Tonebender MKIII sound?

[drewl]

So, tell me about how the 3 knob Tonebender sounds.
I've listened to some clips but it's hard to tell.
I've built one and it sounds pretty good, not as good as the MKII IMO, and with it's tonestack it almost sounds like a Big Muff.
Is this normal?
I was hoping for something a little better sounding, I'm not a Muff fan....well, at least the pedal anyway

[Jim Jones]

HA! 

My only experience is with clones I've built but the 3-knob version is definitely tamer sounding than the MKII.

Here's an original that I think sounds pretty cool,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9CXOUnNrk

Jim

[drewl]

That does sound very good.
But mine doesn't sound like that.
it's more bassy, and gets real stingy or nasally as the tone is turned toward the high side....

[SidSeizure]

That really sounds nice. That version of the Tonebender is all silicon transistors isn't it?

[Jim Jones]

No, that's the three Ge one.

Jim

[drewl]

Well I added a couple bias trimmers on the collectors to see if tweaking the bias makes it sound better.
I also doubled the 2200pf cap in the tone circuit.
Can't wait to go home and try it, that's the only bad thing about playing with my toys at work!

[B Tremblay]

Here are my notes/mods of my 3-knob Tonebender build (these are on the Fuzz Trek page of home-wrecker.com along with other notes):

Removed the 10k resistor from the .1uF tone cap to ground. This resulted in more bass volume.

Replaced the .1uF cap with a .22uF, also for a bit more bass. Not sure if it is an audible gain (I didn't do a comparison), but did it anyway.

Found that for the treble tone cap, a .0068uF sounded better than the stock .0022uF. Less mosquito-like. I did try removing the 10k resistor, but it resulted in a higher than tasteful treble output level. I eventually decided that the 10k offered the best unity between the opposite extremes of the Tone control.

Substituted a 100uF power supply cap.
Omitted the resistor between the Tone and Volume pots for more output.
Used 100k linear pots for the Fuzz and Tone pots, 100k audio for the Volume.

Transistor voltages (using salvaged germaniums and 9.18v battery source)
Q1: C= 3.611, B=1.55, E=1.452
Q2: C= 3.611, B=1.453, E=1.329
Q3: C= 4.29, B=50mv, E=0

[drewl]

great thanks!
I've checked out homewrecker before, awesome work there my friend

[B Tremblay]

You're welcome and thank you.  I hope it is of some help.

[Mark Hammer]

here another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eVDSAVWmk&feature=related
Sounds different, doesn't it?

[drewl]

That sounds more like the one I built.
I haven't tweaked the bias yet, but upping the treble cap helped get rid of some upper end harshness.
Since my MKII build sounds so good, I thought the MKIII was supposed to be smoother, but it's pretty mean, gritty I'd say but after playing with it I like it.