D*A*M Forum

ok - time for getting some more stuff on this new site - I broke the ice with my Solasound Cascade Cocktail - shaken not stirred - actually sounded pretty good in a f**ked up kind of way anyway I digress - Angel had a questioning post re one of these early Voxes so I thought i'd give you a reference set. Its a very nice pedal - pretty much original although theres a cable tie in there to keep a wire out of the way - the very friendly british chap I bought it ftom had sent it to the states for a thorough looking over by Howard Davies - a well known engineer and feted designer of several boutique brands. Dont see what he may have done though I never lifted the board and as the pedal sounds exceptionally sweet he may have re-biased the trannies - cant tell from the soldering - perhapsI struck lucky and its just a mega nice pedal. I have a handful of later Vox tonebenders in the cast casings (including an ex Jethro Tull black one!!) and feel that these later examples were a bit fizzier with the greys dishing out dollops of low end grunt and heaps of sustain - mine does tend to gate in a few positions but nothing like a mk1 0r Gibson fuzztone

The Pictures - hope you dont mind so many - I really want to get a "resource" thing going here! The chatter is great but there is such a need for some permanent and free place that you're able to access to compare what you might have with what we got - and believe me we got most all of it between us - what we dont yet got we will one day,either tht that or we might well know someone else who does!

Heres my Gray Vox Tonebender - made in Pescara Italy under licenc=se to Vox - not sure at this ime of night which companies built them - probably ESE. A VERY NICE VOX FUZZ - using a two transistor design with the 363 and 337 trannies. From the DAM perspective I find my grey has a touch mor ebottom end than the DAM 66 although at the trebly end of things gives that sweet fizzy "half-gated" stuff//








As you can see not in excellent cosmetic condition but plays beautifully - somewhere around 300 quid as best I remember.

Hope they help someone - G

Excellent pictures! Thanks for posting them.

Thanks again Graham for the info...and nice pictures dude!

Sickle wrote:Graham, just so you know, this forum has the option of uploading images directly, in case you missed it. This was one of the features of the forum upgrade that excited the Captain most, so feel free to upload em direct if you'd like to shave off an extra step.

Great pics, btw, and you're right, between the D*A*M community, we've got a pretty sick collection going between us all.

Thanks Donovan - I hadn't realised that and have found the whole Photobucket biz a huge bore - also been anxious if it ever went down all my links would be gone - I had hoped to repost my more informative offerings sometime anyway as I am really into seeing a decent online resource for fellow pedaleers where you get to see decent pictures - not knocking anybody specially not Bart whose site is wonderful - but so many of the other sites are either not current or only show very limited pics!!

What's involved in posting then can I just cut and paste or copy photos into my postings??

G

Graham wrote:From the DAM perspective I find my grey has a touch mor ebottom end than the DAM 66 although at the trebly end of things gives that sweet fizzy "half-gated" stuff//

Hey Graham, Is this even with the Super Bee switch on? If so it could be that old grey has a 100k pot for the Level. All the early Vox Tone Benders have a 50k Level pot. It chops a fair bit of bass compared to say a Fuzz Face but gives it way more cut & definition and helps achieve that wiry fuzz tone. A few of the later grays, like yours with the slightly different face plate, had 100k pots fitted but had a limiting resistor tied across the pot to drop the 100k resistance down to the "stock" Vox 50k resistance. But, I have had a least 2-3 through the door that had the 100k pot and no limiting resistor. The tone is way fatter and closer to Fuzz face territory, whilst still having plenty of bite, but without that extra woolliness.

Old grey there could be one of the few steroid fulled Vox Tone Benders

Sickle wrote:Graham, just so you know, this forum has the option of uploading images directly, in case you missed it. This was one of the features of the forum upgrade that excited the Captain most, so feel free to upload em direct if you'd like to shave off an extra step.

Great pics, btw, and you're right, between the D*A*M community, we've got a pretty sick collection going between us all.

The last couple of times I've tried to post photos they have come up enormous. Much bigger than the actual size of the photo. I tried using the Photobucket link and the direct link below. Can't figure out what's going on.

Here is a 66 Vox loaded with the OC76 and Facon input cap, a 67/68 with SFTs, a 68 grey, and a black one from 69 or 70. My impressions are...

66 OC76: Very different from the Tone Bender with dual SFTs with a broader timbre, more grit, more sustain. A lot less mosquito-ey, and more complex than the dual SFT loaded TBs. It was a little shocking playing through it after using my 67/68 for the past year and a half. It seemed to get squishy if I added some top boost on my AC30cc, though I think that has more to do with the new JJ rectifier tube that isn't playing all too well with other fuzz pedals. I can't wait to get the MIM Esquire to try out with this. It seems to take single coils and lower output pickups pretty well. Definitely better than the SFT TBs I've played.

67/68 SFTs: pointed, trebly, sometimes fizzy fuzz. Not too much sustain, but notes want to fly off the strings with the volume high and the tone rolled off on the guitar. Still more sustain that the 68 and 69 TBs (though of course that could be because of age/transistor selection...). I like the "ping" noise on some of the attacks. This is the Doors fuzz sound (at least live) to me minus a few songs on the Waiting for the Sun album. I do hear the earlier Vox TB a little on that album.

68 "VOX" at the top of the label: Like Graham's, this one has a lower, darker voice. Less sustain on a clean amp, but gets very close to the 67 dual SFT with some dirt from the amp. Sounds great as a rhythm guitar fuzz. I do enjoy wrestling notes out on this one.

69/70 Black TB: very close to the 68, but maybe more raspy. Again, better sustain with a slightly dirty amp.

A few more pictures of the 66, 67/68, and 68.

I have one with the red cap on top with the dual SFT setup. The capt looked at it and said it was the real deal. Will get some photos of the pedal soon

nm