The Tone Bender Timeline
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Fuzz fan Kit Rae's obsessively detailed history of the Tone Bender fuzz pedal.
The Tone Bender was one of the first fuzz tone boxes to come out of England during the booming London music scene in the mid 1960's, the British answer to the American Maestro Fuzz-Tone. There are numerous versions, each with slightly different characteristics to the sound, and numerous re branded versions made for third party companies. Tone Benders were popular pedals among guitarists in the late 1960's through the mid 1970's, often associated with the Vox brand, and guitarists like Jimmy Page, Jeff beck, Mick Ronson, and Pete Townshend. It is arguably the pedal with the most interesting and colourful history in the annals of fuzz, and the genesis of the UK stomp box phenomenon. The history is somewhat convoluted, with a host of interrelated individuals and companies, including Jennings Musical Industries, Vox, JMI/Vox engineers Dick Denney and Gary Hurst, the legendary Macaris Music Exchange of London, Sola Sound/Colorsound, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, and Led Zeppelin, among others.
Below is a chronological timeline of the pertinent dates for pedal releases, events, and people related to the Tone Bender fuzz pedals, spanning the 1960's, and including some dates from the 50's, 70's, and 90's that are relevant.…