JHS Pedals Bender - Fuzz

big muffs, all the iterations of tone benders, fuzz faces, fuzz factories etc. I own them all and none of them lasted in my pedalboard for long. most likely they tend to make you guitar "disappear" while engaged, or they were too harsh or just overall too much to control. Bender, the mark III/IV version of Tone Bender cloned and enhanced by JHS is my fuzz for a year now. the original circuit and the JHS mod, both deliver the fuzz tone aggressive yet controllable, classic yet totally contemporary. and its got one more thing the originals dont: a led indicator :)

I was bought this pedal as a 30th bday gift. Had been nerding out over Tone Benders during lockdown so the girlfriend decided to get me this, it's a clone of the Solasound mk iii Tone Bender and let me make this clear: IT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT.

Handling 5/5: I like to play in the extremes so I would be messing around with the attack (fuzz) knob cranked at times, it has a very smooth incline and can feel like a crispy distortion at lower attacks.

Features 4/5: I record loud, cranked amp tone always sounds amazing to me so I was excited to see the "JHS mode" button in action, its meant to add more gain and mids but on a cranked amp (volume level nuclear) this effect seemed to be quite small.. not enough of a big deal if you ask me. That said, the vol, attack and tone knobs are enough to do what I need.

Sound 5/5: The fuzz feels quite transparent, like an extension of your guitar tone which is a plus for me. I have been turned off big muffs in the past due to turning them on and my guitar sounding completely different. On the lowest attack levels this thing will have a lovely crispy fuzz tone and then it becomes more ballsy as you ramp it up. Does it sound gated? At the highest attack it kind of gates.. minimally. Does it clean up? Benders are not known for their clean up, but when the guitars pickup volume drops you can definitely get a little clean up. Wouldn't say it's the focus of the designer mind you.

Quality 5/5: Build Quality is spot on, love the 60s style cheese wedge housing. Just remember it's a clone of a 60s fuzz circuit and this thing wants to talk directly to your pickups so it has to go first in your chain before anything else. Otherwise these old circuit designs start acting a little delirious..

TLDR: YES YES YES