1969 John Hornby Skewes "SHATTERBOX"

Look at her. She so pretty sitting there all shinny in that lovely gold paintwork with that far out silk screening...lovely eh? Sounds great eh? One of the cult classics?...well yeah but she sounds fucking God awful!! And I mean AWFUL! Shittybox more like it or Shit-yer-box...thats kinda what you do when you hear the damn thing for the first time. I so so sooooo wanted this to be cool like Zonk Machine cool but nay its mid 70's badly biased Fuzz Face cool at best. The fuzz control set anywhere near maximum oscillates like a mental asylum and the treble boost is like running cheese wire across your eyes whilst franticly showering your face with vinegar. Its bad. Not good bad either. I could dig it if it was say like FY-2 bad buts it not. Basically shes the hot girl on the street that spits pee on you as walk by. Looks great but bad oh so bad.
...and no its not the magical Zonk Machine circuit its the Zonk II circuit and a JHS booster...a bloody horrid booster at that.

Oh! I had a swell time last night playing with her fuzz.

Shatterbox or shatter your freaking ears?

Beans in a tin can

2N4061 PNP silicon transistor...yes it is.

196?-197? ROSAC NU-FUZZ

Loud, obnoxious, ready for the fight & comin' at ya with a broken bottle and a rusty claw hammer. Yaaa! NU-FUZZ is the shit! Awesome fuzz tones that do to your amplifier that a Tiger Tank would do to a Sinclair C5. Well cool build style too. Don't get me wrong I can't fucking stand goop! Awful shit and quite obviously the work of Satan. The resin encapsulated circuit in these things is a great idea. It must have increased production tenfold and in some ways it bullet proofs the internals of the pedal...unless of course you get a failed part in the resin. Ha har! But notice that the Electrolytic capacitor is NOT in the resin...clever Rosac.

Green monster cake?

Goop done right

NU-FUZZ vs The orange pigeon eater....NU-FUZZ wins!!

Head on!

1972 Park Fuzz Sound

The Mistress.
More fuzz than on Chewbacca's ass! Personally I find this the coolest MKIV variant of them all...and its finished in Blue Hammerite too!! 10 cool points straight of the line. I think this particular unit was biased by Fuzz Jesus or some other non-mortal creature. Its responsive beyond mortal thought. When I use this blue wonder I run it engaged all the time....turn it off? Hell no! Just roll back the geetars volume control and bam! Its as smooth as Kojak.

Blue Hammerite......divine intervention?

What it says...

Let her rip!

Fuzzy fuzz sounds

1966 Vox Tone Bender Professional MKII

Long live the Queen!
Its been a while. 6 years to be exact but I finally have a Vox MKII all of my very own. Yay!
So was it worth the wait? Hell yeah this baby rolls with the best and has an aggressive streak a mile wide. Sounds like chewing leather whilst being hit round the back of the head with a handbag full of bricks.

Fuzzy Love

Meet the wife.

She's so dirty. Oh yeah she puts out.

Spit & chew!! These baby's got attitude!

Well used doesn't come close

1972 NYC "Triangle" Big Muff Pi

Muff Magic!
Muchas Gracias to Paulie D for the loan of this fine lady :) Dynamic and touch responsive....this is a Big Muff right??

Minty!

PNP goodness

Solder a go go

mmmmmm creamy

1974 Guild Foxey Lady

AKA a Big Muff on steroids

Which does what now?

Rev. 3003

Motorola 2N5088

Spot the name...

1984 PRO CO "WHITE FACE" RAT

Built to withstand a Nuclear War.
Yes yes I know its not a fuzz box but surely its the king of cool when it comes to old school distortions. You can't fuck with a Rat! Simple as that.

Little box o' much fuzziness

Feedback for sir

The Rat!!

Hardfuckingcore!

Motorola LM308

Fuzz Tones for the Conoisseur...

197? GIS FUZZ BOX

Italian Fuzzy Goodness

Fuzz Face meets Tone Bender!?!?

Fuzz in a tin can

Simple but effective

Fuzzy Gutz

1975 Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi

Smell my muff

Big piece 'o Pi

Sustain by the truck load!

Big on fuzz big on size

Rev 3003

BC239C make things fuzzy

1997 ZVEX FUZZ FACTORY

It's a whole factory of fuzzy goodness

Z!

For when fuzzy is not enough

Double figures...092

Inside the factory

1950's Germaniums...nice!

1965 Sola Sounds Ltd (Gary Hurst) Tone Bender MKI

The Holy Grail of Fuzz Boxes!!!
Oh my!! the day that I never thought I'd see has occured!! I have in my hands a 1965 Gary Hurst made Sola Sound(s) Tone Bender MKI!! Steady now, I better sit down before I implode from a fuzz overdose.
I have searched high and low an all over the globe for one of these things. The story goes that only 50 were ever made so how many actually survive to this day is unclear, so I knew my chances were slim to none. Then, kaa-pow! right out of the blue I get an email asking if I'd be interested in purchasing such an item, hot dog!! would I ever! Well you know what they say, if you put mind out it will come to you. Maybe it's true.

Like with most of the old timers I seem to aqquire it has a intereting and colourful history behind it. To quote:

"I've had this pedal since circa 1972 when I started to play electric guitar in a jazz rock band (having previously concentrated on acoustic). A friend of mine, who was a 'roadie' for 'The Grounhogs' at the time, lent me a Burns Bison guitar (a black one with the 'Wild Dog' tone setting), and this pedal. I returned the guitar and bought a Les Paul Custom, but he gave me the pedal along with a Fuzz Face and Wah Wah. I've long since given the other pedals away, but somehow the Tone Bender survived in a box filled with old cables, guitar leads etc. So, I'm not sure about the provenance of the pedal, but it seems likely that it may have belonged to Tony McPhee at some stage"

Can this get any cooler!! maybe and only maybe this ye olden fuzzer could have been used by The Groundhogs! it's close enough for me, The Split LP by the Hogs is a true master piece.

Well, here we have it. The holiest of the holy....the Tone Bender MKI!! Mucho Gracias AP!

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun 

Golden Wonder 

The Fuzz Tank 

Wedge o' Fuzz 

Now that's build quality! 

Praise the Lord!! a gift from God. 

"Sola Sounds Ltd" 

1967 Marshall Supa Fuzz

The ugly truck is in town
Yet another eBay gem and a real prize find with only three hours to go. Cool story too, the guy who sold it me bought it new in 1967 to get some fat ass Cream/Hendrix fuzz tones, good call! It was used heavily until 1976 when it was retired for the distortion on a solid state H/H amp. It's been living in a loft until then!!! Crazy!! Unused for 30 years!

Supa wedge

Built like a tank

Monster monster....

The Mullards have landed

A true work of art

Vox Distortion Booster

Plug it in and let it rip!!

Distortion Booster

Little tiny box...a huge pile 'o Fun!!

T'is a Tone Bender in disguise