Behringer Fuzz Bender

I got lucky and received this in the first batch 8 weeks earlier than predicted :)
I already own 3 tonebender clones so have something to compare it to. And I've tried out original vintage pedals back in the 80's when they were already pretty expensive! So the verdict on this one. The gain structure seams a tiny bit different, as if it's been optimised for modern pickup winds. ie it has a lower internal gain, which is actually really cool for getting mild settings out of it. (All my guitars have got non wax potted vintage style pickups). In the standard setting everything works as expected and the sound is surprisingly fat, as if some low end has been added too. Kind of got me playing T Rex riffs that I didn't know I could play until I heard it! In standard setting it works best with bridge or bridge and mid pickups. The behringer video for this talks about the mod setting as being higher gain but that's not exactly what I'm getting here. My mod setting has almost no bass end and the colour of the effect varies depending on the amount of attack (drive) Up to three o clock it's quite "standard", it is higher "drive" than the standard setting but by a long way not as loud since nearly all the bass is missing. As you turn the attack above three o clock it starts to sound like a parked wah pedal as well as the fuzz. Getting increasingly "sharp and peaky" as the gain increases. At max attack it's almost feeding back on itself, all in a good way, but this is only usable on the neck pickup of my guitars, it's just too trebly for the bridge pickups. I wonder whether my one is working quite right to be honest, though it is usable and sounds really quite good too if I roll all the treble off at the guitar. I could imagine that the sound I get in mod mixed together with the standard sound would be perfect so I wonder if that's not what's supposed to be happening? But either way it's excellent for the price and gives a true germanium style fuzz tone. The build quality seems great too, and it certainly looks the part albeit in miniature!

The original mode is glorious. It is FAT and rich sounding and will bring smile on your face. Put everything on 10 and dial your guitar volume accordingly. The guitar volume in this case will act also as a tone knob *just like Page used to tell you back in the day* . So that is sounding amazing even on the clean channel and can get from a slight overdrive up to face melting fuzz.

The MOD switch... Now here things get a bit weird. If you watched the promo video, the guy flips the switch and gets an even crazier gain from the pedal, however in reality, as you might see from other comments here too, the pedal loses all its bass frequencies thus is making everything much more quiet. So totally not like the video. If you put it on a clean amp, it will sound like crap. On everything at 10, it will feedback on itself, albeit it will still be more quiet than the original one. People have mentioned already that it sounds like a cocked wah, however that's not all. It actually sounds like it is on some kind of auto-wah AND on top of all the shittiness, it will eat your notes too - they will sound loud and nice for a split second, but then all of a sudden the signal will drop. Now I thought that this is actually defected (and maybe it is?), but judging by some other videos on youtube and other reviews here, it is common for all of them so far. So what is this mode for?
DIRTY AMP! Or a drive pedal after this one. It will sound insanely good and all the "defects" will open up and start to make sense. It sounds absolutely huge and glorious. It might be common sense for people who saw the originals, however the newer generation might not know that so it would have been amazing to include in the promo video or at least some kind of tutorial.
Anyway - a great pedal, even if you use only the original mode, which is why I got it in the first place.

IMHO this little "dirty" replica of the Tone Bender is simply amazing. Paired with an OD like the Fulltone FD2M THAT Jimmy Page sound is spot on and with the MOD option I can even replicate THAT Peter Green sound heard in "Oh Well".
The Early 70s Jeff Beck with a maple neck Strat? No problem, spot on too.
For 69€ what could I ask more?
Just to point out: I am a happy owner of the SM Fuzz, one of the best if not the best on the market and yet the Fuzz Bender stands the comparison pretty well.
I know the difference is in the cheaper components and so on, but as I said, guys, we're talking about 69€!
I'm happy, period.