Rangemaster Fuzzbug

Pics, info, thoughts on old and/or hairy gear.

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DiscoFreq
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Post by DiscoFreq »

He just copied his own post at FSB, nothing wrong here :)

I wonder how many offers he received in 1 day ;)
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chrisalis
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Post by chrisalis »

Hi, sorry for the delay in the reply. It must have been spring/summer of 1966 when I bought this Fuzzbug pedal from Macari's Music Exchange. I'm sure that the Tonebender's that they had in their window just had "Tonebender" on them but I could well be wrong and I don't want to give you any false info. I remember that the Tonebender was a brand new pedal recently launched. As young musician's we were hearing rumours that the Tonebender was the British equivalent to the Gibson Maestro Fuzzbox as used on the Rolling Stone's Satisfaction! Tonebenders were soon to become the most sought after and most respected of all the British fuzzboxes at that time as I recollect. I those days as a 16 year old schoolboy, the guys in bands who we used to look up to, played 335's,Vox amps and Tonebenders. For a little while we played Futurama's, Watkins Westminsters and Fuzzbugs!
Looking inside the Fuzzbug, I can't see any markings on the pots but if I can help the forum with any other info.
ps
yes, < > appeared as I had cut and pasted part of my original email to "Fuzzbug" .
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Electric Warrior
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Post by Electric Warrior »

The Tone Bender MKI sure was the british version of the Maestro Fuzz Tone! The later (MK1.5) version you saw in Macari's window has a different cicuit - exactly the same one as in your Fuzzbug.
Everything is transitional.
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tigerdriver
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Post by tigerdriver »

This thread is 8 months old and JMI hasn't announced a Fuzzbug reissue yet???
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Electric Warrior
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Post by Electric Warrior »

Maybe they couldn't get their hands on an original unit to copy the enclosure from :hihi:
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Enjoyer
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Re:

Post by Enjoyer »

tigerdriver wrote:This thread is 8 months old and JMI hasn't announced a Fuzzbug reissue yet???

Now that is FUNNY!

I'm wiping the coffee off my monitor as I type this.
:lol:
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psycho*daisies
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Re:

Post by psycho*daisies »

tigerdriver wrote:This thread is 8 months old and JMI hasn't announced a Fuzzbug reissue yet???
haha! funny, but also sad...just a matter of time. :co:

Perhaps one of these two could be used to form a new mold? :marx:

A Sola Sound reissue of a little blue or green Rangemaster Fuzzbug would be bad ass!

edit: So time-line wise, it appears the Mk1.5 Tone Bender & blue Rangemaster Fuzzbug were c. Spring/Summer '66 and
the green Fuzzbug with 3 tranny circuit, later - along with the Professional MKII. Thanks for the info, chrisalis!
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It only tightens up...
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Electric Warrior
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Post by Electric Warrior »

but why would they use that brown insulation on Fuzzbugs and prototype Supa Fuzzes exclusively? I haven't seen that stuff in any other Sola pedals yet. They could have well been made at the same time. Or maybe these were made by a different builder? Maybe Hurst himself?

The pot codes in the Fuzzbug with the MKII circuit are 216 (21st week of 1966). If chrisalis' unit has much earlier codes it would probably mean that it is from an earlier period, indeed. If it has the same or later pot codes it might mean nothing at all as they used pots dated mid-66 for a long time.
Maybe you guys could instruct him on where to look for the codes?

The early Supa Fuzzes have a yellow piece of insulation on the circuit input wire shield, btw..
Everything is transitional.
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Stu
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Re: Rangemaster Fuzzbug

Post by Stu »

I had a photo showing the codes on these pots, but I can't find it now. They're stamped on the side and the date code has three digits, which as EW says are assumed to be WWY.
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jerms
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Re: Rangemaster Fuzzbug

Post by jerms »

in the US the pot codes are YMM or 612 would be 12th week of 66... did they do things different in the UK?
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