I've now played through it a total of a couple hours using both my Travis Bean TB1000 Standard and my Gibson SG Classic with Duncan Antiquity pickups with a standard (ie not hot) wind. I've on;y used my trusty old '76 Orange Overdrive 120 through a '70s Orange 4x12 with greenbacks. The amp is set fairly dirty with the mast riding pretty high. Ears do ring and you can feel it through the concrete floor.
Right off, I'd like to say that I am VERY impressed with this box! Without having extensive knowledge of the Tonebender lineage, I hear the word "Tonebender" and "MKIII" etc and tend to think of a more mild, vintage sounding fuzz. That sounds pretty lame but what I am getting at is I didn't expect it to be such a MONSTER! With the gain and level maxed, it approaches Meathead saturation. Not quite there but very close... a little more refined and not as out of control. The Fuzz Sound stays very usable and controllable maxed out entirely. With a Meathead, as soon as you start to roll back the volume control on your guitar, they start to thin out pretty quickly. Not a bad thing, they just do in my experience. With the Fuzz SOund, you get a wider range with a lot more subtle shadings in there. And talk about riffage on the lower strings... this thing does sludgy lines no problem. But when you get up to the higher strings it has a really nice, rounder attack. Almost like you're taking the awesome lowend of an Ezekiel or Meathead Dark, refining it a little, and combining it with the really musical highend of a Sonic Titan. And all through the range of gain, it stays really responsive and dynamic. It can really lend itself to a lot of different playing styles. And for you dudes with serious chops and technique, this one will really let it come through when set properly. Also, a Mu-tron Octave Divider -> Fuzz SOund -> Parachute Wah is pretty much the most evil tone I have every had the pleasure of jamming with.
The tone control has a TON and I mean a TON of range. Set to full bass it is really fat. Like Donovan mentioned at one point though, to run the full bass it really helps to have an amp that is loud with enough speakers to move some air. Otherwise it sounds a little flat and not quite so defined. But this is a fuzzbox. It's meant to be played LOUD! As you begin to roll it counter clockwise, you regain some highs pretty quickly, but still retain most lows. This seems to be a great setting for a slightly dull amp. At noon, you have a nice balance of lows and highs, but it is a little bright for me. I generally run most of my dirtboxes with little to no treble... my Oranges and Matamp tend to brighten up when pushed real hard.. and they are always pushed real hard. Once you get closer to fully counter clockwise, you get a nasally, almost trumpet like tone. With the gain cranked, you get a really cool, super nasty trashy tone that I wasn't expecting. It almost seems like there could be some upper octave going on, but it might have just been the volume and overtones distorting my eardrums.
Overall, I have to say that I am VERY impressed with the MkIII Fuzz Sound
I absolutely cannot wait until January rolls around and I get my very own. And a big thank you Donovan! If we weren't both dudes I'd give you a hug. Not that there's anything wrong with that hehe. Anyway, here's a pic of the setup I used for all this:
but the Fuzz Sound seems to do great with all the lows. It seems like a lot of fuzz boxes just round of and can't produce fuzz on the lower notes. That is not the case here. It sounds real consistent all over the neck. The more I use this the more I am surprised at how much ground it can cover. If I were jamming with buddies or something like that, I honestly think I could get by with a Fuzz SOund as the only fuzzbox, covering from slightly fuzzy overdriven tones right up to thick sludge. You can really get a lot of saturation out of it, but it stays more focused and less "splatty" and unruly than a Meathead. Whenever I get my own MkIII, it will have a spot on my board at all times. Some dudes like to collect for the sake of collecting and there's nothing wrong with that, but I like to jam the piss out of this stuff!! But don't worry D, I am guarding her with my LIFE!
