Used & Vintage

Vital Stat's

• Serial Number: 048
• Production Date: 11-23-2010
• Built By; David Main
• Condition of Pedal: Mint
• Condition of Box and Bag: Excellent+

Fat Sound's Take

Fuzz pedal fanatics regard South Yorkshire's David Main as the ultimate designer and builder of their sacred sonic goodness. DIfferential Audio Manifestationz, or D*A*M, pedals are nearly impossible to acquire new and used D*A*M pedals rarely surface. Finding a Fuzz Sound in this condition is almost unheard of. Driven by a custom engine of NOS Mullard OC76, OC45 and OC71 transitors, this custom Fuzz Sound has a huge, intensely musical fuzz tone that, for any lover of late 60's-era fuzz tones, will be the ideal centerpiece of their rig.

Complete with original box, packing straw, bag and hand-written poetry under the bottom plate, this Fuzz Sound is a fantastic find.

From David Main

Fuzz Sound MKIV (used to be badged as the MKIII) Basically a pimped out version of the Tone Bender MKIII and MKIV but with more tonal scope, more muscle and packing space age features.
First up, a few quick words on the differences between a Tone Bender MKIII and a MKIV. They do both use the same circuit blue print if you will but there are subtle and noticeable differences to each pedal in the tone department. Without over complicating matters, as I do what to get to the point, the Sola Sound made MKIII and the MKIV basically sound of their time. The early MKIII's sound fuzzy and choppy, later MKIV's sound smooth and distorted. Then there's a blurry line in the middle. Basically the biasing evolved to the point that the pedal became more overdriven than fuzzy. Ya know, I guess, to suit the needs of Musicnauts of the day.
The FS-75 is the blurry line in the middle and some. It's not a direct replica of either but the flavour I have gone for is an all out balls to the wall, big hair, big boobs, fat cars, fast food, dirty denim, dirty hippies, 8-track stereo cranking, 3-D glasses rocking fuzz tone. To quote, its: "1970 rollin' in sight"

What's Inside

What's inside? Tasty things...

• High quality gain selected trio of genuine NOS Mullard germanium transistors.
• Quality components and parts including BC Components metallised polyester film capacitors, SAMWHA and Vishay/BC Components Electrolytic capacitors, Arcol carbon composition resistors, Audio grade Alpha potentiometers, Bulgin style Chicken head knobs and Gold plated Neutrik audio jacks.
• A very high quality heavy duty cast aluminium enclosure that features a super tough acrylic coating, six screw fixing and a rubber gasket sealed base plate.
• An easy access tool free slide out battery drawer that makes battery change overs a breeze.
• Low noise circuitry featuring the heavy use of internal shielded cable, short signal paths and single point grounding.

I know none of this is rocket science or revolutionary but just pointing out I did think about every part of this pedal and everything has its place for a reason. And yes it's a big pedal but it doesn't eat up a much room as you'd think. The internal space is well used too. Gotta let them Mullards breathe eh.

The Sound

So the tone is fat and fruity. Smooth fuzz tones bordering on the sound of a quality distortion box that I grew in a pot on the window sill. Yes, I am going to use that word...organic. It's organic. It's a pedal packing three germanium Mullard transistors and lays down a tone as greasy an as fat as a pound of butter, so I think I'm allowed.
If you want a comparison, say a pedal for pedal idea of what I was aiming at here it's kinda like this. It's a nice tasty sour mash style soup made from a few sliced & diced Sola Sound MKIII & MKIV Tone Benders, a few grated Buzzarounds (remember the that one, that's related here too) all simmered on a medium heat and served up with a nice slice of Big Muff Pie. In other words. Mojo of the MKIII, the base tone and clarity of a MKIV and a Buzzaround and the go fuck yourself volume of a Big Muff.

You have unity with an original MKIV at 10 O' Clock on the Volume control, after that you have mucho boosting! Up to around 2 O'clock you have a good deal of boost with the same flavour, after that only the lords of space know. It's kinda in the ball park of the Meathead's Dirt control as it will start boosting highs and the saturation levels as it is increased. Mr.Bass player stealing your frequency? Not any more. Chop that sucker in half with your formidable clarity.

The flavour of both the original MKIII and the MKIV's with the tone control set for full treble is kinda like chewing on glass. It's fun an all but pretty useless. The treble side of the FS-75 tone control is a little more healthy shall we say. You can still get that swarm of killer bees type tone but minus the tinnitus. The bass side of this control has a little more kick also giving four string folk and lower tunings a helping hand. Past 2 O'clock on the rotation you have a little more muscle to play with over a stock MKIV.

The sustain is as you expect. Turn it up and your thing gets longer. One of my main hang ups with sound is clarity. It's easy to distort the shit out of something and get mad crazy fuzz but there is a boarder line between the two. I guess this is it. I really wanted this pedal to gel with other things so it's not totally ape shit crazy. It is a high gain fuzz, don't get me wrong. It basically stops short of that last fraction of a turn on a Buzzarounds sustain control where all the stars in space fall to earth. The FS-75 will basically stand aside a Pro MKII or say a Triangle Big Muff in the sustain department, it sings it don't scream. Though due to the fierce some volume boosting capabilities you still have the means to further push it over the edge it your really wish too....

Vital Stat's

• Serial Number: 206
• Production Date: 6-22-2009
• Built By: Linzi
• Condition of Pedal: Very Good (minor scratches on bottom plate. Rubber feet installed)
• Condition of Box: Fair (closing with both burlap bag and pedal inside is challenging....the box shows the strain of being undersized for its contents)

From David Main

"Hybrid Fuzz Tones" What the hell does that mean? The Drag'n'Fly is a hybrid fuzz box, as in it uses both a germanium and a silicon transistor within its circuit design. The advantage of this being you have the rich low frequency textures of the germanium transistor and the tight focused high end bite of the silicon. The overall tone has more means to cut through the mix whilst retaining a warm full bodied flavour. The silicon/germanium combination is also beneficial in stabilizing any temperature fluctuation problems you'd find with an all out germanium fuzz box. The Flys circuit design at heart is essentially a derivative of the Arbiter Fuzz Face with certain combined elements and trickery of the Vox Tone Bender circuit. In a nutshell, its my favourite elements of '68 silicon Fuzz Face and a '66 germanium Vox Tone Bender slightly tweaked for more gain, greater headroom and more tonal scope all rolled up in a compact user and Wah friendly package. For a Yaff* it's a pretty unique sounding fuzz box that has some very interesting sonic capabilities.

As we all know the Fuzz Face and the Vox Tone Bender can sound amazing but both units are not without there drawbacks in one way or another. Firstly, they can both sound pretty damn terrible when used with stock "Vox" or "Crybaby" style Wah pedals when the Wah is placed before the fuzz. An impedance mismatch occurs so the Wah either does not function correctly or will produce a strange howling sound. Secondly, the transistors in these vintage units didn't go through any overly intense screening processes so are at times not biased correctly making the fuzz tones produced sound constricted, overly gated and lacking in sustain. Also as both units are now very sort after by collectors it's not uncommon to pay upwards of £500-£600+ for an original Arbiter Fuzz Face so good examples are a little out of reach for most budding musicians.

The Drag'n'Fly's Advantages

• Filter control. You can dial the tone you need. Treble or bass. The Fly can cut through the mix even when running at full bore, it does not suffer from the dullness or any overly woolly tones that a stock Fuzz Face can occasional suffer from. This control also makes the Fly a pedal that is well suited to either single coil or humbucking pick-ups of varying output and gain levels.Internal input impedance correction. The input gain is perfectly set up so it works with all Wah pedal types giving you the flexibility to run the Fly either in front or in back of your Wah.
• Negative grounding. So the Fly can run from a standard multi plug power supply and even be daisy chained from other effects running from a single line power supply.
• Adjustable biasing. Your Drag'n'Fly will leave castle D*A*M with the gain selected transistors correctly set up to produce a bold, clear dynamic tone with a good degree of sustain.
• Low noise circuitry using high grade metalized polyester film capacitors, BC components Electrolytic capacitors, 1% tolerance metal film resistors, audio grade Omeg potentiometers, Eagle plastics control knobs, Neutrik jack sockets and a military grade germanium transistor.
• Small, rugged, compact. The Fly's circuitry is built into a heavy duty die cast aluminium enclosure finished in a highly durable powder coated paint job with hand applied screen printed graphics.

The Controls

• Level - sets the overall output volume.
• Filter - passive tone control for either treble or bass tones.
• Attack - controls the amount of fuzz and sustain available.

Vital Stat's

• Serial Number: 1001 11221
• Year of Producion: 2011
• Built By; David Main
• Condition of Pedal: Mint
• Condition of Box: Good

Fat Sound's Take

The David Main (D*A*M) / Macaris Sola Sound Tone Bender Mark II is 100% accurate to the original 1960's units as used by Clapton and Jimmy Paige (Yardbirds). Relatively low gain, warm and creamy this pedal is the sound of 60's British Fuzz. Purchasing one of these pedals new from Macaris requires a year or two on the Macaris reservation list an used examples are relatively rare.

From David Main

The Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional MKII. This pedal is not a replica of a Sola Sound Tone Bender it is a Sola Sound Tone Bender. The real deal, the genuine article, thee dog's bollocks. First produced by Sola Sound back in 1966 and now produced by D*A*M for Sola Sound. These pedals will stand shoulder to shoulder in every aspect to those highly prized vintage units. From the 'unbreakable' British made enclosure to the internal wiring and parts selection the foremost decision made on all of those aspects is quality.

For me personally its the culmination of approx 6 + years research on the original Sola Sound Pro MKII's. When I made the first few D*A*M replicas back in 2004 my end goal was to eventually make a real version in a sand cast enclosure like the originals. It's pretty trippy to actually be doing just that and to be making them for Sola Sound. Home of the Tone Bender for over 45 years.

The build style is as you'd find in an original Sola Sound MKII. The wiring is a tad looser than I would normally do but there is lot of space in these cases and the thing I am aiming for here is authenticity. The Mullard OC84's are really an ideal candidate for the MKII circuit. They give the best of both worlds. They give the lowest gain possible, aside form the old Impex devices, with the Attack set fully off and easily as much gain as a good set of OC75's but with a hair less noise when maxed out. Both Anthony and Stave Macari were keen to have a pedal reflective of where they are at now and whist the MKII is quite obviously a fuzz box of things gone by having the Mullard OC84's in the mix adds a new twist on the usual suspects that you'd expect to see in such a pedal.

Features and Specifications

• Authentic Sand Cast Housing
• Three, low gain, NOS Mullard OC84 Transistors
• Hand-Wired in the original Sola Sound Style
• 9 Volt Battery Clip on Underside of Bottom Plate
• Input / Output Jacks
• On/Off Switch
• Volume / Gain Controls
• Original Box with Paperwork
• David Main's Signature on Underside of Bottom Plate

Vital Stat's

• Year of Production: 2011
• Condition: Excellent
• Original Box: No
• Original Price: $145.00

Expedited Shipping. Usually Delivered within 3 Days!

Tone Reaper Fuzz

The Tone Reaper is a vintage style fuzz device based on the “3 knob” bender. It’s a silicon/germanium hybrid capable of producing a wide range of tones from every bender era with careful tweaking of the tone and fuzz controls. From thin and spitty to thick growling sustain, it’s all here.

Controls

• Tone- Treble to the left, Bass to the right
• Fuzz- Controls the sustain and nature
• Level- Controls the output

Dimensions - 4.37" X 2.37" X 1.75" with knobs

Power - 9v Battery or any standard 9 volt DC power supply with a negative center 2.1mm barrel.

Condition: Good (some chips in finish) Street Price New: $39.00 Savings: $14.00 A BOSS Classic. The DS-1 Distortion pedal provides a harder distortion effect. Instead of toneless, fuzzy distortion, the DS-1 faithfully reproduces the subtle nuances of playing dynamics--at any volume and allows the player to add distortion to any amp even those that only have a clean mode or channel. Reproduces dynamics of playing, from soft to hard Distortion, Level and Tone control to tailor overall sound as desired 

Condition: Excellent Street Price New: $69.97 Savings: $19.98 Warranty: 90 days Parts and Labor The GEB7 is 7-band equalizer created specifically for the frequency range of the electric bass. Since the frequency range extends down to the 50Hz range, the GEB7 is also great for adding depth and bottom end to acoustic guitars. Features 50Hz to 10kHz frequency range specifically designed for bass. Full range response, even for 5- and 6-string basses. Can be used as a "boost" or "cut" pedal using the level control knob. Great for acoustic guitar applications. AC adapter or 9V battery operation. 

Condition: Excellent Street Price New: $69.97 Savings: $19.98 Warranty: 90 days Parts and Labor The GEB7 is 7-band equalizer created specifically for the frequency range of the electric bass. Since the frequency range extends down to the 50Hz range, the GEB7 is also great for adding depth and bottom end to acoustic guitars. Features 50Hz to 10kHz frequency range specifically designed for bass. Full range response, even for 5- and 6-string basses. Can be used as a "boost" or "cut" pedal using the level control knob. Great for acoustic guitar applications. AC adapter or 9V battery operation. 

• Year of Production: 2011
• Condition: Mint with Box (purchased new by Fat Sound - something we frequently do when there's a popular item that we either don't carry or whose manufacturer sells direct only. This enables us to familiarize ourselves with products we are frequently asked about so that we can answer questions about how these items compare to products that we do carry)
• Original Street Price: $250.00
• Warranty: 90 days parts and labor (30 day warranty on preamp tube)
  

From Hermida Audio

The original Zendrive taken to the next level

Combining the dynamic response of the original Zendrive with the feel and warmth of a tube, the Zendrive 2 delivers the blues, country, jazz and fusion tones associated with some of the finest, most costly amplifiers in the market. Based on the original Zendrive design, the Zendrive 2 circuitry includes a 12AX7 tube. Replace the tube with a pre-amp tube of your choice to experiment with different tones and voicing.

Features and Specifications

• Great for stacking overdrives
• One of the most amp-like pedals around
• Warm sounding and voicing dependent on the tube installed
• Supported tubes: 12AX7, 7025, 5751, 12AT7 etc.
• Slight overdrive to medium distortion
• Great dynamic response
• Connectors: Input, Output, DC adapter
• Power supply: DC adapter only (US only, included); no support for 9V battery use.
• Dimensions: 3.75″ (W) x 4.75″ (D) x 2.25″ (H)

Year of Production: 2010

Condition: Mint with Box

Street Price New: $299.00

Savings: $51.00

From Strymon's Website

When we decided to develop an effects pedal that delivers the sound and feel of our favorite tape echo machines, we knew we must relentlessly study and faithfully recreate every last nuance. We spent months in the Strymon sound design labs with an intense focus on capturing the warm, saturated, distinctive qualities of tape echo machines. The result is our hand crafted dTape™ technology. Utilizing a ridiculously powerful SHARC DSP, every drop of processing power is harnessed.

El Capistan provides three different tape machine types in one, each with three unique modes. With ten parameters to tweak, you get extensive control over tape quality, machine health and tone shaping. Go from the sound of a pristine, studio-quality tape machine to the heavily fluctuating sound of a machine in need of service. Get the full bodied sound of fresh tape all the way to the gnarled qualities of worn out tape. Because it's DSP driven, you get a range of tape experiences unattainable with a traditional tape machine. All of this without the headaches of tape machine maintenance and repair!

Sound Design

• Hand crafted dTape algorithms deliver meticulous and nuanced recreations of tape echo systems.
• Three tape machines in one: Fixed (one fixed playback head), Multi (multiple playback heads), and Single (sliding record head)
• Each tape machine has three modes for extremely flexible echo options
• Five tape adjustment and tone shaping knobs: Time, Mix, Tape Age, Repeats, Wow & Flutter
• Five "hidden" knobs for extensive tone tweaking: Tape Crinkle, Tape Bias, Low End Contour, Spring Reverb, +/- 3dB Boost/Cut
• Sound on Sound mode with instant tape splice and bulk erase. A built-in tape-style looper!

Ins, Outs, Switches

• Stereo output, high impedance mono input
• Expression pedal input with selectable control over any knob parameter
• Connect our optional Favorite switch to save a favorite preset
• Tap Tempo and Bypass footswitches

Audio Quality

• Ultra low noise, high performance 24-bit 96kHz A/D and D/A converters
• 115dB typical signal to noise
• Analog dry path for a zero latency dry signal that is never converted to digital
• Premium analog front end and output section
• Super high performance DSP in a compact form factor

More

• True Bypass (electromechanical relay switching)
• Selectable "trails" mode with high quality Analog Buffered Bypass
• Press and hold Tap for instant infinite repeats
• Powered with a standard 9V center negative DC supply. 250mA minimum
• Strong and lightweight gunmetal gray anodized aluminum chassis
• Crafted with love in the USA

Year of Production: 2009

Condition: Good

Savings: $44.00

Warranty: 90 days parts and labor

The Z Vex SHO pedal so transparent no one will be able to tell you're using a pedal!

Perfect for making the most of an amp/guitar combination that you are already very happy with, because it simply makes your guitar bigger and pushes the amp harder, causing natural overload when a clean boost or more, natural gain is needed.

This sound can be the solution to the 'disappearing guitar' effect you get sometimes on stage when you stomp on your distortion and sound weaker.
When cranked, it sounds much louder than a fuzz or distortion under stage conditions.

The "Crackle Okay" volume knob is a negative-feedback control styled after classic 60's recording console inputs. (They crackled when adjusted
too.)

A Fat Sound Guitars best seller for over 10 years.