Two chicken-head knobs: Attack controls fuzz saturation and sustain, Level controls output. The JEN case is die cast aluminum, finished in either black crinkle coat or grey hammertone. Excellent condition.

The iconic, historically important Tone Bender is a collector's and player's favorite.  It is more subtle than you might think, but when you put it in line before other pedals you get the point.

All original and in excellent condition.  

The pedal does work better with hotter output guitars, just FYI

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